LA Kings Acquire Ben Bishop
The first surprising move of the 2017 NHL Trade season has happened.
On Sunday afternoon, the Tampa Bay Lightning traded veteran goaltender Ben Bishop to the LA Kings for goaltender Peter Budaj, defenseman Erik Cernak and a seventh round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. Tampa is also including a conditional seventh round pick in 2017 originally owned by the Kings in the deal.
Tampa retains 20% of Bishop hit via hockey ops source.
— Jon Rosen (@lakingsinsider) February 26, 2017
Bishop, 30, has a .911 save percentage and a 2.55 goals against average in 32 games with Tampa this season. He is an unrestricted free agent after the 2016-17 season.
Budaj, 34, was holding the Kings afloat while Jonathan Quick was on IR for most of the regular season. In 53 games, Budaj put together a 27-20-3 record with a 2.12 GAA and a .917 save percentage with seven shutouts.
Cernak, 19, was a second round pick (#43 overall) by the Kings in 2015. He has 17 points in 41 games with the Erie Otters in the OHL, where is is a teammate of Blackhawks prospect Alex DeBrincat.
Don’t quite get the deal for LA. Budaj was doing pretty good and Quick was coming back.
Because it’s Ben Bishop is enough of a reason for me.
Bishop is over rated. Lots of people seem to think they made the trade for Bishop to trade him again for forward help.
Agreed, Ernie. Isn’t funny how every time the stakes/pressure get high, Bishop gets injured in some way nobody can figure out?
He seems fishy to me.
Tampa has now traded Brian Boyle to Toronto for former IceHogs fwd Byron Froese & a 2nd round pick in 2017
Good deal for the Leafs, now they need some defence.
Brian Boyle for Byron Froese & a 2nd round pick in 2017 — I wonder why Stan B couldn’t have made a similar offer? (I really like Kruger – I believe his play/effectiveness before the wrist injury earned him his increased salary – but it seems like right now Boyle would have been an upgrade.)