The Blue Jackets announced Wednesday morning that they traded Vladislav Gavrikov and Joonas Korpisalo to the Los Angeles Kings.
Trading Gavrikov was a long time coming as he's been a healthy scratch due to "trade-related reasons" since Feb. 14 while Korpisalo missed Tuesday's game for the same reason.
Looking at deals around the trade deadline both this year and in years past, receiving anything less than a first-round pick would have been a failure.
Well, the Blue Jackets packaged Gavrikov with Korpisalo to get a conditional first-round pick in 2023 and a third-round pick in 2024, along with 37-year-old pending UFA Jonathan Quick. If the Kings make the playoffs this year, which they have an 84.1% chance of doing according to moneypuck.com, the Blue Jackets will receive LA's first-round pick in 2023. But if the Kings miss the playoffs, Columbus will receive LA's second-round picks in 2023 and 2024. So while it's not a done deal that the Jackets will pick up their second first-round pick of the 2023 draft, it's pretty likely.
Clearly, the Blue Jackets and Gavrikov were so far apart on a contract extension that the club felt comfortable sitting him for two weeks to preserve his health for a trade. So, GM Jarmo Kekalainen did a solid job considering that all they had to do was package Gavrikov with fellow pending UFA Korpisalo to get a first-round pick in what is viewed as a deep draft.
Both Korpisalo and Gavrikov will help the Kings win now and the Blue Jackets get two important picks to help build their already high-level prospect pool.
Are the Jackets done making moves?
