Penguins Trade Rumors: Proposed 3-Team Deal Lands Reilly Smith With LA Kings

The Los Angeles Kings hadn't planned to be looking for a forward at the trade deadline, but with Adrian Kempe going down, joining the recently re-injured Viktor Arvidsson, finding some added offense up front is now on their radar. The Kings are hanging on to one of the two Wild Card spots in the West, but they'll need to make some additions to be taken seriously in the playoffs.

With that, Sportsnet's Ryan Dixon has proposed the following three-team trade that gets a Stanley Cup champion winger into the fold in LA:

LA Kings Receive:

Reilly Smith, F (50% retained by Washington Capitals)
Max Pacioretty, F (50% retained by Washington Capitals)

Pittsburgh Penguins Receive:

2025 Kings 2nd-Round Pick

Washington Capitals Receive:

Arthur Kaliyev, F

Despite their back-to-back five-goal games, the Kings have ranked near the bottom of the NHL in goals per game for the last three months. With this proposed deal, they fill a couple of big holes up front, while saving $2.5 million on Smith's $5 million cap hit (and get another season of the five-time 20+ goal scorer), while saving another $1M on Pacioretty.

The Capitals spend a bit of money to bring in a promising youngster (22 yrs old) in Kaliyev, who many feel just needs a change of scenery to start to play up to his second-round status.

For the Penguins, they dispatch Smith without any retention, allowing them to retain even more on any Jake Guentzel trade, notes Dixon, thereby increasing their incoming assets on that potential follow-up deal.

Lots of machinations going on over the next few days, and these three teams will be among the interesting ones to watch.

Photo: Bob Frid-USA TODAY Sports