Flashback Friday: Looking at trades with the Kings in the 21st century

On Saturday, the Edmonton Oilers play the Los Angeles Kings for the first time this season.

No doubt, the Kings are upset about their fourth consecutive series defeat at the hands of the Oilers. Last year, they were oh so close, but blew a 2-0 series lead with late leads in Games 3 and 4. Will there be a fifth matchup this season? Time will tell.

Bitter rivals don’t tend to trade with one another, at least when both are playoff teams at the same time. Such is the case for the Kings and the Oilers. Although the teams haven’t made any trades in recent time, the two divisional rivals have made five trades since the turn of the century. In this edition of Throwback Thursday, we’ll look at those trades.

Oilers acquire Ľubomír Višňovský

Shortly after the Wayne Gretzky trade on Aug 9, 1988, the Oilers and Kings made two trades in less than a year, made a small move early into the 1993 season, and then didn’t make another trade until 2008. On Jun. 29, 2008, the Oilers sent Jarret Stoll and Matt Greene to the Kings in exchange for defenceman Ľubomír Višňovský.

Stoll was drafted 36th overall by the Oilers in 2002, and was a big part of their Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2006. In his rookie campaign in 2003-04, Stoll scored 10 goals and 21 points in 68 goals, but exploded for 22 goals and 68 points in 82 games in 2005-06 once the lockout ended. He added four goals and 10 points in 24 playoff games.

The Melville, Saskatchewan native never hit those heights again as an Oiler, scoring 13 goals and 39 points in 51 games in 2006-07, and 14 goals and 36 points in 81 games during the 2007-08. Once traded, Stoll scored back-to-back 40 point seasons, including hitting the 20-goal mark during the 2010-11 season.

More importantly, Stoll won Stanley Cups with the Kings in both 2012 and 2014. Just like the Oilers six years before, the Kings were the eighth-seeded team in the Western Conference, but actually became the first team to win the Cup from that position, doing so in dominant fashion. Stoll played for the New York Rangers and Minnesota Wild in 2015-16, ending his career after that season.

Greene, a defenceman, had a similar path to Stoll. Like the centre, Greene was selected in the second round of the 2002 draft (44th overall), played a role in their Stanley Cup Finals appearance in 2006, and went on to win two Stanley Cups with the Kings, ending his career after the 2016-17 season.

Unlike Stoll, Greene’s career-highs came with the Kings, scoring two goals and 14 points in 72 games once joining the team. The only season he put up better numbers was in 2011-12, where he scored four goals and 15 points, then added two goals and six points en route to the Kings’ first Stanley Cup in franchise history.

So, was Višňovský worth the price they paid? Nope, at least not with the Oilers. Before joining the Oilers, the left-shot defenceman had played seven seasons with the Kings, scoring 70 goals and 279 points in 499 games. That included a........

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