Dustin Brown’s Hat Trick Throws a Wrench in the NHL Trade Deadline

Thursday afternoon, the Kings acquired Jeff Carter from the Columbus Blue Jackets, who was fresh off of a Tuesday night hat trick against the San Jose Sharks. With trade rumors swirling around Dustin Brown, it was only fitting that the Los Angeles Kings captain would score a hat trick of his own in a 4-0 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks at Staples Center.

Brown played as if it was his last game in the National Hockey League, much less what could have been his last game as a King. His two first period goals set the tone for the Kings, who were never threatened by the Jonthan Toews-less Blackhawks, as Jonathan Quick tied Henrik Lundquist for the league lead in shutouts, with his seventh of the season.

Dustin Brown skated faster on Saturday night, and seemed to hit harder. He was in the right place at the right time, even when Anze Kopitar slipped a pass in front of the goal crease in the middle of the second period before Ray Emery stopped what nearly was a fourth goal of the night for the Kings’ captain.

The night easily could have felt like a funeral, with the rumors of Brown being tied to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but unlike Pau Gasol and the Kings’ tenants, the Lakers, Brown clearly used the trade deadline stress as motivation to make a statement on the ice, just as captains are supposed to do. And yet, if indeed Dustin Brown is shipped out of Los Angeles before Monday’s trade deadline, the fans of Los Angeles can at least live to have seen what could end up being the perfect goodbye and greatest game of Brown’s career.

Sure, Brown’s goals are a loud statement from the player, seemingly demanding to remain with the Kings. But, as the business of hockey tends to work, Dustin Brown’s trade stock just went up a bit, as pointed out by The Score’s Chris Lund. Because of this, there’s two possible scenarios for the Kings after the tremendous offensive night.

Obviously, the first scenario is that Brown just re-played his way into Dean Lombardi’s core. For the longest time, the Kings core consisted of Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson. When the Kings tried to trade for Ilya Kovalchuk two years ago, the Atlanta Thrashers wanted Brown, Johnson and Wayne Simmonds, which at the time seemed as if it was asking for the world from the Kings. Ironically, come Monday, all three of those players could be known as former Kings, and all playing for separate teams as Simmonds was traded to Philadelphia last June, and Johnson is busy getting his feet wet in Columbus.

Going back to the notion of the Kings’ core, you’d have to think that it now consists of Anze Kopitar, Mike Richards, Drew Doughty, Jonathan Quick and Jeff Carter, with Dustin Brown rejoining the group should Dean Lombardi refuse to deal him. Brown remaining with the Kings not only reaffirms his core status for at least the next two months, but given Lombardi’s track record with acquiring offensive talent at the deadline(we’re looking at you, Dustin Penner), there’s no guarantee the Kings could replace Brown’s scoring. He’s not having a career by any stretch of the imagination, but with Brown, you at least know what you’re going to get.

Now, for the second scenario, you have consider that with Brown’s hat trick increasing his asking price, the Kings cannot lose on Deadline Day. The Kings are now in a position to possibly sit back and wait for Toronto’s Brian Burke to offer the world for Brown, or allow Dean Lombardi to begin conjuring up bigger, grander things. What’s a bigger, grander thing you ask? Well, for starters, you could include Brown in a package with Jonathan Bernier and a Thomas Hickey or Jake Muzzin, and absolutely go for broke and go try to grab someone like Zach Parise, but not necessarily him per se. The Devils are going to be extremely reluctant to get rid of Parise given that they’re in the thick of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. But, considering that Parise is an unrestricted free agent come July 1st, the prospects of adding long term solutions on the defensive side of things has to be intriguing for Lou Lamoriello. Martin Brodeur isn’t getting younger anytime soon, you know. But let’s not get too buried in Zach Parise, because we all know that Kings fans have wanted Parise for years now, and it’s always been considered a pipe dream.

The reality is just that Dustin Brown did wonders for the Kings on Saturday night, because if he stays, the Kings keep their captain and suddenly hot forward. Yet, if goes, it will likely be for more than originally intended, assuming that Brown sweetened his own pot. Leverage is key, and Brown just gave the Kings three goals worth. It’s going to be a fun 30 hours, won’t it?

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