Kings Make a Trade to Protect Goalies

The ransom for goalies Jamie Storr and Stephane Fiset was a fourth-round draft choice and the Kings were happy to pay it.

Monday, they sent the pick to Chicago for goalie Steve Passmore, who isn’t expected to play any games for the Kings.

The Blackhawks can choose to exercise the draft selection this year or next in the entry draft.

The Kings are expected to expose Passmore in the expansion draft in June to stock new franchises at Minnesota and Columbus, thereby protecting Storr and Fiset.

“[Passmore] gives us some options,” said Dave Taylor, the Kings’ senior vice president and general manager, who won’t commit to a plan to expose anybody until the league requires it.

“He is a qualifying goalie and is under contract for next season. But he’s a pretty good goalie too.”

Passmore, an energetic, occasionally acrobatic and often erratic goaltender, had a 2.72 goals-against average in 24 games this season backing up Chicago goalie Jocelyn Thibault.

“We fully expected him to be taken in the expansion draft,” said Mike Smith, the Blackhawks’ director of hockey operations. “We were pleased with the way he played, but we think we got fair value for him.”

That’s fine with the Kings.

“We talked to a number of teams,” Taylor said of his mission to get the player the Kings needed to accomplish their draft strategy.

By trading for Passmore, they can keep both Storr and Fiset, which has been their intent since near the end of the season. To do so, they had to find a qualifying goalie to expose in the draft, and Passmore is it.

Now their mission is to decide which skaters to protect. By holding onto both Fiset and Storr, the Kings can protect only three defensemen and seven forwards. If they exposed either Storr or Fiset to the draft, they could protect five defensemen and nine forwards.