Top Prospect Comes in Trade

In a move made for the future, the Kings acquired Jack Johnson, a potential high-end defenseman, from the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday in a trade that siphoned off some of their depth on defense and at center.

The Kings sent defenseman Tim Gleason and center Eric Belanger to the Hurricanes for the rights to Johnson and veteran defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky.

In Johnson, the Kings landed the top defenseman picked in the 2005 draft. Now a 19-year old sophomore at the University of Michigan, he was the third player selected but chose not to sign with the Hurricanes.

Johnson’s skill and potential were too good for General Manager Dean Lombardi to ignore, even if it meant giving up a top face-off center and a quality young defenseman.

“The payoff potential, we just couldn’t pass it up,” said Lombardi, who has tried to rebuild the team while keeping it competitive. “This is not a team that has been picking in the top five, where you can go get an [Alexander] Ovechkin. We’re dealing with a kid who was the third pick in the draft.”

Johnson is a skilled offensive defenseman, who was nurtured in the United States Development Program. He had 10 goals and 22 assists in 38 games with Michigan last season.

“I think it’s unbelievable to maybe get a chance to play with Rob Blake,” Johnson said. “The guy is going to the Hall of Fame, and I could be in the same locker room with him. This is just an exciting day for me.”

An NHL source familiar with the situation said that Johnson would be willing to sign with the Kings after his college season.

“We don’t have a specific timetable, but we’ll look closely at this in March depending on how he develops,” Lombardi said.

The Hurricanes, the defending Stanley Cup champions, were reportedly unhappy that Johnson did not sign last year.

But the decision to trade him was rooted more in the team’s problems on defense this season after the Hurricanes lost Aaron Ward to free agency and Frantisek Kaberle to shoulder surgery.

Gleason, 23, was a first-round pick in 2001 and has developed into a solid stay-at-home defenseman. Belanger, meanwhile, will help fill a void at center after Matt Cullen signed with the New York Rangers.

“Those are two good players, players who certainly would have helped us,” said Lombardi, who said he had talks with the Hurricanes throughout the summer. “We do think we have some depth [at those positions], but that is a difficult thing to gauge.”

The rapid development of Anze Kopitar, a 19-year-old center, has given the Kings added depth at center. They also have veterans Craig Conroy, Scott Thornton and Derek Armstrong.

Tverdovsky, a 10-year veteran, will lessen the loss of Gleason. Tverdovsky, a first-round pick by the Ducks in 1994, has won two Stanley Cups, with the New Jersey Devils in 2002-03 and the Hurricanes last season.

The Kings, though, have plenty of NHL experience on defense, with Blake, Lubomir Visnovsky and Mattias Norstrom. Added to that are Aaron Miller and Brent Sopel, who appear to have recovered from injuries that slowed them last season.

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Alexander Frolov had a goal and two assists to lead the Kings to a 5-2 exhibition road win over the San Jose Sharks.

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chris.foster@latimes.com