Pearson started with the Kings in 2013-14, slowly fitting into NHL minutes after being picked in the first round in 2012.
He didn’t begin that season on the main roster but worked his way up and became a key player by playoff time.
That spring, Pearson shined with 12 points in 24 games, helping L.A. win their second Stanley Cup in three years.
Pearson’s Journey Through Different Teams
After his successful start, Pearson climbed higher in the Kings’ lineup. In 2016-17, he hit a career-high of 24 goals. The Kings then signed him to a four-year deal worth $15M. However, things didn’t go as planned; he struggled in the next season and was traded to the Penguins for Carl Hagelin after just one assist in 17 games. His time with Pittsburgh was better but still not great—14 points in 44 games before being traded again to the Canucks for Erik Gudbranson.
In Vancouver, Pearson found his groove again. He finished that season strong by doubling his nine goals over just 19 games with the Canucks . Fans might think this comeback was really exciting! The next season, he continued this momentum by scoring a career-high of 45 points over 69 games.
However, during the final year of his contract, Pearson’s performance dropped despite playing more minutes than ever before—averaging over 17 minutes per game but only managing to score ten goals and get eighteen points. Vancouver still believed in him and extended his contract for three more seasons at $3.25M per year.
But injuries struck again; a hand injury limited him to just fourteen games during which he scored only one goal and made four assists. Some thought this might be it for Pearson’s career until it became clear over summer that he’d return—but not with Vancouver—as they traded him to Montreal for backup goalie Casey DeSmith.
In Montreal, unrelated injuries kept bothering Pearson causing him to miss nearly thirty games while slipping down into bottom-six roles yet again. The Canadiens tried trading him at this year’s deadline (which would have been his fourth trade), but there wasn’t much interest from other teams .
Potential Teams Interested
There haven’t been specific teams linked directly to Pearson on the open market yet—but given he’s got playoff experience and even a Stanley Cup ring—some postseason hopefuls might see value adding him as an affordable fourth-line option!
Returning back where it all began—the Kings could make sense since they need depth forwards due to departures like Carl Grundström & Blake Lizotte plus Arthur Kaliyev likely moving elsewhere via trade soon enough too! Even if Alex Turcotte makes full-time NHL jump next season—they still lack internal options consistently filling those forward slots properly right now…
Other Western Conference teams pushing playoffs needing veteran insurance include Jets Predators Wild while Eastern ones such as Bruins Red Wings Senators also make fair bit sense considering depth winger questions remain among them currently…
Projected Contract
Given how late we are into off-season combined worst-ever point-per-game average last year (0·24)—it seems unlikely anyone offers above one-year $1M deal realistically speaking here… League minimum ($775K) becomes likelier longer stays unsigned though should manage landing one-way deal entering age-32 campaign albeit cap hit probably buriable minors realistically speaking…
What do you think about all these moves?
