Dean Lombardi says he didn't merely trade for Ben Bishop as a precaution.
The Los Angeles Kings general manager downplayed the notion that he only acquired the goaltender from the Tampa Bay Lightning as a literal backup plan in case longtime Kings starter Jonathan Quick can't regain his pre-injury form or shoulder his historically heavy workload.
"(Bishop) was the number one target that we felt that this is not an insurance policy," Lombardi told reporters Sunday, according to FOX Sports West's Jon Rosen.
The Kings landed the 2016 Vezina Trophy nominee and a fifth-round pick Sunday in exchange for veteran goalie Peter Budaj, defensive prospect Erik Cernak, a seventh-round selection, and a conditional pick.
Lombardi insisted Bishop is going to get opportunities with his new club.
"No, no. He needs to play, and ... we looked at the schedule here, preferably I would’ve been able to do this deal two weeks ago, but this is just the way trade deadline deals seem to work," the GM said.
Quick played his first game Sunday since re-injuring his groin in the season opener, and Lombardi said the deal that followed that contest allows the Kings to go into the stretch drive with two starting netminders.
"Best case scenario, assuming Jon is at the top of his game, what’s the best number of games to play him? And we had sketched that out, and said, ‘you know what? It makes a lot of sense for him, but we better get essentially another number one.
"It's a way that we think can make sure that Jon is broken in properly … and makes sure we’re in position here to win every game, because every game down the stretch here is critical. Let’s face it, there’s not a lot of room here for error, and we just want to take that out of the equation by making sure that we have a number one goalie in there every night.”
Bishop and Quick played together for the United States at the World Cup of Hockey last fall, a team of which Lombardi was the architect, and one that ultimately underachieved. They'll surely be hoping the Kings don't suffer the same fate.
Los Angeles sits three points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second Western Conference wild-card spot with 21 games to go.
Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.