Fact is Canes didnt lose this deal. Johnson wouldnt have been in the lineup for them this year anyways. Gleason and Belanger stepped right into the lineup. Getting 2 players who can step right into the lineup for a prospect who may or may not reach potential is losing a trade now? The Canes GM did what he had to do. Het got return on a player who seemingly wasnt going to sign with his team and those 2 players helped. JJ is the one that has to live up to potential , not Gleason or Belanger.
"Losing" the deal is a very subjective term. The Kings shedded salary (*correction: cap space*), added a phenomal defensive prospect, and traded two players who were going to do absolutely nothing for the Kings this year that any two younger players in the organization couldn't do. The trade opened up room for guys like O'Sullivan, Zeiler, Tukonen, Pushkarev, and even now Piskula and Johnson. As far as it goes from a Kings' perspective, you'll find very few complaints from any Kings' fans who actually care about rebuilding the team the right way and are willing to be patient for youth to mature.
IMO, there's no way you can look at the deal right now and say, "the Kings lost this trade."
Now, from the Canes perspective, they needed help because they didn't have enough organizational depth to fill their holes. This is something that happens with every organization, but if you need to make a trade to fill a hole, chances are, you're going to have to give more than you're going to get. When dealing from a position of need, the other team involved almost always has the upper hand. Lombardi saw the situation as a chance to take advantage of a team in need and did so.
The Canes received a solid young defenseman and a good spare part, there's no arguing that. But I don't understand how people can sit here and say so certainly that the Canes won this deal.
The Canes have in no way won this deal yet. The ONLY way the Canes "win" this deal is if Johnson busts and Gleason continues to be a solid player for them.
Until/if Johnson busts, the Kings have won the trade.
Therefore, more things have to fall into place for Carolina to "win" this deal than for the Kings to.
That's my take on it at least.
I'll ask the same question I've asked a couple times on here: do you think that Tim Gleason and Eric Belanger were the best two players Rutherford could've gotten for Johnson?