Do they get past the Flames though? Obviously that season was the Flames peak and after surviving their first-round scare against the Canucks they crushed the Kings & Blackhawks and even the Habs only amounted to a speed bump.
1994 then. 1993 clearly had some kind of destiny-voodoo going on for the Canadiens, 100th anniversary of the Cup and all. Although Gretzky did all but single-handedly thwart the Canadiens-Leafs final...
During the Gretzky era in Los Angeles, the general consensus was that this was a team built for regular season success, and not really a team that could win a Cup. After eliminating the previous years' Stanley Cup champs in back to back years (the Oilers in 1989 and the Flames in 1990), the Kings would easily be disposed of in the second round.
Every year thereafter, the Kings would run into the Oilers and get eliminated without much of a fight. They just couldn't get past Ranford in 1991 and 1992. I'd say their Cup run in 1993 was more of a Cinderella story, Gretzky was not a dominant player that season, having missed half the year due to a bulging disc in his back. His performance during the playoffs that year was phenomenal, coupled with the quite possibly the greatest stretch run Kelly Hrudey exhibited in a Kings uniform.
In addition to Gretz, the Kings had so many aging players who were past their prime or over the hill. Jari Kurri was not the same player he once was. Pat Conacher and Dave Taylor were on their last legs. Jimmy Carson at that point had lost interest in hockey. Charlie Huddy was one of the worst skaters in the NHL at that time. They just couldn't keep up with a faster and younger Montreal team that was riding on the back of arguably the greatest goaltender in NHL history, and one of the best clutch performers ever in Patrick Roy.
As for the trade itself, it was first and foremost a cash transaction, and that was nonnegotiable according to Peter Pocklington and Bruce McNall. Then parts were added to make it resemble a hockey trade. The story of Jimmy Carson is an interesting one. After being dealt to Edmonton, while he did still register impressive numbers, Carson's numbers and play drastically started to decline. As I hinted to earlier, it has often been said that Carson had interests outside of hockey, and his only motivation to continue to play was for him to earn a lot of money.
The draft picks the Oilers acquired from Los Angeles amounted to nothing (outside of Martin Rucinsky) and the biggest contributor to the team (besides Carson helping Edmonton land Petr Klima, Adam Graves and Joe Murphy), was Martin Gelinas.