Now that the dust has settled on the Trade Deadline, we can survey the damage. And at first glance, the Kings took a heavy hit.

Patrick O'Sullivan was sent to Carolina as part of a three-team deal between the Kings, Hurricanes and Oilers. Of course, O'Sullivan was one of the first major trades Lombardi pulled off back in 2006, when he was acquired along with a first round pick when Pavol Demitra was sent to Minnesota.

I'm no trade "expert", and I doubt there is such a thing. To me, this looks like a bad trade in the short term. Williams is still two weeks away, and the team is already in the bottom third of the league in scoring. This should be the stretch drive, with the Kings gearing up for a fight. But now, one of the team's main weapons has been shipped off for a player that, realistically, has no chance of helping this team make the playoffs.

That's the short-term, but in the long term, my opinion is that the trade is good. When healthy, Williams will be able to replace the goal scoring the team lost when Michael Cammalleri left. O'Sullivan was a 20-goal scorer, but when healthy, Williams is a 30+ goal scorer. I have read that he's a good character guy, good in the locker room, and a solid team player who's not afraid to mix it up to come to the aid of his teammates. Not that Patrick O'Sullivan wasn't, it's just some of Williams' qualities that I've gleaned off the Interwebz. Plus, he's got that intangible of winning a Cup, which gives the team more of a well-rounded feel.

But the trade taught me a valuable lesson: you can't bottle success. At the beginning of the season when Patrick O'Sullivan signed a three-year deal after holding out, I was all excited about the top line of Brown, Kopitar and O'Sullivan, I wanted to be the first to come up with the Next Great Line name. I wanted something that would rival The Triple Crown Line, so I opened up the forum and got some real good names: The Purple Knights, Jewels of the Crown, Knight Line, and Crown Royal Line. Turns out the best name for them was the Crippled Crown Line.

Granted, they had some success on the power play, but together as an even strength unit, Kopitar, Brown and O'Sullivan just didn't click. Not only that, but they seemed to thrive on extremely opposite lines. Even when Terry Murray would pair just Kopitar and Brown, there was just no chemistry. Murray found some success with the CBS Line of Calder, Brown, and Stoll; and he paired Kopitar with Frolov with similar results. Often times, O'Sullivan was the odd man out and was shuttled up and down the lineup, never really finding that line to stick to. For all the hope and desire Kings fans put behind the team, we wanted that top-tier line to let the league know we had arrived. And after two seasons together, that line we had hoped for didn't appear.

So, what does the trade really mean? I guess the team has thrown in the towel for the playoffs this season. I guess if Justin Williams comes back early and Oscar Moller and Ted (Don't Call Me Teddy) Purcell start lighting the lamp on a regular basis, as well as the team wins at a 75% clip, then they'll make it. But realistically, that might be too much to ask for. Which is frustrating, because this team had shown flashes of brilliance this season. But now, it's academic.

Looking back, it seemed as if this season's Kings are like the kids from the 90's TV series Beverly Hills 90210. All of them have unique personalities and relationships with one another. They are intoxicating to watch, having fun out there. But at the end of the day, we were still all teenagers. That's the 2008-09 Kings, super young and without the life experience veterans bring. With Williams, maybe the younger Kings can relate to him better than they can Handzus, Armstrong and O'Donnell. Because he's been to the Show, and hoisted the Cup, and that has to account for something. Maybe Williams can be the hockey doppleganger of 3 O'Clock High's Buddy Revell, he certainly has the hair...

Other reactions from around the Kingdom

• The Royal Half: Good Bye Sully Brick Road

Then, as we tore into our final sushi roll, HSTHB and I talked about why we liked this trade. Justin Williams has won a Cup. And he is only 27. In the last 3 years, he had 2 solid seasons, both with 30 goals and 82 games played... and last year he had 30 points in 37 games before he blew out his ACL. This year... only 10 points in 32 games after coming back from that Achilles tendon injury. And he's not even going to play for the Kings right away since he has a broken hand. But Dean Lombardi wanted him. And he even had to through in a 2nd round draft pick to get him. If Dean wants him that bad... it's gotta count for something right?

• A Queen Among Kings: Trade deadline shocker

I'm definitely very pleased with O'Donnell getting signed again, and honestly, there was no way he was going to be let go in the summer. Also, we get to keep the conditional pick from that original trade to acquire him. Having Ersberg signed for two years is a pretty good (and cheap) security blanket. He's been solid in the net and I'm glad a deal was signed before the summer began. No complaints from this humble blogger.

• Frozen Royalty: Lombardi Gambles Big Time At The Trade Deadline

Indeed, especially after seeing his team falter badly on their recent five-game road swing, earning just two points on the trip, Lombardi knows his team’s fate is sealed. The Kings will miss the playoffs again this season so he could afford to make this deal now with nothing to lose in terms of post-season play.

• The Throne Room: High stakes gambling

Patrick O’Sullivan and a 2nd round pick for a guy on IR? For me, this is a gamble of the Cloutier variety, and we all remember how that turned out.

• Bleacher Report: L.A. Kings Trade Patrick O'Sullivan and Second-Round Pick for Injured Player

This is a horribly contradictory move to what Kings GM Dean Lombardi claimed was his strategy over the past four years. He managed to sacrifice youth, a high draft pick and skill for an older, injured, inconsistent player that costs more. In the process, he waived the white flag for this season and benefitted a conference rival for years to come.

• Examiner.com: How the deadline deals affect the Los Angeles Kings

For the Kings, it’s difficult to handicap their acquisition of Williams because of the injuries he has suffered. He is currently on injured reserve with a broken hand, and previously he had missed time due to an Achillies injury. Williams has two years left on a five year contract, and the right winger was a member of Carolina’s Stanley Cup championship team in 2006. He has scored thirty or more goals in a season twice before.

• Press Box Perspective: Shouldn’t NHL.com Be a Better Resource for Fans?

Is it just me, or is it sad that NHL.com is one of the worst places to find information on the NHL? I don’t know about most fans, but I think TSN.com covered the trade deadline the best (as usual). Their live tracker had trades posted within minutes. NHL, on the other hand had the countdown clock. That’s it. Apparently, they thought having a countdown to the last second was more important than having trade updates, since their “Complete list of NHL trades, since Feb. 3” was always updated about 2 hours after the trade happened (TSN’s site listed the time of each trade as the trade was posted just minutes after it took place).