The Kings' long quest to find stable goaltending took another twist Tuesday when they traded Jason LaBarbera to the Vancouver Canucks for a 2009 seventh-round draft pick.

LaBarbera, who had a 5-8 record, a 2.83 goals-against average and a .893 save percentage, fell behind Erik Ersberg (8-5, 2.38, .903) on the goalie depth chart and became expendable with the recent emergence of rookie Jonathan Quick (2-3, 1.72, .937).

— Rich Hammond, Inside The Kings

This is the result of one team that had one too many goaltenders it wanted with the big club and one that has too few.

The Canucks have been looking to send rookie Cory Schneider back to the AHL, where he was dominant with Manitoba prior to Roberto Luongo's injury and Schneider's recall to the big leagues. He hasn't fared all that well at the NHL level in seven games played.

LaBarbera, meanwhile, gives Vancouver a solid short-term fill-in. He's a local, from the suburb of Burnaby, B.C., and is coming off of two decent seasons (one in which he was named the AHL goaltender of the year and last season as the Kings' starter in which he posted a .910 save percentage).

He turns 29 in a little under two weeks, however, and has been outplayed this season by both Ersberg and Quick. The Kings are still in the midst of a rebuild, albeit one that's finally showing some progress this season, and dumping LaBarbera makes sense provided the two younger netminders prove capable.

Jonathan Bernier is also waiting in the wings with Manchester.

Curtis Sanford has been competent in spelling Luongo, but given his injury is likely to last at least another month longer, Vancouver needed some insurance in case he falters. There's not a ton of organizational depth at the position, and the Moose were stuck relying on 5-foot-8 30-year-old career minor leaguer Karl Goehring without Schneider on the roster.

My guess is that LaBarbera is on waivers once Luongo returns to the lineup. He had a long road to get the No. 1 role in Los Angeles and is back playing for his right to stay in the NHL.

UPDATE Sanford left tonight's game with a groin injury, so it's likely LaBarbera gets into the Vancouver net soon. The team's headed on a roadtrip starting in Nashville on New Year's Day.