KINGS LEADING THE TRADE CHATTER

LOS ANGELES, CA – The NHL trade deadline is five and a half weeks away and discussions among General Managers are starting to percolate. We’re entering the fun (opinions may vary) part of the season, where trade talk picks up significantly with each passing day. Some teams are busier than others, some are starting to face the reality of their situation, and still others are open for business.

The All-Star Game festivities begin next Thursday, and while I’m interested to see how fans react to puck flying over their heads down onto the ice (yeah, there’s netting, I know), most people are interested in TRADE DEADLINE SZN.

Like Rob Blake; he sure is. In fact, he’s got a lot of work to do.

The Los Angeles Kings have multiple players up for grabs and Blake and his staff are open to almost any possibility that doesn’t include Anze Kopitar, Drew Doughty or their top young prospects.

The Kings have six players on expiring contracts who can become unrestricted free agents July 1 – forwards Tyler Toffoli, Trevor Lewis and Kyle Clifford, and defencemen Derek Forbort, Ben Hutton and Joakim Ryan – and each one of them are available, as Dennis Bernstein reported earlier today. And for the record, we looked into it and the Kings have not had any contract discussions with any of those six players about extensions. Costs will vary per player, but the goal is to collect assets (draft picks and prospects) for them.

Toffoli, 27, leads the list and several teams are interested in him – add Boston, Calgary, Pittsburgh, Colorado among them – and it sounds like the Kings would like to move him sooner than later, but Blake will try to maximize his return and won’t pull the trigger until he feels he can.

Lewis likely sits into the No.2 slot, as Stanley Cup contenders in need of a bottom-six, two-way veteran with two rings are poking around – Pittsburgh, Washington, St. Louis among them.

Aside from the pending UFAs, the Kings have the likes of defenceman Alec Martinez, forward Jeff Carter and goalie Jonathan Quick they’re still willing to take calls on.

Martinez, who has another year left on his contract and comes with a $4 million salary cap hit, was close to being dealt in November before his injury (some believe Montreal was close on him, at the time) and it sounds like the Kings are prepared to deal him ahead of the deadline – when that happens, should it happens, is anybody’s guess, but the Kings will want a high draft pick and a good, young asset in return.

But for teams looking at cheaper (cap hit wise) defencemen to fill a third-pair void, Forbort or Hutton could be their guy.

Blake is focused on the next two seasons. The Kings have a very strong prospect pool up front (blueliner Jamie Drysdale is a draft target this summer if L.A.’s out of the top-five), and some of those forwards will start to gain NHL experience later this year and next season. The more he can add to the team’s future, the better.

DEBATE IN TORONTO

The Toronto Maple Leafs are in a bit of a pickle. Morgan Rielly’s injury sucks, but what sucks even more for the Leafs is Rielly isn’t out for the rest of the regular-season – he’s expected to return to the lineup in March.

Why? Because the Leafs can’t use Rielly’s cap space to bring in another defenceman. With him set to return before the playoffs, Toronto has to remain cap compliant. So, no relief. And that makes things a bit trickier for management as GM Kyle Dubas and Co. try to maneuver the salary cap ahead of the trade deadline.

It sounds like the Leafs are looking to move Cody Ceci and his $4.5 million salary cap hit. But they also need to replace him on the right side of their blueline, whether they bring in another expiring contract or not. It’s tricky, and any significant long-term addition to the team’s defensive corps is likely to involve in one of their young studs going the other way.

Forwards Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson are two names swirling around the league. Alex Kerfoot’s name is starting to pop up, as well, but my understanding is they’d prefer to keep him because of his ability to play centre and the wing.

The emergence of Ilya Mikheyev, who is out of the lineup until late-March, at the earliest, has made one of Kapanen and Johnsson expandable – or, at the very least, easier to trade from an internal peace-of-mind/justification perspective. The Leafs have plenty of fire power up front and aside from adding a reliable, two-way veteran to their bottom-six (Lewis, anyone?), upgrading the blueline remains a priority in Toronto.

Is Dubas prepared to move one of Kapanen or Johnsson in a package for right-shot defenceman? This will be a hockey trade and a prime target is Minnesota Wild blueliner Matt Dumba.

The Wild want a top-six forward and Kapanen fits the bill, but it’s going take more than him for Minnesota’s GM Bill Guerin to move Dumba. Do the Leafs include UFA-to-be Ceci in the deal, so the Wild can flip him elsewhere, or is a separate move more likely? Somethings to keep tabs on if the Leafs don’t go the rental route.

BRUINS, PENGUINS: WHO GOES FIRST?

It sure sounds like the Stanley Cup contenders Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins are eager to add to their teams sooner rather than later. That’s the Jim Rutherford way, and it has been well documented that the Penguins want to add a forward, and Don Sweeney may subscribe to the same mindset this season.

The Bruins are trying to free up extra cap space and when David Backes clears waivers tomorrow, our friends at CapFriendly told us it’ll save Boston $1.075 million in full-season cap space (the remaining $4.925 million will count against the cap).

Every little bit counts for cap-strapped teams, but if Boston’s bringing in a top-six forward, the other team will likely have to retain a good chunk of salary to help the Bruins out.

Pittsburgh, who already has more space than Boston, can create a good chunk of cap space by placing Jake Guentzel on long-term injured reserve.

Both teams have been linked to Toffoli, and Boston almost acquired him prior to last season’s deadline. Do either of these teams step up now? Worth watching.

ALL-STAR FORMAT TO CHANGE?

The MIA All-Star Roster is pretty stacked, so far. You’ve got Alex Ovechkin, Logan Couture, Jake Guentzel, Kyle Palmieri and Jacob Silfverberg up front, Dougie Hamilton on defence, and Marc-Andre Fleury, Tuukka Rask, Darcy Kuemper and Jonas Korpisalo between the pipes.

It’s a shame these guys are out of the mix, especially the injured guys, but what can ya do?

Next year, the format is expected to change. The NHL has been toying with a few different ideas for the setup of the game itself, and the 2021 NHL All-Star Game should be different than what we’ve been these past few years.

Do we see an international spin on things? Perhaps. Maybe Team North America vs. Team World returns? Three-on-three probably stays the same, but it sounds like the make-up of the teams will alter – as in no more divisional teams (at least that’s one option).

Where the 2021 festivities take place, though, might already be settled. It sounds like the NHL has decided on next season’s host, but until the format’s locked in, the League might wait on any formal announcement.

It sounds like we’ll see the All-Star hoopla returns to the Eastern Conference for the second time since 2016 (Tampa Bay hosted in 2018), and the sun might rise on the NHL’s best for the first time since 2003.

KOVALCHUK-OFF

Please indulge me in a little venting to wrap this piece up...

To all of you yahoos who thought Ilya Kovalchuk was over the hill and are now shocked that he’s put up seven points in seven games with the Canadiens obviously forgot he was a point-per-game player when the Kings changed coaches last season (14 points in 14 games) and then Willie Desjardins arbitrarily decided to play him on the third line and fourth line the rest of the season. Ever since then, he never got a legit shot to play with top tier players, until he joined the Habs.

It’ll be interesting to see where Kovalchuk plays once the Canadiens are fully healthy after the All-Star break. If Brendan Gallagher goes back on a line with Tomas Tatar and Phillip Danault, and Jonathan Drouin slots back with Max Domi (and presumably/should be Nick Suzuki), having Kovalchuk with Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Ryan Poehling (or Joel Armia, but I personally would like to see Poehling there) and on the top powerplay unit suddenly makes the Habs fairly dangerous up front.

Probably too little, too late from a playoff perspective, but you never know. At the very least, you teach your young kids there’s no quit on this team. Not the worst message to send to your future stars, top-10 draft pick or not.