On the Kings …
- Dennis Bernstein: (answering question of moving Dwight King for a defenseman) … The Kings would need to move more to get a top four defenseman. King may have more value to the Kings defensive system than he would in other teams systems.
On the Oilers …
- Chris Nichols: Dreger on if there is a trade market for Mark Fayne: “There might be. I’d like to say yes, but I don’t know that to be sure.” …. Teams are looking for a top four defenseman – on Fayne – “That name isn’t out there in terms of what other teams are looking for.”
- Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Bob McKenzie on TSN 1260 on if Nikita Nikitin will be traded anytime soon.
“Well, here’s the thing. I was surprised to hear – he wasn’t very good, let’s be honest – and yet there are some teams out there that are looking for a defenseman. They see Nikitin as a guy who didn’t play very well, totally underachieved, because some believe he is a better defenseman than he showed with the Edmonton Oilers.
“So with an expiring contract this year and the Oilers taking back some money, you might be able to get this guy for virtually nothing in terms of your acquisition price because the Oilers- any money they can save on him would be a bonus, and a little cap room as well. If they do have to take money back, that’s fine because they’re eating everything but 950 of his contract right now anyway on the cap.
“So the thing is – (chuckles) and you’ll get a kick out of this – the teams that have some interest in him want to see him in better game shape. (Hosts laugh) But that’s because when he went down, he didn’t play. For two or three weeks, he wasn’t even playing because of visa issues. So he’s only played a handful of games since he got there. And I made that little joke because I know a lot of people in Edmonton thought he wasn’t in very good shape at the best of times. But the teams that are interested in him want him to play some more games. If they do invest in him, they want a player who’s played a lot of hockey, not somebody who’s just played a handful of games after being off for two weeks because of visa issues.
“The Oilers would basically have to be giving him away, but they’d be obviously getting some financial benefit to doing that.”