Zajac out 3 months … Sabres need to get under the cap … Doughty deal close is false … Nonis talks Schenn and Lombardi

“I think we’ll probably, more than anything, look toward the trade market and see what we can do there.”

Regier On how the trade market is around this time of year:

“We’re just talking, it’s very quiet right now. I need some more guys to get back to the office.”

“Hopefully that’s not the case,” Regier said of putting players in the minor leagues. “Hopefully we’re able to make some moves to address that prior to the start of the season.”

Brad Boyes ($4 million), Jochen Hecht ($3.525 million) and Paul Gaustad ($2.3 million) are in the last year of their deals and could be traded. They could look to teams that are below the salary floor, which includes the Avalanche, Islanders, Coyotes, and Jets. The Predators, Hurricanes, Panthers, Stars, Senators, Ducks, and Blues are all $5 million or less away from the salary floor.

“Contracts sometimes take a little longer to get done,” Nonis said in the one-on-one interview. “This isn’t the first one that’s gone into late August.

“When you’re starting point is the player wants to be here and the team wants to have him, usually you find a way to get it done.”

Nonis on Matthew Lombardi and his concussion:

“We’re very comfortable that he’s on his way back, that the concussion isn’t an issue at this point,” explained Nonis. “But there’s a lot of things that happen when you have that kind of injury; there’s neck issues, there’s nerve issues and those all have to be addressed.

“With Matthew, there is no timetable. He’s getting better. He’s been feeling very good. His workouts have increased in duration and intensity, but he won’t be playing for us until he’s ready to play. So whether that’s a month or six months, who knows when that’s going to be. We’re not going to rush him, but we’re going to be pushing as hard as we can to get him ready and prepared.”

“No, not at all. That’s certainly not accurate,” Doughty’s agent, Don Meehan, said of reports attributed to unnamed sources on hockeybuzz.com and other websites. “We don’t have a deal.”

Kings GM Dean Lombardi wouldn’t comment but indicated they weren’t near a deal.

“I guess there’s really no rush,” said Doughty. “Both sides, we’re discussing things, and I’m sure that something is going to get done soon. I don’t have a timeframe or anything like that. But I still want to be a King, and I can’t wait to get something done just so it’s over with.”