Report: Sens asking Kings for one or two players and fifth overall pick for Heatley
The Los Angeles Kings are tweeting the goings-on at the NHL Entry Draft in Montreal this week, and one of their most recent tweets involved word from Ron Hextall, general manager of the Los Angeles Kings, of what the Senators were asking in exchange for winger Dany Heatley:
Just spoke with Hexy about what OTT is asking for in exchange for Heatley. He said "1 or 2 players and our fifth pick." DE
The Twitter account is official, and is linked-to from the Kings' official website, so the question is: Who might the one or two players in play be?
It's long been reported that the Kings are in the running for Heatley, and unconfirmed reports have indicated that they're on Heater's list of preferred teams. So the deal, if the Kings are willing to go with it, might be close. The Kings are also looking to make a splash at the draft, and Heatley might be the biggest splash made in the next two days.
Defenceman Jack Johnson has been churning in the rumour mill for a while now, and he's got the potential to greatly add to the Senators powerplay. Still, given that the Senators have Alex Picard and Jason Smith both on the trading block, he might not be at the top of the Senators' wish list. Still, it's hard to say no to a potential franchise defenceman, and the Kings may be telling the Senators that we're going to have to take their 'problem player' if they're going to take ours. (Johnson has had certain issues that I don't know enough about to discuss, but are generally well-known.)
Other names that have been linked to the Senators in the past are Dustin Brown and Justin Williams, both of whom were rumoured to be very close to coming to Ottawa in the past. Brown is a power forward who, in my opinion, might fit well alongside Mike Fisher on a very strong, if perhaps not so offensive, second line unit. Brown has had better numbers than Fisher for the most part in his career, including a career-high 33-goal, 60-point 2007-08 season, and is slated at a reasonable $3.175M for next season and four more afterwards. As for Williams, he's had significant injury problems in his career, but is still able to put up points when he's playing. Williams is to make $3.5M this season and next.
Jarret Stoll may also be on the block, and is a cap-hit of $3.6M for this season and next. He's a good offensive player, with 306 points in 360 career games, and would look good centring the Senators' second line.
The Kings have also got a plethora of prospects, as well as a whole whack of draft picks this season. On key prospect is Oscar Moller, who may very well be a part of any 'splash' the Kings are making. He's on his entry-level deal for two more years at a cap hit of $875k, which works well for the Senators--the low cap hit would allow Ottawa to sign someone off the free-agent market this off-season. Although Moller's undersized, he has the offensive abilities to be a top-six forward.
Which player would you most like from the Los Angeles Kings?
| Dustin Brown | 158 |
| Jack Johnson | 60 |
| Oscar Moller | 24 |
| Jarret Stoll | 19 |
| Justin Williams | 12 |
| The Sens should have a higher asking price | 47 |
| Whoever, as long as we get the fifth-overall pick | 64 |