Ducks, Kings should make a deal
HELENE ELLIOTT
Sending Mathieu Schneider to L.A. would help both teams with the salary cap and on the ice.
The Ducks, still paying for their 2007 Stanley Cup championship and expecting to contend again this season, are about $3 million over the NHL salary cap limit of $56.7 million.
The Kings, hoping a core of dynamic forwards and a passel of talented but raw defensemen will lead them out of the wilderness of five straight non-playoff seasons, are about $3 million below the cap floor of $40.7 million.
With Scott Niedermayer committed to play the whole season the Ducks have a surplus defenseman.
With second overall draft pick Drew Doughty and 2007 first-rounder Thomas Hickey getting a shot to join 21-year-old Jack Johnson at the heart of a rugged defense, the Kings need the influence of a veteran and a left-handed shot from the point.
The Ducks happen to have someone who fits that bill: Mathieu Schneider, who will earn $5.75 million this season.
Trading Schneider would get the Ducks under the cap and allow them to re-sign unrestricted free-agent winger Teemu Selanne, whose scoring pop was missed during his post-Cup sabbatical.
Acquiring Schneider would get the Kings above the minimum and add experience to a young defense that's bound to make lots of mistakes while learning on the job.
It makes sense for both sides, though the Kings would be overpaying the 39-year-old Schneider for what he can do at this stage of his career.
Deal or no deal?
Ducks General Manager Brian Burke said Friday from his Anaheim office that he and his King counterpart, Dean Lombardi, have discussed a trade "but nothing lines up yet."
Lombardi, reached at the Kings' training base in El Segundo, wouldn't confirm he had talked to the Ducks. Speaking generally, he said he's still looking for an experienced defenseman and has been getting a lot of phone calls from fellow GMs.
"I'm a fairly popular guy because I have all this space and a lot of teams are pushing the cap," he said.
"I've always said there are three levels of deals -- kick the tires, matching needs and the finer strokes. We have a number of things at level B but we're still not quite there. Something can always come up during camp. We're OK right now."
Burke is eager to resolve his cap squeeze soon, for several reasons. Primarily, he has to: The NHL has a hard cap and teams must be within the limits before the first games are played in North America this season.
