I was talking about the draft to a person with huge ties to the Kings and we started talking about the up-coming free agency period. He/She said “What would you think about the Phaneuf kid playing for the Kings?”
Of course I replied, “What do you know?”
A chuckle ensued followed by “Can’t tell you anymore”.
Thinking about it, it does make perfect sense. Calgary, if they’re going to ink J-Bo, they desperately need to shed salary. A Phaneuf/J-Bo combination would be deadly, but expensive.
But does Jack Johnson fit the bill of Phaneuf-lite? Yes, I know, it will take a LOT more for the Kings to pry Dion away, but as you can already note, Lombardi has made pretty good deals for Visnovsky and O’Sullivan.
Phaneuf would be the piece Lombardi is obviously looking for to go with his youth program. He can afford the cap hit without worrying about the next few seasons.
via HockeyBuzz.com – Matthew Barry – Say What? Phaneuf to the Kings???.