HockeyBuzz.com – Matthew Barry – The Best Battle: Kings Win 1-0, Downie Goes Nuts, Iginla Offered?
I was told by a member of the press that two sources, one from Canada, claimed that Calgary had offered Jarome Iginla to the Kings in exchange for Brayden Schenn, Andrei Loktionov, Thomas Hickey and the Kings 1st round pick. He also went on to say that this will probably be confirmed by a legitimate Canadian newspaper. Calgary fans will think I’m crazy, or maybe its the food poisoning I got tonight from a bad Steak Sandwich, but I wouldn’t do that deal.
Last season, when Iginla made his cryptic comment about being willing to waive his NTC if it would help the team (that’s a paraphrase), I commented that to me that was Iginla saying, make the team competitive or get me the hell out of here. In those, innocent, pre-Kovachuk-drama days, I offered up my own back-seat driver trade proposal of Justin Williams and Jarret Stoll for Iginla, straight up. At the time, more than a few people thought that was delusional homerism. Didn’t I know that Iginla is a future Hall of Famer, etc.? My response was that Iginla wants to win, will waive his NTC to go to a team that has a prayer of winning in the next 3-4 years, and very few teams can afford to absorb that cap hit. I think I also mentioned that Calgary needed a center. Something like that.
In the last couple of weeks, with Calgary crapping out, I’ve been meaning to weigh in on the new round of Iginla rumors, most of which have the Kings as the lead candidate (aren’t they always?), due apparently to their abundant cap-space and desire for a top six sniper.
First things first, the Kings don’t have abundant cap space. One of the virtues of my Stoll/Williams for Iginla idea was it was a wash in terms of the cap. Trading three prospects and a pick for Iginla just adds $7MM to the Kings’ cap hit for two years. I’m not sure that could work this year, to say nothing of next year.
Okay, just ran those numbers. That trade would have us $2-3MM under the ceiling this year, but in 2011-12 (after re-signing Drew Doughty, Jack Johnson, Wayne Simmonds, Oscar Moller, Brad Richardson, and Michal Handzus and Justin Williams at discounts), Iginla would put us about $4MM over this year’s ceiling.
Which means, essentially, that a trade that doesn’t send salary back (like the one Matt Berry is talking about) almost certainly won’t work.
See? I didn’t even have to talk about the substance of the rumor, namely that trading three blue-chip prospects and a 1st for a fading veteran (even one of Iginla’s stature) would be laughably ill-advised. Iginla has real value, but he’s over-paid for the next two years, and Calgary is going to have to take less as a result. I see a Iginla for Avery and Frolov trade in our future. Or something equally head-scratching.