Dean Lombardi was kind enough to step away from a meeting to talk to me for a few minutes regarding the story in tomorrow’s paper. I got a chance, at the end, to ask him about the prospects who are facing contract deadlines, and I got a couple updates that I thought would be of interest.

Most notably, Dean said progress has been made with Scott Parse, particularly in the last few days, and the Kings now seem optimistic about getting a deal done with Parse. They have until Aug. 15 to finalize a deal.

Also, the Kings will not sign Jan Marek. Instead, they will receive a third-round pick in the 2008 draft.

Negotiations are continuing with goalie Matt Zaba, who also faces a mid-August deadline.

David Meckler is likely to sign an AHL deal.

Ryan McGinnis will re-enter the draft and Joe Ryan will return to juniors.

Those are the names we were able to run through. Time to get ready for Game 5…