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This makes no sense to me. If the Kings wanted Schneider, why didn't they claim him off waivers? It would have cost them nothing. Now if they get him they have to give up a prospect or pick to do it. Yes, I understand that they would have had to waive him before they could trade him later in the year if they had claimed him now, but it still makes no sense to me. And not to mention that he just doesn't seem to be the kind of player the Kings need, other then his contract number. Go get someone who can help on the ice and in the room, not Matthieu Schneider.

I hate to sound like Anthony, but a lot of what Dean Lombardi does just makes me shake my head in disbelief.

Paul --

As I have recently been schooled on the ins and outs of waiverness (see other Schneider threads), I believe the answer is that no-one wants to help Burke by taking this salary off his hands for nothing. When the Schneider trade eventually happens, I will be interested to see what Burke has to add to the pot in order to get someone to help him out of the jam he's created for himself. Burke may be able to minimize the damage by playing multiple interested parties off each other. But as there are only five teams talking to him (per Burke's comments), I think he's going to have to cough up a high (non-first round) pick.

I don't think DL will trade for MS unless the pot is substantially sweetened. That's me reading between the lines of "we're still looking at all options"/"looking for someone more defensive" etc..

If DL can nab Schneider and get ANA's 2nd round pick, and then turn around and flip Schneider at the deadline for another pick or two, he will have addressed a big need AND gotten two or three picks for his trouble. If he can't do this, I think he'll look elsewhere.

DL also has to be looking at camp, taking the temperature of who is doing well and who isn't, trying to gauge whether or not he's going to need to deal a veteran (Calder, Armstrong, LaBarbera) before opening night, or whether it's more prudent to hold onto these guys for now. Not to mention what's happening with POS. He's got lots of balls in the air.

Ought to make for an interesting couple of weeks.

@Paul:
I think DL is in a much stronger bargain position now that he knows that no other team wanted MS @ $5.75M per year. He knows that Burke HAS to get under the cap AND he still wants to sign Selanne. Knowing this DL might be able to force Burke to throw in a very high draft pick and/or a very good prospect while only sending a few low draft picks or a fringe player the quacks way.

Wait? You guys actually think Burke would ADD something to the deal to get a team to take Schneider? What are you guys smoking? I want some.

I'm sure you all are trying to forget, but remember the trade that brought JR to the Kings? The Flyers needed to dump his salary after signing Forsberg. He also had a ntc, which made it even harder. The Kings ended up getting JR and a draft pick for "future considerations" which means the Flyers gave the Kings a draft pick to take JR off thier hands. The Ducks may end up having to basically pay another team to take MS salary off their hands too. All the other teams know Burke has to unload that salary. I think it may be coming down to who wants the least extra from him.

Paul --

Yes. Burke has to add something to make the trade happen. Otherwise, as you pointed out, someone would have picked him up on waivers.

This was the deal everyone turned down:

Anaheim gets Selanne, gives up Schneider. Net salary savings of 3 or 4 million. Waiver team gets Schneider and pays a premium for him (5.75 million).

Here is the deal as it stands (also known as "no deal"):

Anaheim gets nothing. No Selanne. No Schneider (he's sitting at home.) Also, they don't get to play this year unless they move somebody. (actually, I'm not sure anybody really knows what the penalty will be for not being over the cap; but I don't think Burke wants to find out.)

Burke has said he will not put Schneider through re-entry waivers. Therefore:

Here is the deal that will happen, in some form:

Anaheim gets Selanne, gives up Schneider and a prospect or a pick, gets a late round pick or lesser prospect back, gets cap relief and saves several million dollars.
The other team gets Schneider and picks or prospects, essentially buying said picks/prospects (plus, if they are a non-playoff team -- i.e. the Kings -- the picks they will get for Schneider for trading him at the deadline) for a few million dollars.

Now, Burke might also swing a trade that involves some current NHL players (e.g. Armstrong, Calder, etc.). But it's not likely, since that would cut into his cap relief. All the pot sweetening will more likely be on the level of prospects and picks.

Since everyone knows Burke has to do something before the season starts, no-one is in any big hurry to do anything. Schneider does not need to prove himself in camp. He will just come in and do what he does. I certainly hope the other GMs make Anaheim sweat it out. The longer this drags out, the more he's going to have to cough up. On the other hand, if Burke has more than one truly interested party, he ought to be able to play them off each other, minimizing the damage.

Hey Rich I check in every now and then because of the very informative behind the scene facts that we are not privy to. It's good to honest journalism and I appreciate it. However, lately you've been posting too many open ended entries. It's troubling that your site is turning into hockeybuzz.com. Right your ship and get back to facts, please.

jker77...I'm sorry you feel that way, but if the difference between my reporting and the ``reporting'' on certain rumor sites isn't already abundantly clear to you, I have zero interest in explaining the difference.

Rich, I would not even bother giving one second of a thought to a post like jker77. Sounds like someone needing attention to me.

Hey Rich, Are the Kings still kicking the tires on McKee.

And don't forget that in the deal which saw the Kings acquire Jack Johnson, they also had to take on Oleg Tverdovsky's contract because Carolina wanted him off their books.

Brian Burke was just on Hockey This Morning on XM Radio and talked at length about Matthieu Schneider. I'll paraphrase the points he made:

1: There will be no re-entry waivers situation. He will get moved without being sent to the minors.

2: He claims he's turned down numerous offers from quite a few teams and that his goal is obviously to move Schneider to a team he wants to go to and take as little salary back in return as possible. He mentioned deals that included a draft pick for Schneider, a player for Schneider, and an additional Ducks player and Schneider for one of their players and he's turned them all down.

3: If a deal doesn't get done "in the next day or 2", the Ducks will "play vulture" and wait for a team to have an injury to a top flight defenseman because Burke believes when that happens, the first player that team will think of is Matthieu Schneider.

Of course Burke wouldn't mention any specific teams, but it doesn't sound to me like he intends to trade him to the Kings. I assume Lombardi would be offering a draft pick in return, and he clearly stated that he turned down a number of those offers.

Here's a thought. Why don't the Kings try to sign Selänne? He clearly stated over the weekend he'd like to play for 2 or 3 seasons and that he'd play for anyone. The Kings need a veteran leader who would command a decent salary. Selänne is the player the Kings should be pursuing, not Schneider. That would solve the salary cap issues for both teams. :D

Paul,

I was going to post a link to the Burke interview but you beat me to it with your synopsis of the whole thing. (You know what, it's a pretty interesting interview, so I'll post the link anyway.)

I didn't think, however, that Burke's description of the offers he's been getting and/or rejecting in any way eliminates the Kings as a potential destination for MS. I really think Burke will take the best deal he can get, wherever it comes from. He's not going to be worried about competing with the Kings this season, and since MS will be gone after this year if he comes here, I don't think it makes any difference to him.

Burke is certainly putting the best face on the situation (saying he has lots of options, that he's turning down offers, that if a trade doesn't work out now it will work out later...), but it doesn't change the fact that he has to do something before the season starts, whether it's Schneider or not.

As far as "taking as little salary back as possible": Burke doesn't want to, and can't really afford to, take any salary back; it defeats the whole purpose of getting rid of Schneider's salary. I suspect that's why some of the offers have expanded to include additional warm bodies from Anaheim.

Re the Kings signing Selanne: if POS doesn't come to camp soon and if there isn't someone who can step in to top-six duty (Moller?), signing Selanne would make a certain amount of sense. The same logic would apply: trade him to a contender at the deadline for picks.

I seem to remember that there is just a financial penalty for going over the cap and that penalty is spread amongst the teams in smaller markets. If they really can't dump MS they just overpay for Selanne.

@JGSMall I believe the salary cap and the salary floor work the same way in the NHL. If you're over the cap or under the floor, you cannot skate a team in an NHL game. I'm pretty sure that's how it works in the NHL, but I could be wrong. This isn't baseball with a "soft cap", a "luxury tax", and revenue sharing.

Paul, re salary cap:

I've tried to find out the answer to this many times, and it appears, strangely, that nobody really knows what would happen if a team violated the cap/floor rules. This is because the CBA never specifically addresses the issue in a clear way. However, the CBA does broadly state that, in the event of a "circumvention" of the CBA, which includes not complying with the cap/floor restrictions, the following actions may be taken, at the Commissioner's discretion:

1. Impose a fine of up to $5 million; Club's cap shall also be reduced by such amount for the following year.
   
2. Direct a Club to forfeit draft picks.
   
3. Declare a forfeiture of any NHL Game(s) determined to have been affected.
   
4. Suspend any Club employee, Player, or Certified Agent involved.