Robyn Regehr focused on the present rather than his future with the Kings

Kings general manager Dean Lombardi acquired veteran defenseman Robyn Regehr from the Buffalo Sabres on Monday for a pair of second-round draft picks to bolster the team’s blue line for the stretch run and the playoffs. Lombardi on Wednesday discounted the notion that Regehr would be simply a rental player, however. Lombardi said “there’s a good chance” the Kings can re-sign Regehr, who is in the final season of a five-year, $20.1-million contract he signed while with the Calgary Flames. “We’re looking at this as a guy that can fit here for a number of years,” Lombardi said of the 32-year-old Regehr.

“Really, really happy for a few different reasons,” Regehr said of joining the Kings after skating Wednesday with his new teammates for the first time. “First of all, being in a position to win again with a team it can do it in the past and wants to do it again. I’m very excited about that. I’m also familiar with Darryl (Sutter) as a coach and knowing his style and how demanding he is.” Regehr and Sutter were together with the Flames.

“I am quite familiar with a lot of the personnel,” Regehr said when asked if he knew any of his new teammates before trade and how he might be remembered from his Calgary days. “I remember I separated Justin Williams’ shoulder in the corner one game, so maybe he’s not quite happy with me. We’ll try to work it out. Water under the bridge.”

Asked about comment that he wouldn’t be a short-timer, Regehr said, “Right now, all I’m thinking about is right now and how I can get up to speed with the team and what they want me to do as quickly as possible. But for all that other stuff about the future, it depends on a lot of things. It depends on how things go for me personally. It depends on things go for the team. And also, probably the most important, there’s also other factors such as next year we all know the (salary) cap is going down from what it is this year. … There are so many things that are out there that are involved with that decision that I can’t really think about that too much at this point. I’ve got enough stuff going on right now to deal with.”

 

 

 

 

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