Tag Archives: Edmonton Oilers

Ethan Moreau signs, and he’s pissed off.

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Ask Ethan Moreau, and he’ll tell you it’s a good thing not too many teams inquired about his services this summer.

“Because it makes me pissed off for the season coming up,” said the 35-year-old forward, who finalized a one-year, $600,000 contract with the Kings on Tuesday.

Most athletes will tell you they play better with something to prove — the proverbial chip on the shoulder — and Moreau definitely has something. While Kings assistant general manager Ron Hextall said they were “thrilled to have him,” he’s well aware why Moreau was still on the free-agent market in late August: Teams were scared off by a lengthy injury history that included a 2010-11 season in which Moreau played just 37 games.

“Last year was a tough year, whenever a player is getting on in years, everyone questions whether he’s capable of doing it anymore,” Hextall said.

Moreau — who passed a physical Monday –insists he can still do it.
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Smyth gets his wish; Kings get Fraser.

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Ryan Smyth’s trade request was granted and the 35-year-old left wing is an Edmonton Oiler once again.

In return, the Kings receive forward Colin Fraser and a seventh-round pick in the 2012 Entry Draft. Lombardi said Saturday that he wanted to acquire a player whom he could send to the minors, buy out or trade, so keeping Fraser would not appear to be high on the Kings’ wish list.

In Fraser, the Kings receive an energy-line forward who topped out with seven goals and 19 points in 2009-10, his second NHL season, for the Stanley Cup-winning Chicago Blackhawks. Fraser dipped to three goals and five points in 67 games for the Oilers last season. In 224 career NHL games he has 16 goals, 41 points and 168 penalty minutes.

According to capgeek.com, the Kings can buy out Fraser at a cost of $275,000 over two seasons.

Smyth, whom Lombardi said requested a trade home about two months ago, heads back to the city he called home from 1994-2007. The Alberta native scored 23 goals last season –third on the team — and his (long anticipated) departure gives the Kings their most pressing need to fill when free agency begins July 1.

Smyth is scheduled to have a conference call in Edmonton at 4 p.m. today.

Update: Dean Lombardi said that Fraser has a chance to be with the Kings in training camp and beyond. More from Lombardi in tomorrow’s editions.

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Ryan Smyth update.

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The trade that would have sent Ryan Smyth to Edmonton for Gilbert Brule and a draft pick, reported as complete at one point Friday, is off.

Dean Lombardi told reporters Saturday in Minnesota that talks broke down when it became clear to the Kings’ GM that the proposed trade wouldn’t leave him enough cap space to sign a replacement for Smyth, a 23-goal scorer last season.

Lombardi didn’t get into the specific reasons why — the NHL prohibits general mangers from tampering with players under contract to other teams — but he offered some general reasons.

Given the four choices he had with the player (Brule) he was reportedly acquiring — playing him, trading him, buying out his contract or sending him to the minors — “I have to have the last three,” Lombardi said. “I’m losing Ryan Smyth here, a 20-goal proven scorer. I’m not going to get that back from any team I’m dealing with.”

Lombardi went on to say that “it’s not a money issue. Whether it’s a two-way or a one-way contract, your ability to buy out or waive, there’s certain things that have to be in place to keep that ability in place.”

That explanation seems to agree with a report on TSN.ca that Brule, who missed 41 games last season due to injury and illness, is still injured and therefore unable to be bought out by the Kings under the terms of the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement.

Lombardi said he’d rather not be stuck with playing Brule. “I’d rather go to the marketplace and say, ‘OK,’ like the deal I have with the other team, I’ll go and get it,” he said.

Smyth, an Alberta native, requested a trade home, so Lombardi’s “other team” is presumed to be the Calgary Flames.

This could all change by the end of the day. For now plan on reading more, along with a recap of the Kings’ draft picks, in tomorrow’s editions.

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Kings trade for Penner. Update.

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The Kings reeled in the biggest fish at the NHL trade deadline, acquiring left wing Dustin Penner from the Edmonton Oilers for defenseman Colten Teubert, a first-round 2011 draft pick, and a conditional third-round pick in 2012.

ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun wrote on Twitter that the 2012 pick will become a second-round pick if the Kings win the Stanley Cup.

Update: General manager Dean Lombardi told reporters at team headquarters in El Segundo that the trade ultimately came together Monday.

“When we left here late last night, everything was still very much in the air,” he said. “In terms of this having me going to bed last night thinking this was done, we were far from it.

“This is (one of) those times when you look at your locker room and say, they deserve some help in strengthening our locker room, making us a better team.”
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Kings 3, Edmonton 1.

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The Kings found a way to get a win, and a point in a fourth straight game, against an Edmonton Oilers team that left no excuse for a letdown.

Ryan Smyth was credited with two goals after replays showed enough evidence that his wooden stick got a piece of two deep Drew Doughty blasts. Jack Johnson had the other goal, and Jonathan Quick turned in an acrobatic (if not technically perfect) 32-save effort.

Whether this was a notable turning point for the offensively challenged Kings, or merely a solid road win against a bad team, will be revealed over the course of the nine straight road games that await.

For now, it’s worth noting that the Kings had to come from behind after a Magnus Paajarvi goal gave the Oilers (15-27-8) a 1-0 lead at 3:21 of the second period. They did so on the strength of a previously weak power play.

Smyth answered with his first goal 24 seconds later – five seconds into a power play – and scored again on the Kings’ next power play at 9:47, sliding across Nikolai Khabibulin’s field of vision as Doughty released a shot.

The Kings finished 2-for-4 on the power play after going 1-for-28 with the man advantage in their previous 10 games. Doughty finished with two primary assists and Johnson had two secondary assists, along with his deep blast past Khabibulin at 14:52 of the third period.

Edmonton went without a power-play goal in five chances against the Kings, falling to 3-for-26 on the man advantage in its last six games. Before that, the Oilers did not score a power-play goal in 11 games. It was the type of game the Kings were hoping for, if not expecting.

A few more notes:
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