Another Frolov to Habs Rumour...

RUMOUR			2009/2010 NHL Statistics
To Montreal	Position	Age	GP	Goals	Points	2010 Cap Hit	2011 Cap Hit
Alexander Frolov	Forward	27	58	13	37	$2.9 million	UFA
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To Los Angeles	Position	Age	GP	Goals	Points	2010 Cap Hit	2011 Cap Hit
Matt D'Agostini	Forward	23	38	2	4	$500,000	RFA
Yannick Weber	Defenseman	21	5	0	0	$875,000	$875,000

A few interesting tweets this morning (example) have a rumour flying about, saying that Alexander Frolov is soon to be traveling to Montreal to be a part of the Canadiens for a rental package. As we come down to the rental time of year, this is the kind of deal which is really interesting.

Frolov, who is only just qualifying for unrestricted free agency, has been on the bubble with the Kings all season, as you may have noticed by reading this blog and other rumour blogs on the net. Montreal has also been one of the more interesting targets, where the rumours have been interesting, to say the least. Well, now that its crunch time and the Olympic roster freeze is quickly coming upon us, the rumour mill is in high gear.

The Canadiens are looking for some more depth scoring, especially since the injury bug has been taking big chunks out of the collective skin. With Mike Cammalleri and Andrei Kostitsyn out of the line-up, just to name a couple, the Habs are likely out looking for some more lamp lighters to help fill the roster gaps. Alexander Frolov is that kind of guy, who should be able to help that cause out, although you may not think he can very well, since he only has 13 tallies for the Kings this year. He has topped out at 35 goals in his career, so he does have the skills to do it.

If the Kings are indeed going to move Frolov, it is primarily to make sure that they get something in return, instead of losing him to unrestricted free agency for nothing. The Kings are still in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race, going into Thursday night's action with a firm grip of 5th spot. Asking for a roster player and a prospect is a fair request for a potential UFA who has scored 35 in his career, so this does seem somewhat likely.

From one tweet I had just recently seen (at the time of writing this post), it looks as though the prospect, defenseman Yannick Weber, may be the key to this deal and holds the most value. That makes some sense, but it is kind of interesting that the Kings are looking for another young defenseman.

Matt D'Agostini almost looks to be a throw in as the roster player at this point, since he has a very low cap hit, the Canadiens look to be taking on this reasonably-sized hit of Frolov's with little concern to their own overall hit. D'Agostini isn't going to bring anywhere near the offense that Frolov leaves behind and he'll likely be a depth 3rd or 4th liner, which the Kings do seem to have enough of. It would be interesting to see how he'd fit into their line-up.

Cap-wise, the Canadiens were going into the season with a little bit of buffer space between themselves and the ceiling, but with new injury discounts, they should be able to take on the new cap hit that Frolov would take and be able to take back the players from injury without too much of a hiccup.

The Habs have seen discounts from Brian Gionta, Andrei Kostitsyn, Andrei Markov and Andrei Kostitsyn, so they should be able to house Frolov from their annual cap hit of $55.8 million (approx.). I would also have to think Mike Cammalleri will be close to a discount, despite the Olympic Break, he should be able to miss at least five games after the fact, so that should also be a discount.

The Kings, on the other hand, don't even hit the $50 million mark in annual cap hits, even with Frolov in their active roster. That's an easy cap move there.

Like I had mentioned earlier, a roster player and a prospect is a good price around rental time and if the Kings are really high on Yannick Weber, then this deal does seem to be good for both sides... although, I can't really see what the Kings would like about D'Agostini... but if he's getting thrown in, there must be something to it. I would say it makes sense, but don't be surprised if there is a pick or two in there as well, just to level out the deal.

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