| RUMOUR | 2010/2011 NHL Statistics | ||||||
| To Los Angeles | Position | GP | G | A | P | Years | Cap Hit |
| Jarome Iginla | Forward | 16 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 3 | $7 million |
| -------------------- | |||||||
| To Calgary | Position | GP | G | A | P | Years | Cap Hit |
| Brayden Schenn | Forward | 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 3 | $3.14 million |
| Other considerations | |||||||
Gee whiz, you step away from the computer for a night and the hockey world goes a blitz with a trade rumour between the Flames and Kings, which would see Jarome Iginla head down South to Los Angeles for a package that would include Brayden Schenn.First of all, I'm not going to write this off as wild talk, because the early building blocks has some kind of merit to it, since the Kings want to win now and the Flames could be on the verge of rebuilding. I don't think either of those statements are far-fetched, but this whole notion is taken with a grain of salt.
The Kings have found themselves in a very interesting position as we close on the quarter-pole of the 2011 NHL season as the Western Conference leaders and a trade for a player like Iginla would be the sort of move that could keep the team in that fine position, especially if they could trade pieces that are not necessary to the team's immediate success, like Brayden Schenn.
The Flames on the other hand are in a state of limbo in the public's eye and only Flames management know exactly where the team is heading in the foreseeable future. As much as the rebuild idea does have some merit with the team mired in 14th place in the Western Conference, the Flames are only 5 points behind the 8th place Phoenix Coyotes and a comeback is definitely possible, which would mean that if Iginla was to go anywhere, the Flames would require players that would help them to win now.
As for Iginla, there is plenty of scuttlebutt around how happy he is with the team and/or his play of late, which is leading to more smoke from the rumour mill and even that doesn't seem to be far-fetched. The question then becomes, would Iginla waive his no-movement clause and accept a deal to California in a deal, which would see him join a current contender.
The salary cap numbers do provide an interesting challenge to this rumour, as the Kings were projected to be in tough for any big additions to their side going into the year, but they would be able to dump a good chunk of what they'd take on if Schenn's entry-level cap hit was struck from the books. I don't have anything in terms of concrete numbers, but I would imagine that the package heading back up to Calgary would have to be somewhat sizable from their own roster.
In the overall scheme of things, there are a lot of wheels that have to be in motion for this deal to go down. A lot of approvals need to be made from a lot of different people, especially some people that haven't been in consideration up until this point. This deal is not a rental agreement, since Iginla still has two more seasons after this one on his contract, so there is that to deal with and whatever the Flames decide in terms of how they want to proceed with the rest of their season and their long-term plan.I won't write this idea off, but I can definitely see it getting ki-bosh'd at some point or another because there was a no keeping any progress from happening.
