The NHL trade deadline is upon us today at noon PST, and the Los Angeles Kings are in position to make a move. The Kings have 74 points, good enough for fifth place in the Western Conference, and they are only four points behind the San Jose Sharks for the division lead. The West is a tightly-packed conference, where a two-game slump can move you from the penthouse to the outhouse, on the outside looking in at the playoffs.
The Kings seem likely to make a move, so much so that they gambled and placed the high-priced veteran Marco Sturm on waivers over the weekend just to allow them the possible roster flexibility to make a move. However, the Capitals swooped in and claimed Sturm on Saturday.
One name that keeps popping up in Kings' trade rumors is Brayden Schenn, in that he is the player every other team is asking for from the Kings. However, the 19-year old center is a highly valued part of the Kings, so much so that Niesy of the SB Nation blog Jewels From The Crown laid out the reasons why Schenn should be kept and not dealt:
Another reason why Schenn holds more value for the Kings than he might to other clubs is because he addresses one of our biggest future needs: depth at center. Handzus becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, and Stoll only has one more season left on his contract. Instead of overspending for UFA centers, or potentially losing another valuable player in a trade, Schenn could hit the roster at just the right time -- and he'll be good, young, and cheap.
With Doughty, Kopitar, Quick, Johnson, Brown, Simmonds, and Bernier all still very young, this won't be our only shot at the dance. Lombardi believes in the worth of this young core, and doesn't want to break it up. He has managed the cap very carefully in order to do so. If Schenn could become another important part of that core, why mess with it for the sake of a temporary fix?
Will the Kings make a move today? We have a few more hours to find out.