Oilers say a trade memo was sent notifying the Kings of the injury and stating that trade was "as is".

What a messed up situation.

Definitely a lot of he said / she said:

from LA Times

Bottom line though, the deal was all about moving Smyth and taking back as little salary in the process.

A whole lot of waiting yesterday.....

I'd be surprised of LA landed Brad Richards, but they are definitely swinging for the fence this off-season. Meanwhile, just about every free agent wing that King fans were hoping for have already been snatched up. Laich, Jokinen, Leino, Upshall, Cole, Fleischmann, Ryder, Ward, all off the board. Lomabrdi bypassed all of those options in pursuit of the big fish. The last name out there is Simon Gagne, who has played with Mike Richards in Philly.

Two players from the 2010/11 Kings moved on to other teams yesterday. Michal Handzus signed with San Jose and Alexei Ponikarovsky went to Carolina. The writing was on the wall for both departures. Zeus was a face-off and PK beast for us the past two years, but the play of Trevor Lewis over the second half of last season made him expendable. Add Mike Richards to the mix and there wasn't any room for an aging depth center.

Poni was signed to replace Alex Frolov last season, but he spent most of his time either in the training room, the coach's doghouse or the penalty box.

I like the Gagne signing. Two years at a reasonable cap hit of $3.5M. It's definitely a low risk / high reward situation. The top six now looks solid. Granted, Simon will probably miss a dozen games, but he should still put up 45-50 points. The most important factor will be him being healthy for the playoffs.

Now Lombardi can focus on re-signing RFA's Brad Richardson, Trevor Lewis, Alec Martinez and a guy named Drew Doughty.

Welcome aboard man! Huge LA fan here, and an even bigger Dean Lombardi fan! I love how he's been stockpiling amazing talent, and his track record in teh 1st and 2nd rounds are phenomenal. In fact, I try to draft whoever he drafts. (Hence, last year taking Toffoli and Weal.)

Anyways, really excited about LA contending, and good to have someone constantly updating me on it.

__________________
Answers

-->Jeffrey Skinner = The Answer to everything.

-->Jonathan Bernier = Best goalie for next two decades. Better than Markstrom, Rask, Pogge (Lol)...

Is that everything?

Los Angeles did not have a first round pick in this year's NHL Entry Draft. That pick was dealt to Edmonton in the Dustin Penner trade.

With their second round pick (49th overall), LA chose goaltender Christopher Gibson out of the QMJHL. Considering Goalie Guild has the Kings organization ranked at #4 in goaltending depth, I was surprised to see them take a goalie so early in the draft. Gibson, however, was ranked as the #2 North American goaltender available. He posted a .920 SV% and 2.42 GAA for Chicoutimi, which were 1st and 2nd in QMJHL, respectively. He also recorded four shutouts.

Here's what Central Scouting has to say about the kid:

I was going to post about the upcoming arbitration hearings for Brad Richardson & Alec Martinez - but just saw this on Kings Insider:


Martinez had an impressive rookie season, playing mostly in a 3rd pairing with Matt Greene. I am glad to see him coming back, but with all their depth at defense, I wonder where they will find room for Voynov.

Hey Howard,

Do you see Martinez as a full timer next season? What type of role would you expect, and what type of offensive numbers do you project?

I would anticipate Martinez as a regular on the 3rd D pairing with Matt Greene again this year. Typically Coach Murray will go with Doughty/Mitchell and Johnson/Scuderi as the primary pairings. Injuries to Scuds & Mitchell last season gave Martinez some added minutes and a number of shifts with 2nd PP unit. Barring a significant injury to one of those 4 d-man above him, I would see things staying the same. He may be an occasional scratch to get extra defenseman Davis Drewiske into a few games.

Last season, Martinez put up 16 points in 60 games, five of those points on the power play. I think he will top 20 pts this year, mostly at even strength. Although he doesn't have much fantasy value, even in deeper formats, I love his quick shot from the blue line. There were many times last year when Jack Johnson or Drew Doughty would take these huge wind-ups, hoping to unleash bombs from the point, only to shoot the puck straight into the shin pads of an opponent who had time to close the gap. Martinez has a quick release and his shot is usually on target.

As a side note, Martinez's new contract was for two years for $1.475M.

A little copy & paste courtesy of Kings Insider (Rich Hammond does an amazing job!).

Kings & restricted free agent Brad Richardson avoid arbitration by coming to terms.
Richardson can play center or wing. Given Terry Murray's tendency to shuffle his lines, Brad should bounce between the 3rd & 4th lines and the press box quite a bit.

GM Dean Lombardi provided an update of sorts regarding Drew Doughty.
Speculation is that Drew is waiting to see Shea Webber's new contract before signing.