The Kings are currently on their longest road trip of the season, an eight game odyssey ending in St. Louis on the 12th… barely two weeks before the February 26th, noon PT trade deadline. Over the past few weeks, Kings have been run liberally through the rumor mill, with new names seemingly added every day. So there are a lot of questions surrounding the team, and the group that returns home in mid-February may not be the one that left at the end of January.
For weeks several sources have been stating that Rob Blake will waive his no-trade clause given the right opportunity. If Blake does indeed leave the Kings for greener pastures, the next question is whether or not he’d end up returning in the offseason for another go in L.A. (see Tkuchuk, Keith and Weight, Doug for examples of this phenomenon). At 38, it seems like Blake’s hockey career is coming to a close, but then again, we all said that about Chris Chelios when he was 38, and at 46 the Detroit blueliner is still going strong. Whatever he decides to do, for the sake of Kings fans and hockey in general, hopefully Blake will do it early, as opposed to waiting until the midway point of ‘08-’09 season.
The Trade Deadline and Other Things on the Kings To-Do List (SHLA) 
