After Bruce Garrioch published the report that Dany Heatley has asked for a trade, a lot of potential trade destination have been mentioned. As of right now only Minnesota and LA seem to have a chance and motives for the trade (if, of course, Garrioch is true). With Heatley carrying a cap-hit of $ 7.5 million for the next five seasons, both of those teams have necessary cap space - the Kings have Jack Johnson as their only signficant free agent and the Wild are looking at Heatley as a possible replacement for Marian Gaborik, who currently also has a $ 7.5 million cap-hit.
The Wild seem to have less tradeable assets than the Kings. The Wild's Benoit Pouliot seems to be past the sell high stage but Colton Gillies is an option - especially after coach Jacques Lemaire, who's style was a perfect fit for the rugged young forward, left the team. The new style of play might also make Jim Sheppard expendable. The Wild also have Josh Harding, stuck behind Niklas Backstrom and rumored to be shopped around. Meanwhile the Kings have a young team and a full cupboard of prospects - Jack Johnson is the frontrunner to be dealt, because of his contract demands, but the potential deal might also include Justin Williams. The Kings also might decide to part with one of their goaltenders - either Jon Quick or Erik Ersberg will have to go sooner or later to make room for Jonathan Bernier. The Kings dept allows them to trade one of their highly rated defensive prospects (Thomas Hickey, Colten Teubert, Vyacheslav Voinov), one young forward (Oscar Moller, Wayne Simmonds, Ted Purcell, Brian Boyle) and a roster player like Johnson for Heatley.
If Heatley really is being shopped, this makes the Kings the most probable destination. And if the trade happens, Heatley might help take Anze Kopitar to the 80-90 point level.
Image: kaatiya, source: Wikimedia Commons
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