Written by Chris Peters at CBSSports.com
On the day the Carolina Hurricanes officially became sellers, another contending team swooped in to buy. The Los Angeles Kings acquired veteran forward Kris Versteeg from the Hurricanes for prospect Valentin Zykov and a conditional fifth-round draft pick in 2016.
This is the second deal of some significance Carolina was a part of Sunday after trading away longtime captain Eric Staal to the New York Rangers.
Versteeg, who was pulled from Carolina’s 5-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues Sunday afternoon amid the ongoing trade talks, has 33 points in 63 games this season. He also comes with a $2.2 million cap hit, which the Kings will have to absorb in its entirety. Carolina was already at the limit, having previously retained money on three contracts. A portion of Versteeg’s actual contract ($2.2 million) is already being retained by the Florida Panthers, anyway.
In order to make room for Versteeg’s cap hit, the Kings have reportedly placed Marian Gaborik on long-term injured reserve.
The Kings had been rumored to be in the market for depth at both forward and defense and reportedly nearly swung a deal with the Edmonton Oilers for Teddy Purcell and Justin Schultz, but that fell through. They had to move on to a backup plan.
With his name already on the Stanley Cup twice, having won with Chicago in 2010 and 2015, Versteeg has been pretty well traveled since winning that first Cup. The Kings will be Versteeg’s sixth organization in the last seven seasons.
A veteran of 535 NHL games, Versteeg has 308 points over stints with the aforementioned Blackhawks, Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers, Florida Panthers and Hurricanes. He also has 84 games of playoff experience, mostly with Chicago.
Versteeg is going to help Los Angeles get the depth they’re looking for, but was a healthy scratch at times during the Blackhawks’ Stanley Cup run last season. He did play in five of the six games of the Stanley Cup Final series against the Tampa Bay Lightning in a minimal role. Chicago sent him to the Hurricanes along with Joakim Nordstrom during their salary dump over the summer.
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