Löysin tämän uutisen juuri ja voi olla hyvinkin, että Blues hankkisi Blaken. Blake oli kertonut ystävilleen, että hänet treidattaisiin St.Louisiin. Saa nyt nähdä, Bluesilla olisi kyllä sitten kolme ehkä NHL:n parasta puolustajaa.
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>DENVER -- Rob Blake, Luc Robitaille and Ziggy Palffy are not the only Kings attending this weekend NHL All-Star festivities.
<BR>Club president Tim Leiweke and general manager Dave Taylor will be busy listening to offers for Blake, who could be traded before Sunday\'s game.
<BR>
<BR>Blake has told friends he expects to be headed to the St. Louis Blues. St. Louis stepped up its involvement with Blake after defenseman Al MacInnis went down with an injured right eye that might cost him the rest of the season.
<BR>
<BR>The Blues already are playing without league MVP Chris Pronger, sidelined four to six weeks after knee surgery. Blake is taking Pronger\'s place in the starting lineup for the North American team in Sunday\'s game.
<BR>
<BR>Because Pronger will make $9.25 million next season and Blake will command $9 million per season as an unrestricted free agent, the Blues are expected to make this just a rental until the end of the season. They did the same thing when dealing with the Kings for Wayne Gretzky in 1996.
<BR>
<BR>Taylor said the Kings have not granted other teams permission to meet with Blake\'s agent, Ron Salcer, about a multiyear contract. Asked if he thought that has hurt the Kings\' chances of getting a better return for Blake, Taylor said, \"Our approach has been not to grant permission. Now we have to decide how to proceed. We may or may not grant permission in the future.\"
<BR>
<BR>When the Kings traded Gretzky, a pending unrestricted free agent, to St. Louis on Feb. 27, 1996, they received Craig Johnson, Patrice Tardif, Roman Vopat, a first-round choice in the 1997 draft (Matt Zultek) and a fifth-round choice in the 1996 draft (Peter Hogan).
<BR>
<BR>Gretzky signed with the New York Rangers that summer.
<BR>
<BR>[addsig]