Nicholls-to-Rangers Trade Seems Likely

The Kings and the New York Rangers are expected to make a deal for center Bernie Nicholls within the next 24 hours. The proposed trade would send Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato, both right wingers and both 25, to the Kings for Nicholls, 28.

“I can’t comment,” King General Manager Rogie Vachon said from his Los Angeles home Friday night. “There is no deal now. I’m not denying anything. There is certainly something in the works, but I can’t say it is finalized. Yes, we’ve been talking to the Rangers. We’ve been going back and forth with proposals and everything is on the table now.”

Ken Baumgartner, a former teammate of Nicholls in Los Angeles who plays for the New York Islanders, said in today’s editions of Newsday: “He had a bad month, and all of a sudden he’s on the block. I don’t see how he fell out of favor. Any other place, if you get in a slump, they’ll let you get out of it.

“But there, they are in such a hurry to win, they make more moves. Maybe they’re still looking for that European player (as Sandstrom is) to play with Wayne. And Granato has that speed.”

Baumgartner was traded by the Kings to the Islanders earlier this season.

It is believed the trade has been held up while Nicholls underwent minor bladder surgery Friday. The Rangers wanted to make sure there were no medical problems.

Nicholls was scheduled to play in Sunday’s All-Star game here. He was ticketed to fly out of Los Angeles Friday night.

“He’ll go if he feels up to it,” Vachon said. “I left it up to him. He was going to see how he felt.”

Nicholls is coming off his best season. He scored 70 goals, becoming only the fifth player in NHL history to do so. He also totaled 150 points a year ago, his seventh full season with the Kings.

This season, he has 27 goals and 48 assists for 75 points, but recently, bothered by several nagging injuries, he has slumped, failing to score a goal since New Year’s Day.

That coincided with a Kings’ slide all the way to fourth place in the Smythe Division. They were 0-6-1 since the start of the year before beating the Detroit Red Wings, 9-4, Thursday night. Nicholls had three assists.

The Kings’ problems caused their owner, Bruce McNall, to publicly promise big changes. Now, a big change may be at hand.