Kings’ McSorley Negotiating to Play for Las Vegas of the IHL

King defenseman Marty McSorley will likely join Las Vegas of the International Hockey League during the NHL’s lockout, but Bob Strumm, Thunder general manager and coach, said that reports that McSorley would make his debut as early as Tuesday were premature.

“Not a chance,” Strumm said Sunday. “If we’re going to do it, we’d like to do it as quickly as possible. I wouldn’t say anything is imminent. We have to talk to him first. I haven’t talked to him this weekend. We’re planning on talking to him in the next couple of days, now that the 15th has passed. We’d love to have him. We think think we’ve got an edge with his brother Chris here (as associate coach).”

McSorley’s agent, Michael Barnett, has described the discussions as “casual conversations.” McSorley was unavailable for comment. If McSorley agrees to play for the Thunder, Strumm said he would need two or three days of skating and might be ready to play Friday in Las Vegas against Houston.

Thunder spokesperson Kevin Gallant disputed a report that McSorley would receive as much as $10,000 per game.