Bure Deal Still Way Up in the Air

Vancouver General Manager Brian Burke, scheduled to be at the Kings-Chicago game Saturday night, was a no-show after spending time in Dallas dealing with the New York Islanders in the Pavel Bure sweepstakes.

The Islanders are said to be talking about dealing holdout Ziggy Palffy, which would be a swap of malcontents.

The Kings are supposedly in the race for Bure.

In a New York newspaper, Burke was quoted as saying that there are these possible scenarios for a deal:

“One, an elite player for Bure. I don’t think that makes a lot of sense because the team that trades value for value is no better at the end of the day.

“The second scenario is the other team gets the best player in the deal and I get help at several different positions and some future. The third scenario is a bunch of prospects and draft picks. That’s the least desirable scenario.”

Said Steve Tambellini, Canuck vice president for player personnel, who was at the Kings’ game: “That pretty much takes care of all the possibilities, doesn’t it?”

*

Coming into Saturday’s game, the Kings had lost 86 player-games because of injuries, compared to 32 at the same point a season ago. But the rate should go down next weekend because goalie Stephane Fiset, defenseman Doug Bodger and center Jozef Stumpel are scheduled to return to the ice for the game against St. Louis on Nov. 28.

That’s a far cry from Saturday night, when the Kings had 20 sound bodies--the bare minimum--for the game against the Blackhawks.

Still at large will be wingers Russ Courtnall (broken foot) and Steve McKenna (abdominal strain) and defenseman Rob Blake, the toughest loss of the season with a broken foot that will probably keep him out until Christmas.

*

After leading the league in penalty-killing over the first 15 games, the Kings have slipped to fifth after giving up six power-play goals in the last four games before Saturday. . . . Defenseman Doug Zmolek, traded to Chicago by the Kings during the summer, did not make the trip to Los Angeles because of family matters.