Duchesne’s Status Still Uncertain

A source close to the Kings said Sunday that there was a question as to the team’s willingness to pay Steve Duchesne the $7.5 million to $8 million that might be necessary to buy out his contract.

The figure represents two-thirds of the outstanding value of his deal, which is the buyout amount mandated in the collective bargaining agreement between the NHL Players Assn. and the league. Although it theoretically could be negotiated, it also is the number that Duchesne’s agent, Pat Brisson, insists is not negotiable.

There was no contact between Dave Taylor, the King general manager, and Brisson on Sunday, even as Taylor continued in his quest to find Duchesne a new home and cut the Kings’ financial losses. That quest so far has been futile, and the clock is ticking down to the Tuesday trade deadline.

Duchesne is in the first year of a three-season-plus-option contract worth $15 million and is on $100 waivers that expire at 9 a.m. Tuesday. He remained in limbo, which Sunday was at Phoenix, where he participated in an optional skate during the morning. In the afternoon, he found things to do outside the hotel room so roommate Sean O’Donnell could rest in preparation to play against the Coyotes.

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King goalie Jamie Storr played for the first time since March 4 and faced 42 shots. One of them, from the blue line by Deron Quint for a second-period goal, was a revelation.

“That’s the worst feeling ever,” said Storr, “because now I know what it feels like to be blind. I couldn’t see a thing. . . . It’s like you close your eyes and [I throw] a ball at you. And I tell you to open your eyes after it’s already gone and you can’t pick it up.”

Storr was screened by a horde of players, including some of his own, on the play.

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Winger Steve McKenna, sidelined because of an abdominal strain that required surgery, played Sunday night for the first time since Dec. 9 and promptly was assessed a five-minute major penalty for a first-period fight with Phoenix’s Jim Cummins.