Blake Says Trade Will Not Be Easy for Kings

Rob Blake is for rent.

Not for sale.

Trade for him at your own risk, because he isn’t going to help the issue by agreeing to stay with your team one day beyond this season.

“I don’t want to leave,” said the Kings’ captain Friday night after he scored and had two assists in their 4-3 loss to Minnesota at Xcel Energy Center.

“It’s going to be real difficult to trade me because I won’t sign a contract. First and foremost I want to [sign with the Kings and] stay here. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll wait until summertime. I’ll wait until July 1 to see where I want to go.”

Blake is earning $5.267 million in the final season of a three-year contract. He can be an unrestricted free agent after the season.

The specter of a trade has hung over him since training camp, when he spurned a Kings’ “best, final” deal of about $21.5 million for three seasons. At that time, he resigned his captaincy, saying it didn’t make sense to lead a team he might be leaving during the season. He reconsidered when Coach Andy Murray left the job open and Blake realized that he was the King captain whether he wore the “C” or not.

He put it back on. How long he keeps it on depends on how long he keeps the sweater.

“The only thing I can control is on the ice,” Blake said.

It’s also the only place he can forget what about his employment status is for now.

“I think about it every day off the ice,” he said. “Off the ice it bothers me, I won’t kid you about that. But when I put on the jersey, it’s the same as it’s always been. I play to win.”

His goal at 5:23 of the third period Friday night forged a 1-1 tie with the Wild that lasted only 41 seconds, until a defensive mistake by winger Jason Blake allowed Sergei Krivokrasov to skate in free on goalie Jamie Storr and bang in a rebound.

“The next shift, we had a goal scored on us,” Murray said of the lost momentum. “. . . It was the next shift after a goal, usually the most important shifts of the game.”

From there, it was a case of trying to catch up, futilely as it turned out. Jim Dowd’s goal made it 3-1, tempered when Ian Laperriere rebounded a Mattias Norstrom shot to cut the King deficit to 3-2.

Stacy Roest’s goal, scored over a prone Storr, proved to be the game-winner. Bryan Smolinski’s score with 41 seconds to play made it closer.

It was the fourth loss in a row for the Kings, and the question of losing their captain is on everyone’s mind as they break for Christmas before reassembling for a game Tuesday night against San Jose.

“It’s tough,” said Luc Robitaille, himself in contract talks with the Kings. “He’s one of the three best players in the league. Players are talking about it. It’s natural.”

Blake will be there to face San Jose. In the holiday spirit, in a deal negotiated by the NHL Players’ Assn., there is a trade moratorium until Dec. 27.

After that, it’s anybody’s guess. Dave Taylor, the Kings’ senior vice president and general manager, would presumably handle the deal, and he is scheduled to leave the country next Friday to scout players in Russia.

The issues:

* will any team take a risk on Blake without the assurance of a long-term contract?

* will any team meet the Kings’ demands, which presumably would be high?

* and how high can those demands be if the risk that they will lose him to free agency in July becomes greater?

“I think it gives them two choices,” Blake said.

“They can let me play here and then lose me in the summer, which they’re not going to do. Or they can trade me and get something for me.”

As usual, the Kings would not comment. Nor would they comment on reports that Toronto and the New York Rangers are seeking Blake’s services.

Ron Salcer, Blake’s agent, said that he has not been contacted by another team seeking to sign Blake long-term, something he would expect as a prelude to a deal.

In Blake’s mind, the issue was forced early this week in a meeting involving Taylor; Tim Leiweke, the Kings’ president; Salcer and Blake.

At that time, Blake and Salcer were apparently told that the Kings could not or would not meet their price, which figures to be about $8-10 million a season.

“We agreed to disagree,” said Salcer, who left the meeting with an idea that more talks were possible.

Blake left it with another impression.

“It’s a tough year,” he said. “But I can live with [a trade] now.”’

He’s just not going to help it happen.