Blake Agrees Trade Is Inevitable

Rob Blake was on the ice for 90 minutes Sunday morning at the Kings’ HealthSouth Training Center in El Segundo, long after most of his teammates had disappeared.

The defenseman was skating, testing the sore shoulder that has caused him to sit out the last two games, chipping pucks into a carton, looking like a man without a care in the world.

But Blake knows full well that the only world he has ever known as a professional hockey player is about to change. Now in his 12th season with the team that drafted him after his freshman year at Bowling Green, Blake expects to be traded before next month’s deadline because of the collapse of contract negotiations with the Kings.

Was he lingering because he knows his days in a King uniform are numbered? Is there sadness over the dwindling days?

“I’ve had some good times here,” Blake said, “but I don’t know if I would say I was sad. I’ve known all year this was going to happen. It’s just that now, it’s closer to the deadline. Whatever happens, I’ll deal with it. It’s not the end of the world.”

Does Blake, who won’t decide until today whether he can play tonight, hold out any hope that he might remain a King?

“There’s always hope, but not really,” he said. “It’s pretty much written in stone.”

TONIGHT

vs. Edmonton, 7:30

Fox Sports Net

* Site--Staples Center.

* Radio--KSPN (1110).

* Records--Kings 24-22-8-1, Oilers 25-23-8-1.

* Record vs. Oilers--1-0.

* Update--Their only previous meeting this season took place in December in Edmonton where the Kings won, 4-2. This is the final game of a disappointing homestand in which the Kings have gone 2-4-1, playing inconsistent and sometimes undisciplined hockey. The Oilers are 6-2-2 in their last 10 games.

* Tickets--(888) 546-4752.