Trade Rumors Following Blake All Over the League

Rob Blake was asked Sunday about the rumor of the day.

“Where have they got me going this time?” he cracked in reply.

New Jersey, he was told, for Scott Gomez and a draft choice.

“My mother called me this morning and said the Toronto Star had me going two other places,” he countered.

In no particular order, Blake is on the verge of going to Toronto, New Jersey, Philadelphia and the New York Rangers, if you buy the reports coming out of those places.

“When you stop and think about it, they all make sense,” he said.

Toronto needs a defenseman badly. Blake is from a suburb. Let’s make a deal.

New York needs a defenseman badly. The Rangers have a lot of money. Blake wants a lot of money. Let’s make a deal.

Philadelphia wants to unload John LeClair. If the Kings deal Blake, they would want a marquee player. Let’s make a deal.

New Jersey’s Gomez is struggling in his sophomore NHL season but would appeal to Southern California’s Latino population. And the Devils are coached by Larry Robinson, who named Blake captain of the Kings. Let’s make a deal.

“Nobody [from management] has called me about a trade, and I would think they would,” Blake said.

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As if there wasn’t enough to do before playing the Red Wings later Sunday night, Coach Andy Murray spent the morning pacing the halls of Joe Louis Arena with a cell phone in his ear.

Murray was trying to find a way to get defenseman Rich Brennan from Lowell, Mass., to Detroit in time to play after (1) Aki Berg’s ankle showed that the shot he had taken Friday night had rendered him unable to skate; and (2) like so much of the rest of America, Jere Karalahti had chosen Sunday as a day to sleep in.

“He was late for the morning meeting,” Murray said tersely.

Brennan made it from Lowell in time to play and was paired with Mathieu Schneider. Lubomir Visnovsky rejoined Jaroslav Modry.