Taylor Open to More Deals

All the NHL general managers will be under one roof one week before the trading deadline.

Think of the possibilities.

With the league’s GM meetings going on through Thursday in La Quinta, King General Manager Dave Taylor is known to be looking for a center for his first line.

With the team heading into the stretch run five points out of a playoff spot, Taylor has already pulled off several deals in recent weeks. Might he make one more?

“I’m keeping an open mind,” he said.

But not necessarily an open checkbook.

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The trade of Teemu Selanne by the Ducks on Monday to the San Jose Sharks raised the eyebrows of one of his former teammates, the Kings’ Stu Grimson.

“I know they are having kind of a tough year,” Grimson said, “but I’m surprised they did it within their own division.

“For the Sharks, it gives them a guy who can make a huge impact. He’s a tremendous player who can put the puck in the net on a regular basis. And it gets the Ducks out from under a big contract.”

That, said Grimson, has become the key.

“The league has changed so much,” he said. “Now organizations do not evaluate how someone is playing as much as they evaluate from a business standpoint. It’s a matter of how they stand financially after the deal compared to how they were before.”

*

With Jozef Stumpel and Bryan Smolinski suffering from rib injuries, Coach Andy Murray rated the chances of either center playing tonight no better than 50-50.

TONIGHT

vs. Montreal, 7:30

Fox Sports Net

* Site--Staples Center.

* Radio--KSPN (1110).

* Records--Kings 29-27-9-1, Canadiens 23-34-5-4.

* Record vs. Canadiens (1999-2000)--1-1.

* Update--In their first meeting of the season, the Kings encounter a Montreal team that has won three in a row. But, hot streak or cold, it doesn’t seem to matter. The Kings haven’t won a season series from the Canadiens in 17 years, since going 2-1 against Montreal in the 1983-84 season.