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Kings are unlikely to make serious pitch for Calgary’s Jarome Iginla

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CHICAGO — Calgary Flames captain and spiritual leader Jarome Iginla might fit in quite nicely with the Chicago Blackhawks or the Boston Bruins.

How about with the reigning Stanley Cup champion Kings?

On the ice? Yes. With a shrinking salary cap looming? Probably not.

This is why the chances of the Kings making and succeeding in a serious pitch for the right wing appear slim. The struggling Flames and Iginla played in Chicago on Tuesday night. Of course, things can change with one tweet in the NHL, especially with the trade deadline still eight days away.

But next season’s salary cap drops to $64.3 million and the Kings have plenty of business in the off-season with eight restricted free agents on the roster, most prominently defensemen Slava Voynov and Jake Muzzin and winger Kyle Clifford. Defenseman Rob Scuderi will be an unrestricted free agent.

The Kings are mindful of stepping into the same salary cap issues that forced the Blackhawks to instantly retool their roster after winning the Cup in 2010. The Kings would have to sign Iginla, who is on an expiring contract, at a major cost plus protect the future of the franchise. The price of getting the apparently soon-to-be-moved Iginla as a late-season rental appears too high.

Etc.

Kings Coach Darryl Sutter had said he planned to ask President Obama about the Keystone XL pipeline project during the team’s White House visit. However, Sutter said via email later Tuesday they spoke about hockey, family and Chicago, and they “didn’t talk about Keystone.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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