Change Kovalchuk to Carter and the Kings might do it.

However, this should be two separate trades.

Lewis for Manning swap might work, but the Oilers would need to add a mid-round pick to make it worth it.

Lucic, Puljujarvi, and a 2nd for Carter with no retention on either side is a fair deal, with the edge slightly to Edmonton. Perhaps have Edmonton retain $375k or so just to make the Carter & Lucic contracts have equal cap hits.

Lol Theres no way the kings would want Lucic back. NTC with 2 more years on his contract over Kovy. Not going to happen. Reality is the Oilers are probably going to need to retain a decent amount on Lucics deal to move him. Puljujarvi also isnt going to have that much value as hes been a fringe NHLer so far.

If the Kings were to acquire Lucic, he would have had to waive his NMC to allow the trade. The Kings would not agree to allow that clause to continue, and it would therefore be void for the remainder of the contract. I agree that they wouldn't do it for Kovalchuk, but they might for Carter. Only one extra year.

Ya that is true with the NMC. I just dont think the Kings would have any interest in Lucic unless the Oilers retained a good portion of money(at least 1- 1.5 million)

Jeff Carter is older and not on a great contract, but he can still score goals and play in the top 6. Lucic just seems destined to be a 3rd or 4th liner. One less year, and 700k less cap wise for Carter.

Both players are old and/or useless enough to where they won't factor into the Kings rebuild plans. Honestly, at this point the Kings would probably be better off having a worse player in the lineup to help with the tanking. If he doesn't have a NMC, the Kings can demote him to the AHL when they are ready to replace him with one of the kids.

If the Kings feel like Puljujarvi could be an impact player for them after a change of scenery, that plus a 2nd round pick (which would be 35-40ish overall because Edmonton sucks) is worth one extra season of a bad contract, IMO. I think the Kings could ask Edmonton to retain $364k on Lucic to make his cap hit equal to Carter's after the trade (both $5.636 million).