Big rumors as goaltending injuries heat up the trade market.

There are now some big time trade rumors on the goaltending market as a result of two key injuries early into the season/ As most of you know by now Arizona Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith went down to injury last night potentially leaving the Coyotes with the need to find a back up, and now the latest update on injured Kings goaltender Jonathan Quick seems like he will be out a very long time. Kings insider Jon Rosen has just reported that quick is now out "indefinitely" and there's no timetable for a return.

There have already been a number of rumors involving the Kings and those are now only likely to pick up more steam as the need for number one in Los Angeles becomes increasingly clear. The two most obvious options of course are Marc-Andre Fleury and Ben Bishop, two truly star caliber players who's names have been mentioned in trade talk dating all the way back to last season, and in Bishop's case as far back as the NHL draft. The problem here of course lies in how much it would cost to acquire either player, likely a massive price, something neither the Kings nor the Coyotes in their current iterations seem likely to do.

Some of the more reasonable options also come with their own set of problems. While players like Jimmy Howard and Ondrej Pavelec are certainly available, perhaps even to the point of their respective teams being happy to finally trade them, they also come with significant salary cap hits that could be hard to stomach without some for of salary retention. It's also fair to ask if either man could truly take on the full-time number one role that the Kings would require of them.

Sportsnet Elliotte Friedman stated that there had been talk of the Kings reaching out to the Jets regarding Pavelec earlier this week in his 30 thoughts piece, but also added that when he inquired about those rumors they had been shot down.

Perhaps the most intriguing and realistic options come from NBC's Jason Brough who suggested the Flyers' are in an ideal position to take advantage of the King's woes in particular. Philadelphia has two guys capable of playing a number one role in both Steve Mason and Michal Neuvirth. and both guys have contracts that expire at the end of the season making them ideal candidates both to trade and to acquire. 

It's also worth noting that Flyers general manager Ron Hextall's front office tutoring came during his time as a member of the Kings organization, and the two sides have made several deals in recent years, indicating that they could be comfortable doing so again. 

It appears inevitable that the Kings will make a move to bring in another goalie, and if Arizona jumps into that mix things could get very interesting, expect more trade chatter in the coming days and perhaps even an official announcement regarding a trade if the Kings current goaltenders continue to struggle as the yhave.

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