Kings Get Ellerby from Panthers

[Teagz]

Los Angeles has added some depth to its banged-up blue line,​

acquiring defenseman Keaton Ellerby

from the Florida Panthers for the fifth-round draft pick​

the Kings got from New Jersey for Andrei Loktionov

.​

Ellerby, 24, has no points in nine games this season while logging an average of 15:11. The 10th overall pick in the 2007 draft has 17 points (2G, 15A) in 125 career games.​

Ellerby – a pending restricted free agent on a one-year $700,000 contract — is expected to join his new team in Nashville, where it lost 3-0 to the Predators last night.​

The trade shouldn’t come as a surprise. Kings GM Dean Lombardi has been working the phones in search of blue-line help. His team is currently without the services of Willie Mitchell (knee) and Matt Greene (back).​

“Right now we have to operate on the premise Willie and Greener are done for the year,” Lombardi told Lisa Dillman of the Los Angeles Times.​

“If [Mitchell] comes back it’s a tremendous bonus. If not, we can’t continue to rely on that. We’ve got to get in that mindset.”​

 

[Mr.Baller]

Great trade for the Kings !