Kings: We aren’t part of a Heatley trade

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Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi late Thursday shot down a rumor that his team was involved in a three-way deal that would have had disgruntled Ottawa center Dany Heatley landing in San Jose, while the Kings would have sent Alexander Frolov and Jarret Stoll to Ottawa and would have eventually ended up with former Sharks captain Patrick Marleau.

‘No, not involved,’ Lombardi said via e-mail, adding that he had been in meetings with players until 7:30 and emerged to find a blizzard of calls and messages asking him about a trade he didn’t make.

The rumor began circulating early in the day and was denied by Lombardi. However, it picked up steam after ESPN’s John Buccigross, citing ‘NHL sources,’ said an agreement was in place to move Heatley, who had asked to be traded. ESPN later softened its story by saying all three general managers--Lombardi, San Jose’s Doug Wilson and Ottawa’s Bryan Murray--strongly denied that a deal was in place.

Looks like this one can be filed in the same place as the rumor that came up during the Stanley Cup finals that had the Ducks trading Chris Pronger to the Kings.

--Helene Elliott