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Deal or no deal? For Kings and Sturm, it’s no deal--at the moment

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Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi defused day-long reports that he had acquired left wing Marco Sturm from the Boston Bruins for a conditional draft pick.

‘No deal,’ he said via e-mail a little while ago.

Asked what happened, he replied, ‘There was no deal.’

Assistant GM Ron Hextall, speaking in the Staples Center press box before Thursday’s game against the Florida Panthers, also said no deal had been completed. However, he did not rule out the possibility that the Kings, who are desperate for offense and have tried seven left wings on their top line this season, might continue talking to the Bruins about Sturm.

Hextall also said Sturm’s status on the injured reserve list is not a factor in delaying or killing an agreement. The Bruins can’t activate him from injured reserve because they don’t have the salary cap space to do that.

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Sturn did waive his no-trade clause so the Bruins could get salary cap relief. However, any team that would take him--even for the modest price of a draft pick conditional on his performance--would need assurance that his knees are stable. He tore ligaments in his left knee and was limited to 19 games in the 2008-09 season, and tore the ACL and MCL in his right knee last spring.

Sturm, 32, is in the final year of a four-year, $14-million contract. He resumed skating only this week, according to reports from Boston.

Helene Elliott

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