The never-ending Mulletgate story took another turn this morning when it was revealed — first by TSN — that forward Colin Fraser, acquired by the Kings in the trade that sent Ryan Smyth to Edmonton, apparently has an injury that might cause him to miss the first two months of the season. The trade can’t/won’t be voided, and while Kings did not intend to buy out Fraser’s contract — which they would now be prohibited from doing anyway, if he’s not healthy — and the Kings certainly don’t lack for fourth-line forwards, today’s news just speaks to how ridiculous this whole situation is/was. The Oilers said Gilbert Brule was healthy. The Kings (and, apparently, the NHL) said he wasn’t. The Oilers traded a different player to the Kings, and now he turns up with an injury. There was already some bad blood between the Kings and Oilers, based on the way the Smyth/Brule situation dragged out, and now there’s this.
The most likely scenario here is that Fraser will start the season on injured reserve — if he’s hurt, he can’t be assigned to the AHL — and then either go to Manchester (and be exposed to the waiver process) or compete for a spot on the roster when he’s healthy.
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