Gaborik undergoes a “procedure,” as do several others

Before getting to the nuts and bolts of today’s press conference with John Stevens and Rob Blake, there was one important piece of information to pass along.

Blake said Kings won't buy Gaborik out, had a procedure and won't be ready for camp

— Helene Elliott (@helenenothelen) April 24, 2017

Blake said Gaborik played hurt and will have clean slate next season

— Helene Elliott (@helenenothelen) April 24, 2017

The information on Gaborik’s procedure, as well as the additional information on procedures undergone by several other players, will be released Tuesday, according to a team spokesperson.

Gaborik, 35, is signed through 2021 to a contract that carries a $4.875-million cap hit and is coming off a pair of seasons in which he totaled 22 goals and 43 points in 110 regular season games. The wing, who has dealt with injury issues throughout his career, had appeared in 99 consecutive regular season and playoff games with Los Angeles at the time of a knee sprain that disrupted his 2015-16 campaign and caused him to miss the final nine weeks of the regular season. Prior to training camp, he suffered a broken foot when he was hit by a teammate’s shot at the World Cup of Hockey. There had been speculation that Gaborik would be bought out of his contract – a decision that would’ve subtracted his $4.875-million cap hit from the teams books but would have left the team with a $1.125M hit in 2017-18, a $1.625M hit in 2018-19, a $3.025M hit in 2019-20, a $3.125M hit in 2020-21, and a $1.325M hit from 2021-22 through 2024-25, according to financials provided by Cap Friendly – but it appears that such a consideration is not on the table at the time.