Wrighting a wrong in the smyth trade? | Edmonton Journal

But now we have the TSN’s omnipresent Bob McKenzie, who has a rolodex of fine contacts, saying Smyth has said he’d like to play for the Oilers this upcoming season if a trade could be worked out. [...] Nobody on the Oilers can comment because Smyth is not their player and that would be tampering and the Kings aren’t of a mind to talk, either, but Smyth did.

"Holy Cow…that’s the first I’ve heard of that. I have not asked for a trade. I have a year left on my contract. We’ve got some good things here," said Smyth, who wouldn’t rule out a return here in the summer of 2012 as an unrestricted free-agent, but that’s if the Oilers wanted him. And it might only be a two-year deal for, say, $3.5 million per season. "I guess we would cross that bridge then," said the 35-year-old leftwinger, who played 770 Oiler games before he was traded to the New York Islanders in a teary goodbye in 2007. [...] I know Smyth, who had 47 points (23 goals) last season, likes the Kings’ team. They are considerably closer to making a Stanley Cup run than the Oilers are in their rebuild. I don’t see him aching to get out of LA with another year at a $4.5 million salary, even if he has never lost his feelings for his Oiler No. 94 jersey. Maybe he hasn’t asked for a trade; maybe he’s asked his agent Don Meehan to quietly sniff around to see if the Oilers would be interested, now. They could use his leadership qualities, for sure. [...] Frankly, I see Smyth getting traded at the deadline next February or early March to a Cup contender than over the summer.