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Sources say Ilya Kovalchuk-LA Kings talks are heating up, again. Supposedly.

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We’ve heard scuttlebutt about the talks heating up between Ilya Kovalchuk and the Los Angeles Kings before. At this point, it’s like Cold War-era kids getting ready for a fire drill; you know what to do. Take everything with a grain of salt.

The latest rumor is that the Kings and Kovalchuk are boiling things down to no-trade clauses and other “fine print” details. Here is the latest bit from Craig Custance at The Sporting News.

There have been false alarms before, but it’s looking like Ilya Kovalchuk is finally closing in on a deal with the Los Angeles Kings.

According to the LA Times’ Helene Elliott, a contract between the Russian superstar and the Kings isn’t finalized but the two sides are down to working out details like how iron-clad a possible no-movement clause would be.

Rich Hammond, who covers the Kings for the team website, points out that team governor Tim Leiweke is in Europe this week which could lead to delays in getting any long-term deal approved. But like Elliott, Hammond wrote that indications are that the two sides are close to finalizing a contract.

Those are good sources, even if they’re far from hasty when it comes to calling the deal close to done.

The Kings and the New Jersey Devils have been the frontrunners since day one (it’s day, what, four thousand now?), so it’s hard to call this “news.” Still, we’ll keep you up to date. If something breaks in the talks, we’ll let you know.