QUIET DAY FOR SOCAL TEAMS KINGS/DUCKS: L.A. TRADES STUART, AS BOTH TEAMS MAKE MINOR MOVES.

Byline: Matthew Kredell and J.P. Hoornstra

Staff Writers

Despite being one of the few teams in the NHL pegged as sellers for months, the Kings ended up being only minor movers Tuesday at the trade deadline.

General manager Dean Lombardi's best intentions to get value out of two aging veterans in the last year of their contracts -- defenseman Rob Blake and forward Scott Thornton -- were hindered by no-trade clauses wielded by the players.

Lombardi did keep piling up the draft picks, trading defenseman Brad Stuart to league-leading Detroit for a second-round pick in this year's draft and fourth-round selection next year. He also got a seventh-rounder from the Ducks for goaltender Jean-Sebastien Aubin. The Kings now have two picks in the first round and three in the second for the June draft.

Blake, the team's captain, told Lombardi he would only waive his no-trade clause to return to Colorado, the only other team for which he has played in his 18-year career.

The Kings and Avalanche had discussions but Lombardi didn't get the offer he wanted, and Colorado ended up trading for defensemen Adam Foote from the Columbus Blue Jackets and Florida's Ruslan Salei instead.

"It did affect Colorado's ability to make a legitimate offer, probably," Lombardi said of the trade for Foote, who the Avalanche got for a conditional first-round pick in either 2008 or 2009.

Blake, who was drafted by the Kings and -- after a four-year stop in Colorado in which he won a Stanley Cup -- signed back with the Kings, was pleased to be staying.

"Like I said before, I wanted to be with Los Angeles," Blake said. "I'm with Los Angeles as of today and we'll move forward from there."

Thornton gave Lombardi a list of four teams he believed had a chance to win the Stanley Cup, which has eluded him during his 17-year career.

"We tried to accommodate him," Lombardi said. "We were close on one team but then they did a big deal that kind of got blocked him."

Stuart, who had been one of the team's better defenseman for the second-half of the season, had five goals, 16 assists and a minus-16 rating in 63 games.

The deal with the Ducks was the first ever between the Southern California rivals. Aubin had been playing at the Kings' minor-league affiliate in Manchester (N.H.), where he was assigned earlier this month.

The Ducks completed three relatively small trades, in addition to acquiring Aubin. They traded for Tampa Bay defenseman Jay Leach for minor- league right wing Brandon Segal and another 2008 seventh-rounder. The Ducks also dealt a third-round pick in this year's draft to the New York Islanders for defenseman Marc-Andre Bergeron, and backup Brandon Bochenski was sent to Nashville for future considerations.

The Ducks were rumored to be in the market for a top-six forward, but general manager Brian Burke decided to keep the Edmonton Oilers' 2008 first-round draft pick, a potential top-five pick, which the team received when the Oilers signed Dustin Penner to an offer sheet in August.

"After we evaluated all the deals we felt that if we got in a situation where we needed to put a winger in and play in the top six, it was Bobby Ryan's time. We felt comfortable with that," Burke said.

Burke also said that the acquisition of Bergeron wasn't in response to the jaw fracture Chris Pronger suffered in a 6-3 win over Chicago on Sunday. Pronger had minor surgery Monday and is expected to miss "a game or two," Burke said.

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The Kings sent defenseman Brad Stuart to Detroit for draft picks.