What the Kings did in that spot, last season, was trade a 7th pick for Troy Stecher. Depth D man that was really needed since all the D-man on the Kings' opening night roster were injured at the time. The best thing they did in that spot was not overreact and say, "We need to spend a 1st round pick to get a pending UFA rental." That said, I was more than ok if they spent other picks, outside of the 1st, on someone like Phil Kessel. So for the Sens, Sabres, and Red Wings, they should try to see if they can get something along the lines of depth guy that's under the radar that could help the team down the stretch without blowing up 1st round picks or high prospects.
I don't know what the Kings should be doing this deadline. I kinda joked about wanting Määttä back, but he got extended by the Red Wings so that's a no go. Everyone thinks we should get a goalie, but getting a goalie is a huge no-go unless they think they can trade Cal Petersen's contract at a price that doesn't kill the team and get someone like Gibson or Demko or Karel Vejmelka (which the Kings kinda slit their throats on that one, scoring 5 goals on 14 shots on that guy). If the prices to do those things aren't where Rob Blake likes it to be, I'm all in favor of them trying to get a good shutdown D-men rental (preferably left D).