Some quick thoughts on this Friday morning as the trade deadline approaches:

• A source told me late Thursday night that the Kings in fact made a huge offer at one point in the process for both Rick Nash and Jeff Carter. Can you imagine? But the Kings eventually dropped out of the Nash talks (he likely wasn’t going to accept a deal to go to L.A.) and focused on Carter only. The feeling in the Kings front office was that Carter’s lower cap hit -- $5.27 million compared to $7.8 million for Nash -- would allow them greater flexibility when it comes time to re-sign star goalie Jonathan Quick. His deal runs out after next season and he’ll command a huge raise over his current $1.8 million salary.

• The Kings are getting lots of interest in captain Dustin Brown. They may not move him in the end but are seeing what’s out there for him. Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia and the New York Rangers are among a long list of teams that have interest in the Team USA Olympian. One source told ESPN.com that the Kings would like to get defenseman Luke Schenn and highly touted forward prospect Matt Frattin from the Leafs in a Brown deal. My sense is that Toronto would find that price too rich, but GM Brian Burke -- who had Brown on Team USA in 2010 -- really loves Brown.

• Steve Ott of the Dallas Stars has lots of teams interested in him, too. It’s certainly not a given that Dallas will move him considering where they sit in the Western Conference standings -- in eighth place Friday morning. But they’re listening. Vancouver likes Ott a lot, and Toronto and Philadelphia also likes him. It just so happens that the Stars also like Flyers winger James van Riemsdyk, but it’s going to take a lot more than Ott to pry him out of Philly.

• One NHL GM we spoke to Friday morning was stunned the Kings dealt blueliner Jack Johnson. Turns out he’s been in play for quite a while. One source told ESPN.com that the Flyers and Kings talked about a van Riemsdyk for Johnson swap a few weeks ago but it fizzled out.

OK, back to the phones ...