Does Milan Lucic have a long-term future with the Los Angeles Kings? What’s the latest on Carolina Hurricanes’ stars Eric Staal and Cam Ward?
Lucic a short-term pickup for the Kings?
How long will Milan Lucic remain with the LA Kings?
THE BOSTON GLOBE: Fluto Shinzawa recently speculated Milan Lucic might not have a long-term future with the Los Angeles Kings. Acquired from the Boston Bruins in June, Lucic is eligible for unrestricted free agency next July. The Kings, however, must re-sign top center Anze Kopitar before his eligibility for UFA status next summer. They also must retain forwards Tyler Toffoli and Tanner Pearson, who will be RFAs in 2017. Given the Kings limited cap space and a slow-rising cap ceiling, Shinzawa believes Lucic is a secondary concern.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Kings currently have over $49 million invested in just 14 players for 2016-17, but that’s not counting Slava Voynov’s $4.166 million cap hit or Mike Richards’ salary-cap recapture penalty. It could cost over $9 million annually to re-sign Kopitar, Factoring in the long-term cost of retaining Toffoli and Pearson, the Kings must shed salary if they hope to re-sign Lucic. If they’re out of playoff contention by the trade deadline, it wouldn’t be surprising if Lucic gets shopped.
Update on Staal and Ward.
THE NEWS & OBSERVER: Luke DeCock reports Carolina Hurricanes captain Eric Staal and goaltender Cam Ward still lack new contracts, leaving them in limbo heading into the final season of their current deals. Both are eligible for UFA status next July. While talks are amiable between Hurricanes GM Ron Francis and agent Rick Curran (who represents both players), they are no closer to a resolution. A stumbling block could be Peter Karmanos Jr’s efforts to sell a portion of his ownership of the team, though Francis denies that has any bearing on contract negotiations. DeCock also reports of persistent rumors linking the Hurricanes to Quebec City.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: It’s seems increasingly likely Staal and Ward will start the season with their futures in Carolina still uncertain. That’ll ensure both players remain hot topics in this season’s trade rumor mill, especially if the Hurricanes fail to make any noticeable improvement. As DeCock notes, the longer Karmanos seeks a buyer willing to allow him to retain control of the franchise, the more uncertainty will affect Staal and Ward’s contract status and the club’s future in Carolina.
Looks like the Canes have some tough decisions ahead. Any thoughts on if Jeff Skinner will be dealt?
He’d be an intriguing option for a lot of teams if his name ever popped up in concrete trade rumours. But a concussion history and lack of speed would probably have many of those same teams hesitating, considering his $5,725,000 cap hit to 2018-19.
I hope my Flyers get him and can somehow move Lecavalier in the deal. My guess is Carolina would also want Luke Schenn and either prospect center Laughton or Cousins in the deal. Since both players have term on their deals I really think Skinner will rebound. Lecavalier will not. So the reward outweighs the risk in my estimation.
Carolina is a mess top to bottom. I think it’s time to just blow it up as much as possible, and rebuild. E. Staal will catch a nice return at the deadline. Barring an injury, I don’t think Ward will attract much attention.
Problem being aside from Staal who I kinda question what his value would be given where his contract is at this point of time it seems as tho the Canes are already a blown up team…there isnt a whole lot there for vets that would fetch reurns worth moving and the only things that may be worth moving are a couple to a few younger players who you ,ay want to keep if you were truely interested in “blowing up” and rebuilding….they are a mess.
I guess what I was trying to say is move what you can, for whatever you can get. It would make more sense to me for a total fire sale than the thought of re-signing Ward and E.Staal. But I agree, there isn’t much value at all in most of their vets. Or they are going to be tough sells. (J. Staal, Skinner, etc.) If the cap doesn’t move much next year, at least they’ll be in a good position to catch some of the more pressed teams looking to shed salary…and next year, I think that will be about half the NHL.
the canes aren’t in that much of mess they have some players they need out of there the staals and ward but they have some good young players coming up like rask,lindholm and faulk. has anyone else noticed all 3 staal brothers look overpaid marcs looks very bad with the years left he looked really bad since his last injury
I see you say that about Marc Staal a lot. But oddly, there isn’t a simple or advanced stat to back that up. The only significant drop is in his offensive zone face-offs. And that drop is a good thing.
M. Staal hasn’t been quite the same player since his injury but his regular season last year was ok, however he was brutal in the playoffs last season.
J. Staal has been what he’s always been for me. A mid tier #2 C but really a top flight #3. A 40 to 45 point guy that has a ton of other attributes but limited offensive ability & his ability to stay healthy is a serious concern.
E. Staal I’ll give a pass to for last season to some extent. He historically has better 2nd 1/2’s to 1st 1/2’s & he really came on last season but with so little forward depth he draws the best checkers & has few options to pass the puck to to get back to his former scoring ways & if he’s forced to play LW with Jordan I don’t see that as a positive. 60 points now baring a trade to a team he can C some scoring wingers with or Carolina loading him up with Skinner on the L & Lindholm on the R but that leaves no other scoring depth on the 2nd line, never mind the 3rd.
He was also playing with a fractured ankle since the regular season through the playoffs. He also had to have a bone chip removed from that ankle a day or two after Tampa eliminated them. So, I’ll give him a mulligan on the post season this year. But again I ask, where is the big drop off in his game? Because it isn’t showing up anywhere stat wise.
How about minus 8 in the playoffs. I accept it’s not a perfect stat but it’s still concerning. I’ll give him a mulligan on the injury.
just watch him play caught out of position a lot in his own end not reading the play well just hasn’t looked the same! and the contract isn’t helping, his game has really dropped off as far as his stats go playing on a good team helps if im the rangers I try and trade him well his stock hasn’t fell off the charts
@Bigbear, I watch about every NY game…I don’t see it. Considering he has gone from the 1st pairing with Girardi, to MDZ to Stralman, to Klein, to Boyle, Moore etc, and you don’t see a significant movement in almost any stat over that period says a lot! He really hasn’t changed. I’d go as far as saying maybe he never reached his full potential…but who knows.
@Stryker,
NY was basically playing with ONE somewhat healthy d-man. Mcdonagh, broken foot, Staal fractured ankle, Girardi ankle, Yandle shoulder, Klein just returned for the 2nd round after a broken forearm. And that left Boyle (who was also rocked in game 7 vs. Washington as the only healthy guy. You aren’t beating most teams that banged up, nevermind the #1 offensive team in the league.
i think your rangers pride is getting in the way of seeing the decline in stall or you just never played the game?
I don’t think so at all. And I played the game from the time I was about 4 well into my late 30’s. But that really has no relevance anyway. I also coach my youngest son today…..but that is just as irrelevant. That is just a ridiculous statement because you are going off what you read once upon a time, but never seen the guy play….It’s pretty obvious, you can’t answer the question as to why his stats haven’t dropped in any significant way…so you’ll change the subject. Typical!
typical fan that really doesn’t know the game just bases everything off stats that don’t show the complete game but go on sticking up for staal
Typical guy that reads a thought and can’t get it out of his mind….continues to ride that train even though advanced stats, show Staal see’s better qoc, dq time than most NHL d-men in the league. Including top pairing guys…..I’m shocked your pee wee coach didn’t break all this down for you. LMFAO!!!! Obvious you just come here to troll other fans,(Even your own) know very little, and when cornered, will just throw away any meaningful argument/stats, etc. out the window and start insulting.
Lmao do you ever really listen to yourself talk hockey I’d hate be the kids you coach lmao
I’ll bet you would! Because anything beyond goals, assists and +\- is far beyond your comprehension.
And all you can teach is how to read useless stats! Lmao
I disagree, any team having goaltender issues of any kind could be interested in Ward if the Canes retain some salary. Ward at a prorated 60% of his current salary is an excellent backup plan.
Ward has been riding 1 rookie cup run; terribly rookie regular season, & 1 great season 2010-11 for 10 years. His #’s in every other season have been below the league average for NHL starting goalies. You have to go back 4 seasons just to get to a SV% of .915 which since the post 2004-05 lock out is below average.
Add in he hasn’t been able to stay healthy the last 3 seasons & no 1’s taking Ward even if Carolina eats 1/2 his salary. Ward is now an NHL back up being paid a cap hit of 6.3, real salary of 6.8. He only came close to earning that salary in 1 of the 6 seasons he was paid it. He will be usurped by Lack quickly this season as Lack is a better goalie today than Ward by a significant margin.
Agreed.
Carolina is a mess. Rutherford left this team essentially barren of NHL talent & other than 3 prospects, 2 Dman & a smurf forward little help is on the way. Auction off E. Staal & undertake a significant rebuild.
E.Stall, J. Staal, Lindholm.
Skinner, Rask, ?
Gerbe, Nash, Nestrasil.
Malone, McClemment, Terry; #2 RW maybe baring a signing?
Faulk, Hainsey.
Wisniewski, Murphy.
Hanafin, Liles.
Jordan, ?
Ward, Lack.
The only team even close to this bad on paper is NJ. How did Rutherford turn this former job as GM in Carolina for ever, into a GM gig with Pittsburgh? That said, although I hated the Despres trade what Rutherford has accomplished this off season is impressive. I have concerns about the young D’s abilities & Letang’s health but at forward it’s amazing. They’ll be some roster tweaking until Fehr returns from injury mid season but Pittsburgh can ice 3 lines that will be able to put up points.
I think the Canes may be one of the more surprising teams. I don’t think they are as bad as they were last year. Of coarse I don’t think they are a playoff team. But I can see a player like Staal picking his game up in his UFA year and I’ve always liked Lack who should wrestle away the starting role. I realise you guys don’t like him as much as I do. Health is an issue for many of their players like Skinner.
Yet if Hannifin can pull an Ekblad and make an impact early his addition along with Wiezniewski should improve the back end.
Better goaltending, improved D and motivated forwards I can see this team surprising many.
but yes that is a lot of ifs. Yet when are there anything but ifs regarding a team that performed so poorly.
Colorado and Dallas are other teams who could swing things around provided all those if’s are checked off appropriately.
I agree Jeff. I don’t like the roster specifically & think it’s barren of depth but the upgrades at D as mentioned, the development of younger players Faulk, Murphy, Rask & Lindholm, a better contribution in goal from Lack over Ward, coupled with a bounce back from E. Staal of sorts & Carolina should improve over last seasons performance, at least by points. They may not actually move up the standings what so ever but will be better than Buf & NJ but probably compete with Toronto for the 13 14 slots in the standings in the East.
Just a caveat. I lay a wild card bet in both conferences early every year when the odds are better & I laid a $100.00 bet at 40 to 1 that Toronto makes the playoffs. Ha-ha! I took SJ at 25 to 1 in the West, same wager.
Is Wiz really an upgrade over Sekera? I also think to even come close to replicating Ekblads rookie season would be highly unlikely. But I do agree Staal could bounce back. Outside of that, that is one ugly roster. I’d be shocked if they leapfrogged anyone other than NJ in the eastern conference. Philly should be the same or better, Columbus,Florida should be better.
The Wiz is a substantial upgrade offensively & although he’s perceived to be a liability defensively by eye test his #’s don’t support that & he’s logged huge TOI/GP in his career.
I agree Carolina’s awful. You just can’t compete offensively with so little depth & team defense can only carry you so far. I have them getting nominally more points but still sitting near the bottom in the east & entire NHL when all is said & done.
Ideally, Kings should shop Gaborik and try to retain Lucic.
However, Gaborik’s 4.875M cap it and age (33 with 5 more years on his contract) will make that nearly impossible.
The way I see it playing out is if Lucic shows chemistry with Kopitar and Gaborik, which on paper the line looks like it will have some success, the Kings will re-sign Lucic and trade Brown for draft picks or prospects. No sense paying him $5.8 mill to be a third liner.
What are they going to trade Brown for? We can talk about him being the captain of two cup winning teams but he has been brutal recently as far as on ice production is concerned
You are exactly right, and bring up two very important facts. On ice performance has been brutal but has lots of leadership and experience and still has great foot speed and hits EVERYTHING. So in saying that I don’t think the Kings could expect much in return, I’d say mid-level prospect and a mid draft pick.
There are young teams with loads of talent that are in need of leadership and have the cap to easily fit him in.
I think Lucic and the Kings are gonna like each other, alot. This is really the perfect team for him, a football team on skates. I aglso agree on Brown, he’s an asset that could bring a nice return.
The Canes should look to move Eric Staal now and not wait till the deadline. Staal will fetch alot more at the beginning of the season vs with 13 or so games left at the end of the season. And this is Rutherford’s mess for sure – he will do the same thing to the Pens.
cant see brown fetching a great return he is a 5.8million third liner might have to take money to move him
I agree, he won’t fetch a big return but he is definitely trade-able without having to eat any salary.
I think he’s trade-able too but it’s going to be a creative move of some sort. I just don’t see which team needs a ‘leader’ right now. Maybe Edmonton, but they won’t spend the money on Brown. Possibly Ottawa or New Jersey. His contract is looking much worse with the stagnation of the cap. The Kings can’t really take much salary back so there will probably be a few moving parts.
Well Buffalo has a glut of excellent, young talent and are in need of some leadership, and have the cap space to easily fit him in. Not too mention Brown is from nearby Ithaca.
King.. Sorry didn’t mean hold salary just take a shorter term contract back
I was thinking Buffalo all along – NY State kid that could give the Sabres the leadership they need.
Yep, seems like a very logical fit to me too. He is just the type of leader guys like ROR and Kane need with off the ice issues and the right leader on the ice for kids like Reinhart and Eickel.
Carolina has better players to trade than Toronto has!!!
It’s funny how striker talks about Carolina.. When TO is in the same position but he would never admit it.
im starting to think the same thing lol
Bruins would be smart to try to bring Lucic back.
If he has a great season he will get a great payday.
Might return home to Vancouver.
La will have a tough time fitting him under their cap.