On the Los Angeles Kings …
John Hoven: expects the Kings to explore the idea of moving up in the draft. “Where the trade market goes (player-wise, not pick-wise) that weekend will most likely have the biggest impact on their next move.”
On the Arizona Coyotes and Oliver Ekman-Larsson …
TSN: Bob McKenzie on TSN’s Insider Trading said that the Coyotes have made Ekman-Larsson a long-term offer.
“Right now, the ball seems to be squarely in Oliver Ekman-Larsson‘s court. He is sitting on an offer from the Arizona Coyotes that is believed to be an eight-year contract extension at an average annual value of $8.25 million. If he wants to sign long term and make a commitment to the Coyotes, that’s the deal that’s on the table. If he doesn’t want to do that, then the Coyotes would of course look at their options in terms of going down the trade route. There doesn’t seem to be any sense of a timetable on this, but obviously sooner rather than later both sides would like to know where this thing is at.”
On the Vegas Golden Knights and John Carlson …
TSN: Pierre LeBrun on TSN’s Insider Trading said that they expect the Golden Knights to potentially be in on the John Tavares sweepstakes, but possibly defenseman John Carlson as well.
“What about John Carlson? George McPhee the GM with Vegas of course has a history with John Carlson. Let me be clear, John Carlson‘s priority is to re-sign with the Capitals after this season. He wants to stay there, that’s what the Caps want to get done. However, the salary cap. If this is a deal worth eight times eight for John Carlson, I think it might be, he might price himself out of Washington.”
There will be a lot of teams interested in Carlson. The Golden Knights tried to trade for Erik Karlsson at the deadline and will be looking for a stud puck-moving defenseman.
On the Nashville Predators and Ryan Ellis …
TSN: Pierre LeBrun on TSN’s Insider Trading said that defenseman Ryan Ellis has a year left on his contract and will be a priority for Predators this offseason.
“Nashville has identified that as their number one off-season priority. They’ve already talked to the agent for him. They plan to meet at the draft. They have to get him signed. He’s only making $2.5 million. Big raise coming for Ryan Ellis.”