On the Los Angeles Kings …
John Hoven: The Kings don’t have any trades on the horizon. They are likely coming, but nothing is imminent.
John Hoven: The Kings had management/scouts watching defenseman Slava Voynov play in person multiple times this past season.
John Hoven: Don’t expect any updates regarding Voynov until late June at the earliest.
John Hoven: With the Kings AHL eliminated from the playoffs, their head coach Mike Stothers will be interviewed by the Kings for an assistant coach position.
John Hoven on Mayor’s Manor: Assuming that the Kings will go with the option to protecting a goalie, four forwards and four defense. That could make their protected list at: Jonathan Quick, Drew Doughty, Alec Martinez, Jake Muzzin, Derek Forbort, Jeff Carter, Anze Kopitar, Tyler Toffoli, and Tanner Pearson.
Left unprotected would include Dustin Brown, Nic Dowd, Trevor Lewis, and Brayden McNabb. Lewis could be the Golden Knights choice, assuming the Kings don’t try to offer up draft pick(s) and/or prospects for them to take Brown.
Toffoli’s new contract could be in the $5.5 million per range, with Pearson coming in around $4.25 million.
Other pending RFAs for the Kings include Jonny Brodzinski, Nick Shore, Andy Andreoff, Paul LaDue, and Kevin Gravel.
The Kings can’t buy Marian Gaborik out now that he’s injured. They will have cap issues and may need to look at trading one of Jake Muzzin or Alec Martinez to help gain some space.
On the Buffalo Sabres …
John Hoven: LA Kings assistant GM Mike Futa has interviewed with the Buffalo Sabres.
John Vogl: The Sabres interviewed Penguins Jason Botterill for a second time. As of yesterday afternoon Botterill was the only candidate to be interviewed for a second time.
John Vogl: “Could be something, could be nothing … but there’s a private jet scheduled to fly from Pittsburgh to Buffalo shortly after 2 p.m.”
