On Milan Lucic …
Fluto Shinzawa of the Boston Globe: Milan Lucic on potential being a UFA on July 1st.
“At the end of the day, you are human. It’s in the back of your mind thinking about it,” said the ex-Bruin. “But your main focus has to be on the hockey part, winning hockey games, and playing at your best. There’s the business aspect to it. As it gets closer to July 1, there’s times when you think about it more than you have, let’s say, when it’s September.”
If Lucic is going to remain with the Kings, it’s going to be for less term and money than he’d get on the open market. There would be a list of teams interested, including his hometown Canucks.
On the Toronto Maple Leafs …
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun: The Leafs aren’t concerned about burning a year of William Nylander’s contract as they have so many young players coming up, they don’t want to have them all becoming restricted free agents at the same time. This will help stagger them a bit.
Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star: (mailbag) If the Maple Leafs win the draft lottery and plan on selecting Auston Matthews, one of Tyler Bozak or Nazem Kadri will be traded. McGran is not sure if trading for a defenseman is a high priority. Maybe for a goalie.
Reader asks if a Kadri for Kevin Shattenkirk would make sense for the Maple Leafs. The Leafs would need to include something else – prospects or draft picks – but not sure if the Leafs would do that.
Reader questioning Jake Gardiner’s hockey sense. Gardiner is told what to do in every situation and he’s still making mistakes. The Leafs are not deep on the blueline, but Gardiner’s trade value may never be higher.
Joffrey Lupul is close to joining Stephane Robidas. He’ll likely start the year with the Leafs, but could get shut down if he gets injured.
McGran’s understanding that the Mike Babcock was pushing the Leafs to trade down in the 2015 draft and pick Ivan Provorov and not selecting Noah Hanifin over Mitch Marner.
On Mantas Armalis …
Elliott Friedman: The Maple Leafs and Hurricanes are among the teams that have pursued goalie Mantas Armalis the hardest. The Maple Leafs are believed to the favorite at the moment. Armalis is Lithuanian born, who has been trained in Sweden and is also a male model.