On the Los Angeles Kings, Vancouver Canucks and Milan Lucic …
News 1130 Sports: Milan Lucic’s agent, Gerry Johansson, said that there have been no contract talks with the Los Angeles Kings lately. Johansson said: “Milan Lucic would love to re-sign with Kings but is preparing for July 1st as well.” Johansson expects there to be lots of teams interested in Lucic if he hits the open market, and the Lucic’s hometown Canucks may be at the top of the list.
News 1130 Sports: Milan Lucic: “Not much talk with the Kings the last 2 months, I would love to remain a King but I also have to get ready for July 1st.”
News 1130 Sports: On what Lucic is looking for in a team: “It’s not all about the money, you want to be at a place where you have fun at the rink.” … “Winning is a big thing for me, I have not won the Cup since 2011, once you get that taste, you want to re-live it.”
News 1130 Sports: Lucic on the Vancouver Canucks: “It’s a team I grew up cheering for as a kid, I will give every team a chance to hear what they have to say.”
On the Edmonton Oilers …
Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Bob McKenzie on TSN 1260 on Pierre LeBrun mentioning that the Milan Lucic could be “open and warm” to an offer from the Oilers if he doesn’t re-sign with the Kings.
“Just trolling. No, it’s actually true. Lucic’s first emphasis is to try and re-sign in L.A., and we kind of thought all along that was going to happen. But the fact that it hasn’t happened yet might lead us to believe that there’s a chance he goes to market.
“If he goes to market, I think the two teams that will have significant interest in him – and he might have significant interest in them – would be his hometown of Vancouver, and the Edmonton Oilers. The Edmonton one is obvious simply because of the Connor McDavid effect, and the belief, strange as it may be for many fans, that this almost decade of abject failure is about to come to an end. That one of these years very soon they’re going to suddenly going to become one of the better teams in the National Hockey League with all of this talent. And that Lucic is the kind of big body and plays the heavy game that Chiarelli really likes, and I think Lucic would be wide open to that.”