On the Salary Cap …
Renaud Lavoie: The NHLPA will exercise the 5 percent escalator clause, but they won’t make it official until everyone is on board with it.
On the Los Angeles Kings …
Jon Rosen of LA Kings Insider: Milan Lucic’s agent said on Vancouver radio this week that though he’d love to re-sign with the Kings, he’s preparing for free agency. His agent added that there haven’t been any contract talks of late. A source has said that contract talks between the two sides are “ongoing” and that Lucic re-signing is still a priority for the Kings. Term seems to be the sticking point.
Helene Elliott: Kings GM Dean Lombardi on Lucic: “We’ve had to do a lot of work here…probably safe to say we will be making our best offer under the circumstances, probably early next week. There’s no question we want him back and he wants to be here.”
On the Detroit Red Wings …
Ted Kulfan of the Detroit News: Red Wings goalie Petr Mrazek will likely sign a new deal in the $3 to $4 million range.
Moving Jimmy Howard‘s $5.3 million cap hit (three more years) won’t be easy. Reasons being: not many teams are looking for a goalie, cap hit and term left on the his deal, there could be a flooded goalie market his summer (possibly Ben Bishop or Andrei Vasilevskiy, Marc-Andre Fleury and Frederik Andersen), and the teams that could lose a good goalie in an expansion draft want to get something in return.
GM Ken Holland realizes that a trade might be the best option for all sides.
“I can see on the one hand that having two goaltenders, it’s a nice luxury,” Holland said. “Certainly Jimmy Howard played an important role down the stretch in our team qualifying for the playoffs.
“It (a trade) might be good for some careers and good for the organization. I’ve thought about it lots.”