Will Scott Laughton go to free agency, or will he re-sign with the Los Angeles Kings?
Daily Faceoff: David Pagnotta, on DFO Rundown, when asked about LA Kings pending UFA centerman Scott Laughton. Initial talks should happen soon. The free agent center market is thin, and he had been looking for around $5 million from the Maple Leafs before he was traded to the Kings.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Tyler Yaremchuk: “What about Scott Lawton and the LA Kings? I was looking at AFP Analytics, updated their projections the other day, and like Jason Dickinson was a guy who they had projected to make 5 million bucks.
I talked about it on OilersNation Everyday (Wednesday), and people were like, ‘There’s no, look at his offense,’ but I’m like, ‘Hey, this can be the summer of sticker shock.’ And the centerman on the market, assuming you know (Evgeni) Malkin goes back to Pittsburgh, and all of that other stuff sorts itself out. Like the best centers on the market could be Dickinson and Laughton.”
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Pagnotta: “Yeah, and right, exactly, and maybe I mean kind of Boone Jenner, because he can play the position too. But yeah, those are your guys. (Charlie) Coyle’s re-upped in Columbus. Like these are the guys.
And you’re probably looking at, I believe, before he was traded, I believe the number in the sweet spot was in and around $5 million per year on an extension. Toronto didn’t want to do it. They ended up moving him. I think that was around the time Bobby McMann, also was in the $5.5 (million) range per year. And Toronto didn’t want to do that. They moved him to Seattle.
Laughton either has or will be meeting/talking to LA this week and trying to get a good indication as to what the direction of the team is. He likes it there. He’s gelled well with that group.
I remember talking to him towards the end of the regular season. He was happy with, you know, where he was and the move, and he was impressed by the room as well. With (Artemi) Panarin there and (Anze) Kopitar being a big part of that. Obviously, you know, he’s not going to be there anymore.
But it seemed like he gelled pretty nicely in that room, and you know they certainly like him. They would like to keep him. I believe there’s mutual interest in getting something done. You know, I just.. I don’t know what the timeline on that is, but they either met this week or are planning to meet this week to at least have that conversation and strengthen that, that hopefully strengthen that relationship for their sake.
But we’ll see kind of where that goes. I know he’s, you know, he’s got a relationship with DJ Smith, the interim head coach. They’re going through their search right now for a new bench boss. We’ll see if that impacts his decision, and maybe he waits until they do decide, you know, who the new full-time head coach is.
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But it does sound like definitely, mutual interest from Laughton’s side and the Kings to keep that relationship going, and we’ll see kind of how that unfolds over the next little bit.
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