As Pierre LeBrun reported in his latest article at the Athletic, despite all the efforts the Tampa Bay Lightning put into re-signing of Alex Killorn, everything indicates that the 33-year forward will hit free agency. Killorn’s camp is seeking a 3-4 year deal, which could get him a contract in the neighborhood of $5-6 million, according to Evolving-hockey.com.
The Lightning apparently won’t go down without a fight in trying to keep longtime veteran winger Alex Killorn, but all signs point to the 33-year-old pending UFA going to market — where, by the way, he’s tied for the most goals (27) this season of the entire UFA class. Term will be a key item in discussions with teams come July 1. Killorn’s camp will be seeking three to four years.
Earlier this month, the Lightning made a long-term, lower-AAV contract offer to Killorn, although for the player, who just hit his career-high in both goals and points in a single season, there’s a pretty big interest from other NHL teams. The Lightning’s options are also limited due to having around $7,325,000 in projected cap space for the next season (including cap relief from Brent Seabrook’s contract on long-term injury reserve).
The Lightning also need to re-sign two pending restricted free agents Ross Colton and Tanner Jeannot, however, also per Lebrun, the Lightning is open to move Colton to avoid the 26-year-old forward going into arbitration.
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The Vancouver Canucks have bought out defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson, making him an unrestricted free agent. Ekman-Larsson, who signed an eight-year extension with the Arizona Coyotes in 2018, was traded to the Canucks in the summer of 2021, had four years left on his contract. As a result of buyout Vancouver will pay Ekman-Larsson $19.5 million in cash, while the team will carry his cap hit over the next eight years.
Massive buyout for Oliver Ekman-Larsson sprinkled over the next 8 years. The #Canucks are paying him $19.5 million in real cash to go away, per @CapFriendly. pic.twitter.com/zSwNBPHLPh
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 16, 2023
Another Swedish defenceman Erik Karlsson might be also on the move. Karlsson is seeking a deal with the contender, while the San Jose Sharks need more assets for a rebuild. [TSN.ca]
Erik Karlsson wants to play for a contender and the Sharks are rebuilding and so they really have a unified vision on where this needs to go, but you mentioned the contract. Is there a team out there, that can eat enough of that deal or how much are the Sharks willing to eat? Of course, Karlsson, has a full no-move and will have the last say on if he’s comfortable with a trade partner. No guarantee this deal gets done, but a few teams already kicking tires the last few days.
Apparently, Boston Bruins captain Patrice Bergeron predicted that the Vegas Golden Knights were going to win the Stanley Cup if they hire Bruce Cassidy.
George McPhee tells the story that Kelly McCrimmon asked Mark Stone to call Patrice Bergeron before they hired Bruce Cassidy.
Bergeron told Stone, “If Vegas hired Bruce, they’ll win the Stanley Cup next year.”
Well…
— Vegas Hockey Now (@VegasHockeyNow) June 16, 2023
