Will Scott Laughton go to free agency, or will he re-sign with the Los Angeles Kings?
Each day Faceoff: David Pagnotta, on DFO Rundown, when asked about LA Kings pending UFA centerman Scott Laughton. Initial talks should occur soon. The free agent center market is thin, and he had been on the lookout 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 used to be AFP Analytics, updated their projections the opposite day, and like Jason Dickinson was a man who they’d projected to make 5 million bucks.
I talked about it on OilersNation On a regular basis (Wednesday), and folks were like, ‘There’s no, take a look at his offense,’ but I’m like, ‘Hey, this may be the summer of sticker shock.’ And the centerman available on the market, assuming you recognize (Evgeni) Malkin goes back to Pittsburgh, and all of that other stuff sorts itself out. Like the very best centers available on the market may very well be Dickinson and Laughton.”
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Pagnotta: “Yeah, and right, exactly, and possibly I mean sort 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 blokes.
And also you’re probably , I imagine, before he was traded, I imagine the number within the sweet spot was in and around $5 million per yr on an extension. Toronto didn’t wish to do it. They ended up moving him. I feel that was across the time Bobby McMann, also was within the $5.5 (million) range per yr. And Toronto didn’t want to do this. They moved him to Seattle.
Laughton either has or shall be meeting/talking to LA this week and attempting to get 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 top of the regular season. He was glad with, you recognize, where he was and the move, and he was impressed by the room as well. With (Artemi) Panarin there and (Anze) Kopitar being a giant a part of that. Obviously, you recognize, he’s not going to be there anymore.
However it appeared like he gelled pretty nicely in that room, and you recognize they actually like him. They would love to maintain him. I imagine there’s mutual interest in getting something done. You realize, I just.. I don’t know what the timeline on that’s, but they either met this week or are planning to fulfill this week to not less than have that conversation and strengthen that, that hopefully strengthen that relationship for his or her sake.
But we’ll see sort of where that goes. I do know he’s, you recognize, he’s got a relationship with DJ Smith, the interim head coach. They’re going through their search at once for a brand new bench boss. We’ll see if that impacts his decision, and possibly he waits until they do resolve, you recognize, who the brand new full-time head coach is.
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However it does sound like definitely, mutual interest from Laughton’s side and the Kings to maintain that relationship going, and we’ll see sort of how that unfolds over the following little bit.
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