SUNDAY BEST: LA TALK, FLAMES ACTIVE, KARLSSON WATCH, AND MORE

LOS ANGELES, CA — Saturday night was special in Los Angeles, for so many people. Honouring Dustin Brown, seeing his No.23 being raised to the rafters and witnessing the unveiling of his statue, was a privilege.

Dustin and his wife Nicole are my good friends. He is a local legend, the first King to ever touch the Stanley Cup, and fans outside of the L.A. market will never truly appreciate his value to the community. He has meant, and continues to mean, so much to so many people. He is one of the most unselfish people I’ve ever met and everyone caught a taste of that in his pre-game speech.

“C or no C, I always wanted to be a King,” he told the L.A. faithful. “As I stand here today, with my jersey being raised to the rafters, my only hope is that in the future when you look up and see it hanging there, you think not of my achievements, but our achievements.”

I am grateful to have been present to celebrate my friends one more time. But there was another matter that garnered some of my attention.

About 30 minutes before the Crypto.com Arena doors opened, the Arizona Coyotes announced that Jakob Chychrun was being pulled from the lineup “due to trade related reasons.”

As I wrote about on Friday, the Kings have been at the forefront of this week’s Chychrun trade chatter. The Boston Bruins have, too. With the focus on Dustin Brown Night, there was no way GM Rob Blake was pulling off any trade minutes from the ceremony he was on the dais for.

When word started to spread that a move wasn’t coming Saturday night, the buzz in the press box started to dwindle and folks within the organization hadn’t been told a thing.

But checking in on the matter Sunday morning, both the Kings and Bruins still seem to lead the race. The Calgary Flames poked around this week, as did the Edmonton Oilers and Toronto Maple Leafs. Jeff Marek reported last night both Edmonton and Toronto were out of the mix, while I don’t get the sense the Flames upped their efforts too heavily (more on Calgary in a bit).

As for the Kings, Blake has been exploring multiple options. He was in on Niko Mikkola before St. Louis traded him to the New York Rangers. He’s checked in on Vladislav Gavrikov, Joel Edmundson and Jake McCabe. He wants to address that left side of his D corps.

Will another team step up for Chychrun and beat out whatever offer seems to be in Coyotes GM Bill Armstrong’s grip? Or does this come down to the Kings and Bruins? A Super Bowl news-dump wouldn’t be the most shocking thing.

KARLSSON WATCH 2023

My Friday column touched on Erik Karlsson trade talks. They’ve picked up, and the Edmonton Oilers aren’t the only team in the mix.

I haven’t gotten an exact handle on the other teams engaged with San Jose GM Mike Grier for Karlsson, but I was told the Sharks believe they have at least two options they’d feel comfortable executing if the All-Star signs off on a move. I’m led to believe each of those packages include first-round picks (plural).

Oilers GM Ken Holland has been working the lines, that’s no secret. He’s spoken with the Columbus Blue Jackets about Vladislav Gavrikov, who would likely come with a contract extension. He checked in on Chychrun. He’s reached out on other defencemen not currently in the headlines. He’s been turning over many stones and might now be focused on Karlsson.

We’ll see where this all goes, but the Sharks seem confident in their options – and that also includes waiting for the summer. Unless the package is greater than they want, I’m not sure San Jose retains upwards of $5 million on Karlsson’s annual cap hit. It sounds like the $3 million range is more palatable.

Both Karlsson and Chychrun lead the defensive pack. If either or both of those dominoes fall, the next two and a half weeks should be very intriguing.

BURNING QUESTIONS IN CALGARY

The Flames are tied with the Minnesota Wild with 60 points in the Western Conference. They’re currently on the outside of the playoff picture looking in. Missing the playoffs is not an option for Calgary, explaining their activity of late.

Bruins GM Don Sweeney isn’t the only GM checking in on everybody, as I wrote about Friday. You can add Calgary GM Brad Treliving to the mix.

There is A LOT of speculation surrounding the Flames. Some of it is pretty wild. Bottom line, Treliving isn’t happy. He is not pleased with his team’s performance and there are even some whispers over the future of head coach Darryl Sutter.

I’d be pretty surprised to see a mid-season change behind the bench in Calgary, but more than two well connected people have brought that up over the last few days.

Saturday’s 7-2 win over Buffalo was significant. The focus now, it appears, is on the ice. Calgary has poked around on several players, including Chychrun. Treliving wants to add up front, too. If there’s a move or two, or three, out there that he feels will improve his club’s chances at making the playoffs, he’s interested in exploring it.

Lots of eyes (insert emoji) on Calgary.

LARKIN NEARING DEAL?

We’re starting to hear progress in contract negotiations between the Detroit Red Wings and Dylan Larkin, with more movement believed to be coming from the captain’s side.

The Wings presented Larkin with an offer last month that, as I reported at the time, which was not received well. Talks have continued and an eight-year extension is still expected. But word on the street is Larkin’s new deal will come with an AAV figure beginning with an eight, not a nine.

Larkin’s camp has been pushing for a contract worth in the $9 million range, but it seems we’ll see a deal in the mid $8 million range when pen is put to paper.

TIP-INS

• Former Kings GM Dean Lombardi did a fantastic interview on Kings of the Podcast this week, where he talked about Brown. He even admitted to having a “semi-serious conversation” in 2012 before the trade deadline with one team about potentially trading his captain. While many believe that team to be Buffalo, I have it on good authority that club was Toronto.

• More on Ottawa: On Friday, I wrote about the Senators trying to move Zaitsev and willing to sweeten the pot. Some teams being discussed include Anaheim and San Jose, depending on their other moves. And no, I do not believe the Senators are a serious contender for Karlsson.

• The price tag on Blues forward Ivan Barbashev seems to be a second-round draft pick and a prospect.

• As of now, the sense both TFP’s Anthony Di Marco and I are getting is that trade talk hasn’t picked up on Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Ivan Provorov. Could that change if Chychrun and Karlsson are moved?

• Cam Talbot seems to be healing quicker than originally expected, which could help his trade market. Other goalies to keep tabs on: Joonas Korpisalo, James Reimer and Anton Khudobin.