Evan’s NHL Daily: Dubois to Kings? Erik Johnson Wants To Keep Playing

Is it possible the NHL season ends on Tuesday night? Very possible, as the Vegas Golden Knights have a chance to eliminate the Florida Panthers at home. If the Golden Knights do end it, that means the NHL offseason is officially underway, and things will get a little crazy leading up to the draft.

One of the rumors that keeps floating around is the Los Angeles Kings going after Pierre-Luc Dubois. Do they really need another center?

With the Colorado Avalanche, word came out that Erik Johnson is not contemplating retirement at all.

All that and more in this Tuesday edition of Evan’s Daily.

Colorado Hockey Now

We weren’t sure after the season ended, but it appears Erik Johnson is NOT contemplating retirement. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll be back with the Avalanche, as they would need him to take a big pay cut, but he wants to keep playing at the age of 35.

The Avalanche should add someone to this group at the draft, but for now, here are their top five prospects.

I know it’s not NHL related, but it needs to be said – Go Nuggets! Another championship banner is about to go up at Ball Arena.

NHL Trade Chatter

On the same 32 Thoughts podcast where they spoke about Erik Johnson, they mentioned (for the second straight podcast) that the Los Angeles Kings are a team to watch when it comes to Pierre-Luc Dubois.

“There are some teams here that really think that LA is going to take a run at him. We mentioned it quickly the other day,” Elliotte Friedman said. “There’s always a surprise team. Kopitar has got one year left under his contract, and I don’t know what the future is there. I had some guys tell me that they think LA is going to take a big run at this guy.”

In addition to Kopitar, they have Danault signed long-term, so they’re set at center, at least for next year. A Dubois acquisition would be for the long-term, though.

National Hockey Now

Philadelphia: There’s a lot of interest right now in Travis Konecny and Scott Laughton. We’ll dive into Laughton at CHN, but he’s an interesting piece.

Pittsburgh: The Penguins need to get beefier on defense.

Florida: Rise of Anton Lundell Matches That of the Florida Panthers

Vegas: The Golden Knights are ready for Game Five.

Calgary: The Flames introduced their new head coach, Ryan Huska.

New Jersey: Some stopgap defensemen that the Devils could target this summer.