Stock is a former Edmonton Journal reporter, but hockey wasn't his beat. He went on to tweet that the Lucic announcement will be made on July 1, and that Jason Demers—who was also in Edmonton for the tour on Tuesday—is also a done deal.
However, Bruins beat writer DJ Bean of WEEI in Boston emphatically refutes that report here, with a quote from Lucic himself.
Bean goes on to say that Lucic hasn't ruled out the Oilers, but hasn't agreed to anything with anybody yet, which is where I'd land on this story right now, too.
Could Lucic land in Edmonton? Sure. But lots could still happen over the next two days.
UPDATE: Word is now coming out that LW Taylor Hall has been traded from the Oilers to the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Adam Larsson. I do read this as a strong indication that Edmonton thinks Lucic is a sure thing on Friday.
It is a straight one-for-one deal. Hall for Larsson.
With the idea that Lucic could land on a rival Pacific Division team and torment the Canucks for years to come, I've noticed some folks in the comments now warming up to the idea that maybe it'd be better to have him working with us instead of against us—and that maybe he's not as much of a hothead as he was during his younger days back in Boston.
Just a reminder—Lucic did get suspended for one game last January in L.A. after this sucker punch on an unsuspecting Kevin Connauton:
Vancouver went 2-2-1 against the Kings last season, and Lucic wasn't a major factor in any of the games. He collected just two assists and one minor penalty, though he was an impressive plus-6 in those five games, his best plus-minus number against any team in the league.
Still, I wonder if Lucic's old hatred of the Canucks from his Boston days and his "disgust and outrage" following that late-night incident on Granville St. a few years back will ultimately sway him away from signing in Vancouver.
After nightclub incident, Milan Lucic says he won't go to downtown Vancouver ever again (except to play Rogers Arena) http://t.co/tQsrF6EQTH
Thursday will be the final day for the Canucks to exercise that option if they choose to do so, though there's still a chance that Burrows could be traded if Vancouver hangs onto him, then hits the jackpot with the targeted free agents.
One other note on a UFA name that has been tossed around a bit in these parts:
Get ready for Matt Martin to do really well in free agency. He's going to get paid more than people might think.
Next—let's address the list of 111 (!) players who didn't receive qualifying offers from their teams this week, which means they have also been added to the list of unrestricted free agents who will be available on July 1:
The issue for a lot of these players is their eligibility for arbitration. Most were under pretty reasonable contracts as RFAs, but could be in line for big raises next season if they were to file for arbitration.
By choosing not to issue qualifying offers, teams risk losing the players as free agents, but they'll also have an opportunity to re-sign them at lower costs if they don't get snatched away.
The Flames are going out of their way to move salary off their books as they need to re-sign two-thirds of their top line, RFAs Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau. They bought out the last year of Mason Raymond's contract today, with a $3.15 million cap hit, and chose not to qualify several players, most prominently Joe Colborne and Josh Jooris.
Colborne's a 6'5" center who's 26 years old and scored 19 goals and 44 points with the Flames last year. He and the Flames are continuing to negotiate.
Let go by the Flames yesterday, lots of teams calling about forward Joe Colborne today.
I wonder if the open market will drive his price up even higher than what he would have received through arbitration?
Another player the Canucks could look at is Brandon Pirri, a trade-deadline acquisition by Anaheim who wasn't qualified. The Panthers traded Pirri back in February because he was eligible for arbitration and they knew they wouldn't be able to afford to keep him. He scored 22 goals in 49 games in 2014-15 but that number dropped to 14 goals in 61 games last season.
My guess is that the Ducks didn't qualify him due to his injury issues. He had an ankle problem when he was first acquired, then missed the last four games of the regular season and all of the playoffs due to an upper-body injury. He's a skilled scorer, but is definitely fragile.
Do you see anybody else's name on the list of players who weren't qualified that could be a decent fit for the Canucks, perhaps at a lower price than the top-tier UFAs?
To finish today, an update on the Canucks' search for a new assistant coach to replace Glen Gulutzan:
The #Canucks have interviewed former @Senators head coach Dave Cameron & longtime #NHL assistant Keith Acton for vacant asst coach position.
Both are veteran options, which is something that Jim Benning has said that the team is looking for. Willie Desjardins also has some first-hand experience with Cameron, who served as his assistant with Canada's World Junior team in 2010.
Most recently, Cameron was an assistant to Bill Peters with Team Canada at the 2016 World Championship.
Keith Acton was an undersized centre who played 1,023 NHL games between 1979 and 1994. He won a Stanley Cup with the Edmonton Oilers in 1988. Since his retirement, he has served as an assistant/associate coach for five different organizations. After two seasons behind the bench with the Oilers, he was dismissed last summer when Todd McLellan was hired.
You may also remember Acton as the object of John Tortorella's ire early in the 2013-14 season, long before Torts chased down Bob Hartley. Mike Halford of NBC Sports captured the moment back in October of 2013.
Before the draft, Jim Benning indicated that he didn't want to take too long with this coach search. There may be more candidates still to be interviewed, but it shouldn't be too long before we hear an announcement.
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