Sport-scan daily brief

Quick stands out as an example of the Kings' ability to unearth a gem beyond the first round. After all, he was the 2012 Conn Smythe Trophy winner as MVP of the playoffs after leading the Kings' unexpected march to the Stanley Cup championship.

The Ducks have had success in the later rounds, too. Left wing Matt Beleskey was a fourth-round selection in 2006. Going back a decade earlier Matt Cullen, a center who played last season with the Minnesota Wild, was a second-round pick in 1996.

So, bottom line, there is no such thing as a meaningless draft.

LA Daily News: LOADED: 06.30.2013

682945 Boston Bruins

Bruins’ Nathan Horton to test free agency

By Fluto Shinzawa

| Globe Staff

June 30, 2013

JERSEY CITY — Peter Chiarelli once considered Milan Lucic, David Krejci, and Nathan Horton the best line in hockey.

On Saturday, the Bruins general manager learned it will not remain intact in 2013-14.

Nathan Horton’s camp informed the Bruins he will not re-sign with the club prior to Friday, when free agency opens. The first-line right wing will be one of the prime targets on the open market. This will be Horton’s first opportunity to become an unrestricted free agent.

“Pursuant to his rights under the CBA, Nathan has informed the Bruins that he is going to explore his options as an unrestricted free agent,” Paul Krepelka, Horton’s agent, wrote in an e-mail.

Horton is coming off a six-year, $24 million contract, and could command a $6 million annual payday from another club. The Bruins, facing a cap crunch, would have been hard-pressed to offer Horton a similar salary. Buffalo and Toronto are two Eastern Conference teams that could be interested in the 28-year-old power forward. This could be Horton’s final shot at a bonanza. He will require surgery on his dislocated left shoulder. Before this year, Horton had his two most recent seasons cut short because of concussions. Horton’s rugged style puts him at greater risk of injury than finesse forwards.

The Bruins considered re-signing Horton among their first orders of business prior to Friday. Horton appeared in 169 regular-season games for the Bruins over the last three years. He had 56 goals and 51 assists.

In the playoffs, Horton had 15 goals and 21 assists in 43 games. Lucic, Krejci, and Horton combined for 23 goals and 41 assists during the 2013 postseason.

“I love the guys,” Horton said Wednesday, when asked if he wanted to return to the Bruins. “The team’s great. It’s a fun place to play. Other than that, I don’t know what’s going to happen. I couldn’t tell you throughout the year what was going to happen. I don’t know. That’s all I know. We’ll see what happens.”

The Bruins acquired Horton and Gregory Campbell from Florida on June 22, 2010, for Dennis Wideman, a 2010 first-round pick, and a 2011 third-rounder.

The Bruins are now down their top two right wings, as Jaromir Jagr will not be re-signed.

Tyler Seguin, Rich Peverley, and Shawn Thornton are the remaining right wings. Carl Soderberg could also play on the right side, although he’s primarily a center and left wing.

There was chatter on Saturday about teams inquiring about Seguin’s availability. The Bruins would have had an even bigger hole at right wing had they moved the 21-year-old. But Horton’s declaration and the team’s lack of depth at the position may have prompted the Bruins to douse any rivals’ excitement about acquiring the third-year pro.

“Not so fast on Seguin,” a team source said.

Horton’s decision may also impact Peverley’s future. Peverley was a trade candidate to clear cap space for Horton. Peverley draws a $3.25 million average annual salary.

With Horton out of the picture, the Bruins will have to look elsewhere for a top-two right wing. Because the cap is shrinking from $70.2 million to $64.3 million in 2013-14, Chiarelli expected rival teams to place players on the trade market. The Bruins could also fill in the holes via free agency starting Friday.

“What I see is there’s going to be a lot of players available,” Chiarelli said. “There may not be right now. But with the cap going down, just out of doing simple math, there’s going to be players available. I think what happens is you may have more trouble with demand and supply. I think there’s going to be players that want to play for less. That’s where, if we have to mix and match a little bit, I think we’ll be pretty good. Because we still have a very strong, contending team. I think there will be players that will want to play for us, if we get to that point. I don’t think we’ll get to that point, but if we have to . . . ”

The Bruins could receive assets by trading Andrew Ference’s negotiating rights. Several teams have inquired. Chiarelli has allowed Kurt Overhardt, Ference’s agent, to talk with clubs about acquiring the defenseman’s rights.

Ference will become unrestricted on Friday. Ference and his wife have two young daughters, and he said their education is first and foremost when deciding on his destination.

“I’m not going to stand in his way,” Chiarelli said. “Andy’s been a warrior for us. I want to help him as much as I can.”

The Bruins are also trying to acquire a first-round pick in Sunday’s draft. They ceded a conditional 2013 second-round pick to Dallas as part of the Jagr trade. The second-rounder became a first-round pick once the Bruins beat the Rangers and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals. If the Bruins don’t get back into the first round, their first pick will be 60th overall.

“I think any GM who went into the draft without a first-rounder would have to do that,” Chiarelli said of trying to get back into Round 1. “So, of course, I would.”

On the restricted side, the Bruins have given qualifying offers to Tuukka Rask and Jordan Caron. They have yet to qualify Kaspars Daugavins and goaltending prospect Michael Hutchinson. Chiarelli said they still might tender offers to both players.

Boston Globe LOADED: 06.30.2013

682946 Boston Bruins

Seth Jones hopes to make his own history in NHL

Realizes responsibility that comeswith beingNHLminority

By Baxter Holmes

| Globe Staff

June 30, 2013

There are a few minutes before living, breathing history walks into the hotel conference room and shakes Seth Jones’s hand with a grip strong enough to break it.

Jones is sitting on the end of the long wooden table, in a dark gray suit with a striped blue tie. He is 18 and a very talented hockey player who Sunday will be one of the top picks in the NHL draft. His hands are crossed in his lap. His back is to the doorway.

Then, history walks in. He is wearing khaki slacks and a black polo shirt with the Boston

Bruins logo — the spoked-B — over its heart. He is barrel-chested with forearms thick as logs. He is balding on top. He’s 77 years old. Jones rises, turns, and is humbled.

They had never met until just now, but Jones knows full well what Willie O’Ree did for hockey — and, by extension, for Jones — when O’Ree became the first black man to play it

professionally. Which O’Ree did with the Bruins in 1958 against Montreal.

They sit. For the next 15 minutes, O’Ree talks about the old days, which weren’t always so good.

“There was a period and a time when it slowed down,” O’Ree says, “but I knew in my head it was still there. I knew when I stepped on the ice during some part of the game, there would be some racial slur or some racial remark directed toward me.”

Jones doesn’t speak. He leans forward on his chair situated a few feet from O’Ree, and Jones listens. At times he shakes his head in disbelief.

Later, Jones will say that not once has the idea of race crossed his mind as he’s played hockey — and he’s played it almost all over the world for much of his life.

Jones will say that he’s never heard one slur, one racial remark. Not one.

And there, in the few feet that separate them in the hotel conference room in Copley Square, lies the chasm of disconnect between O’Ree and Jones, between what it meant to be black and to play hockey professionally back then versus now.

It matters to Jones, in no small part because he’s told at nearly every turn that he’s the next role model for blacks and other minority races in the white-dominant sport, where last season there were 44 non-white players among the 720 on NHL rosters — just 6.1 percent.

“He has as much or more potential to change the face of the game probably since Willie O’Ree,” said Bryant McBride, an entrepreneur and investor who is black and was formerly the NHL’s vice president of business development.

Change the face of the game.

There might come a day when Jones can only think of hockey. But that day isn’t today. There’s progress to be made. He wants to help. He wants to grow the sport in inner cities.

“I’m trying to be a role model and do whatever I can,” he said.

Yes, only so much progress has been made, and there are still marks — insignificant though they may seem — to be made that are tied only to the color of someone’s skin.

Jones could make that history Sunday, when he might become the first black player to be selected first overall in the NHL draft.

Possible homecoming

Colorado holds the first pick in the draft, and if the Avalanche select Jones, they’ll be bringing him home, in a way, to the place where he fell in love with hockey.

At 5 years old, he first slipped on a pair of skates, rentals, on New Year’s Eve as 1999 turned to 2000 and the world was supposed to end because of Y2K and all that.

But when Jones first stepped onto the ice on a pond in Beaver Creek, Colo., where his parents took him and his two brothers, Caleb and Justin, he appeared, his father said, like a “natural.”

He didn’t slip, or slide. No, he only glided, pausing to skate backward or stop.

Eighteen months later, Jones sat center ice, pounding on the glass during Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final between Colorado and New Jersey, which the Avalanche won.

The intensity, the speed, the physical play, the determination on the players’ faces to take that one game and win it all — Jones had never seen anything like it before.

“Once I saw that game, I knew I wanted to be a hockey player,” he said. “I knew one day I wanted to lift the Stanley Cup.”

There was a point when his father, Popeye Jones, the former NBA forward for several teams including the Celtics, met Avalanche legend Joe Sakic at the Pepsi Center in Denver.

Popeye told Sakic that his son was becoming interested in hockey.

Sakic, who is now the Avalanche’s executive vice president of hockey operations, eyed Popeye’s large frame — 6 feet 8 inches, about 250 pounds.

“Well, from the look of you, your kids are going to be huge,” Sakic said. “Just make sure they know how to skate.”

From there, Seth Jones started taking figure skating lessons.

If there was a moment when Popeye became convinced that his son had special talent, it came when Seth was 14 and they were living in Dallas.

On the other end of the phone was Dallas Stars defenseman Trevor Daley, a family friend who had seen Jones play, and, Popeye said, “He was raving.”

“You could tell he was going to be a special hockey player,” said Trevor Hanas, who coached Jones on a youth team in Dallas and is also a scout for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League.

“His smarts for the game is probably what separates him from a lot of other defensemen,” Hanas said. “He’s just really intelligent — with and without the puck. When you combine that with great skating skills and great size, now you’ve got the full package.”

By 15, Jones was playing for USA Hockey’s U-17 and U-18 national teams. Then, he graduated high school early and joined the Winterhawks, where the 6-4, 205-pound Jones became the WHL’s rookie of the year after scoring 14 goals and 46 assists in 61 games.

Winterhawks coach and general manager Mike Johnston praised Jones’s IQ, even-keeled personality, smoothness on the ice, evasiveness for a player his size — and more.

“He’s very mature,” Johnston said. “When you talk to him, you would think he’s probably 21. He does have that presence. He’s quiet, but he leads through example.”

Early lessons learned

Jones’s mother, Amy, is white. His father, Popeye, is black. They’re divorced now.

But as they raised their children, they taught them that they are black and white.

“You understand slavery and the struggles that black people went through, but you also understand the culture of white people,” Popeye preached.

Those lessons, Amy said, were a way for their children to avoid viewing life through the prism of race, which she said was never really discussed anyway.

But, she said, it has come to light more in the past few years as Jones has risen through the hockey ranks of a sport in which there simply isn’t much diversity.

“He understands the magnitude of it,” she said. “He does understand he can do a lot for the sport, if he does it the right way.”

And so we go back into that hotel conference room, where O’Ree is talking and Jones is listening.

There’s a point when O’Ree reminisces about fighting all the time on the ice, not because of racism but because he was speared and head-butted and cross-checked all the time and he had no helmet or shield because you just didn’t wear that stuff back then.

“I can’t even imagine,” Jones says, shaking his head once more.

But after telling Jones to conduct himself accordingly on and off the ice, O’Ree starts to talk about image.

“We’re three individuals inside ourselves,” he begins.

“We’re the person we think we are. We’re the person who other people think we are. And we’re the person that we really are. So just look inside yourself and say, ‘This is the person that I am, this is what I want to do,’ and go out and stay focused.”

Jones nods.

Years ago, when O’Ree broke into the league, he was asked if he could envision not just more black players but more players of all races playing hockey one day. He said yes. He meant it, too.

Years later, in this hotel conference room, O’Ree, with the Bruins’ spoked-B over his heart, stands and shakes the hand of a player he believes can be a role model just as he was.

And perhaps one day, when enough progress has been made and all that matters is the game, Jones can pass down stories to another future role model, to show how far their game has come.

Boston Globe LOADED: 06.30.2013

682947 Boston Bruins

Nathan Horton going to free agency

Posted by Fluto Shinzawa, Globe Staff June 29, 2013 01:55 PM

Nathan Horton will not re-sign with the Bruins prior to next Friday. Instead, Horton will become an unrestricted free agent and test the open market. It is highly unlikely Horton will re-sign with the Bruins after next Friday.

The Bruins were informed of Horton’s decision today.

“Pursuant to his rights under the CBA, Nathan has informed the Bruins that he is going to explore his options as an unrestricted free agent,” Paul Krepelka, Horton’s agent, said in a statement.

Horton appeared in 169 regular-season games for the Bruins over the last three years. Horton scored 56 goals and 51 assists.

In the playoffs, Horton scored 15 goals and 21 assists in 43 games. Horton was the right wing alongside Milan Lucic and David Krejci. GM Peter Chiarelli classified the threesome as the best line in the NHL.

Horton should command a bigger contract on the market than had he remained in Boston. The 28-year-old has a concussion history and will require surgery on his left shoulder. But Horton has raised his performance during his two active postseasons.

It’s possible the Bruins could trade Horton’s negotiating rights. However, given Horton’s desire to hit the open market, the Bruins might not be able to demand much in return.

The Bruins are now down their top two right wings. Jaromir Jagr will not be re-signed.

Boston Globe LOADED: 06.30.2013

682948 Boston Bruins

Trade talk active as Bruins prepare for draft

Posted by Fluto Shinzawa, Globe Staff June 29, 2013 12:35 PM

JERSEY CITY, N.J. – The 2013 NHL Draft is just over 24 hours away from starting. But the Bruins’ six picks are not atop the team’s priority list.

The Bruins must re-sign Nathan Horton prior to next Friday, when he will become an unrestricted free agent. To do so, the Bruins will have to shed salary via trade.

“It’s actually pretty active,” GM Peter Chiarelli said during a press conference this morning. “When [Vincent] Lecavalier got bought out, it’s kind of thrown some teams for a loop. There’s a trickledown effect. It gives everybody pause for thought. It’s been fairly active.”

Rich Peverley is the leading candidate to be traded. Peverley carries a $3.25 million average annual cap hit.

* The Bruins will not re-sign Andrew Ference. But they may receive an asset for the UFA-to-be. Several clubs have inquired about acquiring Ference’s negotiating rights. Chiarelli has given Kurt Overhardt, Ference’s agent, permission to ask around. “I’m not going to stand in his way,” Chiarelli said. “Andy’s been a warrior for us. I want to help him as much as I can.”

* The Bruins have qualified Tuukka Rask and Jordan Caron. They have yet to qualify Kaspars Daugavins and Michael Hutchinson. They may still do so, said Chiarelli.

Boston Globe LOADED: 06.30.2013

682949 Boston Bruins

B’s lose Nathan Horton

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Author(s):

Steve Conroy

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — In the first of what could be several big personnel changes for the Bruins this draft weekend, Nathan Horton informed the Bruins yesterday that he will not be re-signing with the Stanley Cup finalists, according to his agent.

Paul Krepelka said it’s Horton’s personal choice to test the free agent waters — and it was not a decision made for financial reasons.

“There weren’t any back-and-forth negotiations or anything like that,” Krepelka said. “Nathan just wanted a new start.”

The Horton camp and the B’s were working on a trade for the right to negotiate with the right winger exclusively before the opening of the free agent market on July 5.

What Horton’s reasons are for moving on Krepelka wasn’t saying, but it’s a big loss for the Bruins. Horton combined with left winger Milan Lucic and center David Krejci to make a formidable, physical top line.

Despite some regular-season inconsistencies, Horton proved to be a money player in the playoffs. Before getting knocked out of the Cup finals with a concussion in 2011, he had eight goals — including three huge game-winners — and nine assists. This year, he had 7-12-19 totals in 43 regular-season games and was a league-leading plus-20 in the playoffs. His production tailed off in the finals against the Chicago Blackhawks after he suffered a dislocated shoulder, but he played through the injury while wearing a brace and is expected to have offseason surgery.

With some big-name players becoming unexpectedly available via buyouts, most notably the Tampa Bay Lightning parting ways with Vincent Lecavalier, and Horton on the move, this draft weekend is shaping up as a big news-maker. With the Bruins looking to both dump salary in order to free up money for a deal with goalie Tuukka Rask and expected to jump into the bidding war for Lecavalier, it’s a good bet they will be involved in the horse-trading.

At his media availability yesterday morning before the Horton news broke, B’s general manager Peter Chiarelli said the trade talk was picking up.

“It’s actually pretty active. I think when Lecavalier got bought out, it’s thrown some teams for a loop and there’s a trickle down effect,” Chiarelli said. “It gives everyone pause for thought. But it’s been fairly active. I think a lot of teams are trying to figure out who they may buy out, so they’ve got time before July 5, and they’ve got assets that are available tomorrow in the draft, so it’s picking up steam.”

To sign both Rask and a Horton replacement, the B’s would clearly have to move some salary. The most likely candidate would be forward Rich Peverley and his $3.25 million. But there’s been a lot of rumblings here that the name of Tyler Seguin, whose maturation process on and off the ice has been slower than anticipated, is being bandied about. Seguin carries a cap hit of $5.75 million for the next six years, a hefty price for a forward who scored once in four playoff rounds.

Chiarelli didn’t mention any of his players by name in trade discussions, but he did say he was looking to get a first-round pick, which he lost in the Jaromir Jagr deal in March, in today’s draft being hosted by the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center in Newark. The GM estimated there would be five or six players available in the draft who could play in the NHL right away. Any deal involving Seguin would surely start with a first-round pick, and a high one at that.

While the salary cap is going down to $64.3 million for the upcoming season, there’s wide speculation it will go right back up the following year. With that in mind, Chiarelli doesn’t want to proceed rashly.

“Acting rashly may be replacing something in a rash manner, or I get rid of something in a rash manner,” he said. “So I have to be careful.”

Despite the current situation with teams needing to shed players to become cap compliant, Chiarelli doesn’t believe he’ll have to accept a paltry return just to move salary. But if worse comes to worst, the B’s could dip into the growing free agent market.

“Based on my discussions, I don’t think that will happen. But you never say never,” Chiarelli said. “We could have trouble with the expanded supply, but I think there’ll be players who want to play for less. If we have to mix and match a little, I think we’ll be able to do it because we still have a strong contending team and there are going to be players who’ll want to play for us. If we get to that point, but I don’t think we will.”

Chiarelli reported being contacted by teams who want to obtain the negotiating rights to defenseman Andrew Ference, whom the B’s will not be able to afford under the new cap.

“I’ve had a couple of teams call on Andy,” Chiarelli said. “I’m not going to stand in his way. He’s been a warrior for us and I want to help him as much as I can.”

Bruins notes

The B’s could take Rask to arbitration, and vice versa.

“I don’t want to go to arbitration with him. I’ve talked to his agent (Bill Zito), and we’re trying to work something out,” Chiarelli said. . . .

Chiarelli gave qualifying offers to forward Jordan Caron and Rask, which simply keep restricted free agents under the B’s control. The GM has not made a decision on whether or not to qualify forward Kaspars Daugavins and/or goalie Michael Hutchinson. . . .

Assistant director of amateur scouting Scott Fitzgerald is on the mend from a March car accident and unable to attend the draft, but he had input in the process.

“We had our amateur meetings at the Spaulding Rehab, they were great,” Chiarelli said. “Fitzy was in a bed and participated, and he’s home now. So he’s doing well.”

Boston Herald LOADED: 06.30.2013

682950 Boston Bruins

Stephen Harris’ postseason Bruins report card

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Author(s):

Stephen Harris

No one in their right mind, after watching the Bruins struggle individually and collectively through a mediocre regular season, could have imagined the team would come within two wins of hoisting the Stanley Cup.

Bruins general manager Peter Chiarelli characterized it as a “difficult regular season.”

“We were the fourth seed and everything,” he said. “But just the way that we played, it was a challenge.”

The Bruins opened the postseason May 1 with a 4-1 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs. It spoke volumes about the season that this game, after 48 regular-season matches, was regarded by many as the first truly strong, complete game the B’s had played.