The Los Angeles Kings and the agent for Marian Gaborik continue to negotiate towards a new contract before the start of free agency on July 1. Ron Salcer is the agent for Gaborik who is entitled to become an unrestricted free agent next week but acknowledges that Gaborik wants to return. "I think Marian enjoyed, not just the time here, but everything about the experience," Salcer said on Sunday. "I think to continue that is something he would like and the team would like. So I would hope we could come to a meeting of the minds and get that done." Stay tuned.

Kings captain Dustin Brown naturally thinks very highly of what Marian Gaborik brought to the table during the Kings' Stanley Cup-winning run. Los Angeles struggled offensively until they acquired Gaborik at the trade deadline. "It took pressure off of Kopi and slotted Stolly at the three spot at center and it evened things out," Brown said. "That was two years ago, and now Carts has moved to center. It's all about slotting guys in the right position. When we brought in Carts, it took the pressure off of Kopi and Justin and me and all the guys who were expected to score goals, because now we had Carts to score goals. It was just another addition of that." Gaborik is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer though and the Kings will have a tough time signing him given their cap situation.

The Los Angeles Kings have reached out to Marian Gaborik about a possible contract extension. Gaborik helped revitalize the Kings' offense and helped them win the Stanley Cup, so it would be surprising if they didn't want him back. That being said, the Kings don't have a lot of wiggle room with the salary cap, so signing him might be a challenge. There's been some speculation that the Kings might use a compliance buyout on Mike Richards and if they did that, it would certainly free up enough money for them to ink Richards.

Acquiring Marian Gaborik from the Columbus Blue Jackets at the trade deadline was a major factor in the Los Angeles Kings Stanley Cup victory. Gaborik started off a bit slow with the Kings during the regular season but more than made up for it during the playoffs with a league-leading 14 goals, including the game-tying goal in the third period of Game 5 to send the game into overtime. He is slated to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and his performance in the Cup playoffs should earn him a nice contract.

Marian Gaborik tallied his 14th goal of the playoffs in Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final. Gaborik's score tied the game at 2-2 on a third-period power play. He finished first among all players in the postseason in goals after scoring 11 markers in 41 matches during the regular season. The Kings made him the third carrier of the Stanley Cup during their celebration and the team's management group should be expected to do everything they can to re-sign him in the off-season. Gaborik can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

Forward Marian Gaborik, who leads the NHL with 13 goals in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, spent three-plus seasons with the Rangers before general manager Glen Sather traded him to the Columbus Blue Jackets at the 2013 NHL trade deadline in exchange for forwards Derek Dorsett and Derick Brassard and defenseman John Moore. Gaborik scored 114 goals and 229 points in 255 regular-season games with the Rangers. He added six goals and 13 points in 25 postseason games. He and the Los Angeles Kings will be at Madison Square Garden against the Rangers for Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final Monday night. "This is my first time coming back to the Garden after I got traded [by the Rangers], so I'm going to see the Garden after all the renovations for the first time as well," Gaborik said. "They have great fans and they'll be supporting them. They're going to come out hard. I don't think I've met or talked to any player who didn't like to play at the Garden. The building has a lot of history and everybody that goes to play there has that extra jump. Just looking at the building, it has an energy. You want to be in there and want to just play. Our guys will have energy and want to play strong."

Marian Gaborik scored once and continues to lead all NHL scorers with 13 goals in the playoffs. It was a great trade for the Kings who picked up Gaborik from the Blue Jackets at the trade deadline in March, giving up only Matt Frattin and a couple of draft picks including a second round and third round pick. The Kings also had the Blue Jackets pick up half of Gaborik's remaining salary cap hit this season so all in all it's been a great trade for GM Dean Lombardi.

Anze Kopitar thinks Marian Gaborik fit in quickly with Los Angeles after he was acquired from Columbus. "We have a room where there's a lot of character, a lot of good leaders," said Kopitar. "For Gabby to come in our room, I think he felt comfortable pretty quick. That's obviously a big thing and a big reason why he's feeling comfortable on the ice too. He'd be probably the best guy to ask, obviously, why is that. But I just think this group is so close together, it doesn't matter if that's a deadline deal or a new guy coming in right off the start; it seems like the transition, we make it a little bit easier on the guys for that transition." Gaborik has meshed well with Kopitar on the top line. He leads the playoffs with 12 goals and ranks fifth in scoring with 19 points in 22 games.

Kings GM Dean Lombardi highlighted Marian Gaborik's defensive abilities. "He's as smart defensively as he is offensively, and he had been trained that way, and he had been trained that way, and he had also been trained that defense was a priority to the point where maybe there was that criticism out there to turn him loose," Lombardi said of Gaborik. The Kings GM pointed to Gaborik's former coach, Jacques Lemaire, as being one of the reasons for the star forward's development defensively. Meanwhile, Gaborik also has a league-leading 12 goals in 21 playoff games.

Marian Gaborik scored the tying goal in the third period, putting Game 7 into overtime on Sunday. Gaborik's goal was his NHL-leading 12th of the post-season and when Alec Martinez scored the OT winner, Gaborik went to a perfect 7-0 in playoff Game 7's in his career, joining teammates Justin Williams and Mike Richards with the perfect mark. Gaborik has 19 points in the playoffs thus far.