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Even on Christmas Eve MayorsManor is still around to bring you some exclusive hockey news…

Trevor Lewis is finally ready to sign in the ECHL.

If you go all the way back to the October 23rd edition of the MayorsManor show, we had Lewis on as a guest and he shared with us where he’d likely be signing if the NHL lockout continued on.

While it may have taken a little longer than most expected for the 2012 Stanley Cup Champion to ink his deal, we can now officially confirm that Lewis will be signing with the ECHL’s Utah Grizzlies right after Christmas and is expected to make his debut this coming weekend.

What’s even more notable about the timing is the fact that Utah will host a pair of games this Friday and Saturday against the Ontario Reign. And, if you’ve been following along on our twitter feed, you know that according to Ontario coach Jason Christie, he’s planning on Friday’s game marking the return of Kyle Clifford to the Reign line-up.

.@ontarioreign coach Christie on #LAKings Kyle Clifford injury- ‘Been skating him, just want him 110%…Could’ve gone 2nt if we needed him.’ — The Mayor John Hoven (@mayorNHL) December 20, 2012

More from @ontarioreign coach Christie on #LAKings Kyle Clifford injury – prob won’t use him until after xmas, expects him in vs Utah 12/28 — The Mayor John Hoven (@mayorNHL) December 20, 2012

Yes, the strangeness of the lockout continues. We already have Anze Kopitar and Bobby Ryan playing on the same line together over in Sweden. Now, it looks like there’s a strong chance hockey fans will get to see some Kings-on-Kings crime in just a few days.

After the games vs. Ontario, Utah will host games vs. Stockton on December 31 and January 2. They’ll then travel to Ontario for a game vs. the Reign on Friday, January 4. Depending how talks progress between the NHL and NHLPA – with the current thinking that the NHL season will resume around January 15 – it remains to be seen just how many games Lewis will end up playing with Utah. At the very least though, he should expect plenty of friends and family to pack the arena for his debut this Friday – when he’ll be wearing his familiar #22.

Originally selected by the Kings in the first round of the 2006 NHL Draft, Lewis played in 72 regular season games each of the last two seasons. However, he really seemed to find his niche on the team during the second half of last season, after Darryl Sutter took over as coach. In 20 playoff games last year, Lewis had nine points, including a pair of goals in the Kings decisive win over New Jersey in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.

In an interesting footnote, Kings’ President of Business Operations, Luc Robitaille, came on the MayorsManor show before the second round of the playoffs and correctly predicted Jordan Nolan would score vs. the Blues (Game 4 – May 6, 2012). We had him on again for the Stanley Cup Final preview show and he predicted Lewis would score at least one goal vs. the Devils. There’s just something about that Luc guy. He’s either lucky or really good at guessing!

Stay tuned to MayorsManor for full coverage of this continuing story. In the meantime, if you missed Lewis on the MayorsManor show, it’s definitely worth checking out. The usually reserved Lewis had plenty to say – including a few chirps about his teammates, including Drew Doughty and Jeff Carter. Click here to listen to the show now.

Happy holidays!

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