10/26/23: Both players have now been recalled from the AHL roster, according to a team announcement from the Kings.
10/25/23: The Los Angeles Kings sent down forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan and defenseman Jordan Spence to AHL Ontario Wednesday, the team announced. Anderson-Dolan was brought up Monday for last night’s win against the Coyotes, while Spence had been on the NHL roster since an October 13 recall.
In fact, this is already the fourth time Anderson-Dolan has been assigned to Ontario just a few weeks into the season. After clearing waivers and not making the opening night roster, Anderson-Dolan was brought up along with Spence on October 13 and remained on the roster for a week before he was returned to the minors. He’s been papered up and down twice in the last five days.
Despite all the transactions, Anderson-Dolan has played just one game this season at either the NHL or AHL level – an October 14 shootout loss against the Hurricanes in which he played just 6:51. The Kings no longer lack salary cap space with Viktor Arvidsson on LTIR for the time being, so there’s no express necessity for Anderson-Dolan to get sent up and down other than extending the eligibility period for his waiver exemption. After clearing pre-season, he can be on the NHL roster for 30 days (or play ten NHL games) until he needs waivers to return to Ontario again. Sending him down on off days extends that clock and allows the Kings to keep him as a 13th forward for game days. The 24-year-old was a second-round pick of the Kings in the 2017 NHL Draft but has seen limited NHL action despite strong AHL production, notching 24 points in 97 NHL games since turning pro in 2019.
Spence, meanwhile, heads to Ontario with the Kings out of action until Friday. In five games this season, the 22-year-old has registered an assist but is averaging just 14:15 per game. His possession numbers have nosedived in a brief sample, posting a Corsi share of just 46.2% at even strength this season despite a career average of 56.2%. If the Kings don’t bring him back up for Friday’s rematch against the Coyotes, Tobias Bjornfot will draw into the lineup after serving as a healthy scratch for five of six games to start the year.
The transaction leaves Los Angeles with a bare minimum of 18 skaters and two goalies on the NHL roster.
Why don’t you ever mention these are all paper moves for the cap?
Do we really need these updates? Kings will be doing this between games for the whole year to gain cap space!