9/22: The manager of editorial content for the Kings, Zach Dooley, shares that Kaliyev suffered a broken clavicle on Friday and will be out indefinitely.
9/21: Kings winger Arthur Kaliyev is expected to miss “an extended period of time” after sustaining an upper-body injury during a scrimmage Friday, Mayor’s Manor reports. An official announcement from the team is expected later Saturday after Kaliyev went through further testing to diagnose the injury this morning.
Kaliyev, 23, left yesterday’s scrimmage after taking a hit in the corner from defenseman Kyle Burroughs. He’d started training camp in a fourth-line role alongside Trevor Lewis and Akil Thomas.
The 2019 second-round pick was a restricted free agent for most of the offseason, officially putting pen to paper on a one-year deal worth $825K on Wednesday. He’s had an active trade request since at least May, as reported by David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period.
Signing the cheap deal should have benefitted Kaliyev in one of two ways – either by giving him the runway to prove to head coach Jim Hiller that he can handle a full-time top-nine role or by making it easier for general manager Rob Blake to find a trade partner with cost certainty for this season in hand. A long-term injury puts a significant damper on either of those possibilities.
The Uzbekistan-born winger is coming off his worst season as a full-time NHLer, recording career lows across the board with 15 points (7 G, 8 A) in 51 games. Despite seeing fourth-line minutes at even strength and fringe second-unit power-play time throughout his four-year career, Kaliyev has still managed at least 100 shots on goal in his three full-time NHL seasons.
Kaliyev has also consistently managed strong shot-attempt and possession-quality numbers. He was also on pace for 41 points had he played all 82 games in the 2022-23 season despite playing just 11:41 per game.
That’s led many to question why he hasn’t received a longer look higher in the Los Angeles lineup. If his trade request wasn’t granted by the start of the season, there was ample opportunity for him to land a top-nine role at left wing, with his offensive upside trumping that of youngster Alex Laferriere and trade addition Tanner Jeannot.
Instead, it looks like he’ll start the season on the shelf for the second straight year. Kaliyev was unavailable for the first two games of the 2023-24 regular season while serving the final two games of a four-game suspension he received during preseason.
Kaliyev’s absence bodes well for fellow 2019 draftee Alex Turcotte’s chances of cracking the opening night roster. That year’s fifth overall pick took his place alongside Lewis and Thomas in fourth-line duties today. He played a career-high 20 games last season after a late-season call-up from the AHL’s Ontario Reign, posting a goal and three assists for four points while averaging 9:17 per game.
Just… wow
I saw a clip of a Preds player wiping out a teammate with a center ice hit during a one on one drill and thought to myself, do we really want to be injuring our own players during scrimmages?
Maybe wait until pre-season games before ramping up the hits?
@Gbear — Guys seem to be finding new ways to get injured already. Maybe the Calder trophy should go to the player spending the least amount of time on IR. Max just barely avoided that a couple of minutes ago on the broadcast. He was talking about Ethan Haider playing in the NAHL for the Minnesota Musicians. Then quickly corrected himself and said Magicians. Hal let him off with just a warning, though, saying that would be more appropriate for a Nashville-based team.
@Mac – Some music can be magic, so we’ll let him slide this one time. :D
So much for the fresh start! Hopefully Fagemo will get a chance in the top 9!