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Kings Activate Carl Grundstrom From LTIR

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The Kings activated winger Carl Grundström off long-term injured reserve ahead of tonight’s Game 1 of their first-round series against the Oilers. The 26-year-old’s return to the lineup means no Kings skaters are carrying an injury designation for the first time all season.

Grundström, a second-round pick of the Maple Leafs back in 2016, has grown into a solid checking winger since a January 2019 trade sent him packing to Los Angeles. Now in his sixth year with the club, the Swede has been almost exclusively a fourth-line presence in SoCal, averaging 11:33 per game. He’s provided eight goals and 12 points in 50 games this season, the totals we’ve come to expect.

He’s never truly played a full season, whether due to healthy scratches or injuries. His 50 appearances this season were his lowest in three years but not far back from his career high of 57 set last season. What he lacks in scoring, he makes up for in physicality, routinely ranking among the team leaders in hits. He had 115 over the regular season, most among Kings forwards.

Grundström hasn’t played an NHL game in over two months, last suiting up against the Sabres on Feb. 13. He spent the last week of the regular season on an LTI conditioning loan to AHL Ontario, scoring a goal and an assist in two games. It was his first AHL action in four years.

He’s expected to factor in on a stacked fourth line with Quinton Byfield and Pierre-Luc Dubois. Kings interim head coach Jim Hiller will look to roll four lines at even strength to take advantage of Edmonton’s weaker depth offense. Arthur Kaliyev will be a healthy scratch.

Grundström is in the final season of a two-year, $2.6MM extension. He’s an RFA at season’s end – his last season under team control. He reaches unrestricted free agency before the 2025 offseason.

Kings Recall Carl Grundstrom And Aaron Dell

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The Kings have made a pair of roster moves as they get set for Monday’s series opener against Edmonton.  The team announced that they’ve recalled winger Carl Grundstrom from his conditioning loan with AHL Ontario and also promoted goalie Aaron Dell from the Reign.

Grundstrom hasn’t played with Los Angeles in more than two months due to a lower-body injury but did get into a pair of games with the Reign this past week, picking up a goal and an assist.  The 26-year-old played in 50 games with the Kings this season, collecting eight goals and four assists along with 115 hits while averaging a little under 11 minutes a night.  With how long he has been out, it’s not a guarantee that he’ll jump back into the lineup right away but there’s a good chance he’ll suit up at some point in the series.

As for Dell, his AHL contract was converted to an NHL one last month, making him eligible to be recalled down the stretch.  He played in a dozen games for the Reign after joining them midseason, posting a 2.57 GAA with a .914 SV%.  The 130-game NHL veteran will serve as Los Angeles’ emergency third-string option for the postseason, allowing prospects Erik Portillo and Jacob Ingham to serve as Ontario’s tandem heading into the AHL playoffs.

AHL Shuffle: 4/19/24

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Half the league has played their last games for the 2023-24 campaign, while the other half is gearing up for postseason action starting tomorrow. Either way, squads are making roster adjustments today, whether it’s assigning players back to the minors after their NHL seasons came to a close or recalling reinforcements for their playoff runs. We’ll keep track of all of today’s moves here:

  • The Bruins have recalled center John Beecher and defenseman Mason Lohrei from AHL Providence. Both will be available for tomorrow’s Game 1 of Boston’s first-round series against the Maple Leafs. The pair of youngsters were assigned to the minors throughout the last week for playing time down the stretch after spending most of the campaign on the NHL roster. They’ll likely be scratches for tomorrow’s contest, but after combining for 93 games played in the regular season, head coach Jim Montgomery won’t hesitate to plug them into the playoff lineup.
  • The Flames have assigned forwards Matthew Coronato and Adam Klapka, defenseman Ilya Solovyov, and goaltender Dustin Wolf to AHL Calgary. The NHL club’s regular season came to an end last night in a 5-1 win over the Sharks, a game all four players involved in today’s transaction played in. Wolf, one of the league’s top goaltending prospects, ended his season on a high note with 16 saves on 17 shots after putting up underwhelming numbers down the stretch for the Flames. All four will play major roles for the Wranglers over the next couple of weeks, at the very least, as they’ve clinched a spot in the Calder Cup Playoffs.
  • The Capitals have recalled goaltender Mitchell Gibson from ECHL South Carolina. The 24-year-old, who has no NHL experience, is in his first full season of pro hockey after spending the last four seasons in collegiate hockey at Harvard. He’ll serve as a Black Ace and emergency backup as their first-round matchup against the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Rangers gets underway. A fourth-round pick of the Caps back in 2018, he has a .899 SV%, 2.56 GAA, three shutouts, and a 22-14-3 record in 42 appearances with South Carolina this year, as well as a .915 SV% and a perfect record in two showings with AHL Hershey.
  • In a similar move, the Predators have brought up netminder Gustavs Grigals from ECHL Atlanta. Undrafted, the Latvian had spent the season in the Nashville organization on a minor-league contract before receiving a two-way deal from the Preds on deadline day. The 25-year-old was excellent last year for UMass-Lowell after transferring from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, posting a .924 SV% in 24 games and earning Hockey East Third All-Star Team honors. He’s adjusted decently well to the pro ranks, posting a .900 SV% and three shutouts behind a defensively challenged Atlanta squad in 34 appearances with an 11-19-0 record.
  • The Blackhawks have assigned forward prospect Lukas Reichel to AHL Rockford to finish his season. Chicago expected the 21-year-old to take a major step forward in his development this season and supplant himself as a top-six fixture for the future along with Connor Bedard, but it didn’t work out that way. The 2020 first-round pick was arguably among the worst players in the league this season, limited to five goals and 16 points in 65 games with a -29 rating despite seeing second-line looks for much of the season. His average ice time dipped to almost 14 minutes per game by the end of the campaign, however.
  • The Jets have assigned forwards Nikita Chibrikov, Parker Ford, Brad Lambert, and goaltender Collin Delia to AHL Manitoba. Winnipeg recalled the foursome yesterday to provide reinforcements for yesterday’s regular-season finale against the Canucks. Chibrikov and Lambert made their NHL debuts, with the former notching his first NHL goal in the process. Delia backed up Laurent Brossoit while Jennings Trophy winner Connor Hellebuyck was given the night off entirely, while Ford was a healthy scratch. Delia was again recalled under emergency conditions later Friday, suggesting he’ll be available as a Black Ace/emergency backup for Game 1 against the Avalanche on Sunday.
  • The Coyotes have made likely the final group of transactions in franchise history, returning forwards Dylan Guenther, Josh Doan, Aku Raty, and defensemen Michael Kesselring and Vladislav Kolyachonok to AHL Tucson. The sale of the team’s hockey operations to Salt Lake City-based Smith Entertainment Group was approved by the NHL’s Board of Governors yesterday, rendering the Coyotes franchise inactive and establishing a new franchise in Utah. The five youngsters will finish the season in the Calder Cup Playoffs with the Roadrunners. Some of these players, likely Guenther and Doan at a minimum, will travel to Salt Lake City and will be a part of that team’s opening-night squad next season. The others may remain in Tucson, which is expected to serve as the Utah franchise’s minor-league affiliate.
  • The Oilers have assigned defenseman Philip Broberg and winger Adam Erne to AHL Bakersfield. The pair were recalled earlier in the week to allow the Oilers to rest stars like Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard before kicking off their first-round playoff series against the Kings in a few days. They’ll return to playoff-bound Bakersfield for now but will be among the first in line for recalls if necessary.
  • The Kings have assigned forward Alex Turcotte to AHL Ontario. He’d spent most of the last week in the minors on an LTI conditioning loan, but was activated off LTIR and reinstated to the NHL roster on Tuesday. He didn’t play in the Kings’ final game of the regular season last night, though. The 23-year-old presumably won’t be in their Game 1 lineup against the Oilers and will report for playoff action with the Reign.
  • The Islanders have summoned goaltender Jakub Skarek from AHL Bridgeport, per the league’s media site. The 23-year-old comes up to serve as the extra/reserve netminder as the Islanders begin their first-round series with Bridgeport eliminated from playoff contention. The 2018 third-round pick has again struggled in the third-string spot, posting a .888 SV% and 7-22-6 record in 36 appearances for the AHL Isles this year. He was passed over for recalls earlier in the regular season in favor of veteran Kenneth Appleby.

This page will be updated throughout the day.

Jeff Carter Announces Retirement

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The Penguins announced postgame that veteran center Jeff Carter is retiring after a 19-year NHL career. He’d spent the last three seasons and change in Pittsburgh, maintaining his status as a regular but slipping to bottom-six minutes as his point production and all-around game declined.

The two-time Stanley Cup champion cited family reasons as his primary reason for stepping away from the game, confirming he’ll stick around in the Pittsburgh area moving forward:

Yeah, we’re staying. We moved here in August full-time. We’ve loved it. It’s been a great fit for our family. It’s central to both our extended families. It has worked out really well.

Carter’s career began with the cross-state rival Flyers, who selected him with the 11th overall pick in 2003 as part of arguably the most star-studded first round in modern history. The now-39-year-old wouldn’t make his NHL debut for another two years, sticking around with the Soo Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League while a labor lockout canceled the 2004-05 campaign. At age 21, he immediately stepped in as a solid complementary scorer, scoring 23 goals and 42 points in 2005-06 while averaging only 12:04 per game.

He was promoted to Philadelphia’s top six the following season, where he largely remained for the Flyers and three other clubs before being demoted last season. By 2008-09, he’d cemented himself as one of the better two-way centers in the league, leading a deep Flyers offense in scoring with a career-high 46 goals and 84 points, averaging nearly 21 minutes per game.

His point production trailed off marginally over the next two seasons but nonetheless remained a top-six fixture. Injuries began to take a minor toll, as he was limited to 12 appearances in the Flyers’ run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Final. Philly inked him to an 11-year, $58MM extension early in the 2010-11 campaign, but he would never play a game for the franchise under that deal. Then-Flyers GM Paul Holmgren had a quick case of buyer’s remorse amid his early 2010s roster-retooling, dealing Carter to the Blue Jackets for young winger Jakub Voráček, a first-round pick that became captain Sean Couturier, and a third-round pick that became depth contributor Nick Cousins.

It was a slam-dunk deal for Philly, who got 604 points and 727 games out of Voráček, 795 games and 498 points (and counting) out of Couturier, and three seasons of decent depth scoring out of Cousins. Carter played less than a full season in Columbus, as he was flipped to the Kings at the 2012 trade deadline after just 15 goals and 39 games in a Blue Jackets uniform.

His offensive peak may have been in Philadelphia, but he found the most success in Los Angeles. He posted nine points in 16 games down the stretch in 2012 before tying for the league lead with eight goals in 20 postseason games as the eight-seed Kings had one of the most dominant Cinderella runs in professional sports, winning the first Stanley Cup in franchise history while going 16-4. Splitting duties with former Flyers teammate Mike Richards as some of the Kings’ primary secondary scorers behind Anže Kopitar, he returned with a vengeance in 2014, erupting for 10 goals and 25 points in 26 playoff games as L.A. captured its second championship in three years.

Carter eclipsed the 60-point mark in each of the next three seasons and was on his way to doing so again in 2017-18 until an October skate cut caused tendon damage in his lower left leg, requiring surgery and keeping him out for over four months. He was strong in limited action, posting 22 points in 27 games, but was held without a point in four playoff games as the Kings were quickly dispatched by the expansion Golden Knights in the first round.

Unfortunately, he was never the same after that. He managed 60 points combined over the following two seasons (136 games), posting a -41 rating in the process. After he was limited to eight goals and 19 points through the first 40 games of the COVID-shortened 2021 season, the retooling Kings traded the final season-and-a-half of his aforementioned extension to the Penguins for a pair of mid-round draft picks, retaining half his $5.27MM cap hit in the swap.

The move worked out well in the short-term for Pittsburgh. Carter had a resurgence in slightly increased minutes down the stretch, recording 11 points in 14 games and four goals and six playoff games as the Pens were eliminated in the first round by the Islanders. He put up 45 points the following season, his highest total in five years, but Pittsburgh was again dispatched in the first round, this time by the Rangers.

Given his mild rebound, Penguins GM Ron Hextall inked Carter to a two-year, $6.25MM extension midway through the 2021-22 campaign. Unfortunately, the unavoidable aging curve took effect sooner than they’d hoped, knocking his production down to 13 goals and 29 points last season while having his ice time slashed to its lowest since his rookie season. This year marked another significant slide, posting 11 goals and just four assists in 72 contests. He is coming off his best-ever year in the faceoff dot, winning 61.5% of his draws.

Carter’s final goal came earlier tonight in a 5-4 loss to the Isles, a power-play tally assisted by Sidney Crosby and Michael Bunting. All told, his 1,321 career games played stand alone at 63rd on the all-time list. He tallied 441 goals, 409 assists, and 850 points with a career +9 rating and captured Selke Trophy votes on four occasions (2009, 2011, 2016, 2017). His estimated career earnings to date are $76.5MM, per CapFriendly.

With Carter sticking around in Pittsburgh, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him take an off-ice role in GM Kyle Dubas’ front office. PHR extends its best wishes to Carter and his family in their next chapter.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Kings Notes: Turcotte, Thomas, Laferriere, Swamp Rabbits

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As the Los Angeles Kings prepare for the team’s final game of the regular season on Thursday night, they will have a young prospect returning to the lineup. The organization announced they have activated forward Alex Turcotte from long-term injured reserve, and have loaned forward Akil Thomas to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign.

Turcotte, who was the fifth overall pick of the Kings back in the 2019 NHL Draft, will return to the active roster for the first time in about a month due to an upper-body injury. At the NHL level, Turcotte has suited up in 20 games for Los Angeles, scoring one goal and four points in total. In Ontario, he has been far more productive, scoring seven goals and 25 points in 33 games, leading to four separate call-ups this season.

Thomas, on the other hand, has spent far less time at the NHL level as compared to Turcotte. Recalled on an emergency basis on March 31st, Thomas has matched Turcotte’s production on the year, scoring one goal and four points in seven games. Similarly to Turcotte, the former 51st overall pick has been far more productive with the Reign, scoring 22 goals and 43 points over 61 games this season.

Other Kings notes:

  • According to CapFriendly, since Kings’ forward Alex Laferriere played in his 80th game of the season last night against the Minnesota Wild, he has lost his waiver exemption status for next season. Whether it be after training camp or any time during next season, Los Angeles will have to place Laferriere on the waiver wire if they wish to send him down to the AHL. Nevertheless, it is rather unlikely the Kings would choose to send Laferriere anytime soon, as he has scored 11 goals and 23 points throughout this season, making for a productive rookie campaign.
  • Moving to the ECHL, the Kings organization has signed their current ECHL affiliate, the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, to a two-year extension. Located in South Carolina, the Swamp Rabbits have been the ECHL affiliate of Los Angeles since the start of the 2022-23 NHL season and will continue in that role until the end of 2025-26.

Anze Kopitar Remains Day-To-Day With Undisclosed Injury

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This is just the second run-in Shattenkirk has had with the Department of Player Safety in his 950 career games, with his last punishment being a two-game suspension for charging Los Angeles Kings defenseman Kevin Gravel in March of 2017.

  • Los Angeles Kopitar captain Anze Kopitar missed the team’s practice once again, remaining day-to-day with an undisclosed injury that held him out of the team’s Saturday night win over the Anaheim Ducks, per Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider (Twitter link). Dooley adds that the team doesn’t seem concerned about Kopitar’s availability. That’s certainly good news, with the future Hall of Famer certain to be a main factor in their postseason success, after posting 26 goals and 70 points in 79 games this season. The Kings opted to ice seven defensemen in Kopitar’s absence, returning Jacob Moverare to the lineup. They could continue that approach in their final two games of the season, though Arthur Kaliyev is their extra forward should they want to ice four full lines.

Kings Assign Carl Grundstrom To AHL On LTI Conditioning Loan

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It has been two months since Kings winger Carl Grundstrom was able to see game action.  That’s about to change as the team announced today (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned Grundstrom to AHL Ontario on an LTI Conditioning Loan.

Grundstrom has been working his way back from a lower-body injury sustained back on February 13th against Buffalo, one that landed him on LTIR two days later.  He’s the second Kings forward to be sent down on one of these loans this week as Alex Turcotte was sent to the Reign back on Wednesday.

The 26-year-old has played in 50 games with Los Angeles this season, notching eight goals and four assists.  Grundstrom has also chipped in with 115 hits while logging a little under 11 minutes a night.  That’s not a great return on a $1.3MM price tag and Grundstrom will be RFA-eligible for the final time this summer while having arbitration rights.  With the cap situation the Kings have, Grundstrom could be a candidate to be moved out if they want to open up a little more cap room.

LTI conditioning assignments can last for a maximum of three games and six days although Los Angeles can ask for a one-time two-game extension if it’s determined that Grundstrom needs a bit more game action.  Either way, it appears that the Kings will have the gritty winger available to them when the playoffs get underway next week barring a setback while on assignment.

Braden Doyle Enters Transfer Portal

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  • Kings prospect Braden Doyle has entered the transfer portal, relays Brad Elliott Schlossman of the Grand Forks Herald. It’s the second time he’ll be on the move as he went from Boston University to Northeastern in 2022.  The 22-year-old blueliner was a sixth-round pick back in 2019 (157th overall) but was limited to just 13 games this season where he had just one goal.

Los Angeles Kings Loan Alex Turcotte For Conditioning Stint

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  • Out of the lineup for the Los Angeles Kings for nearly a month, it appears that forward Alex Turcotte is close to returning for the club. In an update today, the Kings organization announced that Turcotte has been assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, on a conditioning loan. Before going down with an undisclosed injury in March, Turcotte was not a heavily utilized player by Los Angeles, scoring one goal and four points in 20 games while only averaging 9:17 of ice time per night.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Phillip Danault Fully Healthy, Alex Turcotte Returns To Practice

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  • In an update from Eric Stephens of The Athletic, the Los Angeles Kings will be receiving center Phillip Danault back into the lineup this evening. Usually one of the more consistently healthy players in the league, Danault went down with an upper-body injury on March 28th and has missed the last four games for the Kings. Included in the report was an update on injured Los Angeles forward Alex Turcotte, who was spotted back at practice in a non-contact jersey this morning. Compared to Danault, Turcotte has been out much longer for the Kings, as he has not appeared in a contest since March 19th due to an upper-body injury.

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