Kings Activate Drew Doughty From LTIR
12:25 p.m.: Doughty is indeed off LTIR, per a team announced. As expected, Helenius was reassigned to AHL Ontario in a corresponding transaction.
10:15 a.m.: The Kings will have star defenseman Drew Doughty in the lineup for the first time this season when they face the Panthers on Wednesday, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports. He’ll come off long-term injured reserve after missing just over four months with an ankle fracture sustained in preseason action.
Los Angeles is short about $84K in cap space to remove Doughty from LTIR, but they also have a full active roster. Opening up a roster space by assigning a player to AHL Ontario will also open the necessary cap space for his activation.
Doughty remains the anchor of the Kings’ blue line, even as he kicks off his age-35 season. The four-time Norris Trophy finalist is coming off a resurgent 2023-24 campaign in which he scored 15 goals, the second-highest total of his 16-season career, and secured a second straight 50-point year for the first time. Doughty also remained the Kings’ average ice time leader by a wide margin last season with 25:48, and he ranked second on the club with 142 blocks and seventh with 109 hits.
That made many believe Doughty’s long-term absence would spell doom for L.A.’s season, especially after they lost No. 2 righty Matt Roy to the Capitals in free agency. Not only are the Kings squarely in the playoff picture, but they’re on pace for 101 points and rank second in the league in goals against despite poor goaltending from backup David Rittich, who’s started 20 of their 47 games.
As expected, no one single player has filled in for Doughty. His absence has been shouldered by committee. 2021 eighth-overall pick Brandt Clarke emerged as their top offensive option in the interim with 24 points in 47 games, while Vladislav Gavrikov shifted to his off-side to replace Doughty alongside Michael Anderson on the top pair. While he’s got just a fraction of Doughty’s offensive upside, the 6’3″ Gavrikov has averaged a career-high 23:56 per game with strong defensive numbers. His 96 blocks lead the team, and his pairing with Anderson has controlled 56.2% of expected goals, per MoneyPuck.
The Kings are already carrying eight defensemen on their active roster, so one of them is likely destined for waivers. That won’t open up space quickly enough to activate Doughty for tonight’s game, though, so the waiver-exempt Clarke (or, more likely, depth center Samuel Helenius) will be sent down today to give the Kings time to do some roster shuffling.
Doughty returns with six games to go until the 4 Nations Face-Off, enough time to put himself in consideration to replace Alex Pietrangelo on Team Canada’s roster after the Golden Knight withdrew from the tournament over the weekend. He still has two years after this one left on his eight-year, $88MM mega-deal he signed with the Kings in 2018.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Doughty Could Practice Next Week, Laferriere Day-To-Day
There could be some good news on the horizon for Kings defenseman Drew Doughty. Darren Dreger reported in TSN’s latest Insider Trading segment that the blueliner could practice in a non-contact capacity next week. At this point, the team is hoping that the 35-year-old could return to the lineup before next month’s 4 Nations Face-Off. Doughty has yet to play this season due to an ankle injury, causing a big blow to Los Angeles’ back end. The Kings are currently using LTIR and haven’t banked much cap space so when Doughty does return, their cap flexibility will take a hit but their blueline will get a significant boost as they look to move up in the Pacific Division.
- Still with the Kings, Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider relays that winger Alex Laferriere won’t play on Thursday due to an upper-body injury with a further update on his status expected later in the week. The 23-year-old is having a strong sophomore year, notching 13 goals and 13 assists through his first 41 games, already besting his numbers from last season. His absence should open up a spot for Samuel Helenius – just recalled today – to get into the lineup.
Los Angeles Kings Recall Samuel Helenius
Jan. 15th: Helenius is expected to suit up in his 22nd-career game tomorrow night against the Vancouver Canucks. The Kings organization announced they’ve recalled Helenius from AHL Ontario one day after reassigning him in a paper transaction.
Jan. 14th: The Kings loaned center Samuel Helenius to AHL Ontario on Tuesday, per a team announcement. They now have an open roster spot, allowing them to activate star defender Drew Doughty from long-term injured reserve whenever he’s ready to return.
Helenius, 22, has been a scratch in Los Angeles’ last four games. He last played on New Year’s Day against the Devils.
Selected out of Finland’s JYP in the second round of the 2021 draft, the 6’6″, 201-lb Helenius follows in the very large shoes of his father, former Stars defenseman Sami Helenius. The hulking pivot is in his fourth season stateside and has gotten his first cup of coffee in the NHL over the past few months.
Appearing in 21 of 41 games for the Kings, Helenius has a pair of assists and a minus-three rating, although he’s still looking for his first NHL goal. He’s averaged 8:33 of ice time per game, won 45.3% of his draws, and leads the team with 23.4 hits per 60 minutes.
While sound physically and decent defensively, Helenius unsurprisingly grades out as the Kings’ worst offensive player. The team averages just one goal per 60 minutes with Helenius on the ice at even strength.
Considering the Kings haven’t been using Helenius, it’s unlikely his demotion is a paper transaction. He’s still young with some development track ahead of him, so the reassignment comes to give him more playing time in Ontario.
In eight games with the Reign earlier this season, Helenius had a pair of goals and an assist with a whopping 22 PIMs and a minus-three rating. He has 37 points in 150 games with Ontario dating back to the 2021-22 season.
Doughty, 35, has yet to play in the regular season after sustaining a fractured ankle in exhibition play in September. He resumed skating two weeks ago and shouldn’t be out of the lineup for too much longer.
While the Kings have the roster space to activate Doughty, they don’t have the cap space. They’re $38K above the limit when Doughty comes off LTIR as things stand, so they’ll need to send another player on a cheap contract down to the minors to make things work.
Vladislav Gavrikov Interested In Extension With Kings
History could repeat itself next summer with the Los Angeles Kings organization. The team saw defenseman Matt Roy head for greener pastures in the form of a six-year, $34.5MM deal with the Washington Capitals and that’s not a scenario they’ll want to see play out again with another shutdown defenseman of theirs.
If Vladislav Gavrikov has his way, he’ll be with the Kings organization for the foreseeable future. In a recent interview with Daria Tuboltseva of RG.org, Gavrikov said, “We shared our position, but it’s too early to discuss a new contract. I have a full no-trade clause, so the trade deadline isn’t an issue for me – we have plenty of time. I haven’t decided on the term yet, but my priority is a long-term contract. As for the financial side, we haven’t gotten to that yet.”
This summer will be Gavrikov’s second opportunity to sign a new long-term contract in Los Angeles. He originally signed a two-year, $11.75MM extension with the Kings in 2023, a few months after the team acquired him in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets. As much as Gavrikov would have liked to sign a long-term deal in Columbus then, he chose a shorter-term deal with the Kings for a few reasons.
At the time, Gavrikov’s idea of a shorter-term deal with Los Angeles was largely a gamble on himself. The salary cap’s upper limit was mostly stagnant from 2019 to 2024, and Gavrikov wanted to set himself up for a larger payday once it started to rise again. Given that the upper limit will be nearly $10MM more in the 2025-26 campaign than when he signed his current contract, it appears Gavrikov’s gamble has paid off.
Another reason Gavrikov chose a shorter-term deal is that he hadn’t quite familiarized himself with the city of Los Angeles. Further along in the interview with Tuboltseva, Gavrikov was quoted saying, “When I got to L.A., I needed time to decide if my family and I wanted to stay. That’s why we agreed on a short-term contract with the Kings. Now we know what we want, and we can sign a long-term deal here.”
His defensive attributes alone have made him a valuable blue-liner for the Kings. Gavrikov has had to take on a larger role this year in Los Angeles due to the untimely injury of Drew Doughty at the beginning of the season. The native of Yaroslavl, Russia leads all Kings’ defensemen in average time on ice of 23:52, 81 blocked shots, and a +16 rating.
There aren’t a ton of recent comparables to Gavrikov’s situation but the defenseman who immediately comes to mind as playing a similar style and signing a long-term deal is Chris Tanev of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto signed Tanev to a six-year, $27MM contract this past summer, but being that Gavrikov is six years younger than Tanev, it’s more than likely his AAV will land closer to $6MM-$6.75MM instead of Tanev’s $4.5MM.
Kings Recall Samuel Helenius, Remove Kyle Burroughs From Non-Roster
The Los Angeles Kings are adding some depth to their lineup before their upcoming five-game road trip starting on January 10th. The organization announced they’ve recalled forward Samuel Helenius from their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, and removed defenseman Kyle Burroughs from the non-roster designation.
As a waiver-exempt player, Helenius has been frequently called up and utilized by the Kings this season. While he has not been a significant contributor in terms of offensive production—recording 13 goals and 37 points in 150 AHL games—he makes up for his lack of scoring with his physical style of play.
Despite being 12th amongst forwards in games played and last in average time on ice, Helenius is second on the Kings in hits with 70. Los Angeles has been one of the more rugged and physical teams for more than a decade and Helenius is helping preserve that image.
Burroughs returns to the active roster after missing the last few days due to the birth of his child. He’s in the second year of a three-year, $3.3MM contract originally signed with the San Jose Sharks before being traded to the Kings last summer.
He’s suited up in 20 games for Los Angeles this year as a depth defenseman and has tallied two assists overall. Unfortunately, as the team’s eighth defenseman on the active roster, Burroughs’ days in the NHL are likely numbered with Drew Doughty nearing a return.
New York Rangers Claim Arthur Kaliyev Off Waivers
Jan. 6: Kaliyev’s time in the Kings organization has officially ended. TSN’s Bruce Garrioch was the first to report that the New York Rangers have claimed Kaliyev off the waiver wire. The Rangers will add Kaliyev’s entire $825K salary leaving them just under $8MM in room. He’ll be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer.
Jan. 5: The Los Angeles Kings have placed winger Arthur Kaliyev on waivers per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Kaliyev sustained a fractured clavicle in the pre-season, and wasn’t activated from season-opening injured reserve until December 28th. He was assigned to the AHL for a conditioning stint on December 10th, and scored two points in five games with the Ontario Reign. But being activated off of IR returns Kaliyev to waiver eligibility, and the Kings will now attempt to pass his through waivers to return him to the minor leagues.
Kaliyev played in his first minor league games since 2020-21 on his conditioning stint. He’s spent the years since fighting, and struggling, to earn a consistent role in the Kings’ lineup, under a very bright spotlight. Kaliyev has stood as one of Los Angeles’ top prospects since 2019, when the Kings drafted him with the first pick of the second round. He played through his rookie NHL season in 2021-22, scoring 14 goals and 27 points. Kaliyev began to improve on those numbers in year-two, but suffered an undisclosed injury in December that forced him out through mid-February, limiting him to just 56 games. Kaliyev managed 13 goals and 28 points, impressively rivaling his rookie scoring despite the injuries. But he couldn’t continue that improvement into last season, netting just 15 points in 51 games and falling into routine healthy scratches.
Even with minute intentions, this move stands as a major wedge in Kaliyev’s drive to earn an NHL role. He’s totaled 35 goals and 71 points in 188 career games, but never seemed to find a fit in the lineup, no matter how often the Kings changed up his role. He could be an interesting, high upside bet on the waiver wire – offering teams the chance to land an impactful middle-six scorer for no cost. Kaliyev is set to be a restricted free-agent with arbitration status this summer, and carries an affordable $825K cap hit.
Kings Announce Four Roster Moves
The Kings were busy leading into their game against Tampa Bay today. The team announced that they’ve activated winger Trevor Moore and center Trevor Lewis off injured reserve. To make room on the roster, winger Andre Lee was assigned to AHL Ontario while defenseman Kyle Burroughs was moved to non-roster status.
Moore was moved to IR last weekend but last played on December 12th and had been sidelined with an upper-body injury since then. The 29-year-old had a career year last season with 31 goals and 26 assists in 82 games and while he hasn’t produced at quite the same level this year, he’s still doing well with six goals and a dozen helpers in 28 outings while logging a little over 17 minutes a night.
As for Lewis, he sustained a lower-body injury on the final day of November and has been out since then. He’s being activated for his 1,000th career game tonight. Lewis has seven points in 25 games so far this season while chipping in with 46 hits and a 51% success rate at the faceoff dot, continuing to have success in the fourth-line role he has held for the bulk of his career.
Lee is the roster casualty up front to bring Moore and Lewis back onto the roster. The 24-year-old has split the season between the Kings and Reign, getting his first taste of NHL playing time along the way. Lee has played in 19 games with Los Angeles, primarily on the fourth line. In those outings, he has a goal and two assists along with 36 hits in just over nine minutes a night. In Ontario, he has suited up four time, collecting a goal and an assist.
Burroughs, meanwhile, is in his first season with the Kings after signing a two-year, $2.2MM deal with them last summer. Playing time hasn’t been the easiest to come by, however, as he has been limited to just 20 games thus far out of 37. The 29-year-old has a pair of assists, 31 hits, and 24 penalty minutes but is playing just 8:39 per game, well below his career average of 15:57 per game. He is away from the team following the birth of his child.
Kings’ Brandt Clarke Proving Long-Term Potential
To be eligible for the Calder Trophy – the NHL’s ‘Rookie of the Year’ title – a player must enter the year with fewer than 25 games of NHL experience under their belt. That puts top Los Angeles Kings defenseman Brandt Clarke, who played nine games in 2022-23 and 16 games last year, narrowly outside of eligibility. Without the allure of a yearly title, attention has pulled away from Clarke, but his first full year in the NHL couldn’t be going better.
Only 19 players in the NHL are younger than the 21-year-old Clarke. That provides some framing for just how impressive his pursuit of the Kings’ top defense role has been. Clarke proudly leads Los Angeles defenders in scoring with 21 points in 37 games, five more than Vladislav Gavrikov in second. Even better, Clarke has been on the ice for 29 goals-for and 17 goals-against at even-strength, giving him a 63 percent GF% that leads the defense and ranks fifth on the Kings as a whole.
Clarke’s hot play is earning him quick recognition from new Kings coach Jim Hiller, who boosted Clarke into top-pair minutes in late November – though he eventually returned to the second pair after not maintaining his scoring. But Clarke has found a cushy role quarterbacking the team’s power-play, where he’s scored six points – matching the man-advantage scoring of Kings legend Anže Kopitar.
Clarke’s statistical success is great, but the timing of his step into a full-time role has been even better. The Kings have been without star right-defender Drew Doughty all season, as he nurses a broken left ankle that required surgery in October. In the wake of the injury, Los Angeles was forced to move left-shot Gavrikov to the right side, while Clarke and Jordan Spence vied for minutes behind him. But they’ve both matched the bill, proving they can stand up to meaningful minutes on a playoff-bound team.
Doughty has returned to skating drills, and could return to the lineup quickly in the new year. That should bring some sense of normalcy back to the Kings’ lineup, likely moving Gavrikov back to his natural left-side and bumping one of Joel Edmundson or Jacob Moverare out of the lineup. Doughty’s return will give Clarke more challenge for power-play minutes and offensive starts, but it will also give the Kings another capable scorer on the back-end. That could draw attention away from Clarke, and give him even more space to rack up dazzling scoring. Clarke is currently on pace for 47 points this year, which would sandwich him between Alexei Zhitnik (48) and Rob Blake (46) for the third-highest all-time from a rookie Kings defenseman. Both Zhitnik and Blake went on to have tremendous pro careers – and Clarke seems well within the realm of joining them, after stamping his spot at the top of Los Angeles’ lineup through the first half of the 2024-25 campaign.
Late Night Notes: Doughty, Wilsby, Crosby
Top Los Angeles Kings defenseman Drew Doughty has taken one step closer to full health, returning to skating drills on Tuesday head coach Jim Hiller shared with NHL.com’s Zach Dooley. Doughty has missed the entire regular season after undergoing an ankle surgery in October. He was placed on long-term injured reserve on October 9th.
The Kings defense has been great in Doughty’s absence. Rookie Brandt Clarke leads the bunch in scoring with an impressive 21 points in 36 games – and is quickly followed by Vladislav Gavrikov, Jordan Spence, and Joel Edmundson in scoring double-digit points. The blue-line has been a major factor in the Kings’ 21-10-5 record, and getting back their franchise defender in Doughty could be the piece to really push them into company with the league’s top teams. The 35-year-old Doughty recorded 50 points in 82 games last season – his second consecutive year reaching the 50-point mark. His performance featured 15 goals, the most Doughty has scored since the 2009-10 season. While age has certainly slowed his game, he still seems poised to make a major impact in Los Angeles’ top-four once he’s back to full health.
Sticking to the Western Conference, Nashville Predators defenseman Adam Wilsby missed the team’s Tuesday game against Minnesota with an upper-body injury. He has been designated as day-to-day, per a team announcement. Wilsby has been a focal piece of Nashville’s blue-line, averaging nearly 19 minutes of ice time each game and recording three points across 15 games. He’s 10 games shy of making this year his official rookie season in the NHL. Wilsby earned the promotion after climbing the ranks of the Milwaukee Admirals, totaling 44 points in 126 games with the club over the last three seasons – including five points in 13 games this year. Recent trade acquisition Justin Barron is filled in for Wilsby. It’s his third game with the Predators. Barron is still searching for his first point with the team.
Jumping out East, Sidney Crosby is continuing to stamp himself as the pinnacle Pittsburgh Penguin. He recorded his 1,034th assist on Sunday night, passing Mario Lemieux for the franchise’s all-time record and pushing Crosby to 12th on the NHL’s all-time assist leaderboards. Crosby sits 16 assists back from surpassing Gordie Howe and entering the top-10 of that list. He’s still 88 points shy of breaking Lemieux’s franchise record for all-time points. Crosby has two years on his contract after this season, which should be plenty of runway to set more Penguins scoring records, and continue challenging the tops of NHL record books.
Los Angeles Kings Recall Arthur Kaliyev, Place Trevor Moore On IR
Arthur Kaliyev is expected to play in his first NHL contest in the last 269 days. The Los Angeles Kings announced they’ve activated Kaliyev from the injured reserve and recalled him from his conditioning loan while placing Trevor Moore on the injured reserve in a corresponding roster move.
Kaliyev hasn’t played for the Kings since last year’s regular season. He got off to a solid start last season with six goals and 13 points through his first 25 games but his production dissipated quickly. Los Angeles did everything they could to jumpstart Kaliyev’s scoring output but he finished the 2023-24 season with one goal and two points in his subsequent 26 games.
His comeback effort didn’t start on the right foot. Kaliyev suffered a broken collarbone on the second day of training camp this year, precluding him from starting the regular season on time. He was finally cleared to play on December 10th when the Kings originally sent him to the AHL on his conditioning loan. His time with AHL’s Ontario Reign produced mixed results after scoring one goal and two points in five contests.
Los Angeles will hope Kaliyev can re-establish his offensive production this season. He’s only two years removed from scoring 13 goals and 28 points for the Kings in 56 games and is still only 23 years old. His play down the stretch of the 2024-25 season will likely dictate Kaliyev’s future in the Kings organization.
Still, Kaliyev is likely the best internal option at the Kings’ disposal to replace Moore in the lineup. The veteran winger has missed Los Angeles’ last five games due to an upper-body injury and isn’t ready to return. Moore is tied for the sixth on the Kings in goal-scoring with six goals in 28 games after finishing last year as the team’s best goal-scorer with 31 goals in 82 contests.