Headlines

Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Kings Rumors

Kings Assign Carl Grundstrom To AHL On LTI Conditioning Loan

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

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

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

  • 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

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

  • 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

at CDT | by 3 Comments

  • 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.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Phillip Danault Will Be Game-Time Decision Wednesday

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

  • Kings center Phillip Danault will again be a game-time decision with an upper-body injury tonight in a crucial game against the Kraken, interim head coach Jim Hiller told Dennis Bernstein of The Fourth Period. Their playoff chances could drop south of 90% with a loss, per MoneyPuck, opening a small window for the Blues and Wild to make miracle late-season runs into playoff position. Danault was also listed as a game-time decision for Monday’s 4-3 loss to Winnipeg but did not play. Their top shutdown center hasn’t played since March 28 against the Oilers and has now missed two contests.

Phillip Danault Game-Time Decision Monday With Upper-Body Injury

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

  • Kings center Phillip Danault will be a game-time decision with his upper-body injury ahead of tonight’s matchup with the Jets, interim head coach Jim Hiller told reporters (via Ken Wiebe of The Winnipeg Free Press). Danault, 31, missed Saturday’s 4-2 loss to the Flames with the injury. The 2011 first-round pick is well on his way to earning Selke Trophy votes for the sixth straight season, although he’s yet to be a nominee. He has 17 goals and 42 points in 72 games this season, in line with his production since joining the Kings on a six-year, $33MM deal in 2021. His +14.5 expected rating this season is the second-highest of his career, and his 56.1 CF% at even strength is fifth among qualified Kings skaters despite receiving difficult defensive minutes. If Danault cannot play, 24-year-old Akil Thomas is expected to make his NHL debut after being recalled yesterday.

Kings Recall Akil Thomas, Place Alex Turcotte On LTIR

at CDT | by Leave a Comment

The Kings announced they’ve recalled center Akil Thomas from AHL Ontario. To create cap space, Alex Turcotte was placed on long-term injured reserve, keeping him out until the last week of the regular season.

Turcotte hasn’t played since March 19 due to an upper-body injury, and he isn’t with the team on their four-game road swing, which began last week. Assuming his LTIR placement is retroactive to the date of the injury, he’ll satisfy the 24-day, 10-game absence requirements in a week and a half’s time and will be eligible to return on April 13 against the Ducks, the 80th game of L.A.’s season.

The injury is another difficult setback for Turcotte, who was amid his first extended stint in the majors since being selected fifth overall by the Kings at the 2019 draft. He’s remained on the NHL roster since a Feb. 8 recall, aside from a one-day loan to Ontario on trade deadline day to make him eligible to play in the minors down the stretch. The 23-year-old has played in a career-high 20 games, recording his first NHL points with a goal and three assists. While he saw limited time at even-strength up in the lineup alongside Anže Kopitar, his overall ice time has been limited at 9:16 per game.

L.A. has lost its grip on a divisional playoff spot thanks to a recent hot stretch from the Golden Knights, slipping to fourth in the Pacific Division and occupying the second wild-card spot in the West. Still, they have a solid five-point cushion on the Blues and have only a 3.1% chance of slipping out of a playoff spot entirely, per MoneyPuck. They’ve yet to carry a fully healthy forward group all season with Viktor Arvidsson, Carl Grundström and Blake Lizotte all missing double-digit games, and their offense has suffered as a result, dropping to 16th in the league in goals scored after finishing ninth last year. Those injuries have provided a chance for players like Turcotte and Alex Laferriere, who’s played in all but one game this season, to log NHL time.

Thomas now gets a similar chance to Turcotte, as he could make his NHL debut against the Jets on Monday and allow the Kings to dress 12 forwards with Phillip Danault (upper-body, day-to-day) also sidelined. The Kings selected Thomas, now 24, in the second round of the 2018 draft. This is the first recall of his professional career and comes under emergency conditions, per CapFriendly.

After passing through waivers during training camp and missing most of last season with injuries, Thomas has broken out for a career-high 22 goals, 21 assists and 43 points in 61 games with Ontario. The former OHL All-Rookie Team member with the Niagara IceDogs and World Juniors hero with Canada in 2020 has had a rocky development path over the past few years, with injuries and COVID keeping him from playing more than 40 games in a season since turning pro. He signed a one-year, two-way ($775K/$100K) extension to remain in Los Angeles after his entry-level contract expired last summer and will be an RFA at the end of the season.

Kings Recall Jacob Moverare

at CDT | by 1 Comment

March 29: Moverare is back on the NHL roster today, per a team announcement.

March 28: The Los Angeles Kings have re-assigned defenseman Jacob Moverare to the Ontario Reign of the AHL. The 25-year-old defenseman may end the month of March in the AHL, but it has been quite a ride over the last few weeks.

A native of Ostersund, Sweden, Moverare scored his first NHL goal three weeks ago in a game against the Ottawa Senators. The marker came just a day after he signed a two-year, one-way extension worth a total of $1.55MM. At one point he also found himself exposed to waivers this month and assigned to the AHL, but he went unclaimed, likely because of the additional two years attached to him at NHL money.

Moverare was drafted by the Kings in the fourth round of the 2016 NHL entry draft and has spent time on the NHL roster in each of the last three seasons. His offensive game has started to take shape this season in the AHL, but he hasn’t been able to translate that to the NHL game. In 40 career NHL games, Moverare has a goal and two assists, while at the AHL level, he’s registered 10 goals and 59 assists in 152 career games.

Although he doesn’t produce much scoring, Moverare remains a steady defensive presence and a good depth option for the Kings on their back end. However, he has struggled as of late and has seen a dramatic decrease in his playing time, particularly in the past two games in which he has played less than four minutes in each game.

West Notes: McGinn, Grundström, Krug, Joshua

at CDT | by 1 Comment

The Anaheim Ducks have announced that forward Brock McGinn has undergone successful back surgery, focused on his intervertebral discs (Twitter link). This operation is expected to hold McGinn out for four months, ending his season early. McGinn has been on injured reserve since February 17th and absent from Anaheim’s lineup since January 25th.

This news marks the final blow in what was a difficult season for McGinn – who suffered a significant lower-body injury just days before Anaheim’s first game of the season that held him out for a month. That injury, as well as a brief departure for the birth of his first child in late December, held McGinn to just 24 appearances in the first half of the season. Those games will now stand as his only this year, marking the least he’s played since turning pro in the 2014-15 season. McGinn managed one goal, three points, four penalty minutes, and a -5 this year while averaging roughly 11 minutes of ice time. Anaheim has utilized a variety of talents in his place – with the Ducks debut of Ben Meyers, the return of Trevor Zegras from injury, and bottom-six stalwarts like Ross Johnston and Benoit-Olivier Groulx working to fill open minutes. McGinn will look to rejoin the bottom-six mix next season, with one year remaining on his contract.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Gritty forward Carl Grundström is progressing from injury, joining the Los Angeles Kings on their three-game road trip through Western Canada, per The Athletic’s Eric Stephens (Twitter link). Grundström has been out since February 13th with a lower-body injury that’s earned him a place on long-term injured reserve. He’s managed eight goals and 12 points in 50 games this season. Stephens adds that Grundström is still wearing a no-contact jersey at practice – but his attendance on the trip is nonetheless encouraging progress towards his return from a 21-game absence.
  • Defenseman Torey Krug could be held out of the St. Louis Blues’ lineup on Thursday with the flu, per NHL.com’s Lou Korac (Twitter link). Blues head coach Drew Bannister shared that he’s hopeful Krug will be good to go but designated him as questionable. Krug played in the first 69 games of St. Louis’ season but recently missed his first game of the year with a lower-body injury. He’s been a pivotal piece of St. Louis’ lineup when healthy, managing 34 points and 30 penalty minutes in 71 games. The Blues will hope he’s feeling better come tomorrow, as they gear up for a fight with the Calgary Flames.
  • The Vancouver Canucks upgraded forward Dakota Joshua to full-contact at their Wednesday-morning practice (Twitter link). Joshua has been out since February 13th, suffering an undisclosed injury in the midst of a three-point night. He’s flirted with a return many times since, but ultimately landed on Vancouver’s long-term injured reserve. While no official designation was provided, Joshua could have a chance to return as soon as Thursday, when the Canucks take on the Dallas Stars.

Kings Activate Viktor Arvidsson From LTIR

at CDT | by 7 Comments

The Kings announced that winger Viktor Arvidsson was activated from long-term injured reserve Wednesday. As such, he’s eligible to return to the lineup tonight against the Wild. With $4.46MM remaining in their LTIR salary pool, the Kings have just enough space to activate his $4.25MM cap hit.

Arvidsson, 30, was moved to LTIR on Feb. 24 after a two-day stint on standard IR. The veteran forward’s latest lower-body injury came just four games after making his season debut in mid-February. He had sustained back and lower-body injuries during training camp that cost him the first 50 games of the season. Now ready to go, Arvidsson is expected to slot into a third-line role alongside Pierre-Luc Dubois and Alex Laferriere in his return, not the line with Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore he played on last month.

It’s impossible to glean much from such a small sample – especially since he played just 17 seconds in his most recent outing – but Arvidsson looked like his consistent top-six self with two assists. His possession numbers were strong, posting a 53.6 xGF% with Danault and Moore (per MoneyPuck) and, individually, a similarly strong 58.1 CF% at even strength. He’s coming off the fifth 20-goal season of his career in 2022-23, when he totaled 59 points in 77 games while averaging 17:06 per game in an integral second-line role for Los Angeles.

Unfortunately, injuries have plagued Arvidsson throughout his 10-year career, as he’s only eclipsed the 70-game mark three times. Before last year, when all of his absences were due to illness or personal reasons, Arvidsson missed games due to injury in every season from 2016 to 2021.

Getting Arvidsson back into the fold helps boost the depth of an offense that hasn’t had much punch this year, ranking 19th in the league and second-to-last among teams currently in playoff position. Dubois’ underwhelming showing in the third-line center role (33 points in 68 games) is a major reason for that, although extended ice time with a consistent scoring threat like Arvidsson may boost his numbers down the stretch.

Without Arvidsson for much of the year, the Kings have still managed to ride out a shockingly poor mid-season stretch of play and a coaching change and are holding onto third place in the Pacific Division, two points ahead of the Golden Knights. His play down the stretch will also go a long way toward setting his market value on the UFA market this summer – he’s nearing completion of a seven-year, $29.75MM deal signed with the Predators in 2017 and does not have an extension.

Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

scroll to top