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Kings Looking For Right-Side Defensive Help

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With Drew Doughty out for at least the next eight weeks due to a knee contusion and Sean Walker out for the rest of the season after tearing his ACL and MCL, the defensive depth for the Kings has certainly taken a hit, particularly on the right side.  To that end, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports in the latest TSN Insider Trading segment (video link) that Los Angeles is looking to add a depth right-shot defender at a minimum.

It’s certainly understandable as their depth chart of healthy right-shot blueliners on the active roster is down to Matt Roy and Austin Strand; Strand cleared waivers earlier this month and was just recalled on Wednesday.  A depth piece could allow them to send Strand back to the minors at a minimum but a top-four addition would take some pressure of Roy, who logged more than 28 minutes last game out of necessity.  For context, his career average is about 10 minutes a night below that mark.

A complicating factor in this situation is the salary cap.  The Kings are basically up against the cap ceiling right now due to their recent recalls and while Doughty is eligible to go on LTIR, the fact he’s coming back this season eliminates the possibility of them spending big to replace him as they’ll need to be cap-compliant to activate him when the time comes.

That leaves Walker and his $2.65MM price tag for GM Rob Blake to try to work with to find a replacement.  Unfortunately for him and the Kings, there aren’t a lot of top-four defenders making that type of money and even fewer that are readily available.  Accordingly, looking for a depth option or two is a much more realistic target for Los Angeles.  The trade market is often quiet at this time of year but don’t be too surprised to see the Kings add a piece before too long, especially since this is a season where they’re hoping to get back into the playoff picture.

Los Angeles Kings Provide Injury Updates On Walker, Doughty

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The Los Angeles Kings provided updates on two of the team’s top defensemen today that Drew Doughty has suffered a right knee contusion and will not skate for the next six weeks, while Sean Walker suffered a torn ACL and MCL and is out for the season. The team is hopeful Doughty can return to the lineup in eight weeks.

Walker tore both ligaments on Monday and will undergo surgery at a later date. His season is over after six games.

It appeared as though the 26-year-old had taken a step forward this season, in terms of performance and responsibility. He had logged more than 20 minutes of ice time in each of the three games prior to Monday’s effort, including a whopping 25:09 against the Dallas Stars last week. In the second season of a four-year, $10.6MM deal, Walker will have to work back from serious knee surgery and try to be ready for next fall.

Doughty meanwhile is obviously one of the most important players on the Kings and was off to an incredible start through his first three games. With seven points in those contests, it was a devastating blow when he collided with Jani Hakanpaa partway through the game against the Stars.

Hakanpaa was given a major penalty and a game misconduct for kneeing, but did not receive any supplementary discipline.

Eight weeks from now would suggest Doughty could be ready to return by the team’s last game before the Christmas break, though that will obviously be dependant on how he recovers and reacts once he’s back on the ice. Either way, it is likely he’ll miss upwards of 20 games due to this injury, a huge chunk of the season for a team trying to make the playoffs.

The Kings recalled Kale Clague and Austin Strand today as they work to figure out the depth chart on defense moving forward.

Drew Doughty To Miss At Least Next Two Games

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  • Kings defenseman Drew Doughty won’t play in the remaining two games of their current road trip and will undergo imaging for the injury he sustained last night, reports Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman (Twitter link). That paves the way for Olli Maatta to make his season debut tonight against St. Louis.

Stars’ Hakanpaa Will Not Face League Discipline For Hit On Kings’ Doughty

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Los Angeles Kings fans held their collective breaths last night as stud defenseman Drew Doughty had to be helped off the ice following a knee injury. The incident unfolded late in the second period of the Kings’ match-up with the Dallas Stars on Friday. New Stars defenseman Jani Hakanpaa delivered a knee-to-knee hit on Doughty as he entered the offensive zone, resulting in immediate and visible pain for the decorated veteran (video). Doughty did not return to the game, but neither did Hakanpaa, who was assessed a five-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct. L.A. would score on the resulting power play but eventually lost in overtime.

It seems that the league has decided that Hakanpaa has already served his due punishment for the hit in question. Matthew DeFranks of The Dallas Morning News reports that Hakanpaa will not face any supplemental league discipline for the hit. The NHL Department of Player Safety explained to DeFranks that their analysis was that Hakanpaa did not extend his knee and maintained his body position throughout the hit. The video backs up this claim, although it does seem as if the knee-to-knee contact was the targeted approach. While Player Safety is not tasked with making any supplemental discipline equitable with the talent level or injury length of the victim of a play, it is a tough pill to swallow for Kings’ fans who lost the far superior defenseman and the game on Friday night.

Fortunately, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports that the early results on Doughty are positive. The team believes that he has avoided any significant injury and may only have a minor knee sprain. They are still waiting on a final diagnosis, but this comes as a relief given the anguish displayed by the tough veteran on the ice following the hit. Seravalli notes that not only Los Angeles but also Team Canada will be happy that Doughty will not miss an extended period of time in this Olympic year.

 

Kings Activate Olli Maatta Off IR

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  • The Kings announced (Twitter link) that they’ve activated defenseman Olli Maatta off injured reserve. He’ll take the roster spot of Christian Wolanin who was claimed off waivers earlier today by Buffalo.  The 27-year-old had a sparing role with Los Angeles last season, logging less than 17 minutes a game in 41 appearances while recording just four assists.

Kings Recall Rasmus Kupari

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  • The Kings announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled center Rasmus Kupari from Ontario of the AHL while transferring center Lias Andersson on IR retroactive to October 9th to make room on the roster. Winger Brendan Lemieux was also put in COVID protocol.  Kupari, a 2018 first-rounder (20th overall), made his NHL debut last season with Los Angeles, getting into seven games, scoring once.

Sabres Claim Christian Wolanin Off Waivers

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The Sabres have added some depth on the back end as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman is among those reporting (Twitter link) that they have claimed defenseman Christian Wolanin off waivers from the Kings.  To make room on the roster, the Sabres moved defenseman Henri Jokiharju to injured reserve.

The 26-year-old spent most of last season in Ottawa where he played a limited role, getting into 15 games with the Sens, recording three assists while averaging 13 minutes per game.  After clearing waivers in late March, he was then traded to Los Angeles in exchange for Michael Amadio.  With the Kings, Wolanin was sparingly used, suiting up only three times and was on the outside looking in at a spot in the lineup this season which led to his placement yesterday.

With the claim, Buffalo will once again have seven healthy defensemen on the roster and with Jokiharju set to miss at least a couple of weeks, Wolanin will have a short-term chance to stake a claim to a spot on the roster with the Sabres.  It’s a low-risk pickup for Buffalo as Wolanin is making the league minimum of $750K at the NHL level with an AHL salary of $375K and a total guarantee of $400K.

Los Angeles Kings Waive Christian Wolanin

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The Los Angeles Kings have waived defenseman Christian Wolanin, per TSN’s Chris Johnston. In all likelihood, the roster move means that defenseman Olli Maatta is healthy and will be activated from injured reserve.

Wolanin, now 26, could certainly be a candidate to get picked up on the waiver wire considering the claim of Dennis Cholowski yesterday. Wolanin’s been fairly productive over a sparse four-season career in the NHL, posting five goals and 18 points in 61 career games. All but three of those games have been spent with the Ottawa Senators, but he was dealt to the Kings in March of 2021 in exchange for Michael Amadio.

While he is a left-shot defenseman, he could very well be claimed by the Buffalo Sabres as they deal with an injury to Henri Jokiharju. The Devils could also be a candidate to claim him as both Ty Smith and Damon Severson remain out with injury.

Wolanin makes the league minimum $750,000 on a two-way, one-year deal.

A solid two-way player, Wolanin is fully capable of serving full-time on an NHL roster if need be, more suitably as a seventh defenseman. He was a fourth-round draft pick of the Senators in 2015.

AHL Shuffle: 10/15/21

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An increasingly tight salary cap situation for many teams across the league has expectedly led to a lot of wheeling, dealing, and maneuvering early on this season, especially in the recalls and assignments department. We’ll keep track of all of today’s minor NHL to AHL and AHL to NHL roster moves right here.

Atlantic Division

  • Florida Hockey Now’s George Richards reports the Panthers re-assigned Chase Priskie and Maxim Mamin to the Charlotte Checkers. Priskie was recalled Thursday prior to the team’s season opener against Pittsburgh but was a healthy scratch. Mamin had previously been listed as a non-roster player. Mamin last played in the NHL with the Panthers in 2018-19, playing seven games, but has played in the KHL ever since.

Metropolitan Division

Central Division

Pacific Division

  • The Vegas Golden Knights assigned Peyton Krebs, Jonas Rondbjerg, and Jake Leschyshyn to the Henderson Silver Knights ahead of the team’s season opener tonight. All three played in Thursday night’s 6-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings, and they’ll likely be recalled soon as the team continues to deal with injuries and absences in the bottom six.

This page will be updated throughout the day

Ducks, Flames Leading Candidates To Acquire Jack Eichel

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Jack Eichel has been on the trade block for what seems like forever and has not been on the ice for the Buffalo Sabres this preseason as he continues to await neck surgery. Yet, his market is heating back up. As TSN’s Darren Dreger wrote earlier this week, the Sabres have been pushed by Eichel’s new agent, Pat Brisson, to share medical files with interested parties. The result has been more clarity as to Eichel’s serious suitors, which could finally lead to a trade.

Eichel’s desired surgical cure, which has been at the center of his ongoing feud with the Sabres, is a disc replacement surgery that has never been attempted on an NHL player. By sharing the specifics of Eichel’s injury, teams can gain more insight into the nature of Eichel’s condition and whether they would agree to his preferred route rather than the typical fusion procedure. As Pierre LeBrun reports for The Athletic, this has helped Kevyn Adams and the Sabres strengthen their trade pitch, as some of the unknowns of an Eichel deal have been cleared up. While LeBrun believes that there will still be a conditional aspect to any deal, Buffalo now finally has a chance to finally close a deal and closer to full value.

Among the teams that LeBrun feels have backed off of the Eichel pursuit are the Minnesota Wild and Philadelphia, and even the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings who seemed like top contenders at one point. However, LeBrun notes that the Anaheim Ducks and Calgary Flames have done their due diligence on Eichel’s condition and the ADR surgery and remain interested in the star center.

Though the cost for Eichel remains a mystery, especially with the suspected conditional component, there will still be a considerable price to pay. Anaheim offers a number of young roster forwards, as well as numerous talented prospects. Calgary offers more current star talent, some of whom would have to move for cap purposes, as well as some top prospects. Both teams would be able to make a strong pitch for Eichel and have good reason for doing so. The Flames may be one major piece away from jumping into Stanley Cup contention, while the Ducks have a budding young core and know that Eichel has expressed some desire to play on the west coast.

While LeBrun stops short of saying a trade is imminent, this is first time that concrete conversations have been had with a media source confirming that Eichel talks are occurring. Eichel needed surgery “like yesterday” per LeBrun and both he and the Sabres desperately need to move on, so for the good of all involved, including NHL fans, hopefully this situation will be resolved before too long.

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