Kings Place Cal Petersen In COVID Protocol
The Kings announced (Twitter link) a trio of roster moves on Saturday, headlined by the placement of goaltender Cal Petersen in COVID protocol. To replace him on the roster, Jacob Ingham was recalled from ECHL Greenville while defenseman Jordan Spence was sent back to AHL Ontario.
Petersen has gotten off to a fairly quiet start to his season, posting a 3.10 GAA along with a save percentage of just .893, numbers that are considerably worse than last season when his performance earned him a three-year, $15MM extension back in September that gets underway next season. As a result, he has been ceding starts to Jonathan Quick as of late with the veteran off to a stellar start to his campaign. It should be Quick’s net to run with through the holiday break at a minimum as a result of this news with Petersen set to miss at least ten days.
Ingham hasn’t been able to duplicate the success he had at the end of his OHL career in the pros and has spent the bulk of the season at the ECHL level for the second year in a row. His numbers with the Swamp Rabbits haven’t been the best either – a GAA of 3.28 with a .894 SV% in nine starts. However, promoting him allows the Kings to keep their AHL goaltending intact for the time being.
As for Spence, he was just recalled on Friday and heads back to the minors before even being on the roster for a single game. The 20-year-old is in his first professional year and has eight assists in 18 games with the Reign so far this season.
Drew Doughty Placed In COVID Protocol
A seemingly never-ending stream of COVID-19 news this week continues, as the Los Angeles Kings announced today that defenseman Drew Doughty entered the league’s COVID-19 protocol. Additionally, the team placed Andreas Athanasiou on injured reserve retroactive to December 14.
It’s been a tough season health-wise for Doughty, but when he’s been in the lineup, he’s having one of his best seasons in recent memory. Limited to only 11 games this season after a knee injury early in the year, Doughty had 13 points in 11 games, the best scoring pace of his career. He now joins Mikey Anderson, Alexander Edler, and Sean Walker as the unavailable defensemen for the Kings.
The Kings are scheduled to play Florida tonight, who’s facing COVID issues as well.
Athanasiou is out with a lower-body injury, continuing what’s been a successful but injury-riddled campaign for him as well. When in the lineup, he’s been a productive depth piece for the team with six points in 11 games. He’ll miss at least the next five days due to the retroactive nature of the injured reserve placement.
Andreas Athanasiou Out For The Rest Of The Road Trip
- The Kings will be without winger Andreas Athanasiou for the next three games as he has been ruled out for the rest of their road trip, relays Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider. It has been a tough year for the 27-year-old as injuries and a positive COVID test have limited him to just 11 games so far. This time, it’s a lower-body injury for Athanasiou, who has been relatively productive when he has played with six points this season.
Kings Place Alex Edler On Injured Reserve
The Los Angeles Kings were hoping to take a step forward this season in their pursuit of a postseason return. A key move made this summer to help achieve that goal was the signing of veteran defenseman Alex Edler. The career Vancouver Canuck only signed a one-year deal, but his two-way ability and veteran presence was expected to be a major addition both on and off the ice in L.A. To this point, Edler has been even more important than anticipated. With star Drew Doughty having missed time due to injury and Sean Walker out for the season with an injury of his own, Edler has been relied upon as one of the few constant contributors of experience and scoring on the Kings blue line.
That is, until now. The Kings have announced that Edler has been placed on injured reserve following an awkward collision into the boards on Saturday night forced him from the game. Edler received a check from Minnesota Wild forward Brandon Duhaime in the first period and lost his balance, falling against the boards in his own zone. Edler’s left ankle appeared to give way as he fell and as Edler was being helped from the ice, he was unable to put any weight on his left leg. To this point, the team has only described the situation as a lower-body injury.
With Edler out, the Kings are losing their defensive scoring leader who has 11 points in 26 games. Edler also leads the team in plus/minus and is second in blocked shots and hits; the reliable defender has played no small role in L.A. this season. Christian Wolanin has been recalled to replace Edler’s roster spot, but it is Olli Maatta that is likely to draw into the lineup first. More pressure will also be placed on Matt Roy, who is enjoying the best season of his career, and rookies Michael Anderson and Tobias Bjornfot, who have excelled thus far despite adversity. The Kings’ season is not quite living up to the expectations they had imagined this season, as they currently sit sixth in the Pacific Division, but their points percentage has improved since last season and the team has a chance to stay in the playoff mix if they can survive another significant defensive absence. The team has not issued any update on the severity of Edler’s injury or any timeline on a return, but the hope is certainly that they will not be without their major free agent addition for too long.
Andreas Athanasiou Activated From COVID Protocol
It’s been almost three weeks since Andreas Athanasiou suited up for an NHL game, but that is about to change. The Los Angeles Kings have activated the speedy forward from the non-roster/COVID-19 protocol and announced he is available for tonight’s game against the Dallas Stars.
Athanasiou, 27, has played in just eight games this season after missing all of October with an injury. He has five points in those games and looked ready to build on the solid season he had for Los Angeles in 2020-21, when he had 10 goals and 23 points in 47 games. While those numbers don’t jump off the page, it was a good way to build back some of his value after the disappearing act he pulled in Edmonton.
Acquired at the 2020 deadline for two second-round draft picks, Athanasiou would register just two points in nine regular season games for the Oilers, zero in four playoff games and then failed to receive a qualifying offer from the team. He signed a one-year, $1.2MM deal with the Kings just before the 2020-21 season kicked off, and landed new a one-year, $2.7MM deal in July.
Importantly, Athanasiou is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after this season, meaning getting him back up to full speed is important to the Kings on two fronts. First, he should be able to add some more offense to a group that has struggled to score at times, but beyond that, he’ll also be a top trade chip should the team fall out of the playoff race entirely. With the Kings sitting at 10-10-4 after a poor recent stretch, those kinds of decisions have to be creeping into the minds of general manager Rob Blake and his staff.
Kings AHL Coach John Wroblewski Takes A Leave Of Absence
- The Kings’ AHL affiliate in Ontario announced that head coach John Wroblewski has taken a personal leave of absence for an indefinite period of time. Assistant coaches Chris Hajt and Craig Johnson will split the coaching duties in Wroblewski’s absence.
Kings Place Blake Lizotte In COVID Protocol
The Kings have announced (Twitter link) a series of transactions highlighted with the placement of center Blake Lizotte into COVID protocol. Taking his place on the roster is Jaret Anderson-Dolan while T.J. Tynan has also been recalled to replace Kale Clague who was just claimed off waivers by Montreal.
Lizotte has played in all but one game so far this season for Los Angeles, tallying a goal and four assists while logging 11:36 per game primarily on the fourth line. The 23-year-old has also won a career-high 53.1% of his faceoffs, good for third on the team in that regard.
Anderson-Dolan was a regular with the Kings for the bulk of last season, getting into 34 games where he picked up 11 points before suiting up for Canada at the World Championships. However, with more depth down the middle this season, he has spent all of 2021-22 so far with AHL Ontario playing heavier minutes and he has responded with 13 points in 16 contests with the Reign. He should have an opportunity to move into Lizotte’s spot on the depth chart and play the type of role he had last season.
As for Tynan, the 29-year-old is in his first season with the Kings and cleared waivers back in training camp. He has been quite productive with Ontario, collecting 17 points in 12 games which puts him second in team scoring. Despite his consistent offensive numbers over the years, he has played in just 19 career NHL contests, the most recent coming back in the 2019-20 season with Colorado.
Canadiens Claim Kale Clague Off Waivers From Kings
Down multiple defensemen at the moment, the Canadiens have added some depth on the back end as they’ve claimed Kale Clague off waivers from the Kings, Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli reports (Twitter link).
The 23-year-old somewhat surprisingly cleared waivers at the start of the season and picked up four assists in five games with AHL Ontario which helped him earn an opportunity when Los Angeles was really battling injury issues to their defense corps. Clague was actually relatively productive in his 11 games with the team, picking up five assists while logging nearly 18 minutes a game but with Drew Doughty recently returning and Clague sitting for nearly two weeks, they decided to try to send him down again.
The Canadiens have battled injury issues all season and find themselves without Jeff Petry (upper-body injury), Joel Edmundson (back injury), and Sami Niku (COVID protocol) so there is definitely a chance that Clague can secure a spot with Montreal in the short term at the very least. Laurent Dauphin was sent back to AHL Laval to make room for Clague on the roster; they will have to make another move later as well as they’ve already committed to activating Mike Hoffman off IR before tonight’s game.
Clague is making just over $761K this season and will be a restricted free agent with salary arbitration rights next summer.
Quinton Byfield Participates In Full Practice
- Kings center Quinton Byfield took part in a full practice on Friday as he continues to work his way back from a fractured ankle sustained in the preseason, relays Zach Dooley of LA Kings Insider. The 2020 second-overall pick played in six games with Los Angeles last season plus 32 in AHL Ontario where he had 20 points in 32 contests, impressive numbers for someone that was basically a double underager in that league.
Los Angeles Kings Place Kale Clague On Waivers
Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Los Angeles Kings placed defenseman Kale Clague on waivers today.
This is Clague’s second time on waivers this season. The Kings waived him on October 2, prior to the start of the season, and he passed through unclaimed.
With Drew Doughty returning from injured reserve earlier this week and the re-acquisition of Christian Wolanin on waivers, the Kings had nine defensemen on the active roster. It’s telling that the team opted to expose Clague to the rest of the league rather than send down Michael Anderson, Tobias Bjornfot, or Sean Durzi, all of whom do not require waivers.
Clague’s performed well at the minor-league level in recent seasons, including four assists in five games with the AHL’s Ontario Reign this year, but hasn’t been able to play his way into a full-time NHL role just yet. There’s likely still a bright future ahead for the 23-year-old, who was drafted 51st overall by the Kings in 2016.
In 11 games with the big club this season, Clague has five points in 11 games while registering a -2 rating and averaging 17:49 per game.