Goaltender Pheonix Copley has once again been placed on waivers by the LA Kings. All teams will have a chance to put in a claim on him and the results will be announced Thursday at 11am Pacific. If no other team puts in a claim, the Kings will assign him to AHL Ontario.
That all sounds straight forward enough. However, it sort of isn’t given everything that’s gone on over the past few weeks. This seemingly innocent tweet earlier today set off a series of questions from curious fans:
So, let’s break it down and hopefully clear up any confusion that exists out there. If not, reply in the comment section below and we’ll answer any additional questions.
Quickly Resetting to October 1
In June, Kings GM Ken Holland signed Pheonix Copley to a one-year extension. Even though it’s a one-way contract — meaning he’s paid the same, regardless of if he’s in the NHL or AHL — Copley likely knew he would be LA’s 3G (i.e. third goalie on the NHL depth chart). Why? Because just a few weeks later, Holland also signed Anton Forsberg to a two-year contract during NHL Free Agency.
Thus, when training camp opened in September, Copley was well aware how things looked. Darcy Kuemper and Forsberg would be the Kings primary goalies, while prospect Erik Portillo would be Copley’s partner in AHL Ontario. Should an injury arise at the NHL level, a decision would be made to recall one of the two Reign netminders — a decision that, for the most part, would depend on which goalie was playing better at the time.
This entire plan isn’t that uncommon around the league. In fact, the Kings have often been set up just like this over the past few years. They have two guys they believe in at the NHL level, followed by a capable veteran backup waiting in Ontario as the 3G. Said vet is planned to split time with a budding prospect, who is also getting ready for his chance with the Kings at some point down the road.
In order to put this entire plan into motion, one key thing had to take place. Copley was going to need to clear waivers. Again, this is common around the league and it’s why we typically see so many veteran goalies on the waiver wire right as training camps are coming to an end.
By the Monday afternoon preceding Opening Night around the NHL, teams had to submit their final rosters. With a 23-man roster limit, that almost always means no more than two goalies per team.
On Oct. 1, the Kings placed Copley on waivers — all designed to help them get down to their final list of 23 players.
There was only one problem.
Tampa Bay claimed Copley, and he became property of the Lightning.
Kuemper Injured, Kings Need a Goalie
Roughly two weeks later, Kuemper was injured in a game on Monday, Oct. 13 in Minnesota. The Kings took Tuesday off and when they returned to practice on Wednesday, he still wasn’t ready to go (and was ruled out for a few days). So, the Kings recalled Portillo from Ontario to serve as the second goaltender at practice that morning.
A few hours later, it was announced the Kings had acquired Copley from Tampa Bay in a trade (more on that in a moment).
Not needing three goalies, the Kings returned Portillo to the Reign later that same day.
Some of asked, why recall Portillo just to send him back down the same day? Well, they wanted (read: needed) a second goalie for practice and the Copley trade hadn’t been completed yet.
Others have asked, why trade for Copley at all? Why not let Portillo stay up and serve as the backup goalie to Forsberg — especially considering there weren’t any back-to-back games on the horizon? Thus, Forsberg likely could have handled the starting job while Kuemper was out for a few days.
Fair question. And the answer ultimately comes down to a mix of philosophy and timing.
This all really ties back to what the Kings did in the offseason.
And for that context, you have to go back to last February.
Portillo was injured in a game on Feb. 17 at Calgary. He missed the remainder of the regular season and playoffs. Had he been healthy, who knows what would have happened. Perhaps the Kings wouldn’t have signed Forsberg, maybe Portillo would have been tabbed as Kuemper’s backup for 2025-26. At the very least, maybe the organization wouldn’t have signed Copley to return. Maybe Portillo would have slid into the 3G role and been knocking on the door for a callup.
Neither of those are the case, though.
Portillo is coming off of missing more than six months of action due to an injury. He played one preseason game and had two AHL starts under his belt when Kuemper went down. In those two regular season games earlier this month, Portillo had a combined .854 save percentage.
If had a shutout and was lights out in the other game, maybe giving up just one goal, is it conceivable that the Kings would have been willing to roll the dice with Portillo as the backup while Kuemper was out? Sure. However, that’s not reality. Those weren’t the actual facts.
Thus, the bottom line is, they believed it was better for Portillo to be playing in Ontario and working himself back to where he was prior to the injury — next in line for an NHL callup.
Details on the Copley Trade
If you’re following along, the Kings needed a goalie with Kuemper sidelined and Portillo not an option. Enter Copley and Tampa Bay. When you need somebody in a pinch, guys who have been here before often make the most sense. They know the players, they know the systems, etc. Targeting Copley was a no-brainer. After all, he was their original plan as a 3G going back to June.
Holland was able to work a deal out with Tampa Bay and get Copley on a plane back to SoCal ASAP. He hadn’t even played a game for the Lightning yet, only part of one preseason game.
And here’s the best part, Holland didn’t even give up anything to acquire Copley. Officially, the trade was ruled for ‘Future Considerations’ — yet, this really amounts to nothing. It can’t be a player or a draft pick; those must be spelled out at the time of any deal. NHL players can no longer be traded for cash, so that’s out the window too. Basically, the Kings were able to acquire Copley for nothing in return.
You can say Holland owes Tampa’s GM a favor now, sure. That’s just not official in any way, it’s pure conjecture.
As the tweet above referred to, Anze Kopitar is now ready to come off IR (he’s missed seven days since he was injured in Minnesota on Oct. 13, so he’s eligible to rejoin the lineup). There’s only problem, LA already has 23 players on their NHL roster:
Kuzmenko – Laferriere – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Armia
Foegele – Danault – Moore
Malott – Turcotte – Perry
Helenius
Dumoulin – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Anderson – Ceci
Moverare
Kuemper
Forsberg
Copley
So… to make room for Kopitar, they need to put somebody on waivers or send somebody down to the AHL. They don’t have any waiver exempt players (i.e. prospects) to send down, so waivers are the only option. Copley is the obvious choice because the Kings don’t typically carry three goalies.
How this plays out will be known at 11am Pacific Time on Thursday. Copley will either be claimed by another team or he’ll clear waivers (and then be assigned to Ontario).
Once either of those happens, the Kings will have 22 active players on the roster, leaving them room to activate Kopitar from IR.
One final note too. For what it’s worth, we don’t expect the Lightning to put a claim in on Copley. If they wanted him back, you would think Holland would have just traded him back to the Lightning rather than putting the veteran netminder on waivers.
If there’s a team to look at, it could be Vegas. They’re expected to be without the services of Adin Hill for several weeks. Although they’re also signing Carter Hart, he can’t return to the NHL until December. Could that maybe create an opening for them to have interest in Copley short-term? Maybe.
If Copley is claimed by another team, we also wouldn’t be surprised to see the Kings make another trade for a veteran 3G. They could also scan the waiver wire for a few weeks. Until they get a little deeper into the season — and Portillo has a larger body of work to show he’s 100% healthy — they’ve already shown an appetite to bulk up their depth in net.
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