EL SEGUNDO –– The Kings resumed practice Wednesday and it was appropriate that they were a stone’s throw from LAX since the theme at the team facility was one of arrivals and departures.
Trade acquisition Artemi Panarin recently touched down in Los Angeles. He and his family are staying in the home of former Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, with whom Panarin was teammates in Columbus, New York and for Team Russia.
Meanwhile, the Kings were adjusting to life without Kevin Fiala, who will miss the rest of the season after breaking his leg in multiple places during the Switzerland-Canada clash at the Olympics. It was the same left leg on which he fractured his femur during Game 1 of a second-round series against the St. Louis Blues in 2017, when Fiala was with the Nashville Predators.
“Everybody watching, their heart felt for him, and if you were there in St. Louis, you were actually in tears for him. Those are pretty gruesome injuries,” former Nashville coach Peter Laviolette, who also coached Panarin in New York, said via phone. “To have to deal with two of them is tough, but Kevin is a pretty strong and pretty resilient kid, I think he’ll bounce back just fine.”
Without Fiala, the Swiss fell 3-2 to Finland on Wednesday in a game they led 2-0, dashing the medal hopes of Fiala’s countrymen. It’ll be the Kings now who will have to play without Fiala for the rest of the regular season and, as coach Jim Hiller confirmed Wednesday, all but certainly the playoffs as well if they qualify.
The NHLPA lobbied heavily to send NHL players to the Olympics for the first time since 2014, when New York Islanders star John Tavares was the player in Fiala’s position of sustaining a season-ending lower-body injury.
“Everybody loves [best-on-best competition]. There’s gonna be these unfortunate incidents that come up, there’s always the risk of something like this. It can be pretty devastating, not only for a player, but for a team or for a city,” Laviolette said. “At the end of the day, everybody really wants it. Certainly the players want it and the fans want to watch it. It leads to a really good brand of hockey with players playing for their country, and it’s all part of what’s built the game.”
Fiala’s absence could dampen Panarin’s acquisition for one of the NHL’s least productive offenses and power plays. Fiala led the Kings in power-play points and was second in overall scoring before the trade, while Panarin’s totals from his time in blue and red immediately made him top producer in black and silver.
“He’s very good defensively, he backchecks a lot and we’re gonna use him on the (penalty kill),” said captain Anže Kopitar with a wry smile, eliciting some laughs.
“As soon as he got to the league, you could tell that he was going to be a very good offensive player, and he didn’t disappoint,” Kopitar added.
Panarin revealed he was staying at the Gavrikovs’ home and joked that the Los Angeles press corps was no smaller than the one covering the Rangers, who dealt him west on Feb. 4. He also said that after some initial uncertainty, he’d be wearing the No. 72 he sported in both Saint Petersburg and Chicago early in his pro career.
“They just called me and they said the mascot [Bailey] was not against it. I’ll probably share the number with him, I wish he’ll stay with 72,” Panarin said.
Asked if he had to “pay up” to get permission from the lion, Panarin offered a deadpan response.
“We’ll figure it out, don’t worry about it,” he said.
In addition to the boost from “The Bread Man,” the Kings were on track to get defenseman Mikey Anderson and center Alex Turcotte back from injury after the break. Though Hiller said there were still players that would have to “play through some things” after the pause, he did say the club was “healthier.”
Winger Andrei Kuzmenko was sporting some heavy facial protection, likely a result of being struck in the side of the face with a deflected puck Feb. 8, when the Kings last took to the ice.
Whether at 100% or well below, the Kings now face a stretch run of 26 games that will determine whether they make the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season or miss the postseason, which they would if the campaign were to have already ended.
Hiller acknowledged that Fiala’s injury and the potential for more moves to bolster their playoff push could add an additional layer of tension to an already adverse set of circumstances, but said his group had to remain focused on the task at hand.
“We don’t have time or energy to spend outside of what’s right in front of us, and that’s a great challenge,” Hiller said. “We’d like to be up and in, and feel a little safer, but we’re not, so here we are.”
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Trade acquisition Artemi Panarin recently touched down in Los Angeles. He and his family are staying in the home of former Kings defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov, with whom Panarin was teammates in Columbus, New York and for Team Russia.
Meanwhile, the Kings were adjusting to life without Kevin Fiala, who will miss the rest of the season after breaking his leg in multiple places during the Switzerland-Canada clash at the Olympics. It was the same left leg on which he fractured his femur during Game 1 of a second-round series against the St. Louis Blues in 2017, when Fiala was with the Nashville Predators.
“Everybody watching, their heart felt for him, and if you were there in St. Louis, you were actually in tears for him. Those are pretty gruesome injuries,” former Nashville coach Peter Laviolette, who also coached Panarin in New York, said via phone. “To have to deal with two of them is tough, but Kevin is a pretty strong and pretty resilient kid, I think he’ll bounce back just fine.”
Without Fiala, the Swiss fell 3-2 to Finland on Wednesday in a game they led 2-0, dashing the medal hopes of Fiala’s countrymen. It’ll be the Kings now who will have to play without Fiala for the rest of the regular season and, as coach Jim Hiller confirmed Wednesday, all but certainly the playoffs as well if they qualify.
The NHLPA lobbied heavily to send NHL players to the Olympics for the first time since 2014, when New York Islanders star John Tavares was the player in Fiala’s position of sustaining a season-ending lower-body injury.
“Everybody loves [best-on-best competition]. There’s gonna be these unfortunate incidents that come up, there’s always the risk of something like this. It can be pretty devastating, not only for a player, but for a team or for a city,” Laviolette said. “At the end of the day, everybody really wants it. Certainly the players want it and the fans want to watch it. It leads to a really good brand of hockey with players playing for their country, and it’s all part of what’s built the game.”
Fiala’s absence could dampen Panarin’s acquisition for one of the NHL’s least productive offenses and power plays. Fiala led the Kings in power-play points and was second in overall scoring before the trade, while Panarin’s totals from his time in blue and red immediately made him top producer in black and silver.
“He’s very good defensively, he backchecks a lot and we’re gonna use him on the (penalty kill),” said captain Anže Kopitar with a wry smile, eliciting some laughs.
“As soon as he got to the league, you could tell that he was going to be a very good offensive player, and he didn’t disappoint,” Kopitar added.
Panarin revealed he was staying at the Gavrikovs’ home and joked that the Los Angeles press corps was no smaller than the one covering the Rangers, who dealt him west on Feb. 4. He also said that after some initial uncertainty, he’d be wearing the No. 72 he sported in both Saint Petersburg and Chicago early in his pro career.
“They just called me and they said the mascot [Bailey] was not against it. I’ll probably share the number with him, I wish he’ll stay with 72,” Panarin said.
Asked if he had to “pay up” to get permission from the lion, Panarin offered a deadpan response.
“We’ll figure it out, don’t worry about it,” he said.
In addition to the boost from “The Bread Man,” the Kings were on track to get defenseman Mikey Anderson and center Alex Turcotte back from injury after the break. Though Hiller said there were still players that would have to “play through some things” after the pause, he did say the club was “healthier.”
Winger Andrei Kuzmenko was sporting some heavy facial protection, likely a result of being struck in the side of the face with a deflected puck Feb. 8, when the Kings last took to the ice.
Whether at 100% or well below, the Kings now face a stretch run of 26 games that will determine whether they make the playoffs for a fifth consecutive season or miss the postseason, which they would if the campaign were to have already ended.
Hiller acknowledged that Fiala’s injury and the potential for more moves to bolster their playoff push could add an additional layer of tension to an already adverse set of circumstances, but said his group had to remain focused on the task at hand.
“We don’t have time or energy to spend outside of what’s right in front of us, and that’s a great challenge,” Hiller said. “We’d like to be up and in, and feel a little safer, but we’re not, so here we are.”
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