Whatever the opposite of ‘Let the Good Times Roll” is, that’s probably what Kings management is thinking these days.
After a rather brutal December and January, the team replaced their head coach, took a 10-day break, and looked to restart anew.
Since then, there certainly have been several bright spots — like the team’s overall record under Jim Hiller, a reengaged PL Dubois, bounce back from Cam Talbot, etc. — yet, the hits keep coming.
On Tuesday, forward Viktor Arvidsson suffered a lower body injury on his first shift vs. Columbus. Then, Thursday night, defenseman Mikey Anderson incurred an upper body injury that will at least keep him out of the lineup on Saturday vs. Anaheim. From what we’re hearing, he is set to go through further testing and evaluation with medical staff this afternoon.
Having already been ruled out for Saturday, the Kings will need to recall a defenseman. As nearly everybody knows at this point, they don’t have the salary cap room to do that in a vacuum.
One of their three options would have been to place a player on waivers today (allowing that player time to compete the waiver process by Saturday morning). That didn’t happen.
Option two would be to send Alex Turcotte back to AHL Ontario (allowing Jaret Anderson-Dolan to take his spot in the lineup).
Option three was to place Arvidsson back on Long Term Injured Reserve (LTIR).
According to our sources, the Kings will go with the latter option. In advance of that move, defenseman Jordan Spence will be held out of the Reign lineup tonight, ensuring that he is healthy enough for a recall on Saturday.
With the move to LTIR, this also means Arvidsson cannot return for 10 games and 24 days. Assuming the transaction is made retroactively to Feb. 21, he would then be eligible to return against Chicago on March 15.
As always, more to come tomorrow.
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