The last 48 hours have been a bit dizzying when it comes to LA Kings roster moves, and the next few days will also likely be just as confusing unless you’re really paying attention to what is happening and why.
Essentially, the Kings finished up their six-game preseason schedule on Saturday night still holding 26 players on the roster. With an NHL mandate for all teams to trim down to a league-maximum of 23 players and to be under the $88 million salary cap limit by 2pm Pacific on Monday, GM Rob Blake began that process by deciding which three players needed to be trimmed.
As we reported earlier today, Sammy Fagemo, Jack Studnicka, and Pheonix Copley were all placed on waivers until 11am Pacific on Monday. Should they not be claimed by another club, they’ll then be assigned to AHL Ontario.
Now down to 23 players, here’s how the Kings roster looked after those three were removed:
And that’s why the work wasn’t quite done. With the above configuration of 23 players, the Kings would still be $228k over the salary cap limit.
They basically had two choices (if we assume they didn’t want to place another player on waivers, which wasn’t really on the table). Blake and Co. could either send somebody down to the Reign; and this would need to be a player who is exempt from waivers… Or, they needed to place one of Drew Doughty or Arthur Kaliyev on LTIR.
The reasoning for the latter is because the pair are currently on Injured Reserve (IR). When players are on IR, their corresponding cap hit is still part of said team’s total cap dollars. Regular IR only frees up a spot for teams to replace that player on their roster.
Why not just move Doughty or Kaliyev to LTIR right now then? The short answer would be now is not the most advantageous time to do so. We delved into this notion a little deeper here.
This left the Kings with one option heading into the NHL roster deadline on Monday, send Andre Lee to the American Hockey League.
Will he be there long?
Most likely not. Before Thursday’s season opener against the Sabres in Buffalo, look for the Kings to move a player from IR to LTIR. This will free up some cap space and they’ll then recall Lee from the Reign.
For example purposes, let’s assume it’s Kaliyev who is moved to LTIR. That would result in a roster that looks like this:
So while it may take a few roster moves to get there over the next few days, Kings coach Jim Hiller has a clear idea of what he’ll have to work with come Thursday. He can now spend the next few days contemplating how he wants to configure his fourth line. He has four players fighting for three spots in the opening night lineup. The odd man out will be a healthy scratch that night, and then they’ll have to see what Hiller has in store for Game 2 on Saturday in Boston. It will likely be a game-by-game process early on in the 2024-25 season.
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