Coming off a disastrous loss in Buffalo on Tuesday, something had to change.
During his introductory press conference last week, new Kings coach Jim Hiller indicated he would largely ice a familiar lineup for Saturday’s game against Edmonton. With an impressive shutout against the Oilers, the same lineup was then used again against the Sabres.
However, the results could not be more polar opposite.
In a season that has already had several low points, the Kings 7-0 dismantling by the Sabres was easily their worst performance of the year.
Hiller had also suggested once Viktor Arvidsson was ready to return to game action, there could be some lineup changes.
As we reported yesterday, Arvidsson is scheduled to return on Thursday. How they plan to make it work salary cap wise may surprise a few people — see here:
NOTE: Although Carl Grundstrom has flown back to Los Angeles for further evaluation (after leaving last night’s game with a lower body injury), there is really only one scenario where his status would impact the plan outlined above. Grundstrom would have to go on LTIR to change things. If he is simply moved to injured reserve, nothing changes because his money would still count toward the salary cap.
Meanwhile, back on the ice…
Whether it is the impending return of Arvidsson or the result from Buffalo — or even some combination of both — Hiller indeed rolled out new lines on Wednesday afternoon’s practice in New Jersey.
Per Zach Dooley, the Kings lined up as follows:
Byfield – Kopitar – Fiala
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Laferriere – Dubois. -Kempe
JAD – Turcotte -Lewis – Kaliyev
Arvidsson slotted back in alongside Phil Danault, which is where he played most of last season.
Most interesting in this configuration is Adrian Kempe was moved from the top line to playing alongside PL Dubois.
Following up on the Edmonton game, where Hiller played Danault several minutes more than Kopitar, LA’s top three centers all had about the same time on ice last night:
Dubois 17:36
Danault 17:19
Kopitar 17:10
Now, will Arthur Kaliyev play tomorrow night? Only time will tell.
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