All signs point to No. 41 debuting on 4/1… and that’s no joke.
As we reported Saturday night, the Kings were set to recall Akil Thomas from AHL Ontario, with a likely shot at him making his NHL debut in Winnipeg on Monday night.
It’s been a long-time coming for the 2019 draft pick; a road well-traveled, as they say. To hear Reign coach Marco Sturm tell it, the 24-year-old forward has put it all together this season and looks every bit the part of an NHL player. Beyond his 22 goals — including a league leading nine game winners — Thomas has rounded out his 200-ft game and has provided a steady hand of leadership.
As for which LA Kings team he’ll be joining, that’s a coin-flip at best.
It’s a Jekyll and Hyde story, isn’t it?
There are many ways to summarize the Kings season to date. Just last week, forward Blake Lizotte noted it’s felt like three separate seasons for his squad. To start the campaign, LA was atop the NHL standings and largely looked unstoppable. Then came an extended period where the team couldn’t find a way to win a game, which led to their head coach being let go. Post All-Star break has seen the return of the dominant Kings to a certain extent.
Then there’s reality. The truth is, there have been two vastly different Kings teams this year. While some nights it feels like they’re legit Stanley Cup contenders, other games see an undisciplined, sluggish, and perhaps even unmotivated team take the ice. The real problem is in trying to predict which team shows up on any given night.
Monday provides an opportunity to complete LA’s four-game road trip with a .500 winning percentage. For the very last time this season, the Kings and PL Dubois will go head-to-head with Gabe Vilardi, Alex Iafallo, the Winnipeg Jets — a storyline that dominated the summer.
Both teams come into play tonight holding a postseason spot, but LA is clearly the more desperate team points-wise. For head coach Jim Hiller, he’ll just be looking for effort and intensity. He didn’t hide his disappointment following Saturday night’s loss in Calgary. “Not good enough” and “needs to be better” have been common themes said by the team at various times this season. It has to be wondered and asked why this team struggles so mightily to find consistency. Some sort of answer will be needed before Game 83, or else LA is looking straight in the face of another first-round exit.
Hiller will have a few pregame lineup decisions to make. Beyond how to best use Thomas — assuming he plays — the Kings will need to see if Phil Danault is ready to go or will need a bit more time to nurse his injury. Either way, we’re expecting Hiller to go with a 12+6 configuration, as the organization most likely doesn’t want to play Jacob Moverare again. That would be his 10th game played since clearing waivers in early March. That would mean he’d need to be subjected to waivers again when they send him down this week. Even with his new contract extension, it’s just not an additional stress that anybody really needs. They have enough healthy bodies to ice a traditional lineup. Should Danault be available, we’d expect to see Thomas slide over to wing, with Lizotte reclaiming his spot at 4C.
If Thomas’ debut is held off until Wednesday, that’s not the worst thing in the world. It allows him to be around the team for a few days and get acclimated, then get his first game in front of the hometown fans.
Statistically Speaking
— Tyler Toffoli will face the Kings for the 11th time in his NHL career. Over 10 previous games, LA’s former second round pick has recorded six points (4G, 2A).
— Fun Toffoli trivia. He was actually in Winnipeg the first time he was traded in his NHL career. Coming off a hat trick during an outdoor game in Colorado Springs, Toffoli and the Kings had landed in Manitoba before he was dealt to the Canucks. Over the course of his 805 NHL games played, including 515 in LA, Toffoli has worn the jersey of six different clubs: Kings, Canucks, Canadiens, Flames, Devils, and now Jets. Tonight will mark the fourth different team he’s played for while facing the Kings, as he never suited up for a Canucks-Kings game because the league shut down early in 2019-20 and he then he left Vancouver that summer. Being robbed of that experience was something he spoke about here:
— The Kings have won their last three consecutive games against the Jets at Canada Life Centre.
— Forward Pierre-Luc Dubois is set to make his return to Canada Life Centre for the second time since his acquisition from the Winnipeg Jets on June 27, 2023. In his first return to Winnipeg earlier this season on Oct. 17, Dubois scored his first goal as a member of the LA Kings and 130th of his career. In doing so, Dubois became the eighth player in franchise history to score his first goal with the Kings against his most recent former club, joining Kevin Fiala (10/15/22 vs. MIN), Christian Ehrhoff (12/5/15 vs. PIT), Jozef Stümpel (10/2/97 vs. BOS), Jim Wiemer (3/21/89 vs. EDM), Pete Stemkowski (10/30/77 vs. NYR), Ron Anderson (12/11/68 vs. DET) and Doug Robinson (1/19/68 vs. NYR).
— With it being college hockey playoff season, here’s a fun NCAA tidbit courtesy of the LA Kings PR team: Tonight’s game will feature a quartet of University of Minnesota-Duluth alumni, including Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson (2017-19) and Winnipeg skaters Dylan Samberg (2017-20), Neal Pionk (2015-2017) and former LA King Alex Iafallo (2013-2017). During his time at Minnesota-Duluth, Anderson’s defensive partner was Samberg. Three of the four skaters sit in the top-five on the all-time games played list among active Minnesota-Duluth hockey alumnus in the NHL.
Kings Projected Lineup vs. Jets
Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Dubois – Arvidsson
Fiala – Lizotte – Laferriere
Lewis – Thomas – Kaliyev
NOTE: pre-morning skate projection, will be updated if needed
Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence
Talbot (starter)
Rittich
Likely scratches: Danault, Moverare
Injured: Turcotte
LTIR: Copley, Grundstrom
Key Game Info
Puck drop is set for 6:00 pm Pacific Time and will be televised by Bally Sports.
Across the Ice
Winnipeg is coming off a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Ottawa on Saturday.
Here’s how they lined up for that one:
Connor – Scheifele – Vilardi
Ehlers – Monahan – Toffoli
Niederreiter – Lowry – Appleton
Barron – Namestnikov – Iafallo
Morrissey – DeMelo
Dillon – Pionk
Stanley – Schmidt
Hellebuyck
In their last 10 games, the Jets are 3-6-1. As the home team, they’re 23-11-3 this season.
On This Day in Kings History
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