Manor REPORT: Doughty’s Expected Return Game, Plus Impact on Kings Lineup and Salary Cap Situation

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Finally, we have some clarity to report regarding Drew Doughty’s impending return to the Kings lineup. Obviously, by ditching his red no-contact jersey earlier this week, the future Hall of Famer had signaled he’s as close to playing a real game as he has been since training camp opened.

When the Kings departed LA for their five-game road trip on Thursday, the 35-year-old rear guard boarded the plane with him teammates for the first time this season. And while he is not expected to suit up during their first stop in Columbus on Saturday night vs. the Blue Jackets, Mayor’s Manor has learned that internal plans call for Doughty to most likely play against Detroit on Monday or the game in Florida next Wednesday. From a media perspective, the game against the Panthers makes too much sense, right? The whole Matthew Tkachuk angle is a made-for-TV event in and of itself. However, Doughty seems to may have moved on from that beef in recent years — and Adrian Kempe may have taken over based on last night’s shenanigans.

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— The Mayor | Team MM (@mayorNHL) January 23, 2025


Back to Doughty, though. Everything is said to still be a bit fluid. For example, should an injury take place, Kings management may need to shuffle their plans by a day or two. Either way, Doughty’s inevitable return next week sparks several questions, some of which are easier to answer than others.

Let’s begin with how the Kings will even get Doughty back onto the roster, considering they’re currently at the 23-player roster limit.

Burroughs, Englund, or Moverare​


With the Kings already carrying eight defensemen on their roster, traditionalists would expect them to put one of the ‘extra’ blueliners (Jacob Moverare, Kyle Burroughs, or Andreas Englund) on waivers to clear a spot for Doughty. They wouldn’t dare role with nine defensemen, would they? Well, according to our sources, that’s the current plan. Now, let’s provide some additional context too.

The thought process here is two-fold. First, they want to give Doughty a handful of games to make sure he’s back up to speed. Before potentially losing one of three defensemen (either via trade or waivers), they need to know that Doughty is in the clear. Jumping back into the NHL’s regular season after missing part of training camp and four months of games is no easy task.

Further, with the 4 Nations Faceoff tournament quickly approaching, there is growing chatter about an artificial Trade Deadline before the NHL shuts down on February 10 for two-week event. What this basically means is the Kings would hold onto all three of their ‘extra’ pieces to gauge any potential trade interest. As noted several times of late, the organization really likes the play of Moverare, and coach Jim Hiller has shown no hesitation in playing Burroughs either. Therefore, the odd man out would appear to be Englund. Barring a spectacular offer for either of the other two, it would seem Englund could land on waivers in a few weeks if a trade doesn’t materialize for the 29-year-old’s services.

Alex Laferriere​


Some may be wondering, why not just transfer Laferriere to injured reserve; thereby creating a spot for Doughty? After all, the former hasn’t played since suffering an upper-body injury vs. Edmonton 10 days ago. He could easily be placed on IR retroactive to that date, which would also mean Laferriere could freely be activated the moment he was ready to go again. In this scenario, LA management would really only be kicking the problem forward a few yards because once Laferriere was available to play again, they’d be right back to square one.

This is also not likely to be the option LA goes with because, from what we’re hearing, the 23-year-old winger is expected to draw back in around the same time as Doughty.

Sammy Helenius​


Using a ‘third (option) is the charm’ approach, this appears to be where things are headed at the moment. In terms of simplicity, loaning Helenius back to AHL Ontario is said to be the most probable option implemented to activate Doughty. While the team’s plans for the final third of their season include Helenius and Andre Lee to be on the NHL roster, Blake still has some work ahead of him to provide the young duo with spots. Lee is currently biding his time with the Reign, playing middle-6 minutes and even scoring in back-to-back games this week. Parking Helenius there temporarily would be easy enough to do because he’s really the only forward on the Kings NHL roster who can be sent down without needing to first pass through waivers. Like with Lee, we’d view this move as somewhat temporary until things sort themselves out between now and the official Trade Deadline on March 7.

Coach Jim Hiller’s Lineup​


‘Will Doughty be reunited with longtime partner Mikey Anderson?’ that was the question posed to Mayor’s Manor editor John Hoven on NHL Network radio earlier this week. During a rather detailed answer, Hoven definitively stated that’s a given – despite how well Vladislav Gavrikov has played on the top pairing thus far this season. So, what happens to Gavrikov and the other D-pairings?

In some ways, it all depends on what Hiller and the Kings want to do with Brandt Clarke. He’s played all season alongside veteran Joel Edmundson, and they’ve made an effective pair. Keeping them together then assumes that Gavrikov and Jordan Spence are reunited, a unit that was penciled together back in the summer. However, in Wednesday night’s game, Hiller moved Clarke to play with Moverare, thus creating an Edmundson-Spence pairing. Was he possibly foreshadowing his plans upon Doughty’s return? It’s an interesting sub-plot to monitor over the next few days.

Salary Cap Implications​


With Doughty on long-term injured reserve this season, the Kings had plenty of cap space to play with. Unfortunately, the millions of dollars available to them were all temporary — which is they never really utilized it to acquire more players. When Doughty is activated, LA will need to have enough space for his $11M contract. Whether Helenius ($805k AAV) or Englund ($1M AAV) exit the Kings roster, it won’t make much difference cap-wise because contracts carry similar numbers.

The example below is for illustrative purposes to briefly discuss LA’s cap room available heading into the Trade Deadline.

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When all is said and done — regardless of removing Helenius, Englund, Moverare, etc. — the Kings will most likely have about $1.5M in available cap space to play with before March 7. Most of their players with larger contracts are tied up with full or modified no-trade clauses. So, there isn’t likely to be a trade for an expensive forward on another team. To trade for a guy with a $5-7M contract on another team, LA would face several challenges. For example, to get the other team to retain half the salary, they’d likely need to add a sweetener (like a high draft pick). Even then, it might not be enough to make the math work; they still may need a third team involved.

So, a center or a scoring winger making less than $3M would appear to be applicable at this time. More on that can be found in the conversation below.

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