With the Kings final preseason game now in the books and the NHL season ready to kick off on Wednesday night, it’s now time for the remaining bit of housekeeping coming out of training camp – submitting the final 23-man roster to the league.
Word here is Weal will indeed be back in Manch. Expect that to happen soon.
— Andy Tonge (@AndyTonge1) October 5, 2014
As mentioned by Andy Tonge, our AHL correspondent, on twitter earlier today, Jordan Weal is on his way back to Manchester. Originally selected in the third round of the 2010 NHL Draft, Weal impressed several of the Kings top brass with his performance in camp this year and could see his first NHL call-up later this season. For now, he’ll begin the year out East, where he is expected to center one of the Monarchs top two lines.
In related moves, the Kings are sending goaltender J.F. Berube to Manchester and placing defenseman Andrew Bodnarchuk on IR (injured knee). When Bodnarchuk is healthy, he is expected to be put on waivers for the purpose of sending him to Manchester.
Barring a last minute trade, and nothing is imminent on that front, we’ve learned the team will also put defenseman Jeff Schultz and forward Adam Cracknell on waivers tomorrow. As mentioned in our detailed look at the Kings problems on defense here, the hope is that Schultz’ contract will be enough to dissuade other teams from claiming him.
Two quick salary cap notes – if they clear waivers and are ultimately assigned to the AHL, their salaries ($850K Schultz, $600K Cracknell) will not count against the cap since both fall below $925K. Also, using the 23-man roster below, the Kings will have a cap payroll of about $68.5M, giving them about $450K in available cap space.
With those moves, the opening night roster will essentially look like this:
Marian Gaborik – Anze Kopitar – Dustin Brown
Tanner Pearson – Jeff Carter – Tyler Toffoli
Dwight King – Jarret Stoll – Justin Williams
Kyle Clifford – Mike Richards – Trevor LewisJake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Robyn Regehr – Slava Voynov
Alec Martinez – Matt GreeneJonathan Quick
Martin JonesThree healthy scratches:
Andy Andreoff
Brayden McNabb
Jordan Nolan
Of course, coach Darryl Sutter will move Richards around in the lineup, and guys like Andreoff and McNabb will be worked into the rotation, as well.
If you missed it yesterday, we posted the first of our three-part look at the Kings Top 10 Prospects – view the rankings here.
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