Things didn’t exactly go as planned for the LA Kings on Friday night in Dallas, including a potential injury that could sideline defenseman Drew Doughty for quite some time. As we reported late in the evening, the team is now expected to call-up Austin Strand from AHL Ontario.
LA Kings will call-up Austin Strand from AHL Ontario. He'll join the team in St. Louis tomorrow. https://t.co/gt8uS2Jmxw
— The Mayor (@mayorNHL) October 23, 2021
Doughty was injured on a play late in the second period of Friday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Dallas Stars.
— Eric (@kingsgifs2) October 23, 2021
While the play was dangerous, it didn’t appear to be dirty in nature. Even so, there still remains the possibility of Jani Hakanpaa receiving supplementary discipline from the league. He was initially assessed a five-minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct.
As for Strand, he scored his first goal of the season on Friday night, part of a 3-2 home victory by the Reign — one that propelled them into first place of the Pacific Division.
Austin Strand(1) makes it 3-1 #Reign!
Assisted by Clague (4), & Turcotte (3) pic.twitter.com/p8mmt2gCl2
— Eric (@kingsgifs2) October 23, 2021
Standing 6-foot-3 off skates, the 24-year-old defender will add some size to the Kings backend should he draw into the lineup Saturday or Monday against the Blues. Strand played 13 NHL games for LA last season. Ironically, that was a season that saw the Kings only play seven other teams all year, yet Strand never faced St. Louis in a game.
Earlier this month, Strand was the final defenseman cut from training camp. He battled Christian Wolanin down to the final moment, before ultimately being placed on waivers. Since re-joining the Reign, Strand had played in all four of the team’s games to start off their 2021-22 campaign.
Because he’s already cleared waivers this season, Strand can go back down to the AHL without waivers again, provided he’s up with the Kings for less than 10 NHL games and/or 30 days.
Matt Roy replaced Doughty on the Kings power play for the remainder of Friday’s game. It remains to be seen how coach Todd McLellan will piece together his starting six defenseman for Saturday’s game.
News on Doughty will be coming later, as well. He looks to have possibly hyper-extended his knee in the collision. Any official damage (and the associated timeline for recovery) will need to be confirmed via an MRI, which is forthcoming.
UPDATES:
Hearing initial prognosis last night on Drew Doughty was positive – a relatively minor knee sprain.
Still awaiting final word today from docs, but certainly a welcomed sigh of relief from #LAKings, Doughty and (!) Hockey Canada after a scary sequence. #Beijing2022@DFOHockey
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) October 23, 2021
Update to the update — told the early look shows no ligament damage, but Doughty's knee/leg will require further evaluation in LA later this week. https://t.co/qCyGvFuynB
— The Mayor (@mayorNHL) October 23, 2021
RELATED CONTENT:
Note to webmasters/reporters: When recapping news or interviews from this site please remember to include a link to www.MayorsManor.com
It’s time for a coaching change.
GM needs to acquire players with more grit.
The team has no answer to being outplayed physically.