Nobody said it was going to be easy, and this past week has proven to be extra challenging for Kings management. Already tight up against the salary cap ceiling heading into training camp, Arthur Kaliyev’s recent four-game suspension (including the final two games needing to come in the regular season), really threw a (temporary) wrench into things. Really, it’s nothing a little cap gymnastics can’t solve.
So, here’s where things stand with the LA Kings and their Opening Night roster:
Working Backwards for Once
Let’s try something different here; let’s work in reverse order.
Kaliyev is scheduled to sit out against Colorado and Carolina, serving the final pair of games on his suspension. Assuming everybody comes out of those contests healthy, coach Todd McLellan will finally get his ‘regular’ roster for Game 3.
That would pretty much look like what we served up about 10 days ago:
Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Fiala – Dubois – Kaliyev
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Lewis
Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Bjornfot – Spence
Englund
Talbot
Copley
This lineup assumes forward Alex Laferriere has been returned to AHL Ontario (he does not need waivers this season, so that’s an easy move) and goaltender David Rittich has been placed on waivers (more on that in a minute).
Again, the above lineup is the direction the Kings have been working towards over the past few weeks. It’s just not possible at this very moment.
If McLellan chooses to, he could easily flip Bjornfot/Englund or his goalies by the time they play Winnipeg. It won’t really matter much, those are the 21 players he should have to work with beginning in Game 3.
Kings Opening Night Lineup
Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Fiala – Dubois – Laferriere
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Lewis
Kaliyev
Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Bjornfot – Englund
Talbot
Copley
How the opening night roster is different than Game 3 hinges on the fact that Kaliyev is ineligible to play due to a suspension. Because he still counts toward the salary cap, the Kings needed to send Jordan Spence down on Monday. It’s not ideal, nor preferred. Not only would McLellan probably not like to play two left-shot defensemen on his third pair, but he’d also almost surely want Spence in the lineup if he had a choice. Unfortunately, for cap reasons, that isn’t an option currently.
To put it simply, the Kings only have cap room for 21 players right now (and for the next few months). Thus, on any given night, there will only be one extra player available to serve as a healthy scratch on game nights. Most of the time, we’re expecting that to be a defenseman (Englund or Bjornfot), as the plan is to have 12 forwards, seven D, and two goalies on the roster.
For now, though, Kaliyev’s suspension means he has to serve as the healthy scratch. That leaves McLellan with a choice — play with an 11+7 configuration or send Spence down to add a forward. After giving it a test drive in Saturday afternoon’s preseason finale, it was decided that while 11+7 can work when needed, it doesn’t work best when the forward coming out the lineup is a top-9 player. That just messes up the rotations of everything.
So, back to the drawing board they went. In this case, it was determined sending Spence down to get another forward up (to play 12) was the lesser of the two evils.
Enter, Laferriere. As if his preseason / training camp performance wasn’t enough already, he went down to AHL Ontario and scored a pair of goals (plus an assist) in Sunday’s Reign game. A few days prior, the young forward had an audition on the Fiala-Dubois line at Frozen Fury in Salt Lake City. Now, he’s expected to be there again on Wednesday night for Game 1 of the Kings 2023-24 season.
If everybody is healthy, Kaliyev rejoining the lineup for Game 3 will most likely mean Laferriere is sent back to AHL Ontario. There would be little reason to keep him up as a healthy scratch at that point. The opportunity cost in doing so would be leaving Spence in the AHL. And that’s not the plan.
Becoming Cap Compliant
Anybody reading this far into the article enjoys the details, so here it is…
Traditionally, the NHL roster deadline today was also synonymous with the Opening Night roster. Not so fast, though.
What the Kings had to sumbit to the league office today was really only a cap compliant roster of no more than 23 players. They did just that — even with the recall of Laferriere earlier in the day.
This is what they submitted and how the math worked out:
Exactly as implied, this was all just about being cap compliant.
The next step in the process should come Tuesday when goalie David Rittich is placed on waivers.
Some may wonder why this didn’t happen already. Basically, the answer is, because it didn’t have to. From a strategic standpoint, it made more sense to wait until Tuesday. If other teams were needing to snag a goalie off waivers on Monday before their ‘final’ rosters were submitted, this removed Rittich from that process. Kaliyev being waiver exempt allowed the Kings to send him down and be cap compliant by the deadline, even though they were carrying three goalies.
Rittich should be less likely to get claimed now and it really didn’t cost the Kings anything to do it this way, other than some extra paperwork.
Come Wednesday, should Rittich clear, he’ll be assigned to AHL Ontario. Even if he doesn’t clear, the result at the NHL level is the same — by 11am Wednesday, the Kings will now have an open roster spot. With that, they’ll add Kaliyev back to the NHL roster. He will serve as the 21st player on the roster and serve his suspension.
What happens for Game 3 when Kaliyev is eligible to return to action? Start at the top and read the article again.
Nobody said it was going to be easy.
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