It’s Trade Deadline day, so there is going to be a lot to unpack today. Let’s get right to it.
First and foremost, Adrian Kempe will return to practice today. More on that as we move along through this article.
For starters, some clarity on a misconception – today is not actually the last day NHL teams can make trades. In fact, the Kings made a deal with Florida last year several weeks after the day that causes all the frenzy. Essentially, today is the last day teams can make sure a player is eligible for the NHL and AHL playoffs.
With the latter point in mind, every year there are a flurry of players on NHL rosters who are sent to the AHL — which is where the term ‘paper transactions’ was really made popular. For example, last year, the Kings sent Quinton Byfield to the AHL on Trade Deadline day… and then later recalled him.
In order for a player to be eligible for the Calder Cup Playoffs, they must be on an AHL roster by noon today. It’s actually far more complicated, though, than simply saying — ‘Oh, teams just do this for the AHL playoffs.’
After today at noon, NHL teams are limited to just four recalls from their AHL clubs. Thus, there is a fair amount of strategy involved. General Managers need to do a little forecasting regarding who they want (or, in the case of the Kings, need) to recall over the final weeks of the regular season. With several injuries, the Kings will need to both send players down today and recall them before tomorrow’s game. When they do recall those players from Ontario, the Kings will be using one (or more) of their four allotted recalls.
Currently, the Kings have four players out injured. Two of them are currently on the roster (Adrian Kempe and Mikey Anderson), as neither was placed on Injured Reserve or LTIR. That’s just paperwork really. Putting them on regular IR would have freed up an extra roster spot to recall a player. For the most part, the Kings haven’t been using all 23 roster spots available, so they didn’t need the extra room. They would have normally needed the extra cap room to recall a player, yet with multiple players on LTIR, they had the cap space, so it was largely a moot point.
The paper transactions by LA today are more than just making players available for the AHL playoffs. It’s also about having the freedom to send players down once the injured players are ready to go.
As mentioned, Kempe and Anderson can return whenever they’re medically cleared because they already on the roster (not IR or LTIR). In checking with various sources, they are the two players closest to a return. As we reported yesterday, Kempe could return as early as next week. Basically, the last set of imaging on Kempe was encouraging. So, he’ll rejoin the club for practice today and then the Kings staff will start to determine a timeline for his return. Anderson shouldn’t be too far behind him, as he’s also resumed skating.
Once all four players have returned from injury, the Kings are likely looking a roster similar to:
Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Fiala
Laferriere – Dubois – Arvidsson
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Lewis –
Kaliyev
Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence
Clarke
Talbot
Rittich
There are still a lot of moving pieces to get back to that lineup. However, noticeably absent from that list is Alex Turcotte, Jacob Moverare, Sammy Fagemo — three players who were on the roster yesterday.
Digging in even further, the Kings are so close up against the cap, they may not even be able to hold the above 22 players on the roster at the same time. That’s a tricky balancing act that we’ll save for a different article. Let’s keep it as high level as possible for now.
To prepare for the noon deadline, our sources indicate Turcotte, Moverare, Fagemo, and Brandt Clarke will be sent to AHL Ontario this morning. This makes them eligible for the AHL playoffs, but more importantly — after some of them are recalled tomorrow — this will allow for any of them to be sent back down once the injured players are available to return.
If any of this is confusing, perhaps this will help… the above roster is basically all the Kings can afford when fully healthy. So, guys like Turcotte and Moverare will be up with the Kings only until injured guys return.
As for the recalls, we’re hearing that Turcotte, Moverare, and Clarke will be recalled after the noon deadline. And that makes sense, because they are needed for Saturday’s game vs. Dallas.
The Kings will wait and see how things play out with Kempe before determining what to do with Fagemo after the noon deadline. In a perfect world, Kempe can play pretty soon, which would allow the Kings to hold off and not use their fourth recall right away.
Turcotte should be up for at least another week, as Arvidsson is eligible to return on March 16. However, he’ll first need to resume skating, practicing with the team, etc. Ditto for Grundstrom.
There is on other thing lurking in the background to also keep an eye on — Akil Thomas. He’s the other forward in Ontario pushing for a recall. Management would like to see him get a few NHL games before the end of the season. It’s just going to be tough based upon the injuries and timing of when guys return.
KINGS TRADE DEADLINE COVERAGE:
NHL RADIO REPLAY: Mayor’s Minutes – Talking Hiller, Fiala, Trade Rumors, and Kings Playoff Push
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