Defensive pairs without Edler, Big roadtrip, Olympics, and other LA Kings Bullets
Ryan Sikes 
Photo Credit: Bally Sports West
The LA Kings took the ice in Tampa on Monday. With Alex Edler out of the lineup for the foreseeable future, here’s how the D pairings looked, per LA Kings Insider:
Anderson – Doughty
Maatta – Roy
Bjornfot – Durzi
Wolanin
Personally, Maatta is the seventh defenseman at this point. We know what he brings to the table. He has just six assists in 56 games during his time in Los Angeles. I’d much rather see Wolanin get an extended look here.
“The one thing about Christian is that he’s been in NHL practices for the last two months,” Todd McLellan said of Wolanin. “He played a little in Buffalo, he’s had a chance to play some games in the minors and he’s been practicing at a high level. The type of game he plays, I think he can get back quickly. He skates well, uses his vision and his skill, so it will be the grinding part that he’ll have to adjust to quickly. Having the three games in American League will help.”
Of course, nobody should expect Wolanin to replace Edler’s offensive production from the blue line, but again, we know what Maatta offers.
- After a successful but quick, two-game homestand against the league’s hottest teams, the Kings will start in Tampa on Tuesday night. From there, they have trips to the Panthers, Carolina, and Washington. If they can somehow split these four games, that’s a win, heading back home for a rematch against the Oilers.
- The Calgary Flames have postponed all games through at least December 16 after several players and staff have entered the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol.
#Flames Roster Update: Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane, Brad Richardson, Adam Ruzicka, Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov, and a member of the training staff have entered the NHL’s COVID-19 Protocol.
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) December 13, 2021
The NHL has announced that #Flames games will be postponed at least through Thursday, Dec. 16. https://t.co/cvscR9XV5q
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) December 13, 2021
- Russ was busy crunching numbers for the LA Kings’ early off-season salary cap:
Taking an early look at LA’s off-season salary cap, they’ll have just over $23M in space.
Arb. Eligible RFA’s – Kempe, Lemieux, Lizotte, Grundstrom, Strand, Tkachev, Moverare
UFA’s – Brown, AA, Maatta, Edler, Frk, Wolanin
I see around $10-12M in space to work with.#GoKingsGo
— Russell Morgan (@NHLRussell) December 14, 2021
- With COVID cases surging once again, the NHLPA is gauging interest from players whether they still want to participate in the 2022 Olympic games:
NHLPA having calls w/ players this week to gauge Olympic interest. It’s going to be hard to get a consensus..
A player explains his locker room dynamic: “I want to go no matter what. The Russians are going no matter what. But two guys already told their federations they’re iffy”
— Emily Kaplan (@emilymkaplan) December 13, 2021
- But it sounds like if the NHL were to forego sending their players overseas, the pause in the schedule would only be used for makeup games:
https://twitter.com/HockeyHoundShow/status/1470454987369164809?s=20
- Also, this just came down the pipe. Congrats to Kirill on representing Team Russia!
#LAKings 2021 third-round pick Kirill Kirsanov makes Team Russia's final roster. #GoKingsGo #WorldJuniors https://t.co/0suVLysKWc
— Hockey Royalty (@Hockey_Royalty) December 14, 2021