October 12 morning skate notes

Good morning from Toyota Sports Center, where the Kings are currently in a meeting in advance of their 7:00 p.m. game against the Winnipeg Jets at Staples Center.

Given that last night’s game in Arizona was a 6:00 p.m. start, the team arrived back in Los Angeles early in the 11:00 hour and should be about as rested as a team could be after the first night of a back-to-back night set. Morning skates preceding the second game of back-to-backs don’t always elicit a heavy attendance, but there were 12 players on the ice this morning, including several players who receive heavy ice time in Anze Kopitar and Justin Williams. Jake Muzzin was on the ice, though Trevor Lewis was not.

Because Muzzin and Andy Andreoff remained on the ice for extra work with Jonathan Quick, and because Martin Jones left the ice first, it is expected that Jones will draw the start against the Jets. It’s unlikely that any other lineup changes will occur in the second game of the three-games-in-four-nights set.

From my understanding, the Jets aren’t holding a full morning skate today after their travels from San Jose last night; anecdotally, I’m basing this on the 90% certainty that I saw a handful of players leaving the Marina Del Rey Ritz Carlton for a walk while I was en route to Toyota Sports Center this morning. The Marina Ritz is among the popular hotels for visiting teams.

I’ll update this if anything is confirmed, but there’s the possibility that former Ontario Reign goaltender Michael Hutchinson could draw the start for the Jets. Hutchinson went 22-4-2 with a 2.08 goals-against average and .921 save percentage in 28 games with Ontario prior to his call-up to the St. John’s Ice Caps, which culminated in a run to the Calder Cup Finals.