October 15 practice notes

Good afternoon from Toyota Sports Center, where the Kings took part in a lengthy practice a day before their scheduled off-day. Per the new CBA, which isn’t really “new” anymore, there are a certain number of mandated travel-free off-days that the players (and, once in a while, by extension, reporters) receive each month. Woohoo, players! Some fine negotiating, that.

The Kings aligned in the following forward groups at practice:

King-Kopitar-Toffoli
Pearson-Carter-Setoguchi
Brown-Shore-Lewis
Andreoff-Dowd-Nolan
Clifford-Purcell

-The defensive pairs rotated steadily during the assortment of drills, so it wasn’t really possible to get a firm read of how they could align Monday morning when the team reconvenes for a 10:00 a.m. practice in advance of the flight to Minnesota.

-Please stop @’ing me about your disdain for the lines. The Kings were without Marian Gaborik and Tanner Pearson, and there were already questions about forward depth heading into the season. They aren’t going to be able to ice the hockey equivalent of the 1995 Cleveland Indians.

-As for the practice, there was work on transition, in-zone work, and the goalie-slaughtering three-on-zero rushes that the team will roll through a few times a year to foster burying the puck. When it was over, they got a pretty healthy bag skate. Darryl will speak to this in his quotes, but such skates aren’t punitive. With a day off Sunday, the team needed to end practice with an aerobic drill that reinforces the work they had already put forth.

-For those reading the reports that Jonathan Quick will miss “three or four months,” while that time frame may ultimately be accurate, no decision has yet been made on how to proceed with Quick, or whether surgery would be needed. Once he has met will all his doctors, and the team and Quick choose how they plan on proceeding, then the actual recovery timeline will emerge.

Two sep things: Jon Quick still undecided on rehab procedure according to hockey ops

— lisa dillman (@reallisa) October 15, 2016

-Coming soon: Darryl Sutter quotes. There were some interesting things he shared on the 1967-68 team and how he plans practices. Thank you for checking in on a Saturday, Insiders.