November 17 morning skate notes

Good morning from Toyota Sports Center, where the Edmonton Oilers are skating. This is very rare; teams virtually always skate downtown on game days. Not today! Welcome to El Segundo, Connor McDavid.

The Kings also skated at their practice rink, and aligned as such:

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

Forbort-Doughty
Muzzin-Martinez
Gravel-Gilbert
Extra: Greene

-Peter Budaj left the ice first and is expected to start against Edmonton (7:30 p.m. / FOX Sports West / KABC 790 / I Heart Radio). Jeff Zatkoff (groin), who is nearing a return, left the ice at roughly the same time as Jack Campbell.

-So, Marian Gaborik, Anze Kopitar and Andy Andreoff took some rushes. None will play tonight, but it’s a good sign that even has to be explained. As has been stated on this page, the general process of a player returning from injury is working out > skating on his own > skating with teammates > taking rushes > passing battle drills > activation, and the trio is progressing down that path. Andreoff shared yesterday that he could be cleared as early as the middle of next week. The question is whether Kopitar, who also has to deal with a little bit of a pain threshold, could be ready by the weekend, when Los Angeles has a New Jersey / at Anaheim back-to-back. It’s still probably a touch early to start hypothesizing on a Gaborik return date.

-I’ll have a story on Milan Lucic’s return later today – for a conversation I had with Lucic during the preseason, which touches on the circumstances that led to him leaving the Kings, click here – but he did share this bit about the type of reception he expects, and the reception he recalls former Kings receiving: “Well, the guys that came back last year were all guys that were on the Cup teams, so they obviously got a pretty good reception. Even though it was one year, I thought I had a pretty good connection with the fans here. They welcomed me with open arms. I had a lot of fun playing in front of them. Whether they cheer me or boo me, I appreciate them as fans, being the fans that they are. That’s all that matters to me – I really enjoyed playing in front of them and them cheering me on and the team on. Like I said, it makes it more fun heading into tonight’s game knowing that the fans are as great as they are.”

-Another alum spotted at Toyota Sports Center this morning: Jarret Stoll. Lots of Kings/Oilers connections over the last five years, by the way: Stoll, Lucic, Andrej Sekera, Dustin Penner, Colin Fraser, Matt Greene, Teddy Purcell, Tom Gilbert. Am I forgetting anyone? Eric Belanger skated with Edmonton as recently as 2012-13. Hey, Jeff Deslauriers attended L.A.’s camp last year.

-The Oilers will roll with Jonas Gustavsson in net. He’s 1-0-0 / 0.86 / .958 through two appearances this season. As for the lines, expect Maroon-McDavid-Eberle, Pouliot-Draisatl-Puljujarvi, Lucic-Nugent-Hopkins-Slepyshev and Kassian-Letestu-Pitlick up front and a back end of Klefbom-Larsson, Sekera-Benning and Nurse-Gryba.

-Kings Weekly follows tonight’s game. Topics! Gretzky’s Hart Trophy, Bob Miller recalls Gretzky’s debut, Amgen & Hockey Fights Cancer, Lil’ Kings Valencia Camp, L.A. Lions and Monarchs Girls Hockey, and highlights from Rogie Vachon’s induction.

-Lots more to come, Insiders. Let’s talk soon. All photos courtesy of Jon Bradley.