Wagner, Walker recalled; Quick to LTIR, per report; LaDue doesn’t skate

The LA Kings recalled forward Austin Wagner and defenseman Sean Walker one day after assigning them to AHL-Ontario as a means of placing Jonathan Quick on LTIR, as first reported by CapFriendly. To bring themselves close to the cap to maximize the benefits of LTIR, they made a pair of paper transactions prior to this morning’s recall.

#LAKings have placed Jonathan Quick on LTIR allowing them to now exceed their new upper limit of $79,485,850 by $5.8M

The club recalled Brickley/Rempal last night, bringing them to within $14,150 of the ceiling.

Both were then reassigned this morning and Walker/Wagner recalled. pic.twitter.com/KMAiPzQpqy

— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) November 1, 2018

The Kings confirmed that Quick had been placed on injured reserve in a press release.

Players placed on LTIR must miss at least 10 games and 24 days of the schedule. Quick’s recovery from surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his knee is expected to sideline him for three-to-six weeks, with a maximum rehabilitation time of two months. As shared by hockey operations, Quick would be eligible to be activated for the November 21 game versus Colorado, a date that still seems to be on the early side of a hypothetical activation.| MORE ON LTIR

The 21-year-old Wagner has appeared in seven games this season for the Kings, going scoreless with two penalty minutes. He made his NHL debut on October 5 versus San Jose.

The 23-year-old Walker appeared in three games for Los Angeles, tallying his first career assist in his first NHL game, October 23 at Dallas. In seven games with Ontario, he has three goals, six points and a plus-one rating. At the time of his earlier recall, he was tied for third among AHL defensemen in goals (three) and tied for ninth in points (six), leading Ontario defensemen in both categories.

Reign Insider Zach Dooley noted that there weren’t actual line rushes, but that the Kings did show an alignment of Iafallo-Kopitar-Brown, Pearson-Carter-Toffoli, Kovalchuk-Kempe-Lewis, Wagner-Thompson-Clifford with defensive pairings of Forbort-Doughty, Muzzin-Martinez and Phaneuf-Walker. Paul LaDue, who left Wednesday’s practice early, did not participate. Jack Campbell was the first goalie off the ice and will be projected to start against Philadelphia (7:30 p.m. / FOX Sports West / FOX Sports app / LA Kings Audio Network).

LaDue was not on the ice. More, ahem, day-to-day and not long term with UBI, JS said. No rushes. Fantenberg stayed out for extra work.

— Curtis Zupke (@curtiszupke) November 1, 2018

-Lead photo via Matthew Pearce/Icon Sportswire