Insiders, a pair of roster moves in advance of tonight’s game against Florida.
– Forward Andreas Athanasiou has been placed on injured reserve (retroactive to Dec. 14).
– Defenseman Drew Doughty has been placed on the non-roster/COVID-19 list.
Naturally, the latter move is the one that will impact tonight’s game. Doughty will not be available to the Kings this evening, which will likely work defenseman Christian Wolanin into the lineup this evening against the Florida Panthers. Wolanin appears set to skate in his second consecutive game with the Kings, after he made his season debut for LA on Tuesday in Tampa Bay.
How the defensive pairings shake out tonight remains to be seen. If I’m taking a guess, it would not surprise me to see the young duo of Mikey Anderson and Tobias Bjornfot reunited on a pairing, with the two remaining righties and lefties pairing up behind them. Against the Lightning, Wolanin partnered Matt Roy and a duo of Olli Maatta with Sean Durzi has been utilized in the past.
We’ll see how it shakes out during warmups and wishing Drew the best with his situation.
The news with Athanasiou is less surprising. Todd McLellan told us yesterday that Athanasiou had returned to Los Angeles and would be out for the remainder of the trip. The injured reserve move frees up a roster spot should the Kings need it throughout the duration of his injury.
As a reminder, tonight’s game preview is available here, for a 4 PM Pacific puck drop. Meanwhile, the Panthers have made four recalls from the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers in advance of tonight’s game. Those moves can be found here.
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