10/7 Preview – Preseason Finale! Kings Prepare For Game 1 + Roster Battle Overview

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (6-1-1) vs. Vegas Golden Knights (2-3-1)
WHAT: NHL PRESEASON GAME
WHEN: Saturday, October 7 @ 1:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Crypto.com Arena – Los Angeles, CA
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The preseason finale is upon us. It’s nearly time for regular-season hockey, with one more exhibition contest to go. The Kings host the Vegas Golden Knights in an afternoon matinee in the final game of the preseason.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings defeated Vegas by a 4-3 scoreline in overtime during their only meeting of the preseason to date. Following yesterday’s transactions, no one who played in that game last week is expected to suit up this evening at Crypto.com Arena. Among skaters expected to play today, forwards Viktor Arvidsson (2-2-4) and Phillip Danault (1-3-4) led the Kings in scoring against Vegas a season ago.

KINGS VITALS: We don’t know exactly how the Kings will align for today’s game, but here’s how things looked in yesterday’s practice, accounting for the roster moves that came following the skate –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Fiala – Dubois – Grundstrom
Anderson-Dolan – Lizotte – Lewis
Kaliyev

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Spence
Bjornfot

Talbot
Copley
Rittich

Looking at that group, there are still two additional roster moves to be made before the Kings can be salary-cap compliant. Forward Arthur Kaliyev is suspended and not eligible to play today. The Kings will also have to scratch one additional skater and one goaltender from the above group, which might turn out to be a warmups decision.

Notes –
Ready To Roll
Todd McLellan said it best. It’s time to play regular-season games.

Following the game in Utah, McLellan admitted that he felt it was necessary to have the NHL group in action as a whole, but also said it’s just about time to move past the preseason and onto the games that matter in the standings. That’s not how the schedule works, however, and the Kings have one exhibition contest remaining, this afternoon versus the Golden Knights.

As far as today’s game, he’s not exactly sure what to expect.

“Players are probably excited about playing in that game, but I’m sure their minds are moving on to Wednesday night and this type of game can go a lot of different ways,” McLellan said. “It can be pretty intense or it can be a ‘let’s get through it and move on’ kind of game. We’ll try and get better. We’ll have a couple good practices next week and I don’t think we have to guess at the type of intensity that’ll exist when Wednesday or Saturday rolls around, especially against those two teams.”

As far as preparation goes, the big names on the roster have now all played in 3-4 exhibition contests. For the Kopitar’s and Doughty’s of the world, they’ve got three games under their belt. That goes for Trevor Lewis, Matt Roy and Viktor Arvidsson as well. Players like Adrian Kempe, Phillip Danault and Vladislav Gavrikov have now skated in four games, as they played both days in Melbourne back in September.

Speaking with a few veterans, that 3-4 game mark is right where the players want to be. Even if they usually don’t all make the trip to Utah, which McLellan noted was a mandatory game this season for everyone, this week serves as more of a traditional week for players entering the regular season.

Doughty – [Utah] wasn’t ideal, flying and then getting off the plane and playing, that’s not ideal especially for us older guys, but [this week] gets us right into the thick of things. We’ve had plenty of rest this camp, getting back from Australia, so it’s good that we as a team are getting these three games in. We’ll be ready for the first one.

Kempe – It definitely takes a couple for you to get back into it. Having the two in Australia was a little different than playing over here, so these last two games against Anaheim and San Jose helped a lot, plus we have a strong opponent in LA on Saturday, so it’s going to be a good last game to prepare for the season.

Kopitar – It’s good to get into that rhythm, making sure you’re ready to go for Wednesday. Ideally, you don’t want to play every other day in preseason, but then again, we get a couple of practice days after this to recharge and regroup, make sure that we’re ready to go.

An NHL-style week for sure, with practices and games alternating over a span of six days. Game on for the Kings, from this evening on.

Battles To Come
The Kings are down to two spots remaining on the NHL roster, entering the final game of the exhibition season. A quick look below at where the positional battles stand, at all three positions.

Goaltender
“The three of them as a whole have been really good. They’re all at different places in their career, but they’re all experienced. They’ve all had real good runs, they’re all confident, each of their personalities differs a little bit within the locker room, which fits real well. There’s just not the one alpha, there’s three of them that can can play at any given time.”

That was Todd McLellan, speaking on the Kings goaltending trio. The Kings entered training camp with what they believed to be three NHL-caliber goaltenders. All three of those goaltenders have logged three periods during the exhibition season, with one game still remaining for sharpness.

The incumbent, Pheonix Copley, signed a one-year contract extension with the Kings following his solid play a season ago. Copley was a season saver in net, providing stable goaltending at a time when the Kings desperately needed stability at the position. He earned the deal he got and is back for his second training camp with the organization, just with different expectations. Copley’s preseason debut didn’t go exactly as according to plan, but his full start on Thursday was a strong performance, as he turned aside several Grade-A chances in a win over San Jose.

Cam Talbot and David Rittich joined the organization on one-year contracts, back on July 1. Both have played quite well during the exhibition season. Talbot has impressed in both of his outings, while Rittich was just a couple of minutes away from a shutout in his only start, last week in San Jose.

Barring any sort of injury, it’s hard to see Talbot not on the NHL roster. With Copley’s body of work from a season ago, it feels similar for him, despite preseason statistics. Rittich has started the preseason strongly, and merits NHL consideration because of his play and pedigree. Leading money would say a Talbot/Copley tandem in net, but Rittich is still here and hasn’t really put a foot wrong in the exhibition season thus far.

Defensemen
The game changed a bit yesterday, when young defenseman Brandt Clarke was assigned to AHL-Ontario.

The Kings have seven defensemen remaining on the NHL roster, which leaves two options for the team moving forward. They can open the season with all seven, which would likely mean an 11-7 alignment up front, or they can assign one of the three to Ontario, leaving six on the roster, meaning a more traditional 12-6 alignment.

The top four on the backend are solidified, which leaves Tobias Bjornfot, Andreas Englund and Jordan Spence in question for the final two or three spots. Should the Kings opt to keep seven defensemen to start the season, there’s nothing to discuss. All seven would play on opening night. Should they opt for six, Spence has had a terrific preseason, but he is also waiver exempt and could go to Ontario briefly, while the Kings work through the Kaliyev suspension. Bjornfot and Englund would need to clear waivers to be assigned, though they could be placed there tomorrow. It’s a waiting game, but we’ll see how today shakes out.

Forward
The forward position, again, changed with yesterday’s roster moves.

Alex Laferriere and Alex Turcotte were assigned to Ontario, which leaves just 12 forwards who are healthy and eligible to play on the NHL roster. The top 11 in that group is pretty self explanatory, which leaves just Jaret Anderson-Dolan on the bubble. It’s a decision that ties into the group on the backend. The Kings could keep 12 forwards, which would include Anderson-Dolan, who would fill a bottom-six role on opening night. They could also opt for 11 forwards, which would leave Anderson-Dolan as the odd man out. It’s a fine line right now.

Anderson-Dolan was a versatile option last season. He was regularly scratched, but came off the bench to play a variety of different roles, ranging from the first line to the fourth line, with an ability to play all three forward positions. He’s a high-character guy and a good teammate, who works hard even when scratched. He hasn’t quite established that regular role, though, which puts him on the line.

We’ll likely get added clarity over the next 24 hours on who will be waived and who could be sent down outright. In terms of waiver-exempt players, it’s just Quinton Byfield (who will not be sent down), Spence and the suspended Kaliyev. Therefore, it’s more likely than not someone will be waived in the coming days.

Kings and Golden Knights, coming up at 1 PM Pacific!