Day 2 Camp Recap – Introducing The New Guys + Scrimmage Details, Kaliyev Injury Update

Another day in the books, Insiders!

The Kings took to the ice again today for a similar format to what we saw yesterday. The schedule for the day remained the same, although there was a swap between Group A and Group B, with the latter taking the ice first for practice and the former staying on later, after the scrimmage. There was also a shuffling of personnel, with seven players moving up from Group C, including 2024 first-round pick Liam Greentree, who linked up with Group A on Day 2.

A common consensus from Days 1 and 2 of training camp – the guys are working.

Players are tired after these skates, they’re working during the drills, though in a bit more of an unconventional way. Practices are a bit longer under Jim Hiller and the conditioning is done through the drills, not necessarily pulled out after them. It’s something that Hiller pulled away from his time as a player. He hated the drawn out bag-skate conditioning, but knows that conditioning is an essential part of camp. The team has to get where it needs to get to in order to be successful. Instead of more direct skating, Hiller and the staff have designed up-tempo practices, with minimal rest time between drills, designed to work and condition at the same time as learning. It’s evident both from watching the practices and through the reactions players have shown after that it’s working, at least on the conditioning front.

“What we’ve tried to do is build that conditioning into the drills, rather than just lining people up at the end of practice, going down and back, we’ve had them go with little rest, you’ve seen the drills, quickly on and off,” Hiller said today. “We’re trying to build that in there so they’re tired, because those are tiring practices. There’s not too many places during the season that you can have too many of those types of practices, it zaps your energy. For now, the job is to build everybody up so we can push them pretty hard.”

Once again, the practices were sandwiched around a scrimmage session. After a higher-scoring day yesterday, the teams played to a 2-2 tie after regulation today, though the halves were shortened from 30 minutes to 25 minutes. All of the scoring came during the first half, including goals from Phillip Danault and Kevin Fiala for their respective teams. Danault’s goal was a penalty shot, which he rocketed from the slot, while Fiala scored for the second consecutive scrimmage, taking advantage of a line change to create space and eventually score from close range. The teams eventually went into overtime, with Trevor Lewis burying an Akil Thomas pass in the 3-on-3 session to secure the camp victory for Group B.

In the second half of the scrimmage, forward Arthur Kaliyev suffered what appeared to be an injury. Jim Hiller did not have much of an update on Kailyev, who left the ice under his own power after he took a hit in the corner from defenseman Kyle Burroughs.

“I’ve been looking for [Athletic Trainer Chris Kingsley] myself, I haven’t had a lot of time since practice ended and I haven’t seen him yet,” Hiller said today. “I’ll find that out and we’ll know tomorrow.”

Admittedly, I did not see the hit happen in full, just the aftermath, but Kaliyev got up and almost appeared to want to continue, before team trainers brought him into the locker room. No sense in pushing anything during camp. Will look for an update on Kaliyev heading into tomorrow, hoping for the best for him to he can continue building momentum here at camp.

Introducing The New Guys

The first thing that jumps out from a hockey perspective, it’s just the size, right? Foegs is probably the smallest of the three and Foegs is a pretty big dude out there himself, so that’s what jumps out to me on the ice. It brings the average height up considerably with those three. Eddy in particular, you stand beside him on the ice, he’s getting ready to do a drill, he pivots and he moves over and you can see how much ice he takes up. He pivots once, stretches out, he’s a big man, he’s hard to get around, so you can see it when you’re on the ice with him drills. I think the one thing that you don’t see, that we notice, is just talking to them, the character, high-energy people off the ice, love the game, so they’re talking, they’re bringing energy and I think those qualities are really, really qualities we wanted to add to the team. Beyond the ice, we wanted to get a little more, call whatever you want, I’m not going to call it what I would typically call it, just a little bit more energy and jam off the ice. Kyle Burroughs is another one who brings that type of attitude into the dressing room too.

That was Jim Hiller earlier today, speaking about the new players the Kings added over the summer. The question was directed about the trio of Joel Edmundson, Warren Foegele and Tanner Jeannot, who have now been LA Kings for two practices and scrimmages. Hiller added in Kyle Burroughs into the mix as well, as someone who brings the types of things the Kings wanted to add.

Joel Edmundson

Edmundson was the costliest investment the Kings made this summer, signing a four-year contract. In speaking with Drew Doughty and Mikey Anderson yesterday, both players felt that Edmundson helps to fill some of what Matt Roy brought to the blueline in terms of defensive stability and physicality. On the physical side, he probably brings even more in that area, even if Roy excelled more in other ways.

The Kings are unlikely to be outmatched physically when Edmundson is on the ice, something Doughty spoke about yesterday.

“I think everyone that they brought in plays a physical game and yeah, I think that’s the biggest part of my game,” Edmundson said. “[I’m] not the flashiest player but blocking shots, making that extra hit, getting the boys excited on the bench for those big hits and when the time needed, step up for your teammates, get the fight. I think they did a good job of bringing some guys that could help too.”

Edmundson also speaks on his early impressions of Brandt Clarke, fitting in with the current group of defensemen and his experience thus far with the Kings in the video.

Warren Foegele

In Foegele, the Kings brought in a player who is less about the more commonly-accepted version of toughness and physicality and more about the intensity and work ethic.

He’s not imposing in the way that Edmundson is but he has several elements to his game that make him effective. He works for his chances offensively and has the size that Hiller mentioned, along with good speed. Like Edmundson and Jeannot, Foegele saw the overall picture of players who were brought in over the summer. He seems excited about how he fits in and looks forward to helping the team in certain areas.

“I think all three of us and the guys that I see here, guys want to win, but it’s still being competitive,” Foegele said. “Sometimes it’s getting dirty or trying to draw a penalty, or it’s fighting, or whatever the case is, but you’re just trying to get advantage to somehow be a benefit to your team. I think just everyone being competitive right now will lead to good things coming on.”

More from Foegele in the video on his first couple days with the Kings, how he fits with Quinton Byfield and Kevin Fiala and his relationship with Byfield from summer training.

Tanner Jeannot

Jeannot is one who knows exactly where he fits and what he brings.

Over the summer, when we spoke on the phone, Jeannot talked about wanting to be the hardest player on the ice to play against. It’s something he re-visited today when speaking about what he can provide for the club. Jeannot isn’t a fancy player but he has scored in this league before. His intangibles and physical game have been appealing to multiple teams, beyond the goals, and the potential to mesh both together made him such an appealing target for Tampa Bay a couple of seasons back, as they sought compelmentary players in a championship window.

“I think that [physicality is] a big part of my game, I want to be the hardest guy to play against out there and make it really hard on the other team,” Jeannot said. “That’ my goal going into every game, just play to my strengths, I know what I’m good at and I’m going to go out there and try to help the team that way the best that I can. That’s my mindset, going into everything, be a great teammate and just help my team out.”

Jeannot touches on his new linemates – Phillip Danault and Trevor Moore – and the chemistry they bring, as well as adjusting to life in California and his experiences playing against the Kings in the full video interview.

That’s a wrap on Day 2 coveraage!

Tomorrow, I’m working on a feature story on Quinton Byfield, as he moves to center, and will share takeaways from him, Hiller and his teammates. Will also have full coverage from Day 3’s practice, as well as updates on the status of Kaliyev, who suffered the injury today.