10/5 Preview – Preseason Finale! Turcotte’s Role, Confidence + Roster Taking Shape

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (4-0-1) vs. Florida Panthers (4-3-0)
WHAT: 2024 Preseason Game
WHEN: Saturday, October 5 @ 4:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: VideoTron Centre – Quebec City, QC
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: KCAL – AUDIO – ESPN LA App / LA Kings App – TWITTER: @dooleylak & @lakings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The preseason comes to a close tonight, as the Kings host the Florida Panthers for their final exhibition game today in Quebec City.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Similar to the Kings and Bruins on Thursday, the Kings and Panthers will meet in a rare preseason matchup here tonight in Quebec City.

Last season, the Kings and Panthers each won at home, with Los Angeles posting a record of 1-0-1.

KINGS VITALS: Tonight marks the final game of the exhibition season, as the Kings prepare for Buffalo on Opening Night.

After David Rittich played Thursday’s game against Boston, look for Darcy Kuemper to get the start tonight against the Panthers. Kuemper has started twice thus far in the exhibition season, most recently playing 60 minutes against Anaheim, recording a shutout. Overall this preseason, Kuemper has stopped 33 of the 35 shots he faced in 100 minutes of game action.

The expected game group, based on today’s morning skate, is shown below –

Laferriere – Kopitar – Kempe
Jeannot – Danault – Moore
Fiala – Byfield – Foegele
Lee – Turcotte – Lewis

Anderson – Spence
Gavrikov – Burroughs
Edmundson – Clarke

Kuemper
Rittich

Jim Hiller noted yesterday that there will be “some changes” but that he wasn’t certain that everyone who did not play on Thursday will play today against Florida.

With that being said, today’s morning skate gives the impression that forward Trevor Lewis will check in for his final game of the preseason. Among the others on the trip who did not feature against the Bruins, it doesn’t seem as if the Kings will make any additional changes tonight.

“We talked about it this morning, is there anything we’re missing, do we want to see different players on the lines, because they’ve been pretty consistent through training camp,” Hiller said. Is there something we missed, do we want to change anybody, the d-pairs, all those kinds of things? The consensus was, we kind of like where we’ve been and let’s just keep rolling.”

There isn’t a ton left for the Kings to decide, nor is there a ton of time left in which to do it. Those still fighting for the roster bubble have a chance here to make final impressions and then off we go. Mayor’s Manor reported that Andre Lee will likely make the NHL roster and it seems now as if there is probably just one decision still to be made. More on that below.

FLORIDA VITALS: The Panthers arrived in Quebec City last night and held a morning skate after the Kings today at the Videotron Centre.

Expecting a veteran-laden lineup tonight for the visitors, with many of their high-end players in Quebec City for tonight’s game, including guys like Barkov and Tkachuk.

Notes –
Roster Shakedown
“I think we have a pretty good idea, by this point now, we’ve got a pretty good idea. I mean, it could change one or two guys, one guy maybe, but we’ve got a pretty good sense of it. Now, I think everybody’s got a pretty good run, pretty fair run, the difference being, as I mentioned, you call it our fourth line probably didn’t play as much [on Thursday] as they were used to playing at different times when the lineup was had less veterans.”

That was Jim Hiller speaking on the decisions to be made with regards to the final roster.

As Hiller alluded to, the Kings have a good idea of the player who will be a part of their opening-night 23. The Kings will need to reduce their goaltenders from three down to two, which leaves just two additional decisions to be made amongst the skaters.

The first decision to be made is alignment – From early in camp, my understanding was that the Kings would carry eight defensemen. That was, however, with Drew Doughty fully healthy. The Kings saw a group of eight on the blueline they wanted to carry to start the season. That still could very well be the plan, but there’s definitely more of a chance the Kings could keep 14 forwards after injuries to Doughty and forward Arthur Kaliyev.

One note that Hiller shared today is that Alex Turcotte will be the fourth-line center going into the season.

Hiller shared that he spoke with Turcotte today to discuss and define his role. Right now, at this point in time, that role is to center the fourth line.

“I’m sure at some point he sees himself playing higher up the lineup, but for now, and him and I talked about this, where are you at – fourth-line center center,” Hiller said. [I asked him] what’s your job, he got to answer the question, I didn’t give him the answer, but I think he knew what the answer was and that’s where he’s at for right now. So, from there, you just build your game and you earn the trust of the coaches. We saw him last year go up and play on the wing with Kopi and Q, so we’ve seen him be able to do that, and he has got some of that in his game. For now, his role is this, so he has to be dependable and consistent within that role, and that is not easy to do.”

Personally, I’ve seen Turcotte most comfortable playing in the middle. Reports from his time in Ontario suggested he was most effective playing center and I’ve liked his game down the middle. He’s versatile, though, and can play both positions. It seems like were the Kings to shuffle things around at all, and move anyone into the top nine, Turcotte would be the first name on that list, assuming he delivers what is expected of him when playing on the fourth line.

During camp so far, Turcotte has been as impactful as he’s been during any camp throughout his time with the organization.

“I feel like it’s been my best camp so far, for sure,” Turcotte said. “We’ve talked before, just playing with more confidence, more belief in myself, I think that’s a huge part of it. I’m way more comfortable and it’s pretty early on, still the beginning and I have a lot to work on and keep getting better at, but I think my mindset is in the right place. I’m really confident with my game and I think I’ll just keep adding more to it and I’ll be a better player each day.”

Among those on the bubble, sharing my conversations below with Caleb Jones and Jack Studnicka.

From the looks of morning skate today, it does not appear as if either will play tonight, so their body of work is finalized for the preseason. They’re both still in the mix, though.

For Jones, he’s been primarily an NHL player over the last few seasons. He hasn’t played a full season in the AHL since 2018-19 and outside of 12 games last season with the Colorado Eagles, he hadn’t played in that league at all since 2019-20. Jones being with the NHL club makes sense. He’s very experienced on both side of the ice, playing both the left and the right in the NHL throughout his career. That experience is good in a potential extra defenseman role.

He’s had an opportunity here during training camp to earn a spot on the team and he’s learned throuhgout his career that you’ve got to make the most of these opportunities when they come about.

“Every opportunity you get in this league you can’t take for granted,” Jones said. “I’ve started to learn it the last couple of years. I’ve been in the NHL, I haven’t really been in the minors at all, but as I’m getting a little older, I’m starting to understand that when you get these opportunities, you can’t just let them slip. If I get a chance to play, I don’t plan on letting it slip away.”

For Studnicka, this is a situation he’s known for a bit now.

“I’ve certainly been through it before, I’ve never really had a solidified spot going into camp, so nothing new for me,” Studnicka said. “I just did a lot of preparation and that’s given me confidence to just play my game.”

Whether it was Vancouver, Boston or San Jose, Studnicka has gone through camps before understanding the importance of winning a spot and earning his place. It’s the mindset he’s tried to take into camp here this fall.

Studnicka said he is comfortable playing both center and wing. Like Jones that doesn’t hurt his case. He’s got NHL experience, with more than 100 career games, and his skating has been as standout trait, particularly his ability to transport the puck zone-to-zone. The 4C job is not available right now, that’ll fall to Alex Turcotte. But consider Studnicka in the mix for an extra forward position.

Looking ahead, the bulk of tonight’s lineup feels pretty comfortable in terms of making the club, with Lee the only player who you might not consider to be a lock. From there, it’s about the final three spots on the NHL roster and those will be determined mostly from players who will not play tonight, with Jones, Studnicka, Andreas Englund and Samuel Fagemo the finalists to fill those roles. Decisions are close, if not finalized, and we’ll learn what the opening 23 players look like in the coming days. There is a potential LTIR situation, with Kaliyev, Doughty or both, but there is no guarantee that is the route the Kings choose. Lots of options, depending on how the Kings decide to play it.

4 PM Pacific tonight from QC before we get underway for the real deal next week!