Practice 12/16 – Latest on Moore/Kaliyev + Practice Focus, k0pitar, Hiller on Lee

Practice Day, Insiders!

The Kings hit the ice this afternoon in Pittsburgh, getting back at it after a day off yesterday, as the team traveled from New York to Pennsylvania. Today’s skate was of the longer variety. Around 45 minutes on the ice to get the group moving after not skating yesterday and an afternoon game on Saturday against the Rangers.

An observation I’ve had is that the structure and flow of practices has a lot of similarities to it on varying different days. It always starts the same way, with situational flow drills, and seems to transition into full-line work, both in specific zones and around the full ice, as practice progresses. There are always different drills and different elements, typically focused on areas that are either specific to an upcoming opponent, in this case Pittsburgh, or something the Kings want to clean up in their own game, coming off a recent stretch of hockey.

For today, the focus was more on the team getting things up and running today after not practicing yesterday and opting for an off-ice workout as opposed to a practice on Friday as well, before the afternoon game against the Rangers. Kings are scheduled to practice on Wednesday in Philadelphia, but I’d likely expect a shorter practice. Today was full systems go, with a lot of flow, a lot of skating towards the end and some full-ice work that got the legs moving. Mission accomplished today.

“We didn’t practice after Jersey, then played the afternoon game [in New York], didn’t practice yesterday, so more than anything, it’s probably our last chance to get some really good practice time in, based on what’s going to happen after the Pittsburgh game,” Hiller said. “A good 35 minutes of work, I thought the guys did a pretty good job.”

Road Trip, Week 2!@LAKings will hit the ice shortly for practice in Pittsburgh. pic.twitter.com/DTGlWkMsmx

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) December 16, 2024

The group aligned today as follows –

Turcotte – Kopitar – Kempe
Foegele – Byfield – Jeannot
Fiala – Danault – Laferriere
Lee – Helenius – Thomas

Anderson – Gavrikov
Edmundson – Clarke
Moverare – Spence
Englund – Burroughs

Kuemper / Rittich

The latest on forward Trevor Moore – He remains out of the lineup with an upper-body injury and did not practice today.

Still day-to-day, per Jim Hiller. While Moore was not on the ice today, he is also not ruled out for the rest of the roadtrip, either. We’ll see where things go. Lots of runway left here so we’ll see how he progresses as the trip goes on.

Hiller also spoke for a bit on forward Arthur Kaliyev, who played his first game at the AHL level on a conditioning loan. Kaliyev has obviously been out since he got injured during the second day of training camp back in September. That’s a lot of lost time to make up for. Good first step for him getting back on the ice in game action. Kaliyev lined up on the second forward line with the Reign, alongside Jack Studnicka and Samuel Fagemo, two guys with NHL experience. Kaliyev collected an assist on Fagemo’s power-play goal and scored on his attempt during the shootout, a nice move to the backhand, top shelf finish.

Kaliyev is now around the Ontario team and staff daily, and will be so likely for the week ahead as well, with the Reign in action again on Wednesday and Friday this week. Hiller had a big smile on his face when speaking about Kaliyev today. We know that Kaliyev is likely going to play those two additional games and then we’ll see where he’s at. Hiller has the direct line to Marco Sturm, if an update is needed, but said he checked in with Kings hockey operations management this morning for an update on how Kaliyev played and the coaching staff watched his post-game interview. All positive signs on 34.

“I haven’t talked to Marco yet today, but we know he scored in the [shootout] and we listened to his interview, that’s how much we’re following Arthur,” Hiller said. “We know he scored the big goal, we know he got an assist. We talked to [Senior Director, Hockey Operations] Jake Goldberg, who watched the game, he said Arthur played well. He was physical, strong, so all really positive signs. More than anything, we’re just happy for Arthur after he’s had a pretty tough go of it the last 8-10 months, so [happy] for him] to get out there and get doing what he loves.”

For Sturm’s part, he’s been happy with how Kaliyev has integrated into his group and had the following to say after his first game back with the Reign last night. He noted that Kaliyev was a little bit nervous coming in, even a little bit throughout the week of practices coming in. He had some chances early in the game and for his first game in along time, gave a solid account of himself, though as Sturm pointed out, he knows Kaliyev can be that much better, something that likely comes with time. For a guy who missed almost all of training camp, and who has only around a week of practices in a full-team setting, Sturm said it was “nice to have him” back with the Reign for the time being.

So far, so good on that front.

#ICYMI: Arthur Kaliyev and Taylor Ward score in the shootout to lift the @OntarioReign to victory. pic.twitter.com/TS51C7m89G

— American Hockey League (@TheAHL) December 16, 2024

Notes –
– We’re 30 games into the season and forward Anze Kopitar has still yet to take a single minor penalty.

Per LA Kings PR, he’s the only player in league history who is 35+ years old to be over a point-per-game through 30 games to have zero penalty minutes. Fine, that’s super cherry picked. Whatever though, it’s Kopitar and it’s cool.

“I think it’s positioning, it’s an understanding of the game,” forward Jim Hiller said. “He never retaliates, he doesn’t get too high, too low on anything. Whether he makes a good play or a bad play, he’s steady for the next shift. He doesn’t let him emotions get him off his game.”

That’s how Kopitar leads this team too. Cool, calm and collected. Over the course of 82 games, that’s the steady hand you want steering your ship.

– I’d expect the Kings to likely continue with the 11/7 alignment at least into tomorrow’s game against the Penguins.

If the Kings do switch back to 12 forwards, though, they have full confidence in Andre Lee to step in and deliver his game.

“He’s played enough time with us, been with us right from the start, but for a little bit here recently, so we have no problems putting him in,” Hiller said of Lee. “Whether he plays with Sammy [Helenius], or even plays above that, we have no issues with him going in.”

Lee is now up for the third time this season. If the Kings weren’t so successful in the 11/7 look, I’d have probably expected them to have put Lee in already. Hiller has expressed confidence in Lee playing with Helenius and Akil Thomas.

– Lastly, a trivia question leading into the next story I’m working on.

Who is the only player on the LA Kings who has not been on the ice for an even-strength goal against over the last eight games, among players who have played in every game? That’s the next feature on tap. I hope to have up by the end of the day if timing works out! If not, will kick that to Wednesday morning, between the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia games.