Practice 12/31 – Latest on Lewis, Doughty & Moore + Kaliyev on “frustrating” time out, today’s alignment

Practice Day, Insiders!

The Kings are coming off a back-to-back and two victories, followed by a day off yesterday. Back on the ice today for a longer practice, with no morning skate to come before tomorrow’s 3 PM puck drop against the New Jersey Devils. A few updates from today’s skate.

First things first, here’s how the Kings aligned during today’s practice –

Turcotte – Kopitar – Kempe
Foegele – Byfield – Jeannot
Fiala – Danault – Laferriere
Lee – Helenius – Thomas – Kaliyev
(Lewis)

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

Kuemper / Rittich

Same alignment, at its core, as we’ve seen here over the last two games. The Kings have gone 11/7, so that fourth line is four names for now but will likely be just two names tomorrow against the New Jersey Devils, assuming the Kings stick with what’s been working for them. Akil Thomas was the winger on that line against the Oilers, while Andre Lee checked into that spot against Philadelphia on Sunday.

Forward Trevor Lewis was also back with the full group today, wearing a red jersey, his first practice with the team since he suffered a lower-body injury during game 999 against Dallas on December 4.

“He came back quick and really, nobody is surprised, he did his work and he was chomping at the bit and did everything that he had to do,” Head Coach Jim Hiller said of Lewis. “Good to see him out there and I would imagine he’s not very long [to return]. You like to get a guy out there, get him in red, get him through his paces, but took part in all the contact, so he’s really close.”

Lewis likely isn’t going to go tomorrow against the Devils, but he’s working his way back. The Kings have practices on Thursday and Friday, so we’ll see how he is trending towards the Tampa Bay game on Saturday.

That leaves forward Arthur Kaliyev.

Kaliyev was activated from injured reserve in advance of Saturday’s game, after completing his conditioning loan of five games in the AHL with the Ontario Reign. He finished with two points (1-1-2) from five games played with the Reign.

In talking with Kaliyev today, he thought his first game was good but he wasn’t at his best in his second and third games and felt kind of sore going into the break, especially after going back-to-back in his final two games. He thought he felt better in his last game, in which he scored, despite having the time off.

Jim Hiller offered the following assessment of Kaliyev’s loan, in total –

“He played pretty well, I don’t think he was lights out, but he played pretty well,” Jim Hiller said of Kaliyev. “Nobody expected him to come back in, after being out for that length of time, and dominate, but I think he got better as he went along. He was getting back into game action, getting his mind back into it. He scored [in his final game], so that was probably a pretty good ending for him.”

Today was Kaliyev’s first practice back with the Kings in a full-contact capacity. The Kings currently have 13 forwards and eight defensemen, so Kaliyev rotated in with the fourth line, alongside Thomas, Lee and Samuel Helenius.

He’s in a difficult situation, for sure. Hiller said as much. Coming into camp, Kaliyev had a clean slate and had a path to getting things back on track with the Kings. A fractured clavicle on Day 2 of camp complicated that. Not only did he miss out on a chance to play in exhibition games and earn a roster spot, but he didn’t get a training camp under his belt to ramp things up.

“It was really frustrating, it was awful,” Kaliyev said today. “Now, it’s a way bigger challenge to come back and play, so we’ll see. Whenever I get back to play, I’ll be ready. It’s been frustrating, but I can’t stop, I’ve just got to keep going.”

Hiller called today “Day 1” for Kaliyev. His first team practice of the season, as a full participant, was today as he joined a team that is fully up to speed. He’s also joining a team that is rolling. 7-2-2 this month and 10-3-2 over their last 15 games. That’s a .733 winning percentage and only two teams in the league have a better mark in that stretch. If the Kings were struggling, it would probably be easier to see that clear path back into the lineup. Right now, with the 11/7 working as well as it is, and the team continuing to rack up victories, it’s less clear.

Kaliyev indicated he’s expecting to talk with Jim Hiller and staff a bit more in depthly later in the week about expectations and his path forward. We’ll see where that goes.

As for the players you don’t see listed above, defenseman Drew Doughty was on the ice yesterday for the first time, skating on his own. That’s very encouraging. With Doughty, I wouldn’t call his return imminent. It isn’t. It’s “a ways away” still, per Hiller. To see him progress back onto the ice, though, is extremely encouraging, when you think about what he’s gone through to get to this point. Similar to Kaliyev in some ways, Doughty didn’t have much of a training camp. He was there longer than Kaliyev was but got hurt in the first period of his first exhibition game. Cost him the final two weeks and change of camp. So, he will need a ramp-up period as well.

Still though, seeing Doughty back on the ice is a feel-good update, for sure.

Jim Hiller on Drew Doughty resuming skating –

"To see him get to that level, we didn't know when that was going to happen, that's a big deal. If you know everything that's gone into it, that was a big deal. It's really encouraging."

DD still "a ways away" but still a great sign

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) December 31, 2024

Lastly, on forward Trevor Moore, he continues to skate and progress on his own. Moore was on the ice earlier today in a non-contact jersey, skating by himself and team coaches. No update beyond that. Moore is still being evaluated on a day-to-day basis with an upper-body injury. His next step would be re-joining the group for practice.

That’s all for the injured folk.

Recapping 2024 in a few hours before we say goodbye to the year that was an head into 2025 tomorrow afternoon versus New Jersey.