Practice 2/18 – Updates on Kempe, Doughty, Clarke + Mikey Anderson talks return from injury

The LA Kings are back!

The majority of the group was back on the ice for practice today at Toyota Sports Performance Center in El Segundo, with the exception of three skaters.

Drew Doughty – Number eight is still participating in the 4 Nations Face-Off and will likely just come back into the group on Saturday, in advance of that evening’s game versus Utah. Doughty and Team Canada will participate in the championship game of the event on Thursday evening in Boston. Then, a not-so-quick flight back to Los Angeles, as the Kings begin a three-game homestand. Assuming he won’t practice Friday or morning skate on Saturday but should be good to go for that evening’s game versus the Bruins, before what I’d expect would be a mandated day off on Sunday.

Adrian Kempe – Following his participation at the 4 Nations Face-Off, Kempe is on a mini-break here this week. He is back in Los Angeles as of this afternoon but was excused from practice today and will not be on the ice until Friday at the earliest.

Not expecting Adrian Kempe back with the @LAKings until Friday or Saturday. He is back in LA but will get a break now.

Jim Hiller – “He needs to stay away from the rink and recharge as best as he can. Everybody else got that opportunity & he’s played a lot for us this year.”

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) February 18, 2025

Good decision, in my opinion. Kempe is the highest-usage Kings forward and you saw with Team Sweden that his playing time grew throughout the tournament. In Monday’s 2-1 win over the United States, Sweden dressed 11 forwards and seven defensemen, with Kempe logging 21:13, the second-highest TOI among all Swedish forwards.

“I thought it was really good, I thought he had a great tournament and you could see by his icetime that the coaches felt the same way too,” Jim Hiller said of Kempe’s 4 Nations Face-Off performance. “I think he really established himself. I think they knew he was a good player going in but I always look at the icetime, that’s important, and in the coach’s eyes, they realized he was one of their go-to players. He set himself up really well going into next year’s Olympics, as far as his position on the team.”

Kempe got today off and will get at least the next two days as well as possibly Friday. To be determined there. As Jim Hiller shared in the above quote, Kempe has given the Kings a lot this season and he needs his time off as well to recharge for the stretch run. Glad to see he will be given that and expect he’ll be back and ready to go against Utah.

Lastly, defenseman Brandt Clarke was missing as well due to a delayed flight. No need to send curiosity into high alert with regards to any potential trade. Clarke was traveling back from Toronto, which has experienced several delays after the plane crash at Pearson International Airport yesterday. Clarke is expected to be back with the group tomorrow, with the Kings set to take the ice again for their second team practice.

While those three missed out, one who was with the team was defenseman Mikey Anderson.

Anderson suffered an upper-body injury in Tampa Bay on January 30, missing the rest of that game as well as the four games that followed.

He was skating on his own over the last week or so before the break, mostly in a conditioning capacity, and was back with the full group today, skating without any contact limitations. No longer. The Kings had an extremely excited Anderson back in the fold this afternoon.

“It’s funny, even though he wasn’t out as long, he had that child-like excitement like Drew did when he came back from his injury,” Hiller said. “It’s amazing, you get sucked out of the team, you’re away and when you get back in, just can’t stop smiling. The way he was smiling the whole time out there, he just loved being back out there. A really positive sign for us.”

For Anderson, it certainly was all smiles and he seemed to hit the ground running.

With everyone else off over the last nine days, he felt like he was coming back in at the same place as his teammates. Anderson shared that he still got a break, heading to Cabo for a few days to relax and mentally reset, but he felt no ill effects back on the ice today.

Anderson’s week before the break was filled with conditioning. Bag skates away from the team, line to line sprints, lots of individual work. While those are important for injured players, they also get tiring if you aren’t progressing towards anything. Similar to Alex Laferriere who had an upper-body injury earlier in the season, though, it kept him up to speed upon his return.

“It helps a lot,” he said of those skates. “Obviously, that last week before break, we had a hard week. It’s different when you’re just skating lines without pucks and stuff, it’s not necessarily fun, it’s boring, but it helps me when you come back now you don’t feel like you’re playing catch up. It helps coming back with the break too, everyone had a week of nothing, so makes it easier for me to come back.”

With Anderson now back in the fold, and Kempe and Doughty hoping to hit the ground running when the return from international play, the Kings would appear set to be at full strength for basically the first time all season.

They had that on January 29 in Florida but that team was exhausted. Now, coming off a break, with Doughty closer to himself with what will be 10 games under his belt since returning from the fractured ankle, the Kings will be at full strength for the first time all season long.

“I think everyone’s really excited for it,” Anderson added. “Obviously, that last road trip, we get Dewey for a little bit but now he’s got four more games under his belt at a very high pace, so that’s going to be really good for us and for him. I think everyone’s excited. It adds another layer to the team, so it’ll be nice once [Kempe and Doughty] get back and start skating again.”

Anderson is still on injured reserve as of today’s writing, but barring any setbacks, fully expecting his lineup return on Saturday evening.

For today’s practice, the Kings had 17 skaters and two goaltenders in total. Forward Tanner Jeannot took Kempe’s spot in the lineup, skating with Anze Kopitar and Alex Turcotte. The lines of Foegele/Danault/Moore and Fiala/Byfield/Laferriere seemed to remain together, while Akil Thomas and Trevor Lewis made up the two-man fourth line, with the Byfield line rotating through there as well. On the blueline, we saw Anderson partnered with Vladislav Gavrikov, Jacob Moverare next to Jordan Spence and Joel Edmundson with Kyle Burroughs.

For tomorrow, expecting Clarke to re-join that group to an even 18 skaters, before Kempe and Doughty mix-in later in the week. Much more to come, Insiders! Will have coverage throughout the week as the Kings gear up for Saturday.