With his playoff debut dead ahead, Alex Turcotte is almost ready, feeling “fully healthy” at an important time

Alex Turcotte described the last couple of weeks as being tough for him.

It’s not hard to see why, right?

Working his way through his first season in the NHL on a full-time basis, his first playoff push where he’s got an established role on the team with a playoff debut dead ahead. And what an important role it was, driving the play for a fourth line that was making a difference in games, night-in, night-out. That is, until an injury cost Turcotte the last eight games, taking him out of the lineup when it felt he was really putting his stamp on the team.

When Alex Laferriere was injured in January, he actually noted that in the grind of the schedule, getting a little bit of time was actually beneficial in recharging the batteries. Not that he wanted to miss games, because he certainly didn’t. But he did feel recharged when he came back a few games later. That was before the 4 Nations break, though.

For Turcotte, his injury came just as he felt he was finding a groove. It was after the break, right as he was playing close to his most impactful hockey of the season, in a role the Kings really needed him to fill. Despite playing in his first full campaign in this league, something that might’ve been a real grind for others, he was not looking for any time off.

“I felt like I had a lot of energy before, I think that’s what the break was for,” he said. “Yeah, it’s my first full season but I didn’t feel like I needed a break or anything, I was playing good hockey, our line was going really well, our team’s winning games. You want to be a part of that out there on the ice and you never want to miss that, those opportunities and that feeling. I definitely don’t think I needed [time off], but definitely excited to come back.”

As he and his line found his stride, it felt as if the Kings had finally found their ideal alignment up front.

Then, all of a sudden, two thirds of that line were not available. First, Turcotte went out with an upper-body injury before forward Tanner Jeannot left the following game with a lower-body injury. Over the past six games, the Kings have gone 3-3, as they’ve had to juggle the lineup a bit around injuries to Turcotte, Jeannot and others. With Jeannot, he is out week-to-week and hasn’t resumed skating yet with the team. So, timeline less known. For Turcotte, though, he practiced earlier today in a full-contact capacity, his fifth-straight day on the ice.

Welcome back, Alex Turcotte! pic.twitter.com/rrxO0WmPRv

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) April 6, 2025

He is certainly getting close to his eventual return and that’s an exciting light at the end of a tricky to navigate title.

“I feel really good, I feel like I’m fully healthy,” Turcotte said after skating for around an hour during today’s practice. “You never want to miss any games or anything like that, so that was pretty tough couple weeks, but I feel great and I’m excited to get back in when called upon.”

It’s a good sign that Turcotte feels good. That doesn’t mean he’s going to play tomorrow against the Anaheim Ducks, but it certainly means he’s getting close.

The most important thing right now for Turcotte is making sure that he is 100 percent healthy. That’s priority one, even if it means perhaps waiting a game longer than he feels like he’s ready for. If he’s 98 percent, the Kings should wait, because there are more important games ahead. Once he is for sure ready to go, though, it’s about making sure that he’s where he needs to be for Game 1 of the playoffs. With that comes conditioning and timing, among other things, that need to either come back or be tuned up.

With five games left for the Kings, there is plenty of runway to make sure that he gets what he needs, within a Kings team that will be monitoring the entire roster of players to make sure everyone is where they need to be come Game 1.

“I feel like the conditioning stuff comes back pretty quick, once you get going and I would say the timing, I think it just depends how much time you miss,” he said. “You’ve definitely got to adjust for both.”

It’s impressive what Turcotte has been able to do for that line.

Now, it wasn’t all him. I thought Jeannot was playing really well and since he was recalled from AHL-Ontario for the second time, Helenius looked like a player who made massive strides in his own development. He looked like he fit right in and the three players blended together to form a very effective line.

While their output was modest – four goals for, two against – it was the way they helped tilt the ice that was impressive. As a trio, that line controlled nearly 60 percent of scoring chances and more than 70 percent of high-danger chances when playing together. That means two things.

One, that line wasn’t giving up a ton defensively, meaning they could be trusted. In January specifically, the fourth line was giving up close to a goal a game and that was not sustainable, especially entering the postseason.

Secondly, and perhaps influencing the previous point, is that they were playing in the offensive zone. They got pucks in and they went to work, forechecking, winning pucks back and crafting full shifts playing at the right end of the ice. If you’re cycling and forechecking, what aren’t you doing? Defending. So, with a simple yet effective game, a physical game complemented by energy, that line proved to be extremely effective.

“I think our games all complement each other,” Turcotte described. “They’re very physical players, hard on the puck and I’m playing with speed, and also, I feel like I’m tenacious too. I think we gain confidence with each other, we talk a lot, very vocal, and it’s allowed us to make plays out there and be difference makers. It just felt effortless and it was a lot of fun.”

If those three players are available, I’d have a hard time believing they wouldn’t play together if available.

No guarantee that’ll be the case, though. Jeannot is still out week-to-week and Turcotte still hasn’t played, with no guarantee that will come tomorrow. But he certainly appears close and that’s really encouraging for the Kings, regardless of Jeannot’s status.

As mentioned above, it’s Game 1 of the postseason that has the be the ultimate priority, but you want to get him back before then to make sure everything is where it needs to be. Turcotte first has his sights on playing as soon as he’s called upon, not really thinking much about the playoffs to come. Hard not to get just a little bit excited though, isn’t it?

“I haven’t really thought about it too much but it should be a great experience,” Turcotte said, with the postseason on the horizon. “Just looking forward to seeing what we can do. I think we’ve got a great group here, really tight team and we’ve been playing really good overall this second half, so we’re really excited to see what we can do.”

A group that has played well overall and plays better when Turcotte is a part of it.

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Should have more on Turcotte’s potential availability after morning skate tomorrow. He skated today with Anze Kopitar and Andrei Kuzmenko, with forward Adrian Kempe (personal, birth of first child) not practicing today. Defensemen Joel Edmundson (upper-body injury, day-to-day) and Drew Doughty (lower-body, maintenance) also did not skate. Expecting more on all four players come tomorrow morning, will include in the game preview tomorrow AM!

Photo by Juan Ocampo/NHLI via Getty Images