An unexpected practice report, as the Kings skate in Columbus after tonight’s game was postponed

So that’s a weird one, eh?

The LA Kings came to the rink this morning expecting to be prepare to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets later that night. As the players got dressed, that was their focus. As they got onto the ice, they learned that those plans had changed, which was formally confirmed as they were midway through, as it turned from a morning skate into a full practice day.

The Kings / Blue Jackets game, scheduled to be played tonight, was postponed to March 9 in Columbus due to “severe winter weather”, the day before they were scheduled to play in Boston. The way that impacts the Kings down the road is that instead of being able to practice in Boston, which is almost always the case when the Kings fly East, now they lose that practice day and will have to take on Columbus with just the one day in between. That’s a tough one. But that’s for down the road.

In terms of today’s game not being played Kings had something sort of similar last season, when a home game against Calgary was postponed due to the Los Angeles fires, as forward Quinton Byfield recollected today. That one was a bit different, as the players had more of an idea coming in.

“Last year we had the one in LA, but I think we knew a little bit earlier with that situation going on, but with this one, due to weather, we’re on for pre-game skate and I didn’t find out until I was on the ice,” Byfield said. “It was a little bit different. You have your mind ready for a game, you’re prepared, and then yeah.”

This one, there was much less of that thought. Typically, when both teams are there and the refs are there, the game gets played. This turned out to be a rare deviation.

The players were pretty disappointed. Defenseman Brian Dumoulin brought up a good point, as he noted that the rescheduled game comes at a less opportune time for the Kings from a competitive standpoint. Byfield noted the other side of it, which is that the Kings don’t have the back-to-back here. Give and take, I suppose.

The Kings felt good today and wanted to play. Had a day off yesterday, they were ready to go, both mentally and physically. March 9 changes the plan quite a bit both now and down the road.

“It’s shocking, in my career, I haven’t dealt with too many cancelled games, so it’s different,” Dumoulin said. “You prepare yesterday, prepare last night, prepare this morning like you’re going to play, so for me, not to play, it’s disappointing. Now that we have to come back here and when we make up the game, it’s not as favorable as it would have been to play tonight. Disappointed in that, but you move on.”

Such is life. Situation is what it is and I’m sure that all roads to play the game tonight were explored and it was deemed that it was not doable. So, the Kings practiced in Columbus and are planning to head to Detroit tonight, in advance of what is now the second game of the trip against the Red Wings tomorrow evening at Little Caesars Arena.

In terms of today’s skate, the Kings had 13 forwards, six defensemen and two goaltenders on the ice for the full practice.

Today’s practice went for about 45 minutes and I suppose the silver lining was the opportunity to get a practice in that might not have been there with six games in nine nights. Now, it’s a more manageable five games in nine nights, with the practice today. Obviously not ideal, not at all what the team was hoping for. But it’s the hand that was dealt and that’s how everyone approached it.

“We were able to turn what would have been a normal, light morning skate into a little bit more,” Hiller said. “We had a good video session, so we were able to actually work on some of the stuff that we talked about in the video session. Not much practice time, so it was an opportunity just to do a little bit more.”

As to why 19 skaters and not 21, here are a couple of updates.

Defenseman Joel Edmundson was “banged up” in Saturday’s win over St. Louis and although he was the ice briefly this morning, he took a couple of twirls and went back to the room after a quick chat with Jim Hiller and the coaching staff. Forward Alex Turcotte did not skate today at all.

Both players are day-to-day with upper-body injuries. The Kings have recalled forward Kenny Connors from the AHL’s Ontario Reign, with Connors expected to meet the team in Detroit.

For today’s practice, here’s how the Kings lined up in Columbus –

Perry – Laferriere – Kempe
Moore – Byfield – Foegele
Fiala – Armia – Kuzmenko
Malott – Helenius – Ward

Anderson – Doughty
Moverare – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci

Kuemper/Forsberg

Up front, Joel Armia shifted into Turcotte’s spot at center, between Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko. Warren Foegele then moved back onto that line with Byfield and Moore, after sitting out on Saturday in St. Louis.

Hiller called Armia a “jack of all trades” guy and the Kings are obviously very thin down the middle right now, so there aren’t a ton of options currently on the roster. If Turcotte can’t go, it leaves the Kings with only Byfield available to play of the four centers from opening night. That’s nuts.

Armia is a guy Hiller thinks has the distribution skills to compliment Fiala and Kuzmenko, similar in some ways to how Turcotte plays in that spot. He likes that Armia gets to the netfront, as Turcotte does, which allows the wingers to make plays around the outside, as they do. Lots that goes into it, but it’s the way they are approaching the situation for now.

On Foegele, Hiller said he wouldn’t go into what the conversation was with him, keeping that between player and coach, which is consistent to how he spoke about Andrei Kuzmenko when he was scratched earlier this season. Hiller felt Foegele had a good practice today, he stood out for him, and he’s looking for the same stuff from him tomorrow in Detroit.

“Foegs has been an important player for us and I don’t think the season has gone the way he or us expected thus far, but I thought he had a great practice out there, he jumped out to me with his intensity,” Hiller said. “He took a lot of pucks to the net, so that’s all he has to do and he has to do it tomorrow night in the game.”

Among those who did practice was forward Anze Kopitar. He did not start the practice on the ice but joined the group closer to the end of the skate. He worked mostly on his own from the part of practice I watched, though he was among the last guys on and may have mixed in a bit more towards the end with his teammates. He’s working his way back from a lower-body injury and is likely not an option tomorrow in Detroit, though I suppose you never can tell. One of those situations where you won’t know until you know and it doesn’t appear as if he’s really been able to ramp the workload up a ton just yet. Will continue to monitor his situation and with the Kings now so thin at center, they’ll certainly appreciate getting him back as soon as they can.

So, that’s what we’ve got for today.

As we get into tomorrow, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of that alignment changed for tomorrow’s game against the Detroit Red Wings, especially with the defensive pairings. If Edmundson doesn’t play, could maybe see a different partner for Brandt Clarke and then see things shuffled accordingly. Up front, that could be what we see, with Armia in the middle, but with Connors in the mix when we get to Detroit, we’ll see if he jumps right in.