10/5 Preview – Lew-Tah! 61 Talks Homecomg + Copley On Returning To Net, Kaliyev Suspended

WHO: Los Angeles Kings (5-1-1) vs. San Jose Sharks (2-2-1)
WHAT: NHL PRESEASON GAME
WHEN: Thursday, October 5 @ 6:00 PM Pacific
WHERE: Delta Center – Salt Lake City, Utah
HOW TO FOLLOW: VIDEO: Bally Sports West – AUDIO – iHeart Radio – TWITTER: @DooleyLAK & @LAKings

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings are back in Utah for Frozen Fury, continuing the tradition of developing the market in Salt Lake City. Today is the second-to-last game of the exhibition season for the Kings with several veterans expected to make the trip to Utah and skate tonight.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: The Kings and Sharks will conclude their preseason series this evening as San Jose becomes the third opponent for the Kings in Salt Lake City. The Kings defeated the Sharks by a 2-1 final, in overtime, in San Jose on Saturday. Forward Alex Laferriere scored in that game and is expected to play again tonight against the Sharks, though as a part of a much more experienced lineup.

KINGS VITALS: We don’t know exactly how the Kings will align tonight, but here’s how the rushes went this morning at TSPC –

Byfield – Kopitar – Kempe
Moore – Danault – Arvidsson
Fiala – Dubois – Laferriere
Grundstrom – Lizotte – Lewis
Anderson-Dolan – Turcotte – Kaliyev

Anderson – Doughty
Gavrikov – Roy
Englund – Clarke
Bjornfot – Spence

Copley
Rittich
Talbot

Today’s rushes showed just one change up front to Tuesday’s group, with Laferriere taking the place of suspended forward Arthur Kaliyev. However, we could also see a veteran or two rested tonight as a part of their individual preseason preparations…more to come. On the backend, the bottom two pairs shuffled around, with combinations of Englund/Clarke and Bjornfot/Spence. We did see those pairings earlier in camp but they had been reversed earlier this week. Will see how things shake out, but the above should give at least a general roadmap for what we could see tonight.

Notes –
Lew-Tah
First things first, Insiders, sharing a conversation with Kings forward and Utah native Trevor Lewis.

Lewis is a Utah native who will get the opportunity tonight to play in front of friends and family. He’s done it before, back when the event was called the Salt Lake Shootout, but it was 2019 the last time he got to go there and play in that game.

“It’s awesome,” he said. “I don’t get the chance to play in front of family and friends all that often, so to go home and to play in front of all of them and see them after the game, it’s really cool. I’m really excited to do it again.”

Lewis is one of a small group of NHL players to call Utah home. He grew up there, he developed there and he’s now become one of those players who others can look at as a younger player, as a role model for the guy who “made it” and got to the highest level.

Lewis has been a champion of the game in Utah and he’s enjoyed seeing where things have gone, even if it’s meant a bit less ice time for him when he gets back home.

“After the Olympics came in 2002, there were a lot more rinks built and a lot more kids starting to play,” Lewis shared. “Since I’ve came back in the summers, the past few years, there’s so many more kids playing, there’s so many more teams, it’s harder for me to get ice time and there’s a lot of guys that I can train with in the summer that are playing overseas, or in the AHL, kids going to college and stuff like that. It’s awesome to see how much it’s grown there and hopefully, these games there keep it keep it growing.”

The end-of-preseason Utah game is a nice treat for a player who decided to re-sign with the Kings here this offseason. Lewis likely would have had a few options as a depth forward, but jumped at the opportunity to return to the Kings and to come back where it all began in the NHL. Lewis and his family left the organization with fond memories and their young family was very excited, on the personal side, to get back to Los Angeles.

On the hockey side, Lewis’ role here is pretty defined. His current linemates, Carl Grundstrom and Blake Lizotte, have raved about his consistency, day-to-day and game-to-game, as a reason why they like playing with him already. Lewis is also a great penalty killer and should aid that unit, while ideally sparing some of the team’s higher-minute players from some of their heavy, PK minutes.

For today, though, it’s a hometown reunion for a player looking forward to experiencing it again.

Cop That Start
It’s been 13 days since Pheonix Copley has started a game.

In the grand scheme of things, that’s not all that long. In hockey terms, though, that’s a longgggggg time. Especially during training camp. That’s how things have shaken out this year, though.

Even Copley’s first appearance was only a predetermined 40 minutes. He started the opening game of the 2023 NHL Global Series in Melbourne and played the first two periods against Arizona. Results didn’t go quite as planned, but it was the first game of preseason and results don’t go against you. Tonight figures to be his first full 60 minutes of the exhibition season, as was the case for Cam Talbot on Tuesday against Anaheim.

“Games are the best way to prepare for games, so that’s the most ideal, but at the end of the day, we’re getting good work in during practice, working with Bucks, so I feel ready,” Copley said.

Todd McLellan admitted that it hasn’t exactly been a normal camp for the goaltenders specifically. Not like it has been for anyone, but Copley likely would have played within 13 days in a normal season.

McLellan has been watching in practice, however, and hasn’t seen any sort of rust from his netminders.

“It’s not as natural of a camp for them, but they’re veteran goaltenders, they’ve been through it before,” McLellan said. “They have Mike Buckley, who is doing real good work with them now, getting them what they need and I don’t see any rust or any alarms that are going off, because they haven’t played a lot.”

Copley and McLellan both mentioned goaltending coach Mike Buckley, who is in his first season working on the coaching staff.

For Copley, it’s his second NHL goaltending coach in two seasons, as he aligned only with the final year of Bill Ranford’s long tenure in the position with LA. Copley has liked working with Buckley thus far, as he did with Ranford, emphasizing that there’s no desire to reinvent things, just to refine and improve. That’s been well received by the goaltenders thus far.

“He’s been around a while and anytime you get a new goalie coach, you’ve got to kind of feel it out, but he’s not trying to change anything,” Copley said. “He’s just trying to help us build on our foundations and help us do what we do well and reinforce those habits. It’s not reinventing the wheel, it’s just staying sharp.”

Kaliyev Suspension
Lastly, Insiders, sharing news of this morning’s ruling from the NHL’s Department of Player Safety regarding Arthur Kaliyev.

Los Angeles’ Arthur Kaliyev has been suspended for two preseason games and two regular season games for Kneeing Anaheim’s Chase De Leo. https://t.co/AW1Heob4rD

— NHL Player Safety (@NHLPlayerSafety) October 5, 2023

The DOPS released this morning that Kaliyev has been suspended for four games as a result of his kneeing penalty from Tuesday’s game versus Anaheim. That suspension will knock him out of the two remaining preseason games, as well as the first two games of the regular season. Kaliyev will miss opening night on 10/11 versus Colorado, as well as 10/14 against Carolina. Opportunity now lies elsewhere for a couple of NHL games.

The Kings have plenty of depth to cover the loss of a player, but where this complicates things is with regards to the salary cap. The Kings were already in a position where they’d likely have just one extra skater. Now, with a suspended player, that would likely mean no extras for the first two games of the season. Not a problem in the grand scheme of things, but the plan on Monday might not be the plan today. Could see an adjustment made as a result of this news.

Kings and Sharks, tonight from SLC, penultimate game of the preseason!