Injuries and illness are a natural part of being human and nothing epitomizes that more than sports, particularly at the professional level. Rivaling 2018 for their oddest rash of injuries, though, the Los Angeles Kings are limping into the home stretch of their season more than a little banged up and bruised. All six of their defensemen who started on the opening roster have now been placed either on Injured Reserved or Long-Term Injured Reserve.
The first domino to fall was Sean Walker, when he suffered season-ending ACL and MCL tears in his knee in a collision with St. Louis' David Perron back in October. Drew Doughty also missed an extended period of time after he bruised his knee during a Dallas Stars game. In Doughty's first game back, Alex Edler broke his ankle a minute into the Minnesota Wild game.
Stepping up in their stead has been the team's younger defensemen Matt Roy, Mikey Anderson, and Tobias Bjornfot along with occasional Ontario Reign call up Christian Wolanin. Olli Maatta, who was expected to be the 6-7D, also stepped in.
But as the pages of the calendar turned from January to February and then March, the Kings were not so lucky to escape the early injury bug. Within the span of one week, Mikey Anderson, Drew Doughty (again), Matt Roy, and Tobias Bjornfot all left the lineup with various maladies of some sort. Anderson took a reverse back check from Brad Marchand in Boston, came back for two shifts and didn't return to the game. In that same game, Doughty also injured his right hand at some point. He was seen on the bench closely testing and looking at his hand, though he finished the match and even took shifts in overtime. To add insult to the already lengthy list of injuries, the very next game, Matt Roy suffered some kind of upper body ailment. He played the entirety of the game, but was unavailable for the team's trip to the Tank the next night.
For those keeping score, that's (in order of loss) Walker, Edler, Anderson, Doughty, and Roy unavailable with various upper and lower body afflictions. But wait, there's more! Because the immediate losses of Anderson, Doughty and Roy weren't enough, Tobias Bjornfot also got hurt in the game versus the Florida Panthers. None of this accounts for the injuries to Viktor Arvidsson, Brendan Lemieux, or Dustin Brown--all three of whom went down at or around the same time as the defensemen.
This podcast episode was recorded prior to puck drop of the Panthers game and the loss of Bjornfot in OT. The Kings' season now rests on the shoulders of four rookie d-men in Jordan Spence (who hasn't even completed his first full pro season), Jacob Moverare, Austin Strand, and Sean Durzi along with veteran Olli Maatta and Ontario Reign call up Christian Wolanin. On the forward front, Martin Frk, Gabriel Vilardi, and Rasmus Kupari are getting another chance to shine and all hoping impress enough to make their recalls permanent.
The trade deadline looms large as 3:30 p.m. EDT on March 21 rapidly approaches. General Manager and the Kings' front office have some big decisions to make. If none of their big name key players are ready by or before Monday, how patient should they be? Further, how reliant should they be the on the Ontario Reign's defensemen whose next matchup isn't until Friday, March 18 but are sitting in second place and look poised to make the Calder Cup payoffs? Should the Kings cannibalize the Reign's roster for their own self interests? As it stands, Ontario only has five defensemen on their current roster. Sarah and Robyn touch on these topics and ponder the team's pitiful lack of offense with an eye towards the future. Plus, with all things considered, how close really are the Kings to being contenders?
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