The Los Angeles Kings are getting a quality player back into their lineup as they look to take a commanding two-to-nothing series lead over the Edmonton Oilers. As relayed by TSN’s Ryan Rishaug, Kings forward Gabriel Vilardi says he’s back from his injury and ready to re-enter the team’s lineup.
Vilardi, 23, last played in a March 26th game against the St. Louis Blues. The upper-body injury that sidelined him ended what was a breakout regular season, a year where he scored 23 goals and 41 points in 63 games. Vilardi gives the already-deep Kings another quality offensive piece to work with, and his return makes the task in front of Mattias Ekholm, Darnell Nurse, and the entire Oilers defense all that steeper.
Some other notes from across the hockey world:
- Defending NCAA Men’s Hockey National Champions Quinnipiac University will retain two key players for their title defense campaign next year. The program announced that 21-year-old Jacob Quillian would be returning for his junior season, while New England Hockey Journal’s Mark Divver reported that star scorer Collin Graf would be returning for his junior year as well. Both undrafted players, Quillian scored 19 goals and 38 points this past season while Graf, 20, ranked third in the nation in scoring with 21 goals and 59 points in 41 games.
- Colgate University’s men’s hockey program announced today that longtime head coach Don Vaughan is retiring. Vaughan is the third-longest serving college hockey head coach and has led the Raiders to four NCAA tournaments since being hired in 1992. He has won two ECAC Coach of the Year awards, helping players such as Andy McDonald and Bruce Gardiner reach the NHL. He leaves Colgate this season after guiding the program to an ECAC Championship victory over Harvard, the school’s first ECAC title since 1990.