- Los Angeles Kings defenseman Tobias Bjornfot, who is currently playing for the team’s AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, left last night’s game against the Coachella Valley Firebirds with an injury. He had to be stretchered off of the ice after taking a hit from Firebirds forward Jacob Melanson, who was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct for boarding on the play. Bjornfot, 23, has played in three games for Ontario this season and one game for Los Angeles.
Kings Rumors
Kings Loan Jacob Moverare To Ontario
- 11/20: Moverare was recalled to the NHL lineup on Monday.
[SOURCE LINK]
Injury Notes: Harpur, Hollowell, Lizotte
The Hartford Wolf Pack, the AHL affiliate of the New York Rangers, shared a pair of updates on injured defensemen. The team most notably shared that Ben Harpur will be out for the remainder of the season after undergoing pectoral surgery. Hartford head coach Steve Smith also shared that Mac Hollowell is also out with injury, but the team is hopeful he’ll be able to return this week.
This is a heavy blow to a Rangers’ depth chart that extended Harpur to a two-year, one-way contract in January of last season. The contract carries an annual cap hit of $787.5K and provided a reward in the midst of Harpur’s first year in New York. He finished last season with 42 NHL games played, two points, and 20 penalty minutes. The defender has started this year in the minors, playing for the Hartford Wolf Pack of the AHL. He’s recorded three points, two penalty minutes, and a -1 through seven games with the team this season.
Hollowell is another blow to the Rangers’ options, if he’s out for longer than this week. The 25-year-old is in his first year with the Rangers organization, after spending the last five with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Hollowell has proven productive in his AHL experience this year, netting 10 points in 10 games and recording a +5. It’s a continuation off of his productive 2022-23 season, which saw him score 13 points in 18 AHL games and two points in six NHL games. His season was, however, cut short by a fractured kneecap that required surgery.
Other injury news:
- The Los Angeles Kings have announced that Blake Lizotte will miss the team’s Monday night game with an undisclosed injury. The forward left the team’s most recent matchup against the St. Louis Blues in the third period and didn’t travel with the team on their two-game road trip to Arizona and Anaheim. No official timetable for his return has been provided.
Kings Notes: Dubois, Kaliyev, Moverare
Kings offseason addition Pierre-Luc Dubois hasn’t missed any of the team’s 15 games this season, a trend that will continue tonight against the Blues. Head coach Todd McLellan told reporters earlier today that Dubois will stay in the lineup tonight after the Québec-born center took an awkward fall into the post during the team’s last game and did not participate in practice Friday.
The Kings are largely on a roll with a 9-3-3 record that puts them third in the Pacific Division and fourth in the Western Conference. However, Dubois hasn’t lived up to expectations yet in Hollywood, especially considering the assets they gave up to acquire him in a sign-and-trade deal from the Jets over the summer. Owed $9MM in actual money this year in the first season of an eight-year, $68MM contract, Dubois is averaging a respectable 16:37 per game but has just four goals and eight points, an underwhelming offensive clip of 0.53 points per game. He’d averaged 0.80 points per game over the last two seasons with Winnipeg, including a career-high 36 assists and 63 points in 73 games last year. His defensive game has been lacking, too, barely staying above a 50% Corsi share at even strength on a team that’s dominated the stat.
Other notes on the Kings today:
- Los Angeles will lose the ability to send winger Arthur Kaliyev to the minors without needing waivers after tonight’s game, CapFriendly notes. It’s hard to imagine a universe where the Kings would want to send the 22-year-old sniper down to AHL Ontario, however. After being on pace for 41 points over an 82-game season last year, Kaliyev is again producing at a respectable clip this year with seven points in 13 games. The Kings did assign him to the minors earlier this season, but that was a paper move to stay cap-compliant while Kaliyev was serving a four-game suspension assessed during preseason play. Kaliyev was the 33rd overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.
- On another transaction-related note, the Kings have again recalled defenseman Jacob Moverare to serve as a healthy scratch for tonight’s contest, per a team announcement. This is Moverare’s second recall in the past three days, and he was returned to AHL Ontario briefly yesterday. The 25-year-old does not currently require waivers after clearing them during the preseason, but he will if he remains on the NHL roster for 30 total days and plays more than 10 NHL games. He’s yet to make an appearance for the Kings this season, but he does have four assists and a +1 rating in 13 contests for Ontario.
Kings Sign Koehn Ziemmer To Entry-Level Contract
The Kings signed forward prospect Koehn Ziemmer to a three-year, entry-level contract on Friday, per a team release. According to the Kings, the deal carries an AAV of $875K.
Los Angeles selected Ziemmer, 18, with the 78th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft earlier this year. Ziemmer was a widely polarizing prospect after a monster year with the WHL’s Prince George Cougars, with some expecting him to get a look in the late first round while others projected him to fall as late as the fourth or fifth round.
Elite Prospects tabbed Ziemmer 40th in their final 2023 draft rankings, praising his speed, skill and physicality. The Mayerthorpe, Alberta-born winger has NHL size at 6 feet and 210 pounds and finished ninth in WHL scoring last season with 41 goals and 89 points in 68 contests. He struggled defensively, though, leading some to question to what degree he’d be a liability at the NHL level.
Nonetheless, Ziemmer remains one of the higher-ceiling prospects in the team’s system. He’s off to a decent start with the Cougars this year, potting seven goals and 24 points through 16 games. Ziemmer remains linemates with center Riley Heidt, who the Wild selected one round earlier after posting a similar stat line to Ziemmer in Prince George last season. Some public scouting sites, such as Dobber Prospects, are confident in Ziemmer’s ability to translate into a top-six winger for the Kings, giving him an NHL certainty score of 8.5/10 and putting his peak at 80 points in a season and listing him as their best wing prospect behind Arthur Kaliyev, who’s already solidified an everyday NHL role and has seven points through 13 games this season.
Ziemmer will remain on assignment to WHL Prince George for the rest of the season. Given his December 2004 birthday, his entry-level contract is only eligible to slide for one season, and he will be eligible for assignment to the AHL’s Ontario Reign in 2024-25.
Los Angeles Kings Loan Tobias Bjornfot To AHL
Nov. 17: The Kings returned Moverare to AHL Ontario after serving as a healthy scratch for last night’s game against the Panthers, per a team announcement.
Nov. 16: Before their matchup against the Florida Panthers this evening, the Los Angeles Kings announced they have sent down defenseman Tobias Bjornfot to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign, on a conditioning loan. In the same announcement, the team has also recalled Jacob Moverare to replace Bjornfot on the roster.
Since it is a conditioning loan, Bjornfot will still count against the 23-man roster for the Kings and will still be paid his NHL salary over the next 14 days unless he is recalled sooner.
Since the 2021-22 season, where he played 70 games, Bjornfot has seen himself move further down the depth chart on Los Angeles’ blue line. After that season, Bjornfot has only played 11 games at the NHL level during the regular season, scoring one assist over the last two years.
Bjornfot played most of last year with the Reign, scoring five goals and seven assists in 50 games. Although he has a tremendous physical edge to his game, with the likes of Vladislav Gavrikov and Michael Anderson on the Kings’ blue line, there is not much upward mobility for Bjornfot for the time being.
Moverare was a fourth-round selection of Los Angeles in the 2016 NHL Draft, playing 21 games for the Kings over the last three seasons. So far this year, Moverare has played 12 games for the Reign, tallying three assists in total.
Alex Laferriere Recalled By Kings
Over the last two games, the Vegas Golden Knights have been without the trio of Chandler Stephenson, Nicolas Hague, and Nicolas Roy. Over that time, the league-leading Golden Knights have gone 1-1-0, losing to their division rival, Los Angeles Kings, last Wednesday.
Kings Claim Samuel Fagemo Off Waivers From Nashville
Samuel Fagemo is once again a member of the Kings. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports (Twitter link) that Los Angeles has claimed the winger off waivers from Nashville. Back in training camp, the Predators had claimed him off waivers from the Kings.
The 23-year-old was a second-round pick of Los Angeles back in 2019 (50th overall) and is waiver-eligible for the first time this season. Fagemo has shown a scoring touch in the minors, notching 27 goals with AHL Ontario in his first year in North America in 2021-22 and followed that up with a 23-goal effort last season. Despite that, he didn’t see much action with the Kings, seeing just 13 games over those two campaigns.
With Los Angeles not having much in the way of cap and waiver flexibility, Fagemo was waived back in training camp where Nashville scooped him up. However, he didn’t get much of an opportunity with them either, playing in just four games, scoring once while averaging just under ten minutes per game. That was still enough for the Preds to decide that his roster spot would be better used elsewhere.
Because the Kings were the only team to claim Fagemo, they were allowed to send him down to Ontario, a move they have now announced (Twitter link). Jordan Spence, who was papered down yesterday, has been recalled in a corresponding move.
Jordan Spence And Jaret Anderson-Dolan Sent To AHL
- The near-daily roster shuffling in Los Angeles continues as the Kings announced (Twitter link) that they’ve assigned defenseman Jordan Spence and center Jaret Anderson-Dolan to AHL Ontario. The moves get them out of LTIR for a day, allowing them to bank a tiny amount of cap space which will be useful when Viktor Arvidsson is cleared to return. Los Angeles is back in action Saturday against Philadelphia and both players will almost certainly be back on the roster at that time.
Salary Cap Deep Dive: Los Angeles Kings
Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.
PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation for the 2023-24 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.
Los Angeles Kings
Current Cap Hit: $84,937,314 (over the $83.5MM Upper Limit)
Entry-Level Contracts
F Quinton Byfield (one year, $894K)
F Alex Laferriere (two years, $875K)
F Arthur Kaliyev (one year, $894K)
D Jordan Spence (one year, $820K)
Potential Bonuses
Byfield: $2.65MM
Kaliyev: $212.5K
Spence: $82.5K
Total: $2.945MM
Byfield took a small step forward last season and has looked a bit better in the early going this year. However, he’s a lock for a bridge contract. Barring a major uptick in production, that deal might be capped around the $2.25MM mark while his ‘A’ bonuses are going to be tough to reach. Kaliyev, meanwhile, is a bit more established as a secondary scorer. If he can get closer to the 20-goal and 40-point mark this season, he could push his bridge cost a bit higher than Byfield’s while hitting his lone ‘A’ bonus. Laferriere is just starting off his NHL career so it’s a bit early to project his next deal but if he can stay on the third line, he should push past the $1MM mark at least.
Spence has been a strong point producer in the minors but isn’t quite ready to play a big role just yet. That will limit his earnings upside to the point where a one-year bridge contract around what he’s making now might be what happens. His bonuses are tied to games played with multiple thresholds so while he might not max out, he should reach some of that total if he stays healthy.
Signed Through 2023-24, Non-Entry-Level
F Jaret Anderson-Dolan ($775K, RFA)
F Viktor Arvidsson ($4.25MM, UFA)
G Pheonix Copley ($1.5MM, UFA)
F Carl Grundstrom ($1.3MM, RFA)
F Trevor Lewis ($775K, UFA)
F Blake Lizotte ($1.675MM, RFA)
D Matt Roy ($3.15MM, UFA)
G Cam Talbot ($1MM, UFA)
Potential Bonuses
Talbot: $1MM
Arvidsson has certainly improved his value since being acquired in 2021 from Nashville, putting up two of his better offensive years including reaching the 20-goal mark each time. Free agency hasn’t been kind to wingers lately but assuming he’s able to come back from the lower-body injury that has him on LTIR, he should be able to get a small raise on this on a multi-year deal. Lizotte has shown slow and steady improvement over his first few seasons despite having relatively limited playing time; this season looks to be a continuation in the early going. If that happens, he could have a case to push past the $2MM mark with arbitration rights. However, if the Kings are only comfortable playing him 10-12 minutes a night, he could become a non-tender candidate if they want to fill that lineup spot with someone cheaper even at the expense of some production.
Grundstrom has become a fourth-line regular for Los Angeles and chipped in with a dozen goals last season. Still, with the Kings largely capped out, they may be hard-pressed to afford to give him much more if this is the role he’s going to remain in. A small raise is doable but a non-tender could be possible as well. Lewis is a serviceable fourth liner which has kept him in the NHL for 16 seasons now. If there is going to be a 17th, it’ll be at or close to the minimum again. Anderson-Dolan is the extra skater at this point so it’s hard to see him commanding more than the league minimum either. With nearly 100 NHL games under his belt already, he’s a bit of an arbitration risk for the Kings (who wouldn’t want to go higher than $775K) so barring him locking down a regular role, they might opt to non-tender him as well.
Roy is one of the more intriguing defensemen entering the final year of his deal. He seemingly has largely flown under the radar with Los Angeles but he has put up back-to-back career years offensively despite not seeing a ton of power play time. Defensively, he logs heavy minutes on the penalty kill, allowing him to hover around 20 minutes a night on average most years. He turns 29 in March so he’s young enough that he should still have several good seasons ahead of him. Add those elements to the fact that Roy is a right-hand shot and you have a combination that should earn him a nice raise on the open market. A jump to around the $4.5MM mark could be doable for him although it’d be surprising if that came with the Kings who might be inclined to give his spot to prospect Brandt Clarke next season.
Talbot came over after an injury-plagued year with Ottawa. He hasn’t been a true starter for a while but they’re basically counting on him to be one. His bonuses are easy to achieve (payable at 10 games played) and the bulk of that will be charged against the cap next year. If Talbot can get back to his form from a few years ago, he could get back closer to the $3MM mark next summer. Copley is in his first full season as the backup after an early-season recall turned into a career year last season. The early results aren’t good this year, however. If he’s able to turn things around, a small raise could be doable but his longer-term track record of being a third-stringer will work against him in free agency.
Signed Through 2024-25
D Tobias Bjornfot ($775K, RFA)
D Andreas Englund ($1MM, UFA)
D Vladislav Gavrikov ($5.875MM, UFA)
Gavrikov impressed after being acquired from the Blue Jackets at the trade deadline last season along with Joonas Korpisalo. They only had room to keep one of the two and opted for the blueliner. Expecting a jump in the cap in the near future, the 27-year-old decided to take a short-term deal this time around in the hopes of landing a more lucrative long-term pact in 2025. As things stand, he might be able to get a small raise but not much more than that.
Englund worked his way back up to the NHL last season, splitting the year in a depth role between Colorado and Chicago. He should be in a similar role this year and a $1MM price tag for a sixth or seventh defender is a reasonable cost. Bjornfot’s deal is one-way in both seasons as he opted to take some guaranteed money in exchange for taking less than his qualifying offer. Playing time at the top level has been hard to come by for the 2019 first-rounder and he’ll need to establish himself as a regular to get any sort of meaningful increase two years from now.
Signed Through 2025-26
F Adrian Kempe ($5.5MM, UFA)
F Anze Kopitar ($10MM in 2023-24, $7MM in 2024-25 and 2025-26, UFA)
It was widely expected that the Kings would work out an extension for their captain at some point and they wasted little time doing so. Kopitar isn’t a top-end scorer but has been close to the point-per-game mark the last few seasons while being a high-quality defensive center. $10MM is a bit on the high side but on his next contract, he could provide some value on that deal, even when they start to manage his minutes. Kempe has gone from a secondary producer to a go-to scorer over the last two seasons, notching 76 goals combined over the past two years. As a result, his contract will be a nice bargain if he’s able to keep scoring at that rate. He’ll be 30 in 2026 and if he remains a 30-plus-goal scorer, a decent-sized raise on a long-term deal could be on the horizon.
