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Jacob Moverare

Los Angeles Kings Send Down Moverare, Place Copley On LTIR

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Without much clarification as to the nature of the injury, reports emerged two days ago that goaltender for the Los Angeles Kings, Pheonix Copley left the team’s practice and had to be helped off the ice. Today, the Kings announced that they have placed Copley on the long-term injured reserve, and also loaned defenseman Jacob Moverare to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign.

Joining forward Viktor Arvidsson on the LTIR, the team will now have a touch over $2.5MM in current cap space, allowing them to comfortably carry David Rittich as the backup goaltender for the foreseeable future. After giving Los Angeles some much-needed stability in the net last season, the Kings rewarded Copley’s efforts with a one-year, $1.5MM extension for this year.

Largely serving as the team’s starting goaltender for much of last season, Copley had returned to the backup role this year, after being handily outplayed by free-agent acquisition, Cam Talbot. In eight starts this year, Copley carries a 4-1-2 record, coupled with a .870 SV% and a 3.16 GAA.

Comparatively, in somewhat of a night-and-day difference, Talbot leads the organization with 19 starts on the season, holding a 13-5-2 record, and impressively maintaining a .926 SV% and 2.02 GAA. With adequate depth in the crease throughout the entirety of the organization, the Kings should be able to weather the storm without Copley for the foreseeable future.

Also a part of the transaction this evening, Moverare is in his third season of being a depth defenseman for Los Angeles, typically finding himself in the AHL with Ontario. Last season being his most successful in the minor leagues, Moverare played in a total of 62 games for the Reign, scoring four goals and 26 points overall.

Although being used as a primary candidate for paper transactions coming out of the Kings organization this season, this will be Moverare’s eighth promotion and demotion of the year. Throughout his lengthy list of callups, Moverare has only suited up in two games for Los Angeles, failing to score a point after averaging 14 and a half minutes of ice time per night.

Kings Place Tobias Björnfot On IR, Recall Jacob Moverare

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The Los Angeles Kings moved defenseman Tobias Björnfot to injured reserve Wednesday night, according to CapFriendly. In a corresponding transaction, defenseman Jacob Moverare was once again recalled from AHL Ontario.

Björnfot, 22, had been playing in the minors with Ontario while on a conditioning stint, meaning he remained on the Kings’ 23-man roster for the time being despite suiting up for their AHL affiliate. The Swedish blueliner sustained an undisclosed injury on a hard hit from Kraken prospect Jacob Melanson in last night’s contest against Seattle’s affiliate, Coachella Valley, that required he be stretchered off the ice.

Moving Björnfot to IR keeps him out of action for a minimum of seven days. The Kings have not issued a timeline for his return to action.

Already in his fifth NHL season, the 2019 22nd overall pick has yet to truly establish himself as an everyday NHL player. He spent most of last season in the minors despite playing 70 contests with the Kings in 2021-22, and he’s appeared in just four total games this season – one in the NHL and three in the AHL.

While never drafted for his point-producing upside, his lack of production over the past few seasons is underwhelming for a first-round pick. He’s scored just once in 117 NHL games and had 12 points in 50 games with Ontario last season.

His possession numbers have failed to stand out, either. In his lone appearance this season, which came October 11 against the Avalanche, Björnfot controlled just 37.5% of Corsi events at even strength despite starting most of his shifts in the offensive zone. He logged just over 10 minutes of ice time and recorded one block.

Meanwhile, Moverare again finds himself on the Kings roster ahead of their next appearance, a Friday game against the Ducks. The 25-year-old has been recalled numerous times throughout this month to serve as an extra defenseman and injury insurance, although he’s yet to appear in an NHL game in 2023-24.

A fourth-round pick of the team in 2016, Moverare has four assists and a +2 rating in 14 contests with Ontario this season. He appeared in 21 NHL games with the Kings over the prior two seasons, recording two assists. He’s still looking for his first NHL goal.

Moverare will be a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer after completing a two-year, $1.525MM contract. He is owed a qualifying offer of $813,750.

Evening Notes: Jokiharju, Moverare, Geekie

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Missing the team’s last two games due to an illness, the Buffalo Sabres announced that defenseman Henri Jokiharju would be making his return to the team tonight in their matchup against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Aside from missing the last two contests, Jokiharju has gotten off to a relatively solid start for the Sabres in terms of scoring, chipping in two goals and five assists in his first 15 games, compared to 13 points in 60 games a season ago. Defensively, Jokiharju is staying true to a similar output over the course of his career to start the season, evidenced by his 89.5% oiSV% when he is on the ice.

Still, early into the season, Buffalo’s defense has already improved dramatically from last season, with similar goaltending behind them. Last year, the team was on the hook for 3.62 GA/G (26th in the NHL) and has seen that number fall to 3.24 GA/G (17th in the NHL) with a little under 80% of the season remaining.

Other notes:

  • 11/19: For the second time in four days, the Los Angeles Kings have announced they have loaned defenseman Jacob Moverare to their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. Primarily a paper transaction in order to keep roster and cap flexibility on their off days, Moverare has yet to suit up in a game for Los Angeles this season.
  • Signing a two-year, $4MM contract with the Boston Bruins over the offseason, forward Morgan Geekie has missed the team’s last three games with an undisclosed injury. On a positive note as to the status of Geekie, Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald reported today that Geekie was practicing with the rest of the team today in a red non-contact jersey.

Kings Notes: Dubois, Kaliyev, Moverare

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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.

Los Angeles Kings Loan Tobias Bjornfot To AHL

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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.

Los Angeles Kings Recall Six Players

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The Los Angeles Kings have made several transactions as they prepare for Saturday’s do-or-die game six against the Edmonton Oilers. The club has announced the recall of Lias Andersson, Samuel Helenius, Andre Lee, Jacob Moverare, Jordan Spence, and Francesco Pinelli.

The group will likely serve as “Black Aces,” players who practice with the club and experience playoff preparations but don’t actually enter the lineup.

Pinelli, 20, is perhaps the most interesting addition, given he’s coming directly from the OHL. The 2021 second-round pick spent the year with the Kitchener Rangers, scoring 41 goals and 90 points in just 60 regular season games.

His playoff performance, though strong offensively, left something to be desired. Pinelli was given a three-game suspension for a blindside hit in the first round, leading to his absence in the first two games against the London Knights, longtime rivals that ended up winning both. Kitchener couldn’t recover (despite Pinelli’s first-star performance in game three) and was eliminated last week.

Several of the other names have already made appearances for the Kings this season, though the massive 6’6″ Helenius is still waiting for his NHL debut.

Los Angeles will try to stay alive at home and force a game seven on Monday.

Los Angeles Kings Loan Jacob Moverare To AHL

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The Los Angeles Kings have announced that defenseman Jacob Moverare has been loaned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. The move puts Moverare back on the team that he’s spent most of this season with, same for a two-game stretch he played for the Kings in November.

The 24-year-old was recalled yesterday as part of a series of roster moves the Kings made. He didn’t end up skating in the team’s victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, but was brought to the NHL roster nonetheless to serve as a seventh defenseman. He returns to the AHL to resume his role as a top-four defenseman for the Reign, perhaps returning to his partnership with 2020 35th overall pick Helge Grans, a fellow Swede.

This re-assignment gives the Kings a free roster spot for GM Rob Blake to work with. Los Angeles is one of the teams front-and-center in the Jakob Chychrun trade rumors, and the Coyotes did make Chychrun a healthy scratch yesterday for what the team termed “trade-related” reasons.

While it’s far more likely that this move is simply the Kings moving an AHL contributor back to the league he’s meant to play at, one wonders if the Kings are clearing space for a potential addition to their blueline. It is worth noting, though, that yesterday’s reports on Chychrun did state that no Chychrun trade was “imminent,” so any connection to be made between this roster move and a Chychrun deal is largely speculation.

Los Angeles Kings Make Multiple Roster Moves

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The Los Angeles Kings are getting a pair of forwards back from the injured list. The team announced today that Arthur Kaliyev and Trevor Moore were activated from injured reserve, and defenseman Jacob Moverare has been recalled from the AHL’s Ontario Reign.

It’s been more than a month out of the lineup for Moore, who signed a five-year contract extension in December. Placed on injured reserve in early January with an upper-body injury, he actually last played before Christmas. All told, it’s been a 16-game absence for the 27-year-old.

The late bloomer has had another successful offensive campaign in SoCal, recording seven goals and 19 assists in 37 games. One of the Kings’ most important secondary scorers, they’ll be ecstatic to have Moore back in the fold as they try to hang in the Western Conference playoff race.

Kaliyev exited the lineup just days before Moore with an undisclosed injury. The 21-year-old forward has been extremely productive in limited ice time, recording nine goals in 19 points in 34 games despite largely sitting in a bottom-six role. The 33rd overall selection in 2019, Kaliyev has incredible scoring potential and could fight for more minutes as the season progresses.

Moverare comes up from the minors to give the Kings an extra defenseman on the roster. The 24-year-old Swede has been shuttled up and down multiple times this season but has played just two games with the Kings. In 35 games with the Reign, he has two goals, 10 assists, and 12 points.

Los Angeles Kings Loan Jacob Moverare To AHL

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January 8: Just a few days after recalling him, the Kings have announced Moverare has been loaned to Ontario. The defenseman, who has played in just two games this season, did not play on this most recent recall.

January 5: The Los Angeles Kings have recalled Jacob Moverare, adding an extra body to the mix before their game tonight against the Boston Bruins. The Kings already had an open roster spot as they were previously carrying only six defensemen.

Moverare, 24, played two games earlier this season when the team was dealing with injuries but has spent most of the year in the minor leagues. A fourth-round pick in 2016, he has just 21 games of NHL experience to this point and doesn’t offer much offensive upside. Still, he does bring size and reach to the back end, helping on the penalty kill when needed.

Signed to a new two-year contract last June, Moverare will be on a one-way deal in 2023-24, showing how much confidence the Kings have in his ability to contribute moving forward. He’s one of a number of young defensemen in the system that could see playing time in the future, as names like Alexander Edler, Matt Roy, or Sean Walker start hitting free agency. For now, it remains to be seen whether he gets into the lineup tonight or is just up as insurance for the road game on Saturday night in Vegas.

Kings Assign Lias Andersson And Jacob Moverare To The AHL

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The season-long shuffle continues for the Kings.  In an effort to bank extra cap space, the team has been shuffling waiver-exempt players to AHL Ontario on off days.  Today, that trend continues as the team announced that they’ve assigned center Lias Andersson and defenseman Jacob Moverare to the Reign.  In doing so, the team drops out of using LTIR and will be able to bank at least a little bit of cap room in advance of tomorrow’s game against Ottawa when one or both will likely be recalled.

Andersson cleared waivers last month for the first time and has spent the bulk of this season in the minors.  The 24-year-old continues to be quite productive with the Reign, notching five goals and four assists in 11 games but while he has been up with the Kings for the better part of the last two weeks, he has exclusively been a healthy scratch.  Even if it’s just for one day, getting into a game with Ontario tonight when they host Tucson certainly wouldn’t hurt.

As for Moverare, he has been the seventh defender with Los Angeles for the last couple of weeks while Brandt Clarke has been on a conditioning assignment with Ontario, one that is going to come to an end in less than 48 hours.  The 24-year-old also cleared waivers at the end of training camp and has played in eight games with the Reign this season while getting into two with the Kings where he has averaged just under 15 minutes a night of playing time.

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