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Willie Mitchell’s health the big x-factor in Kings’ plans

Willie Mitchell

Willie Mitchell #33 of the Los Angeles Kings skates against the New Jersey Devils during Game Five of the 2012 NHL Stanley Cup Final at the Prudential Center on June 9, 2012 in Newark, New Jersey. (June 8, 2012 - Source: Elsa/Getty Images North America)

Los Angeles defenseman Willie Mitchell was a key piece in the Kings’ 2012 Stanley Cup championship, but he missed the entire 2013 campaign due to a knee injury. There’s no guarantee he’ll be available for the 2013-14 season either even though he’s shown signs of improvement recently.

That by itself is an unfortunate situation for the Kings to be in, but it’s compounded by the fact that the team is up against the cap and they can’t just assume that Mitchell, along with his $3.5 million cap hit, will end up on the long-term injured reserve list.

“Yeah, it kind of circles around out there because it’s hard enough making decisions when you have all the facts,” Kings GM Dean Lombardi told LA Kings Insider.

“We’re making decisions based upon assumptions we might think will be facts two months from now. So this job is hard enough when you’ve got all the facts and lord knows you guys remind us when we mess up. Now we have to make some of these decisions on assumptions that might or might not be the case, and that’s just the way it is with Willie.

“I mean, we all know how good a player this guy is, how instrumental he is, his fit with his partner there, Voynov. And now, like I said, all the indications are positive in terms of his health. But that could change tomorrow. I can’t give you a definitive answer; it’s a moving target.”

The Kings only have five blueliners signed to one-way contracts, including Mitchell, but defenseman Alec Martinez, Keaton Ellerby, and Jake Muzzin are all restricted free agents.

On top of that, Rob Scuderi is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent and while Lombardi would like to re-sign the veteran defensive defenseman, he realizes that the falling cap ceiling is forcing him to make some tough calls.