For most people, $160 is a big deal. It’s generally not something that NHL teams sweat, however, but Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston indicates that was gap between the Los Angeles Kings dressing five versus six defensemen tonight:
The #LAKings will only have five defencemen vs. #canucks tomorrow because they are short $160 in cap space to call someone up. What a world.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) November 8, 2014
All signs point to the Kings only dressing five blueliners in part because of an injury to Robyn Regehr, as indicated yesterday.
The Kings did their best to put on a brave face to LA Kings Insider, even if head coach Darryl Sutter said, “Is it ideal? No.”
“I think the last time we had big minutes like this was Game 1 against Anaheim in the playoffs,” Matt Greene said, noting what ended up being a 3-2 overtime win. “I think Reg got banged up pretty quick and then a lot of guys played a lot of minutes. But it happens. You just have to go through what we can play here and that’s it.”
Expect a busy night for Drew Doughty in particular, as LA Kings Insider notes:
Still, Doughty has cracked the 30 minute plateau three times in the last five games and ranks second in the league with a 28:10 time on ice average. He was excellent in logging a season-high 31:46 during Tuesday’s win in Dallas and followed that up with nearly 30 and a half minutes in a shootout loss against the New York Islanders on Thursday.
That isn’t the only injury situation for the Kings, either, as Justin Williams appears to be a game-time decision against the Vancouver Canucks.