Mike Richards’ arrival has made Jarret Stoll something of a square peg in a round hole, but the Los Angeles Kings would rather have him plugging away regardless. He won’t be able to do so for at least a week, however, as Rich Hammond reports that he’s been placed on the injured reserve.
Stoll told Hammond that he’s dealing with an injured abductor muscle (hip) from the Kings’ 3-1 loss to the Florida Panthers last night.
Richards’ presence has occasionally pushed Stoll to the wing, nullifying one of Rachel Hunter’s ex-boyfriend’s greatest strengths: faceoff mastery.* Stoll’s offense hasn’t come very easily this season, either, as he has just five goals and 15 points after putting together a 20-goal, 43-point campaign in 2010-11.
Stoll’s injury (and perhaps the Panthers loss) prompted the Kings to shuffle the lineup a bit, as promising point-producing defenseman Slava Voynov was demoted to the minors (again). Forwards Dwight King and Jordan Nolan were called up in the two players’ places.
* - Well, on-ice strengths. Apparently he can pick up supermodels who age like fine wine, so that’s probably cooler than winning well over 50 percent of his draws.