The Los Angeles Kings would get their first preseason win of the season with a 3-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights. However, not everything from the game was positive and in fact they could have suffered a big loss for this team entering the regular season.
Drew Doughty, their top defenseman, would leave the game in the first period after sliding into the boards. The Kings quickly ruled him out with a lower-body injury, which appeared to be his left knee based on the replays.
After the game, head coach Jim Hiller didn't have an update and said the team would return to Los Angeles for them to take a closer look at the injury. It would probably make sense for the team to be very cautious with Doughty and should keep him out of the remaining preseason games.
If the injury is longer, this would be a pretty big loss for the defense, as Doughty has been the Kings' best defenseman and one of the best throughout the NHL. He also contributed on the scoring attack as he had 15 goals last season, the first time he had double-digit goals since the 2017-18 season.
This is now the second significant injury the Kings have had to deal with over the past week as Arthur Kaliyev suffered a fractured clavicle during practice and will be out for a few months. Hopefully, the injury for Doughty is not as serious and he will be ready to go in time for the regular season.
Doughty's Injury Confirmed as Fractured Ankle
Daily Faceoff insider Frank Seravalli reports that the veteran blueliner suffered an injury to his left ankle and is slated for more imaging on Thursday. The team hopes that Doughty’s ailment is only a fracture and not any structural damage.
Seravalli also stated that there is no timeline for Doughty’s return.
The 34-year-old sustained the injury during the Kings’ preseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday. Doughty was going in to angle off Tanner Pearson inside his own blue line. Unfortunately, Doughty fell awkwardly into the boards, with his left leg being contorted.
He had to be helped off the ice, and didn’t return to the game. It was Doughty’s first bit of preseason action, as he didn’t dress for L.A.’s first game against the Utah Hockey Club.
Doughty’s Recent Performance and Impact
Doughty is coming off another productive season at both ends of the rink. The London, Ontario native scored 15 goals in 82 games, the first time since the 2017-18 campaign he scored at least 10 goals in a season. His 50 points marked the second year in a row he hit that mark and the fifth time in his 16-year NHL career.
Doughty also posted a plus/minus of +15, the highest rating he registered in six seasons.
His efforts helped the Kings make it back to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second straight year, losing to the Edmonton Oilers again, this time in five games.
Impact of Doughty's Absence on the Kings' Season
It’s amazing how one play in a preseason game changes the entire approach to a day of content. When it comes to preseason hockey, there isn’t a ton of good amazings to be had.
I had a plan coming in. A plan for some ideas and storylines for today, tomorrow and Saturday, leading into the next preseason game against Anaheim. And then last night happened.
Right now, the only storyline we all need the answer to is that of defenseman Drew Doughty, who left yesterday’s preseason win over Vegas with a lower-body injury. As of this writing, the extent of that injury is not known. We saw the play happen early in the first period and Doughty was ruled out for the night by the end of the first period. After the game, Head Coach Jim Hiller was not able to further the update on the lower-body injury but added that Doughty would be evaluated by Kings medical personnel today, with the team now back on home soil. Nothing out of the ordinary there with the process, but nothing in terms of an update either. External reports had a diagnosis from last night, but the Kings will wait for their own medical staff to run their own procedures today.
We do know now that Doughty will not participate in today’s practice session, with his medical evaluation set for today. We’ll speak with Hiller once again after today’s practice and see what sort of an update there is, if any, on Doughty’s status. We may not get a formal update until Friday, which was the timeline we saw with Arthur Kaliyev’s injury. Kaliyev suffered the fractured clavicle on Friday, was evaluated further on Saturday and we had an official designation on Sunday. Will follow up as more is known.
A Play That Makes You Hold Your Breath
A play like that, with fate unknown, would suck regardless of who it is. When it’s a team leader and an elite player like Doughty, there’s a collective breath held. Tanner Jeannot put it pretty bluntly after last night’s game – “it sucks”. When I asked Warren Foegele about last night’s game, his answer did not pertain to the game at all. It was empathy and concern for a teammate who suffered an injury.
“I think the first thought is we’re thinking about Drew,” Foegele said “Obviously, he’s a really big part of this team and you know, you don’t like to see anyone get hurt, especially during preseason. So think those are our first thoughts.”
I think a lot of people emphasized with the situation like Foegele did. And a lot of us put it bluntly like Jeannot did. It sucks to see it. While we don’t know the extent of the injury, it sucks for Doughty to go through it at all, especially as he seemed so optimistic coming into the season about a new approach and attitude of the club. Optimistic about leading this group of defensemen and about helping a younger player like Brandt Clarke grow and develop under his tutelage.
It sucks because no matter what plans you make, if Doughty isn’t available, you can’t just replace him. He’s an elite defensemen and if you had a replacement for him, he’d already be in the lineup. Doughty has been remarkable durable throughout his career, so if there’s a guy you’d bet on health wise, he’s at the top of the list. If he’s good, it’s good and we’ll all release that collective breath. If not, as we learn a potential timeline for a return, it’s not just my content plan that changes. The plan that the front office and coaching staff has in place changes as well and it’s back to the drawing board with a new approach. More on that to come, if it is needed, when we get a better sense of where Doughty is at.
Kings' Practice Lineup
For today, as noted above, Doughty is not expected to practice with the Kings today. Below is the expected alignment for the group today on Day 8.
Group A
Forwards (15) – Adrian Kempe, Tanner Jeannot, Anze Kopitar, Trevor Moore, Alex Laferriere, Alex Turcotte, Samuel Fagemo, Kevin Fiala, Phillip Danault, Akil Thomas, Warren Foegele, Andre Lee, Quinton Byfield, Trevor Lewis, Samuel Helenius
Defensemen (8) – Andreas Englund, Joel Edmundson, Kyle Burroughs, Jordan Spence, Joe Hicketts, Mikey Anderson, Vladislav Gavrikov, Brandt Clarke
Goaltenders (2) – David Rittich, Darcy Kuemper
Group B
Forwards (17) – Tyler Madden, Jeff Malott, Martin Chromiak, Jacob Doty, Quinn Olson, Jack Studnicka, Charles Hudon, Glenn Gawdin, Shawn Element, Patrick Moynihan, Jake Wise, Bryce Brodzinski, Francesco Pinelli, Aatu Jamsen, John Parker-Jones, Kaleb Lawrence, Koehn Ziemmer
Defensemen (9) – Jacob Moverare, Luke Rowe, Jack Millar, Jakub Dvorak, Reilly Walsh, Parker Berge, Dru Krebs, Angus Booth, Caleb Jones
Goaltenders (3) – Erik Portillo, Pheonix Copley, Dryden McKay
Forward Arthur Kaliyev (fractured clavicle), defenseman Drew Doughty (lower-body injury) and defenseman Cole Krygier (undisclosed) will not practice today.
The Kings re-assigned four players – Liam Greentree, Carter George, Jared Woolley and Matthew Mania – to their respective OHL teams, while forward Arvid Caderoth was released from his ATO.
