LOS ANGELES — Saturday’s game against the Minnesota Wild might have only been Game 2 of 82 for the Kings, but there was significant action in advance of it with a string of roster moves, including the departure of a player from the organization.
Defenseman Christian Wolanin was waived and claimed Saturday morning by the Buffalo Sabres. Wolanin, who appeared more comfortable in the preseason than he did after arriving in a midseason trade with the Ottawa Senators in March, will head to his third home in less than seven months.
Wolanin was waived in order to accommodate the activation of veteran defenseman Olli Maatta from injured reserve. Maatta, who won the Stanley Cup twice with Pittsburgh, became the Kings’ seventh defenseman, a tumble from his stature early last season when he played on the top pairing with Drew Doughty.
Forward Lias Andersson, who has been healing from a groin injury, was placed on injured reserve retroactively in order to make room for the recall of forward and former first-round pick Rasmus Kupari. Kupari drew into the lineup for winger Brendan Lemieux, who was placed on the COVID-19/non-roster list Saturday. Kupari, a natural center, played some right wing in the preseason and will line up at that position for the time being.
“(Kupari is) a good skater, he has a tenacity in him all over the rink, he can hunt pucks down, we expect him to become a real good penalty killer and he can provide offense as well,” Kings Coach Todd McLellan told reporters. “He’s got a lot of tools that he provides the group.”
Meaning behind the moves
Wolanin started the season as the Kings’ depth defenseman and with his heading to Buffalo, the Kings now have Austin Strand, Kale Clague and 31-year-old Cameron Gaunce as their only non-roster defensemen with NHL experience.
Up front, Kupari was one of the last players remaining in camp that was sent to the AHL. Whether or not he can stick at either center or wing remains to be seen, though Andersson and Lemieux’s spots should be fairly secure for when they become available. Injured winger Andreas Athanasiou’s impending return and, further down the line, that of Quinton Byfield could crowd the Kings’ roster at forward a bit.
That could be bad news for a some forwards currently in the minors. Jaret Anderson-Dolan, whose stock seems to have dropped slightly after making a positive impression last season, and Austin Wagner seem to be getting further away from a solid spot on the roster. Wagner, who dressed in 75 percent or more of the Kings’ games in each of the past three seasons, was waived and re-assigned to the Ontario Reign at the start of the season, and has already been passed up multiple times for opportunities to rejoin the roster.
Vegas Fallout
The Pacific Division race just got much spicier, at the expense of the Vegas Golden Knights, whom the Kings defeated, 6-2, on Thursday. Not only did perennial Selke Trophy candidate and leading scorer Mark Stone sustain a non-contact injury that has since kept him off the ice, but his linemate, prolific left wing Max Pacioretty, broke his foot blocking a shot and will miss six weeks. Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal noted that Vegas has been +41 with both Stone and Pacioretty on the ice and only +11 with them off the ice since the duo teamed up late in the 2018-19 season.
“I’m hoping this might be the best thing to happen to us,” Vegas Coach Peter DeBoer told reporters. “You take out guys that you rely on for offense every night, (now) you’ve got to play with detail, you’ve got to have that defensive foundation, you’ve got to be prepared to win 2-1, 3-2. We’ve got to get that back; we haven’t had enough of that.”
In a division whose playoff spots were already very much up in the air with an expansion team in Seattle, a top-heavy roster in Edmonton, underperforming clubs in Vancouver and Calgary last season and the three California teams all seeking to right their ships, these blows to the favorite may create opportunity. The Golden Knights won the Pacific in 2017 and 2019, and had the most overall wins (40) in the entire NHL last season.
Vegas was already without one of the forwards who would have logically filled in for Stone, Alex Tech, who underwent shoulder surgery in July with a recovery timetable of six months. Four other Vegas forwards were also not practicing with the team Saturday, though none were as prominent nor expected to be out long-term.