Kings Place Goaltender Pheonix Copley on LTIR, Seeking Short-Term Netminder Help
The Los Angeles Kings will be without backup goaltender Pheonix Copley for the foreseeable future, as the 31-year-old landed on long-term injured reserve on Sunday.
Copley, who sustained an undisclosed injury on Friday and didn’t travel with the team to Seattle over the weekend, will be required to miss at least the next 10 games while spending a minimum of 24 days on LTIR.
As such, the earliest he could return is during the Kings’ contest in Florida against the Panthers on January 11th. Until then, starter Cam Talbot will have to continue carrying the load between the pipes.
Los Angeles recalled veteran David Rittich on an emergency basis prior to its current road trip, with the NHL journeyman serving as Talbot’s backup as the Kings earned a 3-2 shootout victory over the Kraken on Saturday.
Rittich spent last season with the Winnipeg Jets, posting a 9-8-1 record with a 2.67 GAA and .901 SV% across 21 games (18 starts) while serving as Connor Hellebuyck’s backup. This season, he owns a 2.63 GAA and .901 SV% over 16 games with the AHL’s Ontario Reign.
The Kings may not have made the playoffs a season ago if not for Copley, who enjoyed a breakout campaign and stabilized the club’s goaltending dilemma courtesy of his 24-6-3 record, 2.64 GAA, .903 SV% and one shutout across 37 contests (career-high).
That success had yet to carry over into this season, as evidenced by his disappointing 3.16 GAA and .870 SV% over his first eight starts of the year. Luckily, his underperformance has been overshadowed by Talbot’s surprising early-season dominance.
In 20 games, Talbot has posted a 13-5-2 record, producing the best GAA (2.02) and SV% (.926) of his 11-year NHL career since his rookie season in 2013-14. He sits second in the league in GAA and sixth in SV% amongst netminders who’ve logged at least 10 games.
Additionally, the 6-foot-4 goaltender ranks sixth in the sport in Goals Saved Above Expected (10.9), per MoneyPuck, trailing only Jonathan Quick (11.5), Adin Hill (12.6), Jeremy Swayman (12.6), Connor Ingram (13.2) and Thatcher Demko (15.8).
Still, as ESPN’s Kevin Weekes reports, the Kings would benefit from adding another netminder to the mix, one that’d be an upgrade over Rittich and could fill the void in Copley’s absence.
With Copley and Viktor Arvidsson on LTIR, the Kings feature roughly $3.2 million in LTIR salary relief, although that figure will evaporate quickly once both return to the active roster. Thus, the club will likely seek exclusive short-term depth options in net.
Los Angeles has received quite the bargain on Talbot thus far, as the 36-year-old is outperforming his one-year, $2-million contract he signed this past summer. It includes a $1 million cap hit with a $1 million player bonus for reaching the 10 games played mark – a milestone he’s already achieved.
Thanks to his hot start, the Kings have started strong out of the gate, earning a 17-6-4 record for 38 points, good for third in the Pacific Division behind the Vancouver Canucks (44 points) and Vegas Golden Knights (47) entering Monday’s slate.
They’ll look to continue their impressive start during Tuesday’s road matchup against the San Jose Sharks, who, despite a historically miserable season-opening slide, have won six of their previous 11.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.