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Jeff Carter to IR, Ellerby Waived, In Come Toffoli and Vey |
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Well, we all expected a roster move after about a week of speculation. While one aspect of it is pretty predictable, the other one is kind of a shock.
Today the Kings waived defenseman Keaton Ellerby who had yet to play in a regular season game, and they put Jeff Carter, who is tied for the team lead in goals, on IR. In their steed comes the young guns of Tyler Toffoli and Linden Vey.
First reported out by John Hoven of the Mayors Manor, the Kings didn't wait long to give two of their most impressive prospects their first shots of the season, and one the first shot of his career.
Toffoli and Vey have been doing quite well in the minors despite some early season disappointments upon being cut from NHL camp. They are currently Manchester's leading scorers with Toffoli netting 7 goals and 12 points and Vey providing 8 assists and 11 points in just 10 games this season.
The bigger news however is the loss of Jeff Carter. Out with what is described as a lower body injury, Carter was the Kings hottest forward to start the year. He had four goals in his first four games of the year but has cooled since and potted just one since October 9th. While he still has been providing assists there has been a noticeable lack of jump in his step over the last two games. Carter played just 13 minutes of ice time against the Coyotes, the lowest total all season. He then played 23 minutes against the Sharks, his highest total of the season. It remains to be seen wether or not the injury to Carter was sustained over the back to back or if it is something he has been carrying with him for a while. According to Lisa Dillman of the LA Times, Carter was seen at the Kings practice facility this morning wearing a walking boot.
Ellerby, acquired by the Kings for a fifth round pick from Florida last year, was seen as an insurance policy on the health of Willie Mitchell. However, with Mitchell playing the second most minutes on the team and looking above average to average doing so Ellerby is going to be hard pressed to find playing time. The former first round selection of the Florida Panthers in 2007 played 35 games with the Kings last year. While Ellerby isn't exactly a noticeable player on the ice, he is what he is. He is a no flash, D-first defenseman on your bottom pairings. His service with the team can be considered admirable considering the struggles in depth defensively that the team faced last season. He came in and averaged 13-18 minutes a night on any given night, but had yet to suit up for a game in 2013-14. While still at the young age of 24, it wouldn't be surprising to see Ellerby get claimed. If not get can head down to Manchester and put in some solid minutes instead of being a pressbox mainstay. Ellerby is also an RFA at the end of this season for LA.
Meanwhile, the Kings will likely look at Tyler Toffoli on the second line wing position with Mike Richards. Toffoli is no stranger to the stat sheets, as he accumulated 11 points over his first 22 games, 6 of which came in his 12 game appearance in the 2012-13 postseason for the Kings. Toffoli had 51 points in 58 AHL games last year for Manchester in his rookie season. The Kings 2010 second-round pick will be looking to come up and stay up this time.
Linden Vey, a center, finally gets his first crack at the NHL after two years of inspired play with the Monarchs. The young center followed up an impressive 2011-12 rookie campaign of 43 points with an even more impressive sophomore season where he led the team in scoring with 67 points in 74 games. Vey is a natural playmaker and has provided 69 assists in a total of 174 games at the AHL level. With a fourth line center role that has been rotating around from Stoll, to Fraser, to Lewis, it's possible that we could see Vey play the 4C, or a third line center role while Stoll takes over fourth line duty yet again. Vey also played a little bit of wing in juniors, but given how Sutter and Luc Robitaille lamented the decisions to try and force Frattin and Toffoli into unfamiliar positions it wouldn't be surprising to see him stay at center.
There are obviously a multitude of combinations that Sutter can roll with (and believe me we will see them...) now that he has an extra forward in the lineup, but the insertion of Vey, 22, and Toffoli, 21 may also be a bit of a warning shot to King forwards like Trevor Lewis. Lewis has remained absent from the scoresheet through the first 14 games of the season and remains one of the worst on the team in overall possession numbers and CORSI. There is also the rather enigmatic play of Dwight King to consider, and the utility of grind line forwards like Clifford, Nolan and Carcillo. While the aforementioned have been effective at what they do to a degree, Vey and Toffoli give the Kings depth chart a little more dimension at the moment.
The length of which Carter is on IR is a mystery, but when he returns one of the two will likely be sent back. That being said, with Ellerby on the outs (Best of luck to him) one of these two will be staying for an extended amount of time. The Kings play tomorrow at 730pm against the Nashville Predators and it will be interesting to see how Sutter uses the two young forwards.
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