The LA Kings hit the ice for practice today at Toyota Sports Performance Center, following a team day off yesterday.

A few updates, right off the bat.

First things first, the Kings were without forward Anze Kopitar and goaltender Darcy Kuemper.

Kopitar averaged over 20 minutes per game on the team’s recent roadtrip and Hiller pointed to that usage, combined with the long flight back, as reasons why it made sense to simply give the captain an extra day off to recover. He added that Kopitar will re-join the team for practice tomorrow. With two practice days this weekend, the Kings can afford to give the veteran an extra day as needed. No issues expected there that would put his availability for Monday’s game against Columbus in doubt.

For Kuemper, he remains on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, sustained last week in Dallas when he was checked in the head by Stars forward Mikko Rantanen. Kuemper has not yet returned to the ice to my knowledge and was definitely not with the full group today. In terms of a timeline, Hiller did not have a new update on Kuemper’s status, which means that the goaltenders presently available are Anton Forsberg and Pheonix Copley. Certainly doesn’t feel like they’ll have Kuemper this week, but we’ll continue to monitor that situation with the Kings in action on Monday and Tuesday.

For the players who were on the ice, here’s what we saw in terms of alignment –

Foegele – Malott – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Laferriere
Moore – Turcotte – Kuzmenko
Armia – Helenius – Perry

Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci
Moverare

Forsberg / Copley

Malott is the placeholder for Kopitar. He’s really not a center but with Kopitar only expected to be out of action today, it makes more sense to plug and play Malott there, rather than mess with multiple lines. Once Kopitar factors back in, this is the group we saw to end the game in Tampa Bay, when Jim Hiller swapped Foegele and Laferriere in-game. Is that what we’ll expect to see on Monday against the Blue Jackets? Honestly, not sure. Hiller didn’t give a ton away in that department but did share that he likes the way that Foegele and Turcotte compliment each other in their respective games. Will have more to come on Turcotte, likely tomorrow morning, but he’s gelled well with Foegele at times, just as he has seemed to with Moore and Laferriere. Lots of options. Interested to see where the Kings go in the near future.

Photo by China Wong/NHLI via Getty Images

Today’s practice was the first day that Phillip Danault was not a member of the LA Kings since July 27, 2021. That’s a long time.

Naturally, Danault missed the last four games, the first three of which were flu-related. More on that HERE. Now, he’s a member of the Montreal Canadiens organization after his trade yesterday evening and yeah, that’s a little bit strange.

It’s weird to see a teammate traded, certainly. Goes for a lot of guys in the room, I’m sure.

For Trevor Moore, he’s played almost exclusively with Danault over the last few seasons. Over the last three years, Moore played more than 2,200 minutes with Danault, compared to just over 500 minutes apart. As much as things have changed, the Moore/Danault pairing has been a middle-six staple in Los Angeles for some time. When you play so regularly with a teammate, you build a relationship both on and off the ice. That was certainly the case here. The business is the business, everyone understands and respects that. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t personal ties when you see a move like the one the Kings made last night.

“Yeah, I mean, it sucks, I played with Phil for a long time, he’s been my center for a long time, so it’s a tough one,” Moore said. “I knew his family really well, his kids, so it stings, but I’m happy for them to go back home all that kind of good stuff. Wish him the best.”

For Moore, he said that speculation around a situation like that gets into the room a little bit, but at the same time, the business is the business. Players don’t talk a ton about that, understanding that a player’s situation is his own.

Moore said he could see why Danault might’ve wanted a change in scenery, might’ve wanted a move, understanding that it wasn’t the year he was hoping for. So it adds up. Ultimately, Moore didn’t have all the answers. Nor should he be expected to. He’s a longtime teammate, linemate and friend, so he’s a guy you want to hear from after a trade like that. But he also can’t be expected to know exactly what was going on. He did add, though, that he didn’t feel like the move was made to shake up the group, believing it to be more specific to Danault.

Before Jim Hiller took questions this morning, he began his own availability by speaking on Danault as well.

“I just want to talk about Phil, as we know the trade last night and Phil had some great seasons, some great moments here with us,” Hiller said. “I think we’re grateful for his time here, well spent. This season was bit of an anomaly, didn’t go as well for him or as well for our expectations, but we’re happy to see him go to Montreal, where he’s played before, where he had great success and we wish him nothing but the best.”

Hiller said that he spoke regularly with Danault this season but declined to share the specifics of those conversations, beyond that they “communicated on a number of different things.”

He added that he was not involved in the conversations with Danault’s agent or Ken Holland, noting that the job of General Manager and Head Coach are separate for a reason. He deferred any thoughts on Danault’s role with the team this season to the player himself, noting that ultimate reasoning behind it is probably a better question for Phil.

Will have more on Alex Turcotte tomorrow and the opportunity that is presented to him following this trade. Spoke with Turcotte today and he expressed a lot of excitement with the opportunity in front of him.

Alex Turcotte on his opportunity to play 3C with the Kings –

“Great opportunity for me…..I’ll be ready for it. I’m confident in myself. Just going to go out there, work as hard as I can, do the best that I can, hopefully produce more and show them what I’ve got.”

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) December 20, 2025

Moore and Hiller both indicated that they believe Turcotte is a player who is ready for a bit more and Turcotte himself seems extremely eager to prove that is in fact the case. I’m a Turcotte fan and believe there’s more in there with an expanded role. He’ll get his chance on the third line come Monday and we’ll see what he can make of it.