A day of updates, Insiders.

The most important of which being the presence of goaltender Darcy Kuemper this morning during today’s LA Kings practice. Felt far from certain after Tuesday’s game, when Kuemper left the game against the Rangers late in the first period with an upper-body injury.

Turns out, it was actually a pretty unique thing, yet ultimately nothing with any long-term concern.

When Kuemper experienced that collision in front of the net, he said that it pinched a nerve in his neck, resulting in a “dead arm” situation. He took a few circles around, which we saw, in hopes that it the feeling would just come back. When it didn’t, Kuemper met with Head Athletic Trainer Chris Kingsley and immediately left the game. Everyone hoped things would just return to normal in short order but that did not happen at the intermission, so he was ruled out for the game.

Yesterday morning, Kuemper said everything returned to normal for him and he returned to practice today. Looked like himself. He’s good to go, despite something in the moment that was a bit scary.

“It was just weird, I was just kind of waiting for it to come back, that’s why I was trying to buy some time and then in the intermission, same thing, but with neck stuff, they want to be precautionary,” Kuemper described today. “The next morning, it was feeling better.”

Any time you see a goaltender leave a game early, you certainly have a lot of concern. Especially on this team, with the importance of that position for the Kings with where they’re at offensively.

After the game, Head Coach Jim Hiller said that he did not believe Kuemper’s injury was related to the upper-body injury he sustained in Dallas last month. That was certainly a concern in the moment, especially on a play against the Rangers that didn’t really seem to have all that much contact between Kuemper and former Kings forward Jonny Brodzinski. Kuemper, though, said he knew immediately that it was a completely different thing.

Still, that was the third instance this season with an injury-related situation for Kuemper. Does that frustration linger a bit?

“You never want to get hurt, but it’s a part of the game, so you try not to let it get to you too much, just deal with whatever comes your way and get back as soon you can,” Kuemper added.

Long ways to say, all good on the Kuemper front.

Joining him on the ice today was defenseman Drew Doughty, who missed last game with an illness. Nothing more to be expected for Doughty than a one-game absence.

Kuemper and Doughty are both expected to travel with the team tomorrow, as they embark on a six-game trip beginning on Saturday in St. Louis. With both players healthy, it gives the Kings 21 healthy players set to be on the trip – 12 forwards, 7 defensemen and two goaltenders.

That brings us to the other two players we’re focused on here – forwards Anze Kopitar and Trevor Moore.

Both players are on injured reserve, but we saw Moore rejoin the team for practice today for the first time in a bit. Kopitar did not practice with the team but did skate on his own, earlier in the day. Per Hiller, both players are expected to travel to St. Louis, which means a group of 23 will make the trip on the road.

“They’re going to travel,” Hiller said. “That doesn’t mean that they’re going to play, but they’re going to travel. That’s really positive for us. We’re not going to call anybody up prior. They’re not in, I’m not sure if they’ll play or not, we’ll see, but we’re comfortable with where the roster is at.”

This trip will likely feature very little practice time for the Kings and when that has been the case, the Kings have sometimes opted to leave players home to skate at the practice facility and then those players will fly in once they’re ready. Certainly doesn’t seem like the Kings would waste the time of two veteran players if they wasn’t at least some hope that they could be an option for some point in the trip.

The other interesting part here, which I confirmed via a follow-up to the question about Kopitar and Moore, is that the Kings won’t use one of two open roster spots to recall an additional forward. Andre Lee or Cole Guttman would both have been options in that position, for various reasons, but at this time, not expecting to see either player on the plane tomorrow. That’s an additional pro for Moore and Kopitar maybe playing at some point on the trip.

During practice today, Moore rotated in on the fourth line with Jeff Malott, Samuel Helenius and Taylor Ward. With what we’ve been able to gather, both players are in a situation where they’ll feel right when they feel right and they’ll play when they’re ready to play. Just doesn’t sound like a situation that is as simple as you break a bone, you know it takes say four weeks to heal. As dumb as it sounds, you can be day-to-day for a month and anyone who has worked around injuries before understands that. We’ll see where both guys land. Next chance to get a sense of where they are at is Saturday morning in St. Louis, when the Kings hit the ice for what will be expected to be a full-team morning skate.

For today, here is how the Kings aligned during practice –

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

Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci
Moverare

Kuemper / Forsberg

That’s all but Kopitar from the group that will be on the plane tomorrow morning.

Will Moore be ready to play? Unsure at this time. Hiller was far from committal on that. But it was encouraging to see him work his way through rushes as he did. With a goaltender, he’s in or out. Has to play the same role. With a skater, you can often times start that player lower in the lineup to slowly bring back game sharpness. Moore has yet to play in the 2026 calendar year and it’ll be close to a month even if he does play on Saturday, his first opportunity on the trip. So, wouldn’t be surprising to see him worked back in there, especially with Joel Armia and Corey Perry both earning the minutes they are getting right now.

Remains to be seen here with Kopitar, but he has been skating, even if not yet at a workload that has him ready to return. Will keep an eye on that situation as we head out on what is one of the most compact six-game trips I’ve seen in this league. More on that tomorrow.

For today, I’d consider these to be pretty positive updates. It’s a good sign to see these players moving in the right direction, especially with what could potentially be a season-defining trip for the Kings, in either direction. Working on a few other stories here as we approach the trip and I’ll be back on the road with full coverage from all six cities, winter coat in hand. Talk soon, Insiders!