The Los Angeles Kings (11-6-7) host the Vancouver Canucks (10-13-2) in the back end of back-to-back games on Saturday night (Nov. 29) this weekend for head coach Jim Hiller and staff in the West. A couple of key players on the blue line on defense and with the forward lines in the top-nine group will miss the game tonight vs. the Canucks at home due to various injury issues.
Warren Foegele and Drew Doughty are both out for the Los Angeles Kings vs. the Vancouver Canucks due to injuries
Forward Warren Foegele will miss the second game late this week and this weekend for the Kings and Hiller due to an injury he suffered in practice this week.
On Saturday morning, Hiller said that Foegele won't play for the Kings in the back end of back-to-back games tonight at Crypto Arena vs. the Canucks from Vancouver. He updated Foegele's status after suffering an upper-body injury in practice a couple of days ago on Thanksgiving Day, saying that the Kings' forward is "feeling better".
Foegele reportedly remains with an injury status of "day-to-day" for the Kings due to an upper-body injury.
In Foegele's absence yesterday in the front end of back-to-back games against the Ducks on the road in Anaheim at the Honda Center, forward Alex Turcotte played with the fourth-line forward group on the active roster for the Kings on Black Friday. Turcotte scored the season's first goal in the third period in the final frame yesterday against Anaheim to put the Kings up on the scoreboard.
Another positive injury update the Kings and Hiller got earlier this week on Thanksgiving Day was the return of defenseman Drew Doughty to practice in the team drills. Doughty was reportedly wearing a non-contact jersey for the Kings in practice and the team skate for drills on Nov. 27.
Doughty skated with the team wearing the grey non-contact jersey again on Saturday morning, before the contest tonight against the Canucks at home at Crypto Arena.
While we don't have concrete timelines regarding the return of Foegele and/or Doughty to the active roster lineup for the Kings this fall, both of these updates were at least encouraging for LA this weekend.