You never know exactly how long it’ll take players to return from a serious injury. The Los Angeles Kings originally expected goaltender Jonathan Quick to be back from the groin injury he suffered on opening night by mid-February. That might have been too optimistic of an outlook.
Jon Rosen is reporting that GM Dean Lombardi is now saying that Quick’s rehab process will keep him out until March.
Rosen is also reporting that the team is considering assigning current backup goaltender Jeff Zatkoff to Ontario while recalling Jack Campbell to take his place.
To make matters worse, the eventual return of Tyler Toffoli has also been undetermined as of now. If the Kings wanted to get a glimpse of how a fully constructed roster would look, they might have to wait a while.
Zatkoff has really struggled this season. He’s just 2-7-1 with a 2.94 GAA and a .881 save percentage. Peter Budaj has played admirably in Quick’s absence this season, and has assumed the starter’s role when he wasn’t even expected to be the second stringer when the season started.
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One could make the argument that Budaj has been largely propped up by a stingy defense, though. The Kings give up the least amount of shots on goal per game in the NHL. Budaj ranks 5th in the league among qualified goaltenders in GAA, but just 20th in save percentage.
He has definitely played well, though, especially relative to expectations. However, he doesn’t have the same type of ability that Quick has to basically stand on his head over the course of a game and steal victories.
A duo where Budaj is backing up Quick is extremely formidable, but it sounds like that scenario is still over a month away.
It sounds a bit rash to try to trade for a guy to fill a role that would seemingly evaporate come March when Quick returns. Right now they simply need somebody backing up Budaj who can provide more support than Zatkoff has done.
Campbell is intriguing. He was the first goaltender drafted in 2010, at number 11 overall by the Dallas Stars. He only played 1 game with the Stars during his time within the organization, and the Kings traded Nick Ebert for him this past offseason.
Campbell has played 1 game with the Kings this season, which was back on November 1 against the Anaheim Ducks. He stopped all 5 shots against him.
Campbell is also 18-6-3 with a 2.63 GAA and a .910 save percentage in the AHL this season. With how poorly Zatkoff has played, it might be time to make that switch sooner rather than later.
Of course, this is only one of the problems this Los Angeles roster has. Their lack of offensive production this season has been troubling.
Jeff Carter has been remarkable, and Tanner Pearson is having a great year, but there’s been a lot of underachievement from other key forwards.
Anze Kopitar has been a contributive playmaker, but the absence of his goal scoring has been concerning, with just 5 in 42 games. Marian Gaborik has just 10 points in 26 games this season.
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Acquiring another scorer might be the more pressing issue, but the goaltender transaction could be valuable without as drastic of a roster reshuffle.