The Los Angeles Kings are dealing with a few injuries ahead of Thursday night's game against the Colorado Avalanche. After the game against the Rangers, head coach Jim Hiller already noted that Tanner Jeannot would not be traveling after suffering an injury during the game.
Meanwhile, Alex Turcotte didn't play at all against the Rangers due to an upper-body injury and his availability is in question for this one.
Prior to leaving for Colorado, the Kings would recall forward Jeff Malott from the Ontario Reign to help with depth in case Turcotte is not able to go. Let's look at three things to know ahead of Thursday night's game in regard to this move.
Jeff Malott can score in the AHL
The Los Angeles Kings signed Jeff Malott this past offseason as a free agent after a few years in the Winnipeg Jets organization. While appearing in only one game in the NHL in his career, he has played in 60 or more AHL games in each of the past four seasons.
What stands out when looking at his stats is that he has no problem scoring goals as he now has 20 or more goals in each of the past four seasons. This season, he is one point away from tying a career high and currently has an impressive +/- of +17.
Malott has also been very good in shootouts this season as he is a perfect four for four in those situations. If he does play, it would be hard to imagine that he would be one of the top choices if the game goes to a shootout but is another valuable skill set to have available.
LA Kings could still go with 11/7 roster alignment
While the Kings did call up a forward, there is no guarantee that Malott will play tonight, even if Alex Turcotte is unavailable. For most of the season, the Kings used a roster alignment of 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
Since Drew Doughty's season debut at the end of January, the Kings have primarily gone with 12 forwards and six defensemen. However, playing a very good offensive team like the Colorado Avalanche the Kings may elect to go with the extra defenseman.
Fighting runs in the family
Jeff Malott has pretty good size at 6'4" and could be a good replacement for what Tanner Jeannot brought to this team with more goal-scoring. He also probably won't shy away from physicality or even a fight, and that is something that seems to run in the family.
His brother, Mike Malott, is a mixed martial artist in the UFC and has a career record of 11-2-1. Recently Jeannot has found the scoring touch with goals in both games this past weekend but really excels in providing physicality for this group with a team-leading 211 hits this season, almost 100 more than the next player.
A fourth line of Samuel Helenius, Alex Turcotte, and Jeff Malott could be very entertaining and something this LA Kings team needs for this game.