The LA Kings found a way to get the win on Thursday night against the Utah Hockey Club by a final score of 4-2. The Kings have struggled on the road this season so to get a win, regardless of how it might have looked, was still good to see.
Since the NHL Trade Deadline, the Kings lineups have been pretty much set and the only time there has been changes is when a player is dealing with an injury. However, ahead of the game against Utah there was a notable change and what was even more surprising was that Jim Hiller didn't have anything to say about it postgame.
Jordan Spence surprisingly held out by the LA Kings against the Utah Hockey Club
As noted by reporters in attendance, Jordan Spence was on the ice for warmups against the Utah Hockey Club. Since the trade deadline, he has been paired with Vladislav Gavrikov and the pair has worked pretty well.
However, when the puck was dropped Spence was not on the bench and was replaced by Jacob Moverare. Since the trade deadline, the Kings went down to six defensemen and Moverare was the odd-man out and this was only his fifth game since the beginning of March.
There could be plenty of explanations for the switch, even this close to the game, and the most common would be suffering some kind of injury during warmups that would warrant the Kings being cautious and not aggravating an injury further.
However, after the game Jim Hiller was asked about the switch and didn't want to go into more detail about the switch, which only raises the intrigue.
Jim Hiller was asked by @DooleyLAK if he had anything to share about the decision to play Jacob Moverare over Jordan Spence: “No, nothing to share.”
— Russell Morgan (@NHLRussell) April 4, 2025
The fact that Hiller didn't want to go into more detail speaks to this likely being a coach's decision. However, the reasoning for that decision is a bit of a mystery.
In terms of the game itself, the Kings seemed to shorten the defensive rotations and lean on only four defenseman as Drew Doughty, Mikey Anderson, Vladislav Gavrikov, and Joel Edmunson were all over 21 minutes. Meanwhile, Brandt Clarke had only 14:32 of ice time and Moverare was 10:30.
The question is was this the plan all along or in response to the decision right before the game to not have Jordan Spence out there.
There has also been a noticeable trend in Spence's ice time as of late as he has been under 15 minutes in four of the past five games. However, was over 15 minutes in three of the four games prior to this stretch.
It will be interesting to see if this was a one-game thing for Jordan Spence and if he is out there Saturday against Edmonton. If not, hopefully, Jim Hiller will provide more of an explanation for the decision to remove Spence from the rotation.