The Los Angeles Kings are set to take the ice this afternoon against the Seattle Kraken at Crypto.com Arena and ahead of the game made a roster move that was a little surprising. Yesterday, I wrote that today's game would have been the perfect opportunity to give Erik Portillo his first career NHL start.
However, it looks like the former third-round pick is going to have to wait a little longer as he was loaned to the Ontario Reign and the Kings recalled Pheonix Copley. This game today would have been great chance for Portillo to get his first NHL action as the Kraken rank near the bottom in goals scored and it is a home game where the Kings have been really good.
Portillo has been with the Kings for about a week and half now after he was called up when Darcy Kuemper was placed on injured reserve. At this point of his career, getting as much time on the ice is important so if he wasn't going to play today, or Monday, it makes sense to send him back to Reign to help continue his development.
The question is if the Kings were not going to give him a start, what was the point of calling him up? It is possible they had every intention of getting him a spot start to spell David Rittich but they felt he wasn't ready.
It is also possible the Kings felt this was an easy opportunity to get Portillo into a game as the Reign will be playing in San Diego today against the Gulls after he hasn't played since being called up.
Looking ahead to the next few games, the Kings have a home game against the Seattle Kraken before a road game against the San Jose Sharks on Monday. After that, it is a home game against currently the best team in the NHL, the Winnipeg Jets.
Head coach Jim Hiller will certainly want Rittich available for that game against the Jets so it would make sense for the coaching staff to give Rittich a day off either today or Monday. If Rittich plays today, the Kings could make another roster move to bring Portillo back for Monday's game against the Sharks or go forward with Copley.