The Los Angeles Kings are going to be looking for their first win of the season against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday night. It is the second straight road game after they suffered a 3-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Monday that ended a five-game win streak.
Prior to the game, there was some news for the Los Angeles Kings that primarily impacted their AHL team the Ontario Reign as they signed their captain to an extension. Meanwhile, there might be some clarity on the goaltender position, which has been somewhat short-handed recently.
Los Angeles Kings sign Joe Hicketts to a two-year, two-way contract
On Thursday, the Los Angeles Kings announced they had signed defenseman Joe Hicketts to a two-year contract extension with an average annual value of $775,000. He has spent the entire season with the Reign and has been a key leader as the team's captain.
He began as an undrafted free agent signing by the Detroit Red Wings and played in 22 games over three seasons. He had 52 blocks, 40 hits and five assists in those 22 games for the Red Wings.
However, he hasn't appeared in an NHL game since the 2019-20 season. After two years with the Iowa Wild, Hicketts joined the Kings organization last season and has played in 52 games this season with three goals and 24 assists. It would be surprising to see Hicketts spend any time with the Kings but he is a good veteran to have be part of the Reign.
Ontario Reign could be looking to call up Carter George
The Los Angeles Kings have been dealing with their own issues at goalie as David Rittich has struggled in some recent appearances. It would have seemed likely that they would call up either Pheonix Copley or Erik Portillo as a replacement but Portillo has been unavailable due to an injury which has forced Copley to be the primary goalie for the Reign.
According to Scott Coffman with Mayor's Manor, the Reign could be looking to add former second round pick Carter George to the roster to give them some depth at the position.
George is currently playing in the OHL with the Owen Sound Attack and has gone 15-22-3-3 with a goals against average of 3.44 but a save percentage of .907%. While the goals against average may not be impressive, George has faced the third most shots in the OHL and has the sixth best save percentage.
As Coffman notes, the OHL season could end as early as this weekend for George and if that is the case he could be called up to the Ontario Reign shortly after that.
Dean Lombardi recognized at the GM meetings
On Monday night, former Los Angeles Kings general manager Dean Lombardi was recognized by his peers according to Elliotte Friedman with Sportsnet:
"Monday night, the architect of the two-time Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings, Dean Lombardi, was honoured by his peers. “As long as you thought his speech would be,” one laughed, “it was longer.” During a vintage performance, Lombardi waxed poetic about the necessity of great drafting/great development, admitting surprise at Vegas and Florida winning via a different model: attracting players raised elsewhere to highly-desired locations/organizations."
Lombardi was general manager for the Los Angeles Kings during some of their most successful seasons in franchise history. He helped build the team that would win two Stanley Cups in three seasons and made some great draft picks like Drew Doughty and Adrian Kempe.
Lombardi would end up being general manager for the Kings for over a decade and was replaced by current general manager Rob Blake in 2017.