1/27 Preview – Foegele In, Turcotte Out, Edmundson “game-time decision” + Hiller on Connors, 4th Line, Kopitar Update

TODAY’S MATCHUP: After last night’s game in Columbus was postponed until March, a six-game trip is now a five-game trip, resuming action tonight in Detroit against the Red Wings.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Corey Perry found the back of the net twice when these teams met in Los Angeles back in November. Perry has scored 20 goals against Detroit in his career, with 13 in the regular season and seven more in the playoffs. Forward Adrian Kempe has scored seven goals in nine games over his last five seasons versus the Red Wings and leads the Kings with ten points (7-3-10) in that span.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held an optional morning skate today, made possible by yesterday’s game in Columbus being cancelled.

Goaltender Anton Forsberg did not take the morning skate today and is expected to be tonight’s starter for the Kings between the pipes. Forsberg has a 3-0-1 record throughout his career against Detroit, with a .939 save percentage and a 1.74 goals-against average.

Based on practice yesterday and today’s morning skate, here is tonight’s expected lineup for the Kings –

Perry – Laferriere – Kempe
Moore – Byfield – Foegele
Fiala – Armia – Kuzmenko
Malott – Helenius – Ward

Anderson – Doughty
Edmundson/Moverare – Clarke
Dumoulin – Ceci

Forsberg
Kuemper

Lots of changes from what we saw in St. Louis, sharing all of those updates in more detail below, including the latest injury updates on several players. Based on what we’ve seen over the last two days, this is my best thought on the alignment this evening against Detroit, pending a game-time decision for defenseman Joel Edmundson. More below.

RED WINGS VITALS: Detroit brings an 8-1-1 record over its last ten games into tonight’s action, extended with a 5-1 win over Winnipeg on Saturday evening.

From their team account, here’s how the Red Wings lined up against the Jets –

Saturday night. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/Uqg9GWQTdD

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) January 25, 2026

Goaltender John Gibson is already confirmed as tonight’s starter in net against the Kings. Detroit will be without defenseman Simon Edvinsson, who is out with a lower-body injury. Forward Marco Kasper scored two goals in November when these teams played at Crypto.com Arena. Kasper also had three points when these teams met in Detroit last season. His four goals and five points are his highest totals for both goals and points against any one franchise.

Storyline Of The Day – Tonight’s Lineup Will Change & Here’s Why
Okay, Insiders.

Several things to talk about here from the last 24 hours which will certainly have an impact on what we see tonight.

Normally, coming off a win, teams might like to keep their lineup consistent. I think the Kings would’ve liked to do that as well. But circumstances dictated otherwise.

Forward Alex Turcotte and defenseman Joel Edmundson both missed practice yesterday. Turcotte also did not skate today and is out tonight against Detroit. Edmundson did skate today and is a game-time decision for tonight’s game. Both players have upper-body injuries and are on a day-to-day timeline.

Edmundson was “banged up” coming out of the win over the Blues, per Jim Hiller, after missing a large chunk of the second period, and felt to be a bit questionable coming out of the St. Louis game. Edmundson was on at the start of yesterday’s skate, appeared to give it a go, but went to the room fairly early in the skate. He did participate in full today, although it was a lower intensity skate without any contact.

If Edmundson cannot go, Jacob Moverare will check back into the lineup. I asked Hiller this morning how a potential Moverare change might impact the pairs but he wasn’t quite there yet to disclose at this point. The hope is that Edmundson will play. If not, it’ll be Moverare in and we’ll see how the six defensemen are aligned in that case.

With Turcotte, he was not on the ice at all, creating a hole in the Top-9 immediately after one was just filled by the return of Trevor Moore on Saturday in St. Louis, Moore jumped right back into action and delivered the kind of game the Kings needed. Nearly 20 minutes played, scored a goal in the third period, led the team in shot attempts and found the game-deciding goal in the shootout.

Moore filled Warren Foegele’s spot in the lineup, a healthy scratch for the veteran forward. Looks like it will be just a one-game absence for Foegele, who is expected to skate alongside Moore tonight, with Quinton Byfield centering that line. Foegele is a proud hockey player with a track record of success in the NHL. I can’t imagine he was happy with it and nor should he be.

After yesterday’s practice, Jim Hiller used the word “intensity” when it came to what he saw from Foegele in that skate. Direct and intense play that he’d like to see carry over into the game. That’s the type of response you want to see from Foegele tonight. Intense.

The other change up front will see forward Joel Armia play center for the first time as a member of the Kings. He said he’s played through the middle here and there in his NHL career but hasn’t really been a full-time center at this level. He seemed very unconcerned with the transition, though. Said he doesn’t believe there will be all that much in terms of change for him. He’s filled the center role defensively as the first forward back and actually seemed to be really looking forward to the opportunity, both in playing center and playing with Kevin Fiala and Andrei Kuzmenko.

“I don’t think it’s going to be that much difference, except for the faceoffs and stuff like that,” Armia said this morning. “I play both ways up the ice anyways, so it’s going to be a lot of fun. I’ll probably try to play more simple in there, if there’s a play to be made, of course trying to make it, but I’m going to try to get the puck to those guys and let them do their thing.”

Armia said he has put in a bit more of a post-practice focus on practicing faceoffs, working with the team’s natural centers and picking up a few tips from the other guys. He won a huge draw, 3-on-5, against the Rangers last week. See how that goes.

I get why the Kings are doing what they’re doing. I think that Foegele deserves the chance to come back in. But man does it leave them extremely thin down the middle. Only Quinton Byfield remains from the four centers who dressed on opening night. Samuel Helenius is a natural center but that’s the extent of what the Kings have. Forward Kenny Connors skated this morning after he was recalled from the AHL and was an option to play but he won’t tonight. Leaves the Kings with a very imbalanced lineup, with 10 natural wingers among their 12 forwards. There’s a lot of risk in.

Don’t know if it’s the right move or not. Suppose we’ll find out.

3 To Watch For –
– On Connors, he took his first morning skate with the Kings today.

Here’s what Hiller has heard of Connors, coming mostly from Ontario Head Coach Andrew Lord –

“He impressed in training camp, so we’ve kept in good contact regarding his game and they just say he keeps getting better. What we did see in training camp was a smart player, somebody who came in and adapted really well. Reminds me of Laferriere just a little bit in coming out of college. There’s always an adjustment but these guys didn’t really have a big adjustment period. They just seem to be able to jump right in, in the American League [for Connors], plays good minutes, just a smart player who understands the game. That’s the hardest thing to do, is to be able to understand the game at a high level. He does and that’s a positive for him.”

Connors was recalled from AHL-Ontario yesterday afternoon and met the team in Detroit this morning. Connors flew in yesterday and actually beat the team to the hotel, with the Kings adjusting on the fly to yesterday’s game being cancelled.

Connors will not play tonight. He’ll get the next couple of days to settle in, “get a taste of it” per Hiller and he could potentially factor in against Buffalo on Thursday or perhaps on the weekend in Philadelphia or Carolina. Remains to be seen, no guarantees. But he won’t play tonight.

As noted above, there’s a strong case to be made for working Connors in tonight. The Kings are extremely thin at center. There’s already a serious problem down the middle and they’re an injury away from it getting even worse.

But I also think that Warren Foegele deserves the chance to get back in. He’s a veteran who was a huge part of last season’s team. Hasn’t gone according to plan this year, but he was a big factor last year. Foegele talked this morning, as noted above, about responding the right way. He’s earned the chance to do that, even though it means a bit of an imbalanced lineup.

I don’t love it. The center situation is a huge concern. Again, guess we’ll see how it shakes out.

– The other factor on that front is that Hiller wants to keep the fourth line intact, which I think is deserved.

“That’s part of it too, with the decision to bring Foegs out, it had to be somebody in the top nine,” Hiller said. “Typically when somebody comes out, it’s somebody on the fourth line. We don’t want to touch that line. A lot of the same conversation goes into if Turc doesn’t play, does Sammy play more, what do we do? He’s a centerman. We just want to leave that line alone because they’re doing a heck of a job. Probably playing more, that’s probably the only thing we can do with them.”

So, look for the Malott/Helenius/Ward line to stay together and it sounds as if there is at least an intention to give them more minutes. Proof will be in the pudding on that one, considering past usage. But plans nonetheless.

As a line, Malott/Helenius/Ward have controlled more than 70 percent of high-danger chances and right around 60 percent of shot attempts. In such a small sample size, those numbers are a bit skewed. But it does match the eye test, which says those guys have worked the puck around in the offensive zone more often than not.

– Lastly, I think this is a positive update on Anze Kopitar.

“We’re hoping there’s a chance he’ll play before the trip up,” Hiller said. “We’re not sure, but we’re hoping he’ll get in before the trip is up. We’ll see.”

Kopitar skated today, from the start of morning skate, and was among those on the ice a bit later getting his own work in. Won’t go tonight but the fact that he is here says there’s a chance he returns on the back end of this trip. Don’t think they would’ve wasted his time otherwise.

Thought this was a nice quote to include as well, from Detroit Head Coach Todd McLellan on Kopitar from earlier this morning.

“Unreal human being. I go to the person first, you know how good he is as a hockey player, but it tells you what he’s like as a as a person, the amount of class that he carries himself with. He cares about people around him. Everybody in this room, especially from LA, can understand exactly what I’m saying. How he looks out for other people on the staff, not always the guys that put the equipment on. Then, on the ice, he’s a champion and he’s that for a reason, because he gave in so many different ways throughout his career. Offensively, he led the team in scoring for multiple years but still was good enough to win the Selke Trophy. That tells you enough about him.”

Respect for days. As he’s deserved. Hope to see him back in action by the weekend, if things align.

Kings and Wings, 4 PM puck drop back on Pacific time. A good test tonight, against McLellan and his team.