On September 28th the Kings lost two d-men to “upper body injuries” during their pre-season win against the Colorado Avalanche.
Los Angeles Kings 1st pairing D-man, Jake Muzzin, is expected to be ready for the season opener while Matt Greene, who was assumed to be alongside Alec Martinez on the Kings 3rd pairing, is still in question. Greene has only played in a total of 10 minutes all pre-season so with only 2 games remaining before the start of the season it is looking less and less like he will have time to get into game shape. McBain or Schultz are the odds on favorite to start the year in Greene’s place.
Always been a huge fan of Greener but there is zero rush to get the 32 year old veteran and assistant captain back on the ice. There have been signs of the heavy miles that he has amassed and a rested Greene during the stretch can only benefit the Kings. If Greener does miss time I would expect the Kings to go with McBain. We have seen Schultz’s ceiling and McBain showed flashes of becoming a solid NHL defenceman during the 2014-2015 campaign.
Expected LA Kings D pairings:
Jake Muzzin – Drew Doughty
Brayden McNabb – Christian Ehrhoff
Alec Martinez – Jaime McBain*
*Assuming Matt Greene is not in the lineup to start the year.
Happy Frozen Fury-ing.
– JD Dorfman
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