The Los Angeles Kings and the Utah Hockey Club are both expected to welcome back a key defenseman when they come off their two-week break on Saturday evening in Los Angeles.
Mikey Anderson, third on the Kings in average ice time at 22:50, is set to return after missing the past four games with an upper-body injury sustained against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Jan. 30.
Sean Durzi, who spent his first two NHL seasons with Los Angeles, is slated to return for Utah after missing 52 games with a shoulder injury. Durzi was injured on Oct. 14 against the New Jersey Devils after averaging 21:27 of ice time through the first four games.
“I think it’s a great boost. I think the player, but the person as well,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said of Durzi. “The energy, the leadership he brings, the commitment he has. It’s good to have him back and, obviously, he’s a good player.”
Both teams are as close to 100 percent healthy as they’ve been all season.
Drew Doughty returned on Jan. 29 after missing the first 47 games with a broken ankle, and the veteran defenseman then played for Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off over the past two weeks.
After celebrating the win against the U.S. in the championship game on Thursday night, Doughty will be available to play on Saturday, Kings coach Jim Hiller told reporters on Friday.
“We get Dewey for a little bit, but now he’s got four more games under his belt at a very high pace, so that’s going to be really good for us and for him,” Anderson said. “I think everyone’s excited. It adds another layer to the team.”
Los Angeles forward Adrian Kempe is also coming off three games at 4 Nations with Team Sweden and is expected to play Saturday.
“I thought he had a great tournament and you could see by his ice time that the coaches felt the same way, too,” Hiller said of Kempe. “I think he really established himself. I think they knew he was a good player going in, but I always look at the ice time, that’s important, and in the coach’s eyes, they realized he was one of their go-to players. He set himself up really well going into next year’s Olympics, as far as his position on the team.”
With Durzi back, Utah will have its top three defensemen available for the first time this season.
Mikhail Sergachev and John Marino were acquired in the offseason, but Marino missed the first three months of the season after undergoing back surgery.
Tourigny doesn’t expect Durzi to come in and immediately play substantial minutes, however.
“He didn’t play for a long time, so we will keep the expectation as low as possible,” Tourigny said. “Just want to get his legs under himself and be him.”
Utah is not expected to have forward Logan Cooley available. Cooley, second on the team with 43 points (15 goals, 28 assists) in 50 games, sustained a lower-body injury against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Jan. 29 and is day-to-day.
