Los Angeles Kings forward Arthur Kaliyev suffers a major injury days after signing a one-year contract
Photo credit: Gary A. Vasquez
A new report this afternoon has revealed that the Los Angeles Kings will be without young forward Arthur Kaliyev for a significant amount of time after he suffered an injury.
The NHL is beginning to ramp up training camp ahead of the 2024-25 NHL season. Today news has come out of Los Angeles that forward Arthur Kaliyev will lose out on a significant portion of the season due to an upper-body injury.
This is a huge blow to Arthur Kaliyev's momentum heading into the season. Just a few days ago he signed a one-year deal and bet on himself to earn a bigger contract. Now he will have a limited number of games to show his worth.
With the injury to Arthur Kaliyev, the door is now open for another pair of young Los Angeles Kings forwards to finally break through and make the NHL roster.
Kings could look to bring a youth movement to their forward group in 2024-25
With Arthur Kaliyev now out a wing spot in the middle six has now potentially opened up for the season. Two players to look at fighting for that spot are Akil Thomas and Alex Turcotte.
Akil Thomas is a former second-round pick of the Los Angeles Kings who has had a bit of a longer development path. With that said last season he finally broke out and showed the potential that many saw in him. As an assistant captain on the Ontario Reign in the AHL Akil Thomas played 64 games and tallied 46 points. Then in his first 7 games of NHL action, he surprised many and had 4 points.
Along with Akil Thomas fighting for a roster spot will be former top 5 overall pick Alex Turcotte. A product out of the USA National Team Development Program and the University of Wisconsin many expected Alex Turcotte to become one of the top two-way centers in the NHL. However, injuries have majorly derailed his career since being drafted highly. As was the case for Akil Thomas, Alex Turcotte also comes into training camp with good momentum. In 35 AHL games, he tallied 29 points. His NHL stint of 20 games was less impressive on the stat sheet amassing just 4 points.
The Los Angeles Kings will now have a roster spot open to take a chance on a young player due to the unfortunate Arthur Kaliyev injury. Since the spot was already expected to go to Arthur Kaliyev a young player with a lot to prove the natural replacement now seems to be a player like Akil Thomas or Alex Turcotte.
As NHL training camp and preseason continues on we will keep updating all of the latest position battles including what the Los Angeles Kings roster could look like.
Source: Elite Prospects
Akil Thomas Stats
Source: Hockey Reference
Alex Turcotte Stats
| POLL | ||
21 SEPTEMBRE | 72 ANSWERS Los Angeles Kings forward Arthur Kaliyev suffers a major injury days after signing a one-year contract Which player will have the best season for the Los Angeles Kings Arthur Kaliyev, Alex Turcotte, or Akil Thomas? | ||
| Arthur Aliyev | 16 | 22.2 % |
| Alex Turcotte | 42 | 58.3 % |
| Akil Thomas | 14 | 19.4 % |
| List of polls | ||
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