The Kings will be without a couple of players in the near term while another skater will be sticking around for a couple more years.
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Twin announcements from the club Saturday indicated forward Jared Wright signed a two-year contract extension worth $925,000 annually and that Mats Zuccarello and Alex Turcotte had been placed on injured reserve.
Wright, 23, played in 23 games down the stretch last year under interim coach D.J. Smith and was set to make his season debut under Peter Laviolette on Saturday night in Vegas.
His recall was a result of the injuries to Zuccarello, who missed most of camp after a fall hurt his shoulder, and Turcotte, who was absent from practice Friday per reports.
Wright and Kenny Connors, who also debuted in March, were among the last forwards remaining in this year’s truncated training camp. Wright had four points for the Kings last season. The 2024 NCAA national champ began his campaign in the minors with a bang, scoring the overtime winner in the season opener for the Ontario Reign.
The nature and extent of the injuries to Zuccarello and Turcotte were not provided. A vague update to reporters from Laviolette on Friday seemed to indicate Turcotte, deemed day to day, was in for a shorter period on the shelf than Zuccarello, who was designated week to week.
Both players had been playing on the second line with Alex Laferriere primarily, with the recent 11-7 alignment and now their lack of availability throwing the Kings’ line combinations into flux.
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They were already without Kevin Fiala, who underwent a second surgery in February on the left leg he broke at the Olympics.
While Fiala has largely proven durable outside of two grisly incidents with his left leg that happened nine years apart, Zuccarello and Turcotte have thicker medical charts.
Zuccarello, 39, signed as a free agent on a bonus-laden deal after chasing a point-per-game pace last season with the Minnesota Wild. He missed 23 games, however, and his man games lost to injury have been in the double digits for six of the past eight seasons. The Norwegian star has never played a full schedule of games in his NHL tenure.
Turcotte’s pro career was hindered by his health before it even started and his injury woes have persisted since. He was the fifth overall pick in the 2019 draft, but his development was derailed by injuries, most notably a pair of severe concussions.
Those setbacks led him to sign a three-year extension that was worth even less than his entry-level contract in the summer of 2024. Since then, he skated in a career-high 68 games two years ago and 62 last season, when his production dipped from 25 points to 14.
A void in the middle allowed him to move from a utility forward to a second-line center early this season, which is a contract year for the 25-year-old.
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The Kings will return from Vegas to host the rival Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.