It was less than two weeks ago that the Kings got Viktor Arvidsson back from his back injury. However, after already returning to injured reserve recently, the team has gone a step further, announcing that they’ve transferred him to LTIR for the second time this season. Meanwhile, the Kings also recalled defenseman Jordan Spence from AHL Ontario.
Arvidsson missed the first four months of the season before returning to the lineup on February 15th. The 30-year-old picked up two assists in his first three games but then suffered a lower-body injury on his first shift on Tuesday versus Columbus. The good news is that this injury won’t carry as long of a recovery time as the first one did as he is expected to be back before the end of the regular season. Assuming that the placement was back-dated to the time of injury (their release didn’t specify the effective date), Arvidsson could be eligible to return as soon as March 15th against Chicago.
As for Spence, his recall was needed due to Michael Anderson suffering an upper-body injury on Thursday versus Nashville. The exact timeline for his recovery isn’t known but he has been ruled out for tonight’s game against Anaheim already. That would have put the Kings down to five defenders and they had nowhere near enough cap space to bring Spence up, resulting in them needing to transfer Arvidsson to LTIR to create the short-term cap room.
It’s the fourth recall of the season for Spence, who has spent the majority of the campaign in the NHL. The 22-year-old has played in 44 games so far with Los Angeles, collecting 16 points (all assists) while averaging just shy of 15 minutes a night on the third pairing. Spence has made just one AHL appearance with the Reign which was one Wednesday; he was held out of Ontario’s lineup on Friday with his recall pending.
More must-reads: