Kings Place Mats Zuccarello On Injured Reserve

The Los Angeles Kings are sending a veteran winger back to the injured reserve less than a week after activating him. According to a team announcement, the Kings have placed forward Mats Zuccarello on the injured reserve with an upper-body ailment.

Earlier today, Kings editorial content manager Zach Dooley shared that Zuccarello had already been ruled out of tonight’s contest with an upper-body injury. Unfortunately, Los Angeles may also be without Quinton Byfield, too. Head coach Peter Laviolette is “hopeful” Byfield will play, but there’s no guarantee he is ready to return from his upper-body injury.

Zuccarello will have two stints on the injured reserve before the Kings have reached double-digit games played. The 39-year-old winger was recovering from a shoulder injury in preseason and has continued to suffer lingering effects. His previous injured reserve stint cost him two weeks in mid-October, though he missed only three games. Zuccarello has registered one assist in six games this year.

Now, the offseason acquisition won’t return until November. Assuming Zuccarello re-aggravated the injury in the Kings’ recent contest against the New Jersey Devils, he won’t be eligible for activation until November 1st. Including tonight, that’s another four games Zuccarello will miss.

Fortunately for Zuccarello, even a pair of injuries won’t negatively affect his financial outlook. He signed a one-year, $1MM contract with Los Angeles on July 1st, with an additional $5.5MM available in performance bonuses. The first bonus, which will pay Zuccarello $5MM, comes when he reaches 10 games played. Even though it’ll take longer to receive than he expected, Zuccarello should cross that threshold in early November.