Day 1 Notes – Injury Updates on Fiala, Dumoulin, Zuccarello + Day 1 Lineup, Holland’s Preseason Availability

Sharing key takeaways from General Manager Ken Holland’s season-opening availability.

First things first are three key injury updates involving veteran players who were expected to be on the roster this season. Sharing those updates, as we have them, below.

Mats Zuccarello
Let’s start with the easiest one and that is Zuccarello, who was in a red, non-contact jersey during Day 1 of training camp today.

Holland shared that Zuccarello fell on the ice during a captain’s skate last week and sustained a minor shoulder injury. Nothing crazy there but it was enough to where he practiced today in a non-contact capacity. Zuccarello was involved, though, and he rotated in largely with Alex Turcotte and Alex Laferriere on a line. He didn’t take every drill but that seemed to be his spot when he’s ready.

It is encouraging, though, that Holland said that Zuccarello is expected to be good to go by next week and is expected to be in the lineup for Opening Night when the Kings head to Colorado on September 30.

Kevin Fiala
Here is the timeline I’ve gathered on Fiala from what Holland said.

Fiala, as was not a secret, was on the ice in the spring, as the Kings finished the regular season and headed into the playoffs. He wasn’t seriously in contention to return last season but it wasn’t ruled out either. Four games later against Colorado and his season was done, though he was skating on his own throughout that entire time.

His summer preparations were fine but as he started to really ramp things up, skating with his teammates in captain’s skates, something felt off for Fiala. After looking into it more and evaluating the situation further, Fiala had the follow-up procedure, which was announced earlier this month by the team.

Holland said that following the surgery, Fiala was unable to do much in terms of working out for two weeks, because sweating heavily could impact the healing process of the procedure he had done. Not uncommon with surgeries. We’re right around one week from Fiala’s procedure, so that brings us to the end of next week with that two-week timeline.

The plan to work Fiala back up to speed is to start him on the ice, working 1-on-1 with John Odgers, who leads Sports Performance for the organization. Then, the hope is that Fiala is feeling good and progresses to more hockey work with Assistant Coach Derik Johnson, the following week. If all goes according to plan and Fiala feels good, he would reintegrate with the full group in a couple of weeks’ time. This is my own estimation here, but we are probably looking somewhere in early-October on that front, with the Kings a few games into the season.

Holland’s hope is that by November 1, the Kings will have Fiala back in the lineup. Remains to be seen how optimistic that is, but the Kings have a light October schedule with only 12 games to be played. That’s light by NHL standards, especially over the first three weeks of the season when the Kings only play six total games.

This is a best-case scenario timeline. There are several steps along the way and Fiala is not yet back on the ice. We need to see how he responds at each stage and see how he is able to progress. Until he does it, it’s an unknown. The reason we’re here is that Fiala didn’t quite respond to higher-intensity training as everyone hoped he would. Hence the second procedure. If all goes according to plan I think this is quite positive news. A month out is manageable. Hoping things stay on track.

Stressing, though, that while this is the plan, there are no guarantees. Things can change. Hoping things play out as everyone hopes to get Fiala back on the ice as soon as he can be there.

Brian Dumoulin
I don’t have a ton to offer on Dumoulin’s status.

He did not pass his physical yesterday and he is undergoing additional testing today. Dumoulin was not on the ice for Day 1 today but Holland did not have additional information on his situation to offer.

For now, let’s consider it to be day-by-day in terms of how we evaluate it. Will check in tomorrow and going forward to see what the status and update is.

With all of that in mind, here is how Group A for the Kings lined up on Day 1 –

Group A had the majority of the NHL veterans on the ice together and while there was a rotation at times, this is mainly what we saw. Zuccarello rotated in mainly in Wright’s spot alongside Turcotte and Laferriere in the drills that he took. It wasn’t every drill, but he did participate in full for the most part, though he did not take contact in the corners.

On the remainder of Holland’s availability, he answered questions on a variety of different topics. Sharing a couple of additional takeaways below.

– More to come this evening on Drew Doughty and his captainc but Holland did speak on Doughty’s contract situation.

Both sides agreed this summer that there would not be an extension this summer. It would likely come after the 2026-27 season or perhaps late in it. Doughty expressed his desire at the time to remain in Los Angeles and wants to re-sign when the time is right. Holland added today that the number has to work for both sides, but expressed confidence it will happen.

“Drew has no desire to go anywhere,” Holland said. “You just see his passion for the LA Kings. You guys are all watching what’s going on around the league with contracts, so we’ve got to find a solution that is good for Drew and is good for the LA Kings. He’s not going anywhere and I want him to be here beyond this season. I don’t think either of us are worried about it because he has no desire to leave……he wants to be here, we want him to be here. I just think we’ve just got to, at the right time, find out what’s fair to Drew and what’s fair to the team.”

Seems like everyone is on the same page and I do think that factors into naming Doughty as the captain with just one year left on his current contract. The Kings have a ton of cap space next summer but also need to add impact players at the top of the lineup, players who will be paid accordingly. They need to keep that flexibility in place and will aim to do that, while retaining their captain, who still has a lot to offer.

– On the goaltending situation, there has been a lot of discussion around whether the Kings would carry two or three to begin the season.

First things first, Holland sees Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg in a “1A / 1B” situation. Not naming a starter but those are the top two guys who will compete for minutes.

It feels like Erik Porillo is caught in the middle a bit here, between two very promising young goaltenders beginning their careers in the AHL and the Kuemper/Forsberg duo. Portillo is ready to be tested as an NHL backup, but that job isn’t open right now in Los Angeles. All three – Kuemper, Forsberg, Portillo – are on the final seasons of their contracts with the Kings.

Holland admitted it’s not something that has been decided. The Kings, as noted above, have a very light October schedule. That’s not a great situation for three goaltenders.

“At one point in time this summer, I thought about maybe starting with three goalies and we still might, but when I saw the schedule, we play Wednesday in Colorado and then we have a couple days off and then we play a game and then we have three days off,” Holland detailed. “Kuemps and Forsberg are going to need the net, to make sure we keep them sharp. I want those two young goalies [George and Slukynsky] to play in the AHL as well. So, we’ve got to sort this out on the fly. Ports played good [last season]. Today, Ports is our number-three goalie because of because of his age, his experience, how he played, so I’ve got to sort it out.”

I agree with his thought process, that keeping three with this October schedule likely means that Portillo is just sitting. He is waiver exempt, which does help the situation, but it seems like an open-ended thing right now. Let’s see how things play out.

– I didn’t get the sense that the Kings will look externally to potentially help supplement Fiala’s absence.

I think that the solutions will come internally and with the timeline that Holland detailed, I don’t see why that would change anything. You don’t sign a player to replace someone who is only expected to be out for a month or so. Now, if things change, he could go that route. However, for now, the Kings are deeper on the wings than anywhere else in the lineup. His plan is to lean into that, if Fiala does in fact miss time.

Part of the structure of training camp is to allow players on the edge of the roster bubble, or on it, to get to play scrimmages in front of Peter Laviolette and his coaching staff. That’s why the schedule is the way that it is through Monday. Then, the Kings will have to make decisions.

Holland pointed to the organizational depth on the wings, which is the strongest area of the team. Players can step up or step in to help fill the absence of one of the team’s top scorers. Right now, I wouldn’t expect anything on that front. We will see if that develops.

– In terms of the preseason games, it sounds as if Games 2 and 4 on the preseason slate will be closer to the veteran group, whereas Games 1 and 3 might feature some additional younger players. Not fully, but here’s why.

Per Holland, Laviolette wants to get his power-play units into games together, which means that players in the Top-6 need to play in the same games. Those are important repetitions to get in game situations, against another team, running other systems. That will happen on Tuesday, 9/22 and Saturday, 9/26. The rosters will be rounded out with younger players and players vying for roster spots and nothing is set in stone here.

The game on Saturday versus the Vegas Golden Knights will be a good test for some of the players who want to be in that group. The league requires teams to dress a certain number of veterans, which has several classifications, but it won’t be an AHL roster, either. The clarity is nice to see and we’ll see how things ultimately shake out.

Full video is embedded below

Holland’s remarks are scattered throughout but are mainly towards the end, once Laviolette and Doughty leave. Lots in there, beyond just what I pulled. Will focus on Doughty’s remarks and the captaincy in a separate story this evening, so more to come on that front.