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The Los Angeles Kings announced their season-opening roster last night, featuring 12 forwards, six defensemen and three goalies.
It's no secret that salary cap constraints played a huge role in the team's roster. The Kings were only able to include 21 players of the 23-player limit.
Cam Talbot and Pheonix Copley both made the roster as expected, but perhaps most interesting was the team opting to keep David Rittich as a third goalie on the roster, rather than using the spot for a skater. Then adding to that, the Kings placed Rittich on waivers today, presumably attempting to get him through without being claimed at a more ideal time than if they waived him yesterday.
On defense, Drew Doughty, Mikey Anderson, Vladislav Gavrikov and Matt Roy make up the team’s top-four group, but Tobias Bjornfot and Andreas Englund were kept as the final two defensemen. As a result, Jordan Spence, who’s still eligible for waivers, was sent down, but it’ll be interesting to see if changes are made to bring Spence back up prior to tomorrow’s season opener. Either Bjornfot or Englund would require waivers, if they’re sent down.
Up front, 11 of the 12 players on the roster come as no surprise. Anze Kopitar, Kevin Fiala, Adrian Kempe, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Phillip Danault, Trevor Moore, Viktor Arvidsson, Quinton Byfield, Blake Lizotte, Carl Grundstrom and Trevor Lewis all made the team.
However, Arthur Kaliyev was sent down to the AHL, with Alex Laferriere instead taking the final roster spot, while Jaret Anderson-Dolan had previously been waived and assigned to the AHL. It seems likely that Kaliyev will be brought back up soon as well, in order to serve his suspension.
Adding more complexity to this is that Viktor Arvidsson is dealing with a lower-body injury as well. If he can’t play tomorrow, there’s a very good chance the Kings won’t be able to dress a full lineup.
So while the roster may be set, changes are probably still to be expected ahead of tomorrow’s home opener against the Colorado Avalanche.
OTHER ARTICLES FROM OCTOBER
Kings assign Brandt Clarke to AHL and extend McLellan, Kaliyev suspended 
Los Angeles Kings Blogger • 
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