Drew Doughty injured, expected to miss at least seven to 10 days

Kings defenseman Drew Doughty is expected to be out at least seven to 10 days after suffering an undisclosed upper-body injury Saturday, though General Manager Dean Lombardi said via email that the injury was not to the defenseman’s head.

Doughty, who had a concussion early last season, was slammed hard on a rising, open-ice hit by Flyers forward Zac Rinaldo 20 seconds into the Kings’ game at Philadelphia. Doughty appeared dazed when he returned to the bench. According to the time-on-ice charts at the NHL’s website, the 21-year-old defenseman played one more shift before being held out of the game.

While sitting on the bench Doughty appeared to be favoring his shoulder. Lombardi would not say if that was where Doughty was injured but specified that the prized defenseman did not suffer a head injury.

Doughty missed most of training camp as a restricted free agent until signing an eight-year, $56-million contract before the Kings left for their season-opening trip to Europe.

It was not clear whether the league would impose any supplementary discipline against Rinaldo, who had three goals and 331 penalty minutes in 60 games last season with the Flyers’ American Hockey League farm team. Every play is reviewed in the NHL’s "War Room" in Toronto, and fines or suspensions can be imposed by executives of the hockey operations department if they feel sanctions are merited.

The Kings were scheduled to return to Southern California after Saturday's game and practice in El Segundo at noon Sunday. They will play their Staples Center opener on Tuesday against St. Louis.

-- Helene Elliott

As usual, Anze Kopitar excels in the middle

Through all the negotiations between the Kings and Drew Doughty’s representatives, through the tense moments and final happy moments when Doughty agreed to an eight-year, $56-million deal  Thursday, one person remained above the fray.

That was center Anze Kopitar, who was thrust into the middle of an uncomfortable situation after Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi declared he would not pay Doughty more than the $6.8-million average annual value of Kopitar’s contract, then the highest on the team.

Kopitar became a benchmark in the talks, a role he didn’t want and didn’t enjoy. He also became part of the back story because he used to employ Doughty’s agent, Don Meehan, before switching to another high-powered agent, Pat Brisson.

Meehan seemed determined in these negotiations to get more money for Doughty, his current client, than the amount earned by his former client, Kopitar. To complicate matters even more, Meehan and Lombardi had a history of battles while Lombardi was general manager of the San Jose Sharks.

Kings, Drew Doughty agree on new contract [Updated]

The Kings and defenseman Drew Doughty verbally agreed on a new contract Thursday night, meaning the restricted free agent could join the team in time for its upcoming trip to Germany and Sweden for its final exhibition game and first two regular-season games.

Financial terms were not immediately available. However, after weeks of frustration and stalled negotiations, General Manager Dean Lombardi planned to sweeten the average annual value of the club's offer to exceed $6.8 million, the current team-leading average annual value of Anze Kopitar's contract.

[Updated, 8:30 p.m.: The deal Doughty agreed to is worth $56 million over eight years.]

Although Lombardi had said several times that he would not go above $6.8 million per year for Doughty, the stalemate and Doughty's apparent willingness to accept a long-term deal led Lombardi to bend.

It's not clear how long the deal will be for, but the Kings' last offers to Doughty gave him choices between a seven-year term and an eight-year term.

Doughty, 21, was a finalist for the Norris trophy as the NHL's top defenseman in his second season, 2009-10, but he struggled at times last season after suffering a concussion.

More coverage soon at latimes.com/sports

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More from Tim Leiweke on stalemate with Drew Doughty

Emptying out the digital notebook . . .

I have a few more tidbits from my interview today with Tim Leiweke, the Kings’ biggest fan and the chief executive officer of parent company AEG. I had requested the interview a few days ago and these were Leiweke’s first public comments on the stalled contract negotiations with defenseman Drew Doughty.

I referred to one of Leiweke’s comments in a tweet earlier today but didn’t get the full explanation into my earlier blog report or into the story that will appear in print. Here’s a complete recap, in more than 140 characters.

I asked Leiweke why the Kings don’t just raise their offer and end this dispute if the difference between their proposed $6.8 million average annual salary and Doughty’s demands is $200,000 or $300,000. He repeated that this is an allocation issue, meaning the Kings are willing to spend up to the salary-cap limit but want to leave room to add players at the trade deadline and budget for the future to retain key players. He also said General Manager Dean Lombardi has “the right to budge here,” and that he would support Lombardi’s decision on that.

“But here’s the funny thing that I don’t get in all of this,” Leiweke said. “I look at it and say, boy, there’s a complete miscommunication here. Drew Doughty can step in here tomorrow and from an endorsement standpoint, being a cornerstone and a nucleus of this franchise long term, he can make more money on endorsements than we’re fighting over for whatever he’s asking for and whatever we’ve offered. And the way you protect that is goodwill, being a guy that’s a team player.

“If he burns the bridges with everybody, then he loses that revenue. So what I’m mystified by is, his value to this marketplace is not just his salary, it’s what he’s going to earn being part of a team that has the potential of competing for the Stanley Cup every year now for long term. Instead of fighting over a little bit here and a little bit there, let us save that money to go after the final pieces. He’ll make more on endorsements than he ever would on what we’re fighting over. It makes no sense at all.”

Leiweke repeatedly said the Kings see Doughty as a long-term franchise player and they will not trade him.  Doughty has not signed an offer sheet with another team, probably because those teams are aware the Kings have deep pockets financially.

Kings after deadline: Power play moves, Voynov and Hickey earn praise

The Kings figured out something that almost anyone watching their power play most of last season could have told them:

When they stand around and become predictable, they’re not going to score.

They had more moving parts Wednesday and capitalized on a man advantage for their only goal in a 2-1 shootout loss in a split-squad game against the Phoenix Coyotes at Staples Center.

Mike Richards flicked the puck toward Dustin Brown in front, and the gritty right wing battled for it while it was at his feet. Defenseman Viatcheslav (Slava) Voynov had come deep into the zone and was able to poke it past goalie Justin Pogge at 5:53 of the second period.

“I think from the power play standpoint we need more of that,” Brown said.

He also said that while it’s tough to maintain movement on the power play it’s worth the effort because it confuses opponents’ penalty killers.

“When you have a moving power play with people at the net at the same time it’s pretty tough to defend. You can get mixed up in your assignments,” he said. “Tonight we had good movement. We weren’t stationary. I think looking back at last year we were too stationary. We had their half-wall guy, we had a low guy and we had a net-front guy. That was it.

“I prefer in front of the net but there were a couple of times I’m on the half-wall and just kind of slide out and give it to a guy and go to the net and that creates movement, which is tough for a [penalty killer].”

No news on Doughty; ailing Simon Gagne to miss exhibition opener

First, the obligatory Drew Doughty non-update update:

Kings General Manager Dean Lombardi said Tuesday he had not spoken to Don Meehan, who represents the unsigned restricted free agent. Lombardi also said that persistent rumors that he will trade Doughty are false. “There’s no way,” Lombardi said.

Some of those rumors appeared on Twitter on Monday from the account of someone impersonating Canadian Sportsnet personality Nick Kypreos, and Lombardi said he initially thought it was the real Kypreos coming up with those trade scenarios. Lombardi said he was irked until he was told the account didn’t belong to Kypreos.

The only other news Tuesday was that winger Simon Gagne was scratched from Wednesday’s split-squad game against Phoenix at Staples Center because of the flu. Gagne missed practice Tuesday and Coach Terry Murray said there was no reason to rush Gagne back.

Brad Richardson, who had been scheduled to travel to Glendale, Ariz., to play in the other split-squad game, instead stayed in Los Angeles and will play at Staples Center. Scott Parse skated alongside Mike Richards and Dustin Brown on Tuesday, with tryout player Cam Paddock on a line with Kyle Clifford and Jarret Stoll. However, Murray said he will have Parse with Stoll and Clifford on Wednesday and will put Richardson on the left side with Richards and Brown.

Drew Doughty is skating but not talking

Restricted free-agent defenseman Drew Doughty remained absent from the Kings’ training camp Monday, still unsigned and with no hint of an agreement on the horizon.

Canada’s CTV caught up with him while he was practicing in his hometown with the London Knights of the junior-level Ontario Hockey League. However, Doughty wouldn’t speak on camera and apparently has been advised against talking to the media.

According to CTV he said his impasse with the Kings is not about the money, but wouldn’t say what it is about.

Here’s the brief report.

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Kings begin practices without unsigned Drew Doughty

The Kings took to the ice Saturday for their first training camp scrimmages minus restricted free agent defenseman Drew Doughty, who remains unsigned.

General Manager Dean Lombardi said he had not spoken Saturday with Doughty’s agent, Don Meehan.

On the ice, it was business as usual -- or as close to usual as you can get without a franchise-quality defenseman.

“The plans do not change at all,” Coach Terry Murray said. “We’re going to miss Doughty. I wish he was here to be a part of it. He’s a very important player, a big part of the locker room. He’s a fun guy to be around. He’s a great player for us but the plan does not change for the training camp. We have to get ready for the start of the year. We’ll go through the same plan as we had in the early part of August.”

Murray said he didn’t think he needed to caution players about not letting Doughty’s contract talks become a distraction.

“It’s not my area of concern,” Murray said. “I know I’m the coach of the team and I want Doughty here but that’s the business side of it that everybody is very aware of the way it is. It’s been like that for years.

“Players use the opportunity, I guess, to get as much money as they possibly can. I don’t begrudge anybody that. I’m not going to be upset at Doughty when it finally gets settled. I’m going to be very happy that he’s here and welcome him to the team and let’s get going.”

No one quite knows when that will be, of course. The Kings’ last offer was an average of $6.8 million for about seven years, but Doughty is believed to be seeking $7 million or slightly more.

Dean Lombardi: Kings have made their best offer to Drew Doughty

 

General Manager Dean Lombardi said Friday the Kings have made their “best” offer to restricted free agent defenseman Drew Doughty and will proceed through training camp without him.

“We all know he’s a lively kid. He loves to play. He brings life to your room, let alone what type of player he is,” Lombardi said Friday after the remaining players underwent physical exams and fitness testing at the team’s El Segundo practice facility.

“That said, we have to move on here and focus on what we have, and we have a good team.

“At some point he’s going to be a King. He’s going to be a King a long time. It’s a bump in the road, but for the short and long term there’s no doubt that this is the right thing in terms of what we have out there.”

Players are paid on the basis of a 275-day season, including training camp. Lombardi said he had not decided if he will reduce Doughty’s eventual salary based on how many days the defenseman misses, though that's a condition Lombardi can put on the table depending on the nature and tone of future talks.

The Kings have offered Doughty an average of $6.8 million a year and were open to durations of six to eight years and to putting the 21-year-old defenseman’s average annual salary on a par with first-line center Anze Kopitar, an older and more proven player. But Doughty’s agent, Don Meehan, is believed to be requesting an average of $7 million -- and here’s where it gets complicated.

Kings, Ducks to open training camps Friday

The Kings and Ducks have announced their training camp schedules and rosters, and both teams will have plenty of sessions open to the public.

Players on each team will report for physicals and testing on Friday and will take to the ice on Saturday, with the Kings working out at Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo and the Ducks at the Honda Center in Anaheim.

Click the links for rosters and schedules for the Kings and the Ducks.

With the announcement Thursday that Teemu Selanne will return to the Ducks next season after agreeing to a one-year, $4-million deal, the biggest remaining question is whether unsigned restricted free agent Drew Doughty will agree with the Kings on a new contract in time to join his teammates Friday.

The answer should be be clear later Thursday or on Friday, so stay tuned.

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Photo: Drew Doughty. Credit: Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times