10/30 Preview – Foegele Still Out + Kopitar Talks Return, Analyzing Energy Levels, Clarke’s Minutes, McLellan Returns

TONIGHT’S MATCHUP: The Kings are back in Los Angeles to begin a four-game homestand tonight against the Detroit Red Wings.

HEAD-TO-HEAD: Forward Adrian Kempe was the only Kings player with multiple goals against the Red Wings last season, as he found the back of the net twice in two games versus Detroit. Over the last four seasons, Kempe has seven goals from eight games played against Detroit and leads the team in both goals and points versus the Red Wings in that timespan.

KINGS VITALS: The Kings held a full-team morning skate today in El Segundo, following yesterday’s team day off.

Coming off his most active performance of the season, as he made 38 saves in San Jose, look for goaltender Darcy Kuemper to be in net tonight against the Red Wings to begin the homestand. Kuemper has a lifetime record of 3-5-1 against Detroit, with a .901 save percentage and a 2.81 goals-against average.

There don’t appear to be any lineup changes for the Kings tonight, based on morning skate, so sharing last game’s lineup below –

Tonight’s @LAKings Line Rushes –

Kuzmenko – Kopitar – Kempe
Fiala – Byfield – Laferriere
Moore – Danault – Armia
Malott – Turcotte – Perry

Dumoulin – Doughty
Edmundson – Clarke
Anderson – Ceci

Kuemper
Forsberg

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) October 29, 2025

Forward Warren Foegele remains out of action with an upper-body injury, sustained during the win over Chicago on Sunday. In terms of an update, there isn’t a ton to add. Foegele is slated to miss some time here, won’t play tonight, but isn’t yet ruled out for the entirety of the homestand at this time.

Not expecting any changes, at least at the start, from the group that played in San Jose on Tuesday. Should they look for a move, forward Samuel Helenius and defenseman Jacob Moverare are options to check into the lineup.

RED WINGS VITALS: Coming off a home-and-home sweep over the St. Louis Blues, Detroit heads to Los Angeles to begin a stretch of four straight games against Pacific Division opposition.

Per the Detroit team account, here’s how the team lined up on Tuesday against the Blues –

Tonight in STL. #LGRW pic.twitter.com/CWbKncJTg0

— Detroit Red Wings (@DetroitRedWings) October 29, 2025

Detroit is now led by former Kings Head Coach Todd McLellan and Assistant Coach Trent Yawney, who have the team off to the 7-3 start to the season. Forward Dylan Larkin has led the way for the Red Wings this season, as he currently ranks tied for fourth in the NHL in points (16) and fifth in goals (8).

Storyline Of The Day – Gauging The Gas Tank
Energy levels for tonight.

The game in San Jose, the Kings were gassed at the end of a long trip and it showed in the team’s play in that game.

“We didn’t have it [in San Jose], let’s be honest, we just did not have it for whatever reasons, whatever you want to call it, we just did not have our game,” Hiller said. Positive part about that is despite not having it – and there’s no question the goaltender stole us the game – we found a way, Clarkie great goal at the end and we leave with two points……now, we’ve just got to march forward.”

Is one day enough to fully recharge the batteries for tonight’s game against Detroit?

Well, it needs to be. Sometimes, the schedule doesn’t give you that extra day you need. Other times, you get one too many. Always events out in the long run, but this is one of the more congested stretches the Kings will encounter.

Perhaps mentally as much as physically, yesterday was a good day to be home. Lots of players went to Game 5 of the World Series. Everyone got to sleep a couple nights in their own bed, eat a homecooked meal, get that mental reset as well.

The hope is that it can translate to a more energetic showing tonight at home.

“Everyone gets to come back see family, I think we had a fair amount of guys go to the baseball game yesterday, so guys kind of get a reset mentally, maybe not spend a day thinking about hockey, which is good.” defenseman Mikey Anderson said. “I think guys are ready to go.”

Hiller added that sometimes there is a “buzz” around a morning skate and he felt that today. Doesn’t always translate to the games, though, adding you just never know if it will carry over onto the ice when the puck drops tonight.

It’s gone both ways before, whether or not that buzz in the morning carries over. To start a four-game homestand, it’ll obviously need to be better than it was on Tuesday to get a result against the Red Wings.

“We know we haven’t played a full 60, we’ve had some lapses, but we’ve at least gotten some wins, helps the confidence and I think we know we can do better,” forward Alex Turcotte added. “So it’s a little bit of excitement to see what happens when we can take that next step in our game.”

The Kings know San Jose wasn’t good enough, but it’s a lot better to recognize that when you get the two points. Anderson and Turcotte both said as much, as Hiller did above. Anderson summed it up pretty well, noting that there was some really good, some really bad and everywhere in between on the trip that saw the Kings go 4-0-1.

Back at home, let’s see what tonight brings.

3 To Watch For –
– Injuries come in a variety of ways.

For Anze Kopitar, it was one of the stranger ones. Curling and heading back up ice, Kopitar was struck by some friendly fire, off an attempted cross-ice pass by Adrian Kempe. Just one of those plays, but a play that cost him four games of action.

First things first, the hard question. Has Kempe bought him a steak dinner yet?

“Not yet but maybe add some lobster on that too, by the way,” said with that patented Kopitar smile.

It’s been nice to see Kopitar back over the last couple of games. He looked shot out of a cannon against Nashville, skating really well. Going again the next night with a back-to-back right off the rip was “not ideal” as Kopitar put it, but he got through it and wound up playing the final three games on the trip and came through it just fine.

Is he feeling perfect? No. He’s out of an early-season rhythm, missing four games in October, but all-in-all, it’s coming back for him.

“I feel okay,” Kopitar said. “You start the season, you’re trying to find the rhythm and everything and then you miss four. These weren’t the easiest [games to play], but starting to get back into it. Might take a little bit, but everything’s going in the right direction.”

As he progresses here, yeah, there’s going to be things he’ll need to do to maintain. He understands that. Nothing crazy, but perhaps just a little bit above and beyond the usual preparation.

“You’ve got to essentially do the stuff that is going make you feel good, or as good as it can, and then just go, try not to think about it too much, and just play,” Kopitar said of his management.

He’s good to go, though, and reaffirmed that. He’ll be back with Adrian Kempe and Andrei Kuzmenko tonight and away we go. Little bit better each day and should be back closer to full go as he moves forward.

– On defenseman Brandt Clarke, Hiller said this morning that the Kings need to find ways to get him more minutes.

“We have to look for some more opportunities for him,” Hiller said. “He’s played really well. He’s had a couple [down] games, like everybody has, but for the most part, and I’ve talked about him before, coming through the summer, he had a good preseason, he’s really, really doing a nice job. We have to find some more icetime for him.”

Hiller agreed that the number of penalties overall has limited Clarke’s minutes, to some extent, but that didn’t seem to be the entire problem.

In San Jose, Clarke played 13:36 in total and the other five blueliners were over 20 minutes. Zoning in on 5-on-5 minutes, the totals were closer, but Clarke was still a distant sixth among defensemen in time on ice about 90 seconds behind Joel Edmundson and at least a couple of minutes behind each of the other four defensemen.

As he continues to impact games the way that he has, it’s good to hear that additional icetime is being thought of. He has earned more of a role. Proof will be in the pudding, though, so we’ll see how things shake out starting with these four games at home.

– Lastly, first game back in Los Angeles for Detroit Head Coach Todd McLellan.

McLellan coached the Kings from 2019-24 and led the organization to the Stanley Cup Playoffs twice. His 164 career victories with the Kings are the fourth-most by a coach in franchise history. Since joining the Red Wings midway through last season, McLellan has posted a 33-21-4 record with Detroit.

“Just a terrific person, you always start there, treating the staff, the players, I thought, first class, it starts there,” Hiller said of McLellan “Then just a really good hockey mind, just somebody with a lot of experience, obviously been doing it for a long time.”

Kings and Wings to kick off a four-game homestand tonight at Crypto.com Arena. Nice to be back, Insiders. See you there!