Today, Kyle Clifford and Trevor Lewis were placed on injured reserve. The two both suffered injuries (possibly concussions) in recent weeks, and as the day-to-day absence has dragged on, this move allowed the Kings to call up some reinforcements. Good news: we replaced them with… defensemen!
From the official press release:
LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Kings have recalled defensemen Jeff Schultz and Nick Ebert from the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League, Kings President/General Manager Dean Lombardi announced today.
The 29-year-old Schultz (born Feb. 25, 1986) is a 6-6, 217-pound native of Calgary, Alberta who has appeared in 20 games this season with Ontario, where he has registered three points (0-3=3), a plus-7 rating and 10 penalty minutes.
The 21-year-old Ebert (born May 11, 1994) is a 6-0, 203-pound native of Livingston, N.J. who has appeared in 16 games this season with Ontario, where he has registered four points (0-4=4), a plus-7 rating and four penalty minutes.
Before the season, we wrote about how this was poised to be a make-or-break season for Ebert, who has plenty of raw talent and the heaviest of heavy shots but struggled with the defensive part of his game in his first season with Manchester. Now, with a full-time role in Ontario, he’s received rather… mixed… reviews. Safe to say that no one expected Ebert up this soon. It seems unlikely that he’ll crack the lineup; given that Ebert has been scratched at times in Ontario, it doesn’t seem that playing Ebert is the primary motivation.
@i_am_puddle my guess is that they want some other D to get games in for ONT. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Lintu to ONT.
— Chris Jenkins (@anexanhume) December 14, 2015
Jeff Schultz is Jeff Schultz.
As per Jon Rosen, neither will be anywhere near Ottawa today, but they should join the team tomorrow.