Alex Turcotte back in Kings lineup vs. Penguins

This one moved fast. On Friday, Peter Laviolette was still calling it a day-to-day thing.

Day-to-day lasted exactly 1 day. On Saturday morning the Kings activated Turcotte from injured reserve before a 6:00 p.m. Pacific puck drop against Pittsburgh, and Laviolette laid out where he'd slot in: on the wing with Lee and Laughton, with some possible looks on the second power-play unit.

Some background on how he got here. Turcotte got hurt in a 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers on October 6, the same night Mats Zuccarello went down, and the Kings put both of them on IR retroactive to that game. Before that Turcotte had 1 assist, 1 blocked shot and 4 hits through the first 3 games, which is a fair summary of his job here. He's a bottom-6 guy who's supposed to make life annoying for the other team, and LA spent close to 5 weeks without him. The line rushes showed exactly where he fits in.

There's the third line, Lee, Laughton and Turcotte, with Darcy Kuemper starting in goal and Forsberg backing up. It's a nice spot for a guy coming off a long layoff. He's not being asked to drive a top line on night 1. He gets a defined role, a heavy, responsible group to play in, and a crack at PP2 if the legs feel right. Kevin Fiala isn't on the sheet. Laviolette's update on Friday had him a little further away than Turcotte, but he's still practicing with full contact.

Now for the part that makes this season matter for Turcotte personally. He was the 5th overall pick in the 2019 draft, and in 2024 he signed a 3-year deal with LA at a $775,000 AAV that runs through 2026-27. That means the meter is running.

That's the real stakes. A former top-5 pick on a cheap deal, with restricted free agency and arbitration rights waiting next summer, can't afford to spend a month in the press box. What he shows from here on, in a bottom-6 role and on whatever PP2 minutes he gets, is basically his case for the next contract. The Kings needed bodies back, and now he's 1 of them. Next on the list is Fiala, and then Zuccarello.