{"id":481884,"date":"2026-03-03T01:28:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:28:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/481884\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T01:28:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T01:28:11","slug":"los-angeles-kings-place-joel-armia-on-ir-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/481884\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Kings Place Joel Armia On IR \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Kings announced a series of roster moves<\/a> today as a response to lingering injury issues, with team reporter Zach Dooley<\/a> writing that multiple players on the roster are \u201cquestionable\u201d for tonight\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

The Kings recalled Angus Booth<\/a> and Jared Wright<\/a>, placing winger Joel Armia<\/a> on IR and designating Jacob Moverare<\/a> as non-roster playing status. Both Wright and Booth have yet to make their NHL debut to this point in their young pro careers.<\/p>\n

The biggest name involved in today\u2019s transactions is Armia, who is dealing with an upper-body injury. According to Dooley<\/a>, he had an MRI today, but the only indication of the extent of his injury has been this transaction. The 32-year-old is a veteran of nearly 650 NHL games, and has been a quality bottom-six defensive forward for many years. He scored 11 goals and 29 points last season with the Montreal Canadiens before signing in Los Angeles as a free agent. His 10 goals and 20 points are right in line with the scoring paces he managed in the most productive years of his career.<\/p>\n

Armia\u2019s on-ice value has always been about more than offense \u2013 he\u2019s long been a reliable penalty-killer, someone a team can count on to play a significant role in any short-handed operation. This season, he ranks No. 4 among Kings forwards in short-handed time on ice per game (1:35). As a member of the Canadiens, Armia formed a formidable penalty-killing duo with center Jake Evans<\/a>, ranking No. 2 among team forwards in penalty killing ice time per game in 2023-24 and 2024-25.<\/p>\n

As a result of his IR placement today, he\u2019s guaranteed to miss at least the team\u2019s next few games. His full return timeline is currently unclear, throwing into question whether he\u2019ll be able to play against his former team when the Canadiens visit Los Angeles on March 7. Armia\u2019s direct roster replacement is Wright, who also stands 6\u20193\u2033.<\/p>\n

As previously mentioned, Wright hasn\u2019t yet made his NHL debut, but the former Denver Pioneer is a leading penalty killer amongst Ontario forwards. Because he is playing a similar role to Armia at the AHL level, it\u2019s possible the Kings opt for Wright to make his NHL debut on this recall, perhaps hoping his addition can provide on-ice stylistic continuity while Armia is sidelined.<\/p>\n

On defense, Booth has been recalled to replace Moverare, who has been designated as non-roster status. Moverare has been a frequent healthy scratch this season, and when he does dress for games, has averaged just 8:45 time on ice per game. The 27-year-old Swede is a pending UFA and has gotten into just 15 NHL games this season despite spending its entirety in the NHL.<\/p>\n

Booth, 21, is still waiting on the chance to make his NHL debut. Given Moverare is the team\u2019s seventh defenseman, he may not get his chance at this point. Drew Doughty<\/a> is out for tonight\u2019s game, but Booth isn\u2019t a player who fits as a Doughty replacement. With that said, it might not take too long for Booth to get his first NHL game. He\u2019s is a top-four defenseman and steady penalty killer for the Reign, and the rate at which he\u2019s earned recalls in recent weeks suggests he\u2019s getting closer to being considered NHL-ready.<\/p>\n

With Moverare\u2019s deal expiring this upcoming summer, Booth may be a player to look out for as a candidate to seize an NHL role going forward \u2013 a projection that would grow all the more confident if he can get into some NHL games down the stretch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Kings announced a series of roster moves today as a response to lingering injury issues, with team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":481885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5126],"tags":[19910,5,402,11870,21662,973,186,1760,240,5303,793,145,5304,5302,4,403],"class_list":["post-481884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-kings","tag-angus-booth","tag-hockey","tag-injury","tag-jacob-moverare","tag-jared-wright","tag-joel-armia","tag-kings","tag-la","tag-la-kings","tag-lakings","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-kings","tag-losangeles","tag-losangeleskings","tag-nhl","tag-players"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116162651999202962","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/481885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}