There are two especially stressful spells for NHL players: The days leading up to the trade deadline and the days before the regular season.
It is no different for the Kings, with their season opener set for Wednesday at San Jose. Veteran defenseman Rob Scuderi and forward Michael Latta were put on waivers Monday, according to reports.
Adrian Kempe, Michael Mersch, Paul LaDue and Kurtis MacDermid were not on the ice at El Segundo. Official word of their minor league assignments to Ontario is expected to come Tuesday.
The bigger news, however, had to do with a player still around.