Kings move forward Alex Iafallo to LTIR with lower body injury

The Los Angeles Kings announced a series of roster moves Sunday afternoon, headlined by forward Alex Iafallo, who has been moved from regular IR to LTIR. In addition to Iafallo, the Kings have loaned defenseman Jacob Moverare to the Ontario Reign of the AHL and recalled forward Austin Wagner. The move gives Los Angeles 14 forwards to go along with seven defensemen on its active roster.

Iafallo had already been out and on IR since Oct. 18 with a lower-body injury which he suffered in a game on Oct. 17 against the Detroit Red Wings, but placing him on LTIR will create additional cap space that allows the Kings to call up Wagner, who carries a $1.133M cap hit while sending down Moverare and his $762.5K cap hit. Prior to the transaction, Los Angeles had $521K in cap space. Of note, due to Iafallo’s $4M cap hit, his trip to LTIR will give the organization more than enough room to work with on the salary cap front while he’s out. Despite the injury, Iafallo has had a tremendous start to the season, contributing two goals and three assists in four games.

Sending Moverare down simply gives the Kings more flexibility when setting a lineup by subtracting their eighth defenseman for another forward, flexibility they’ll continue to need in Iafallo’s absence. The defenseman had yet to play a game this season in the NHL, but does have a pair of AHL contests under his belt in 2022-23, prior to his call-up on Oct. 18. Wagner on the other hand, is receiving his first call-up of the season after starting the year with Ontario. There, he has two points in three games to start.