Alex Turcotte has had quite the start to his professional hockey career. He left Wisconsin early to play professionally for the Ontario Reign, possibly a season too soon. He has been consistently injured on and off for almost four seasons. For a top-five draft pick who has seen a plethora of other players from that draft, including some close personal friends, succeed and establish themselves as regular NHL pivots, the mental and physical tole has had to be arduous.
He received a call-up in the aftermath of the Blake Lizotte injury, playing in his first game of the season against the Blues on the 28th of January, registering 7:48 ice time and one shot on goal. Turcotte rendered the call-up, playing fantastic hockey while with the Reign when healthy. In 30 games, Turcotte has 7 goals, 16 assists for 23 points, and a +5. He was having the best point-per-game clip of his young career, and much like Byfield when he was in the AHL, he was proving he was good enough for an extended look in the show.
The Kings are 6-1-1 with Turcotte in the lineup. Though it's hardly a figure worth representing the impact of one individual player, he has still been an ingredient towards the recent success, even with his extremely limited overall TOI. His talent is still in play, as Turcotte was rewarded with his first NHL goal and a two-point, +3 night in Nashville in his limited TOI.
Outside the Nashville game and the disastrous Buffalo game, Turcotte hasn't broken the 10-minute mark. Turcotte played just 3:32 against Edmonton, a home game controlling matchups, and 4:52 on the road against Pittsburg. With Viktor Arvidsson getting hurt again, he played only 12 shifts, 8:36 overall against the Blue Jackets. On the second half of a back-to-back, coaches will typically lean more on their depth players to provide more minutes to alleviate the tired top six forwards. Penalties are crucial to this, as the Kings have seen a rise in their last three games in time spent on the penalty kill.
Penalties in minutes:
PIT: 10
BOS: 15 (Englund fighting penalty included)
NJ: 12
BUF: 4
EDM: 8
NSH: 8
STL: 12
CBJ: 6
Turcotte does not play on the penalty kill nor the powerplay, so his ice time reflects solely even strength play. As Jim Hiller has also deftly pointed out recently, penalties take the flow out of the game and specific players. Granted, the Kings have been playing in tight-checking games of late, except the Boston game and Buffalo rout. Tight-checking affairs or coming from behind victories have seen Hiller shorten his bench.
Blake Lizotte has already returned to start skating with the team, albeit in a red jersey. He has already been skating independently and making great strides to return to the lineup. Hiller recently reported that he could fly with the team to Canada for the next road trip.
With Lizotte coming back into the fold, Turcotte finds himself needing to perform at his best to continue making strides in the NHL, but also knowing that his fate in the NHL this season is questionable. Could the newest injury to Arvidsson spark new life into Turcotte's cause to remain on the roster?
The Kings had a top nine that was and is rolling right now, which seemed to be sparked by the return of Viktor Arvidsson to reunite the NICE line and the improved play and duo of Byfield-Dubois. Over the course of the last four games, Hiller has shown that he will rely heavily on his top nine to get a winning result, while penalties overall do play a factor. Arvidsson's latest injury has yet to receive a timeline.
At center: Turcotte's predicament at center will be to try to play as best as possible while maintaining minimal ice time, which is a challenge all young players coming up have. He's not a dominant draws guy, highlighted by games like the Columbus game, where he was 1/3. It's possible he can rekindle some chemistry with the newly inserted Arthur Kaliyev on the wing. They have played together for the US World Junior Team that struck gold in 2019. The two got little ice time together and put up pedestrian Goals for numbers.
At wing: Turcotte looked excellent against the Blue Jackets on the wing next to Quinton Byfield and Pierre Luc Dubois. They out attempted the opposing team 4-0 in shots, 2-0 in high danger chances for, and added a secondary assist to this line's goal at even strength. The head scratcher is, that he only logged 3:27 with those two. Trevor Lewis saw the vast majority of ice time with the Dubois-Byfield duo.
If Turcotte continues to get limited minutes, shifts, exposure, then it would make more sense to let him play 18-21 mins in the AHL. It is clear however, that a Byfield-esque transition over to the wing, has benefitted him.
The situation is still a win-win for the LA Kings. Turcotte will continue to play well, regardless of the time remaining with the team this season and return to the AHL with more confidence in his overall play. Even if it takes Lizotte some extra time to reintegrate, he still represents an upgrade to Turcotte at the 4C. Lizotte plays on the PK and is a more veteran, more trusted player.
Turcotte has taken a significant step in his overall development and trajectory to become an NHL mainstay. That's a huge win for the organization and a massive personal one for Turcotte, given his injury history. Unfortunately, given the current roster and projected healthy one, it was only a matter of time before a return to Ontario would happen this season.