The Los Angeles Kings have made their final roster decision and are set for opening night. And it came at the cost of Jaret Anderson-Dolan and David Rittich.
When the Los Angeles Kings traded for Pierre-Luc Dubois this summer they knew it would create cap complications and we're seeing the impact of that now.
Because the Kings could not afford to keep 23 players on the roster, they had to make a decision ahead of opening night. Keep an extra forward or an extra defenseman.
They've opted to keep the extra defensemen, presumably because they think it's easier to make do with 11 forwards compared to five defensemen in a pinch.
This means forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan has been put on waivers, per Elliote Friedman.
The Kings have already lost one player to waivers, with Samuel Fagemo now a member of the Nashville Predators, and might lose another here with Anderson-Dolan.
Anderson-Dolan's low ceiling might keep him from being claimed, but he is also a reliable player with just shy of 100 NHL games played.
It's entirely possible that he's viewed as an ideal fourth-liner or 13th forward and is picked up.
If that is the case, the Kings will have lost two players to waivers because of their cap situation and will rely heavily on players like Alex Laferriere and Alex Turcotte, who are waiver exempt, in case of injury.
Losing Anderson-Dolan in isolation isn't a huge problem, but the reason he was lost is a slight concern. The Kings can't go the entire season with just one extra body 3but don't have many options to fix the problem without trading someone like Blake Lizotte or Carl Grundstrom.
Rob Blake is in a bit of a pinch here, it will be interesting to see how he works this out throughout the season.
Anderson-Dolan was the only player placed on waivers Sunday, however, before opening night I expect a goalie to be waived as well.
The Kings don't have the necessary cap space to keep all three goalies and seven defensemen, so, something has to give.
My best guess for now is that the Kings will send a waiver-exempt player down to Ontario and then waive Rittich Tuesday before opening night, calling up the player who was sent down.
The hope being that a team who's shopping on the waiver wire for a goalie, looking at you Tampa Bay Lightning, will have claimed their goalie by Tuesday.
If Rittich is claimed though, the Kings are in a very tough spot. Without Rittich, they don't have a reliable third goalie who can come up in case of injury.
The Kings would be relying on one of Erik Portillo or Jacob Ingham to fill in, two goalies with zero NHL experience who aren't ready for that jump.
The Kings' cap situation is not ideal and will be made even worse if Anderson-Dolan or Rittich are claimed.