Pheonix Copley’s forwarded mail had barely begun arriving before he was on the move again. After the Lightning claimed him on waivers two weeks ago, they traded him back to the Los Angeles Kings for the always popular future considerations. Hopefully, Julien BriseBois gets a nice steak from Ken Holland the next time he’s in Los Angeles.
In short, it cost the Lightning nothing but a paycheck to bring him in, and the Kings will get him back for nothing. Copley was brought in just before the season began as insurance in case whatever was bothering Andrei Vasilevskiy in training camp flared up during his first few starts. It appears the goaltender has a clear bill of health, and the Bolts will go back to their regular two goalie rotation.
A possible injury is the likely reason he’s heading back to Tinsel Town. The Kings’ starter, Darcy Kuemper is currently day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The veteran played 63:14 in a shoot-out loss to the Minnesota Wild on Monday, but missed practice on Tuesday. If Kuemper has to miss any time, Copley will back up Anton Forsberg, giving the Kings a little more experience than Erik Portillo, who was re-assigned to the AHL.
The Lightning could have placed Copley on waivers, but there is a chance that other teams had claims on him and he wouldn’t have gone to the Kings. Mr. BriseBois did them a favor by trading him for basically nothing.
The move leaves the Lightning with an open roster spot, which they might need. Max Crozier left the game against the Washington Capitals in the first period, and Coach Jon Cooper isn’t planning on having him for the game on Friday. The Bolts still have six defensemen on the roster, but if Crozier is going to be questionable for the next few games, they may recall a seventh defenseman just to be safe with another back-to-back on the schedule.
