Simmonds Out vs. Dallas; Return Unknown
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| Kings forward Wayne Simmonds will out for an undetermined amount of time with a lower body injury. |
Already without three forwards, the Kings will be without emerging second-year forward Wayne Simmonds for an unknown length of time due to a lower body injury. He is out for at least tonight's Pacific Division match up with the Dallas Stars.
Injury Report | Comment on Hammond's Blog | 
Practice Report
Brad Richardson will replace Simmonds, who has never missed a game in 115-game career, on the Kings third line with Michal Handzus and Scott Parse.
"You know what, we really don’t know what happened," head coach Terry Murray said of Simmonds' injury. "It did not happen in the game, no specific time or situation, he's just got a lower body injury. He is going to be out for a while. He is going to see our doctors tonight at the game and we will take it from there."
Simmonds has already equaled his tally of nine goals from his rookie season, while adding 11 assists in 33 games this year. Simmonds finished with 9-14=23 in 82 games last year as a rookie. He leads the Kings with a plus/minus 13 playing on the Kings checking line.
"It’s significant," Murray said. "When you lose a player playing in your top three lines on a regular basis and having an impact on the game, you will notice it almost immediately.
"Simmer has been playing well, he plays hard, he's gritty, he has been doing really good things with the puck, making plays and has a presence in every game he has been playing."
The Kings have already lost 66 man games due to injury this season and have three players on IR, Ryan Smyth, out since Nov. 18 with an upper body injury, rookie Andrei Loktionov, who was injured in his NHL debut on Nov. 26, also with an upper body injury, and Brandon Segal, out since Dec. 4 with a lower body injury.
Despite the injuries, LA ranks fourth in the Western Conference with a 20-10-3 mark, 10 games above .500 for the first time since 2005-06 (38-28-5 on 3-25-06). The 43 points give the Kings their best 33-game start since 1992-93 (20-9-4 = 44 pts).
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