Los Angeles Kings’ Arthur Kaliyev to have hearing for kneeing incident

The NHL Department of Player Safety has announced that Los Angeles Kings winger Arthur Kaliyev will have a hearing for kneeing Anaheim Ducks winger Chase De Leo.

The incident occurred early in the second period of Tuesday’s game between the Kings and Ducks. Kaliyev, 22, received a two-minute minor penalty for the infraction, one of two penalties he was called for in the game, while De Leo did not return to the game after the hit. Kaliyev has never been suspended in his short NHL career so far, but he did receive a fine at the end of the 2021-22 season, also in a game against the Ducks, for cross-checking defenseman Josh Mahura.

Kaliyev is coming off a season that saw him set a new career high in points with 13 goals, 15 assists, and 28 points, despite only playing 56 games. He was also held pointless in two playoff games as the Kings were eliminated in the first round by the Edmonton Oilers. Tuesday’s game was Kaliyev’s first of the preseason, where he also got a secondary assist on Kevin Fiala’s opening goal as the Kings won the game 4-1.

Kaliyev was a second-round pick for the Kings in the 2019 NHL Draft, and has played the second-most games out of any player selected beyond the first round in that draft after Vancouver Canucks winger Nils Hoglander. Kaliyev spent a majority of his first professional season in 2020-21 in the AHL, but has since spent the rest of it in the NHL with the Kings, entering his fourth season and third full season with Los Angeles.

The Kings will hope that the result of this hearing doesn’t carry into the regular season and briefly cost them some more forward depth, as it’s something they have a bit less of at the expense of more high-end talent after dealing Gabriel Vilardi, Alex Iafallo and Rasmus Kupari for Pierre-Luc Dubois. They also moved on from Sean Durzi, Sean Walker, Cal Petersen and Joonas Korpisalo in the offseason, while bringing in Cam Talbot, David Rittich and former King Trevor Lewis.