The Los Angeles Kings announced on Wednesday morning that goaltender Cal Petersen has been placed on waivers.
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Petersen, 28, is in the first year of a three-year, $15 million deal he signed just prior to the start of the 2021-22 season. Unfortunately, things have gone quite poorly for him in terms of on ice performance ever since. In split duties with Jonathan Quick in 2021-22, he registered a disappointing 2.89 goals against average (GAA) along with a .895 save percentage (SV%) in 37 games. While those totals certainly weren’t great, they were far better than what he has been able to muster early on in 2022-23.
Through 10 games this season, Petersen has a cringeworthy 3.75 GAA along with a .868 SV%. While he has had several rough performances, the final straw came last night in a 9-8 loss to the Seattle Kraken. Though he didn’t start the game, he came in relief of Quick in the second period, and went on to allow four goals on just 16 shots, a number of which were stoppable.
Barring a major shocker, Petersen will go unclaimed, as his cap hit simply doesn’t live up to his play as of late. If, or perhaps once, that happens, the Kings will have to decide whether or not they plan to keep him with the big club, or send him down to the Ontario Reign of the American Hockey League (AHL) in hopes of getting his game back on track.
If Petersen does indeed get assigned to the Reign, Pheonix Copley, who has logged 31 career games at the NHL level, is the most likely option to get called up. In 11 games in the AHL this season, he has recorded a rocksteady 2.48 GAA along with a .913 SV%.
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