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Robyn Regehr hasn't been available for the Los Angeles Kings defense for a month, missing time this postseason with a knee injury but now he's just about ready to go.
The veteran defenseman says that he is physically ready to play but you shouldn't be expecting to see him play in Wednesday night's Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Rangers.
"He's getting closer," Kings coach Darryl Sutter said on Wednesday. "With only the one game, the way it's broke out this week, we probably wouldn't play him tonight."
At this point it might be about the fit in the lineup as much as Regehr's fitness. Without him the Kings have obviously survived/thrived with Willie Mitchell, Matt Greene, Drew Doughty, Slava Voynov, Alec Martinez and Jake Muzzin. It's hard to complain about the results for LA given they are still alive and big favorites to win the Cup.
Feeling fine or not, Regehr knows it's going to be tough to get back into the lineup.
R Regehr: "I feel ready. I think it just comes down to a coach’s decision. What they want to do w/the lineup." Said he has had some contact
— lisa dillman (@reallisa) June 4, 2014
More RR: "It’s matter of what kind of lineup Darryl (Sutter) wants to go with and I think it’ll probably be the same one we had last game."
— lisa dillman (@reallisa) June 4, 2014
Truthfully, it would probably be the wise call to keep Regehr on the sideline for now. The Rangers are going to bring a lot of speed rushes at the Kings or just simply use their skating ability in the offensive zone when they can and Regehr isn't the most fleet of foot, especially if he's recovering from a knee injury.
Regehr appeared in eight playoff games averaging 17:12 of ice time per game and had two assists to show for it.
