Key Takeaways From Rob Blake’s Midseason Availability – Arvidsson, Lizotte,

Happy Thursday, Insiders!

Sharing major takeaways from this morning’s availability with Kings General Manager Rob Blake, who gave his midseason remarks after Game 41. Will dive deeper into what Blake said tomorrow, but hitting the high-level stuff here as quickly as possible.

First things first, on the housekeeping front –

– Forward Blake Lizotte will be out through the end of the month with a lower-body injury, which he suffered in Carolina on Monday. Lizotte’s injury is not thought to be long-term, but consider him to be week-to-week at this time, and a true week-to-week, not he’ll be back in a week. Lizotte is unlikely to play for the Kings over their next seven games, which takes us into the NHL All-Star break, giving him another nine days to recover.

– Forward Viktor Arvidsson has resumed skating on his own, in a non-contact, red jersey. He’s been doing so now for the last couple weeks, while the Kings have been on the road. Arvidsson has missed the entire season to date due to back surgery, which took place back in October. A very welcomed sign for the Kings, who have missed Arvidsson both at 5-on-5 and on the power play. Arvidsson has goalscoring ability, certainly, but is also a terrific playmaker, especially in 5-on-4 situations. Great to see him progressing. As reported when he initially had the surgery, the Kings expected Arvidsson to return this season and this timetable is not particularly surprising.

“Arvidsson obviously has resumed skating, we’re hopeful within the next two to three weeks, maybe coming out of that break, he joins us for practice. There’s a protocol in place and he’s meeting all the standards right now. Lizotte, on the other hand, he’ll be out with a lower-body injury, we got confirmation yesterday, probably, I would say week-to-week and don’t expect him back in a week, it’s week-to-week. I would say after the break, we’ve got seven games to that break, coming out of there would be a better time to assess it.”

For a lot of the availability, much of the conversation centered around where the team is at right now, both in terms of the team and individual players. The Kings have lost nine of their last ten games, with a record of 1-5-4 in that stretch. It’s been the largest down-spell over the last three seasons, since the Kings shifted back into a playoff team. The overall numbers at the 41-game mark are fine, with the Kings on pace for another 100-point season. Much of that was banked, though, from a scorching hot start that had them amongst the league leaders, with recent play bringing them back to the field and into the thick of a playoff race.

Blake had the following note on the team’s current stretch of play –

“I think from that standpoint we’ve always relied on structure and system and defending and I would say the last little bit it’s gotten a little away from us and we have to get back to that as a staple of the game. Todd’s done a real…