Trevor Lewis set to return tonight for Kings as Drew Doughty continues to draw praise

Greetings from Toronto, where there were a few snow flurries in the air Saturday morning. The weather has been extraordinarily warm and snow-free during this trip, and Kings Coach Darryl Sutter said he was hoping to walk through a foot of snow on the way to the Air Canada Centre. Winter wonderlands are fine, but for travel purposes, I’d like to get out of town before there’s anything more than flurries.

The Kings, who are 3-1-1 on this trip with only Saturday’s game left, held an optional skate Saturday morning to prepare for their game against the Maple Leafs. Trevor Lewis has been activated off injured reserve and will play for the first time since Dec. 1.

“I feel good and I’m ready to go,” said Lewis, who centered for Michael Mersch and Dustin Brown during the Kings’ last full practice, on Friday in the Montreal suburb of Brossard.

It’s likely that teams will make a few moves Saturday in advance of the NHL’s holiday roster freeze, which begins at midnight local time Saturday and lasts through midnight local time Dec. 27 with respect to waivers, trades and loans. There are a few exceptions, but the intent is to make sure players don’t have to move up or down during the holidays.

Drew Doughty continues to draw attention from the media on this trip, and Maple Leafs Coach Mike Babcock was asked if Doughty has been overlooked for the Norris Trophy and other honors because he plays for a West Coast team whose games are aired too late for many people in the East to see them. Babcock, who coached Doughty on the gold medal-winning 2010 and 2014 Canadian Olympic teams, has long been an admirer of Doughty’s. A bit over five years ago, while Babcock was coaching the Detroit Red Wings, he said of Doughty: “He’s just better and smarter than everybody else. He’s just been touched by God and he’s been given a gift and he seems to like hockey.”

Babcock’s opinion hasn’t changed since then. “He’s a really, really, really good player. He’s a good kid and he knows how to play right,” Babcock said Saturday. “The bigger the game, the better he plays. He can stickhandle in a phone booth .... He’s a real hockey player and he likes it and has fun with it.”

Just try and find a phone booth these days, but point taken.

As for whether Doughty has been deprived of recognition because he plays out West, Babcock had a good answer. “He’s doing all right out West, isn’t he? He’s got two Cups, doesn’t he? Two Cups and he’s got a couple of gold medals, doesn’t he? He’s doing OK.”

Babcock also praised the Kings. “What I like about watching L.A. is they’re organized, they have good players that play hard,” he said. “It takes you about six minutes [to get a read on them] in the pre-scout because you see the same thing over and over again. Good teams don’t trick you. They just beat you. And that’s what we’re trying to become — a team that gets prepared and gets it right every night.”

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