The Kings have assigned defenseman Viatcheslav Voynov and center David Meckler to Manchester and returned goalie Martin Jones to his junior team in the Western Hockey League. But first…Jones got a three-year entry-level contract from the Kings. A great day for him, no doubt.

What do the others mean? Voynov impressed the Kings enough to earn a spot in the AHL, meaning they felt he didn’t need to go to juniors. There had been some talk that the Kings might send Voynov to juniors, not necessarily because his game needed work but because it might be easier for him to culturally adjust that way. As for Meckler, he looked good in the rookie camp but I didn’t hear a lot about him in the last couple weeks. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t doing well. It just means I hadn’t heard his name come up.