Defenseman Kyle Quincey, 23, was claimed off waivers by the Los Angeles Kings, today. Quincey was put on waivers to give the salary cap-crunched Red Wings flexibility in case they needed to make an immediate roster move, so they wouldn't be delayed by the waiver period (24 hours during the week, 48 hours on the weekend).

General manager Ken Holland said that the Red Wings don't have immediate plans to add a player to their roster. Without Quincey, the Wings still don't have enough cap room to fit a higher salaried played like Jonathan Ericsson or Ville Leino under the cap. There is enough room, however, for Darren McCarty, who practiced for the first time today since being sidelined with a groin strain, or for a lower salaried minor-leaguer.

"I'm not going to call somebody up just to sit in the press box," said Holland. "We may as well play the games and see if we have anybody get hurt."

Holland said that he wasn't surprised by the Kings' claim: "We expected. We talked to five, six teams in the past week that had some interest. Thought we were close on one front to a deal that fell through."

"I'm happy for Kyle," added Holland. "He's been patient with us acquiring Brad Stuart, the development of Brett Lebda, the development of Jonathan Ericsson. We like Derek Meech. Can't keep everybody."

Quincey was on the RBC Center ice this morning for the Red Wings' practice. At the end, he was called over to the side of the ice where Holland told him about the Kings' waiver claim.

"Hopefully I get a chance to play and start my career," said Quincey. "It's hard to leave all the good guys here. It's like a family here. It's always great when you're winning."

Quincey came to the Red Wings as their fourth-round draft pick in 2003, Detroit's second pick that summer behind goalie Jimmy Howard.

After being drafted, Quincey went back to his Ontario Hockey League team, the London Knights, but was traded three games into the 2003-04 season to the Mississauga IceDogs. At Mississauga, Quincey became friends with teammate Patrick O'Sullivan and worked out with him every off-season. The two are now Kings teammates.

Quincey played 13 regular-season games for the Red Wings spread out over three seasons. He matched that total of 13 games in the 2007 playoffs -- the highlight of Quincey's stay in Detroit. With Niklas Kronwall and Brett Lebda injured (and Mathieu Schneider soon to go down with an injury), Quincey was inserted into the Red Wings' playoff run and performed well.

He was with the Red Wings last spring throughout the Stanley Cup run as one of the team's prospect call-ups, but didn't play any games.