LOS ANGELES –– The Kings had distanced themselves from three campaigns of futility and four months of COVID protocol uncertainty this season, but now find themselves confronted with a torrent of injuries.

Overall, the second-place Kings appeared to be getting healthy, with only coach Todd McLellan entering COVID protocols in the past month and a half. Quinton Byfield overcame a broken ankle, Lias Andersson was on the mend, Andreas Athanasiou returned to make an impact and even Alex Edler was progressing toward the completion of a lengthy recovery.

But in the course of roughly a week, they lost six regulars: Mikey Anderson, Athanasiou, Viktor Arvidsson, Drew Doughty, Brendan Lemieux and Matt Roy. All but Roy, who seemed destined for the same fate, joined Edler and Sean Walker on injured reserve. A ninth King sustained an injury on Sunday, though the severity was unknown.

With the Kings presently positioned to return to the postseason for the first time since 2018, McLellan was asked if he felt that the next few games and the team’s health would determine the Kings’ level of aggressiveness at the March 21 trade deadline.

“That’s a hard question for me to answer. I’m believing that the guys can come through,” McLellan said.

Doughty was placed on injured reserve retroactive to March 7 with an apparent hand injury. Doughty is eligible to return as soon as March 14. He has missed three straight games including a 5-0 shelling in San Jose on Saturday.

Brown (finger) and Roy (lower body) both exited that lopsided loss and did not return.

“Oh boy, Brown is serious, out for a while. Doughty still day-to-day, we hope. And Roy, it’ll be a little longer than day-to-day,” said McLellan Sunday, adding that it would be “dangerous to speculate” whether or not Brown would miss the rest of the season.

Brown, 37, is an unrestricted free agent to be, and has played his entire career as King, becoming the all-time leader in games played for the franchise.

Kings General Manager Rob Blake recently said that Edler (broken ankle) was on target to rejoin the Kings in late March, while Walker remained out for the season (knee surgery).

Between their absences and those of Anderson, Doughty and Roy, the Kings had only one of their six opening-night defenseman dressed in Sunday’s game against Florida. That was 20-year-old Tobias Bjornfot, who had also played more games in a Kings uniform (97) than any other defenseman that dressed for them Sunday. Unfortunately, but perhaps fittingly, Bjornfot departed the game in overtime after sliding into the boards. McLellan implied the injury was not overtly serious, but offered little specificity.

“He’s getting looked at as we speak, I really don’t have an update,” McLellan said after Sunday’s 3-2 shootout win over Florida.

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Athanasiou has had three injury-related absences as well as two others related to COVID protocols and under-performance, respectively. It has not yet been revealed if his present injury was an aggravation or some fresh malady.

Anderson (upper body), Arvidsson (lower body) and Lemieux (lower body) are all “week-to-week” according to McLellan. Sunday, McLellan said Arvidsson was “feeling better” but not yet “flying around,” so his return also appeared far from imminent.

In the meantime, McLellan said his club won’t try to drastically alter its game on the fly, instead relying on young players to fill gaps and veteran leaders to galvanize a markedly less experienced roster. That materialized Sunday, as players with 125 games or less of NHL experience accounted for all the Kings’ scoring.

“We shouldn’t be out of character. If you see us playing dramatically different or trying to, shame on us, because that’s what structure does for you. It allows you to get through these hard times,” McLellan said. “But if we randomly go and start painting on our own, it’s not going to help us one bit.”