Armstrong update
Derek Armstrong, who has missed eight consecutive games with a knee injury, is considered ``probable'' to play Thursday against Vancouver. Armstrong skated with the full team in practice Wednesday for the first time and said he wasn't totally pain free but felt good enough to play. ``There's some stiffness, but that just comes with the injury,'' Armstrong said. Armstrong, it seems, had a mild MCL issue. ``It got lucky. It could have been a lot worse,'' he said.
Is there a more underrated player on the Kings' roster than Armstrong. The Kings showed what they think of him when they locked him up with a two-year contract extension last month. He has a plus-14 rating on a team that has scored 216 goals and allowed 264 (second-worst total in the Western Conference).

J.P. Hoornstra writes about NHL and IHL hockey for the Los Angeles Newspaper Group. He welcomes any and all dialogue on the finer points of hockey.
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Jill Painter joined the Daily News in 2000 and during the last eight years she's covered the Dodgers, Cal State Northridge, UCLA, Kings, golf and everything in between. Even though she's from Colorado, she still freezes in the Staples Center press box but always manages to thaw her fingers in time to make deadline. E-mail Jill at 

Army is great and im happy that his injury wasnt worse. From seeing the numerous replays its unbelievable that he is skating so hard so soon.