Perhaps this is a good time to look at where things stand with the Kings, roster wise.

The way I see it at this point, 12 forwards are pretty much assured of roster spots. That would be Brown, Kopitar, Cammalleri, O’Sullivan, Handzus, Nagy, Calder, Armstrong, Frolov, Thornton, Willsie and Ivanans. You can put them on different lines, but that’s probably a solid dozen right there. That still leaves open the fourth-line center spot, which now becomes a battle between Giuliano, Murray, Lewis and quite possibly Zeiler, who has been skating at center. Cliche is still recovering from his offseason injury and probably won’t be in the mix.

On defense, you’re most likely looking at Blake, Visnovsky, Stuart, Preissing, Johnson and Modry.

Include two goalies, and we’re probably talking about two open roster spots at this point. There will be at least one extra defenseman, and the candidates there are Dallman, Harrold, Klemm and Petiot. Then you’re either looking at a 14th forward, an eighth defenseman or a third goalie. (This, of course, is post-London, when the eased roster limitations are finished.)

So…what to do? Lombardi has said it before…if a young guy earns a spot, it creates an opportunity to trade a veteran. It seems, then, that the Kings’ course of action will depend on how much they’re impressed by players such as Murray, Lewis, Zeiler, Harrold and Petiot.

These last three North American exhibition games will hold a lot of internal drama…