Jack Johnson pairing

As I said earlier, the Kings are starting to get into the blood and guts of training camp here. There will be another round of cutdowns after tomorrow night's game, which will take the roster down to either 30 or 31 players.

One thing I've been curious about is the defensive pairings. With so many newcomers, it will be interesting to see how they fit together. Rob Blake and Lubomir Visnovsky seems natural enough. So does Brad Stuart and Tom Preissing, since they have some history together in San Jose. That leaves Jack Johnson, most likely to play with Jaroslav Modry, something he's been doing fairly consistently since the start of camp.

The choice is somewhat limited, since Crawford said Johnson looks more comfortable playing on the right side. That eliminates a potential pairing with Blake and leaves Modry and Stuart as the most likely candidates.

Crawford said: ``It would be wonderful if we had a guy like Ray Bourque, that type of veteran who talks a lot on the ice and would make him feel comfortable. A Larry Robinson-type player, who could be a mentor and a guiding force for him. We have that in Rob Blake, but if we play him on the right side that doesn't allow us to play him with Rob. We've got some good people, like Stuart and Modry, who should be helpful. We'll have to see how that goes.''

Johnson said he played on the right side at Michigan. I asked him if he has felt comfortable playing with anyone in particular.

``I've been playing with Modry for most of training camp,'' Johnson said. ``He's a lot of fun to play with and he knows his stuff. I learn something from him every time I'm on the ice.''

Much was made of the Blake-Johnson mentoring, and it's taking place. Johnson said Blake will come up to him on the ice and offer little pointers, or sometimes just chat.

``He talks to me when we're standing in line (for drills),'' Johnson said. ``Sometimes it's not even about hockey. Sometimes he will just come up and say, `What's going on?'''