Three-headed monster?

By Rich Hammond on October 4, 2007 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) |

It's almost decision time for the Kings. Jean-Sebastien Aubin, out with a groin strain, said he's 90 percent healthy and should only requite a couple more practices in order to be ready to play. Aubin said he injured himself during the Kings' preseason game at Colorado but attempted to play through it.

``I kept practicing, thinking it would get better, but that was a bad choice,'' Aubin said. ``I wouldn't be afraid to play on it right now, but I want to be smart and get in a couple more practices.''

After which, coach Marc Crawford will have to decide what to do. Keeping three goalies would seem to be the best option while the Kings figure out what to do with Jonathan Bernier, but Crawford wouldn't tip his hand. His comments about Bernier and handling him with ``a long-term view'' could be viewed in a couple different ways.

``Right now, we have just kind of played it a day at a time, and I think we'll continue to keep playing it that way,'' Crawford said. ``I know that, long term, it's (keeping three goalies) not the optimum way that you want to advance, but right now it's what we think is the best thing for our club right now.

``Obviously, Jonathan is crucial to the long-term success of this club and we will continue to monitor him with a long-term view. That's not to say that we don't look long-term at Jason and J.S. either, but I think that they're both at points in their career where they have to make the best of the opportunities they're being given. They have to handle whatever opportunities there are with three goalies.

``With Jonathan, we're not too worried about his mental state because he's enjoying every moment that he's here. He's enjoying the practices and everything is new for him, so we're not worried about any mental strain on him at this point. That's something that's positive.

Crawford said he has not decided who will be Saturday's starting goaltender.

``Not yet,'' Crawford said. ``I think we'll wait until tomorrow and let the goaltender know that he's going to play tomorrow.''

1 Comments

Rogie Vachon said:

C'mon, Crawford...we all know its gonna be Bernier. Not too much rocket science going on there.

October 4, 2007 2:54 PM

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. E-mail J.P. at jp.hoornstra
@inlandnewspapers.com.

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 jill.painter@dailynews
.com.