Schenn's chance to shine
The Kings are likely to make another round of cuts after tonight's preseason game against the Ducks. Will this be Brayden Schenn's final game with the Kings, before he is returned to his junior team? Quite possibly, but Schenn has responded well to every challenge the Kings have given him so far. Schenn will get one more chance to impress tonight. Here's what Terry Murray said about Schenn's training camp thus far...
MURRAY: ``He's here, he's a young guy, and I think that when you have a junior player around for as long as we have with him, the best thing to do is play him and let him get a real good experience of what's going on at this level and see if he can push his game to the next level. We're seeing that. That's probably a reason why I keep looking to get him into the games, he and Clifford, because they are able to rise up to the occasion and perform very well, as they did (Thursday) night. There were times when that line was playing incredibly well, for 18-year-olds. As long as they're around this team, I'm going to keep getting them in there and giving them a great experience.''
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Rich Hammond has covered the Kings, on a full-time or part-time basis, since the 2000-01 season. He was the beat writer for the entire John Torchetti era and has witnessed Bob Miller singing country music in a Nashville honky-tonk bar. A native of Los Angeles, Rich has worked at the Daily News since 1999 and also serves as the paper's deputy sports editor. E-mail Rich at rich.hammond@dailynews.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.
By the way TM talks, it's as if he has no input as to when someone like Schenn goes back to junior. Things like, "He's (still) here," and "As long as they're around."
So then, does he not make those decisions himself or at least help make those decisions or is it just DL who decides??? Any idea?
Schenn was getting a huge amount of time in OT in Ontario on Thursday killing penalties. At this point, I like keeping him around to get as much experience up here before he ends up going back. Why not let the kid have an extra game or two if need be. It's not costing you much at this point, and you know he'll just be going back before the season starts.
I'm only guessing, but while DL certainly values and utilizes all the coaches' input, this is his team, and he makes the final choices.
waves -
you know the answer. it's lombardi's call. murray has input but no power. murray is just being neutral in his comments, because that's what you do. there's no point in saying, "the kid will get sent down obviously," even though it's obvious he is saying that. the other platitude is the "he's making it very tough on us," which I expect to hear more in the coming days.