Rich Clune suffered a pulled groin muscle in Saturday night’s game and, according to Terry Murray, will be out “a couple weeks.” Murray declined to speculate whether the Kings would keep Clune on the NHL roster and put him on injured reserve if (as seems likely) he is unavailable for the start of the season.
Murray also indicated that Brayden Schenn will go back to juniors, so suddenly this whole roster situation is looking much less murky. Given the subtractions of Schenn and Clune (at least temporarily), it’s basically Harrold, Hickey, Ivanans, Lewis, Martinez, Richardson and Westgarth…seven players for six spots.
With Sean O’Donnell out for the first two games, it’s probably setting up a Martinez vs. Hickey choice.
As for the goalies, Murray wouldn’t tip his hand at all, as he praised both Ersberg and Bernier. In response to my direct question, Murray did say that Ersberg had proved he could handle the No. 2 goalie responsibilities.
It seems as though the players will learn their fates Tuesday morning at the latest.