Former King Loach One of Three Cut by Ducks

Left wing Lonnie Loach, who played in 50 games for the Kings last season, was cut from the Mighty Ducks on Monday when the expansion team reduced its roster to 25.

He was assigned to the San Diego Gulls, the Ducks’ minor league affiliate, along with center Jarrod Skalde, 22, and defenseman Scott Chartier, 21, who missed most of camp with an ankle injury.

Loach, 25, scored 10 goals and 23 points last season playing for King Coach Barry Melrose, his former minor league coach, after being claimed on waivers from Ottawa.

The Ducks are in dire need of scoring, but Loach was held pointless in three exhibition games, and his 5-foot-10, 180-pound build doesn’t fit easily with the Ducks’ emphasis on big, physical forwards.

“Lonnie didn’t out-play other people on the left side, and with the addition of Garry Valk into the mix, we wanted to be as physical and robust as possible,” Duck Coach Ron Wilson said. “Lonnie didn’t score in training camp and he’s probably saying he didn’t have an opportunity to play with what I guess he wants to call quality players. But I think everyone--with the exception of the Anatoli Semenov line--mixed and had an equal opportunity. He has to go down and work. Obviously if we have a problem at left wing with an injury he’ll be right back. We want to avoid having people sit around with San Diego such a short hop away.”

Loach expressed disappointment about leaving the Kings when he was selected in the expansion draft, but he had no comment Monday.

Right wing Jim Thomson, another former King, is still on the Duck roster.

He played in only nine games with the Kings last season but has impressed Wilson during the preseason as a player with more ability than his reputation as a fighter suggests.