Extension Is Not Robinson’s Priority

An offer of a contract extension for Coach Larry Robinson has been on the table for at least three weeks, without his reply, but he said Sunday night that he is not reconsidering his stance that he wants to coach the team beyond this season.

Robinson, finishing a four-year, $3-million contract, said that the extension is not a priority right now.

“I’m more concerned with getting this team going,” Robinson said.

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The Kings dressed seven defensemen for the first time, but one of them, Garry Galley, was a swing-shift player.

Galley, scratched for five of the first six games, found himself playing left wing Sunday night at Carolina, and wasn’t all that happy about it or his dearth of ice time.

The last time he played forward “was my second or third year at Washington, and I wasn’t playing much then either,” Galley said.

Galley’s presence up front Sunday night was something of a message for Craig Johnson, a winger who was scratched from the lineup just before the game started.

“The reason I did that is that I just felt that C.J. hasn’t been the player we want him to be,” Robinson said. “He’s the type of guy who has to use his speed and come to the net and use his body. He’s not a big guy, but he can come to the net and scrap a little bit.

“I haven’t seen that. He looks a little bit tentative.”

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Defenseman Doug Bodger played in his 1,000th NHL game Sunday night and was going to make certain it happened.

“It was a different feeling,” Bodger said of becoming the 130th player in to reach No. 1,000.

Bodger is the second player to reach the 1,000 mark this season. Kelly Miller of Washington was the first.

“I know I was skating around in the pregame, hoping not to get hit by a puck. Every time I heard one hit a crossbar, I ducked. I wanted to make sure I could play.”

He started the game.

“It was nice to get that first shift out of the way,” Bodger said.

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Goalie Stephane Fiset will get a hard practice today at Uniondale, N.Y., and will play Tuesday against the Islanders if he is ready.

Manny Legace will probably take a backup role, at least until Jamie Storr is ready to play.