KINGS REPORT : Audette’s Switch Takes Time

After 10 seasons in the NHL, Donald Audette is getting a different look at the game.

He has played right wing well enough to score as many as 31 goals in a season, but Audette is lining up on the other side of the ice these days, a victim of a right-wing glut that is the result of the Ziggy Palffy trade.

It’s different.

“It’s going to take some time,” said Audette of his move to left wing. “So far it’s been OK, but it takes some getting used to.”

The problem isn’t on offense even though Audette’s switch means that, with Bryan Smolinski and Glen Murray, there are three right-handed shots on the line.

“Just watching tapes this summer, he’s never played left wing, but he scores most of his goals from the left side,” Coach Andy Murray said of Audette. “We feel he’s a natural, and Glen Murray has such a drive from the right side that he’s comfortable there.”

No, the problem is on defense and in transition.

“It’s different, especially in our zone,” Audette said. “It’s hard to get the speed to go on offense. Normally, I was going from the right side to the left side all the time, getting my speed in the middle zone. Now it’s more like a stop and go, or if I get speed, I end up on the right side. It’s going to be an adjustment.”

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After the first day of practice, Audette, Murray, Smolinski, Sean O’Donnell and Aki Berg were told they needed to step up the pace Monday.

“We told [them] that they didn’t set a good precedent for that team that was on the ice the first day,” Murray said.

Message apparently received, based on watching Smolinski dive to complete a play in Monday’s workout.

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The Kings have added Don Edwards as a goalie consultant, working part time with Stephane Fiset and Jamie Storr and with prospects in the minor leagues. Edwards had been dismissed with the rest of the assistants on Larry Robinson’s staff last season.