Murray Continues Evaluations

The evaluations are ongoing, daily ratings being replaced by game-to-game ratings from exhibitions.

It’s the way King Coach Andy Murray does business.

Each day he and assistants Dave Tippett, Mark Hardy and Ray Bennett meet to determine the top seven defensemen, top 13 forwards and top two goaltenders from practice or exhibitions. The ratings are from one to seven--”One is you’re in the wrong training camp and seven is a star,” said Murray Wednesday--and cover “just what we’re seeing on the ice, regardless of who they are, regardless of what their potential is.

“There is a cumulative average.”

The idea is to put together the best King team possible, which presumably means those not on that top-20 list, plus three alternates, will be cut.

The reality is that NHL economics might not work that way.

“I only know that Mr. [Philip] Anschutz [the Kings’ owner], Tim Leiweke [King president] and Dave Taylor [general manager] told me they wanted a hard-working team, the best team we could get on the ice, and that’s what I intend to do,” Murray responded to a query about cutting veterans.

“That’s what I plan to do. I hope I’m strong enough to see it through.”

The ratings are not made public.

“They don’t know where they sit right now, although I’ve told a couple they’re not where they should be,” Murray said of the players.

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The Kings have approached their first two exhibitions--both wins, including a 3-2 overtime victory over Colorado on Tuesday--a bit the way a golfer approaches his next shot.

They used visualization.

Murray decided that Saturday’s 4-0 win over Phoenix was similar to the Kings’ opener at Nashville. “I put up their lineup and told the guys that there’s no way they should beat us, unless they outwork us,” Murray said.

And Tuesday at the Great Western Forum?

“The Staples Center opener, against the Boston Bruins,” Murray said. “Colorado obviously had a better lineup for that game [than Phoenix had on Saturday].”

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The Kings cut their training camp roster to 44 players by assigning right wing Kevin Baker and defensemen Trevor Gillies, Richard Seeley and Kevin Bolibruck to Lowell of the AHL and returning left wing Kip Brennan to Sudbury of the Ontario Hockey League.