Team Roster Gets a Trim

The Kings’ picture began to clear Monday when they sent center Nathan LaFayette to Lowell of the AHL, sent winger Scott Thomas to Long Beach, released defenseman Paul Dyck and picked up defenseman Rich Brennan in the waiver draft.

LaFayette, a veteran who has played with Vancouver, St. Louis and the New York Rangers, had been competing for time on the third or fourth lines but could not dislodge Ian Laperriere from the third unit and lost out to Jason Blake and Len Barrie in the fourth.

He will be joined in Lowell by center Eric Belanger and right wing Scott Barney, youngsters who were injured and did not participate in training camp.

Thomas, a 29-year-old veteran who played in the AHL last season, was a victim of a numbers game at right wing. At Long Beach, he will be handy for a call-up in the event of injury or non-performance by third-line winger Marko Tuomainen or fourth-liner Jason Podollan.

The glut of defensemen made it difficult for Dyck to win a job, and that depth became greater when the Kings drafted Brennan. With unsigned Mattias Norstrom and Jere Karalahti, apparently delayed by U.S. government bureaucracy, presumably on the way, there simply wasn’t a place for Dyck, 28.

Brennan, who had a goal and three assists in 24 games with the New York Rangers last season, also played in the AHL with Hartford. He was the 46th overall pick by Quebec in the 1991 entry draft, but has been unable to crack an NHL lineup in Colorado, San Jose, New York and Nashville, which signed him last Thursday, then left him exposed to the waiver draft.