Audette Asks to Be Traded

Winger Donald Audette met with Dave Taylor, the Kings’ senior vice president and general manager, Tuesday night and requested to be traded.

“He’s not playing, and they [Audette and his agent] want to get him someplace where he can play,” said Taylor, who generally accommodates players’ wishes along this line.

Audette was scratched from Tuesday’s game against Detroit, his second scratch in a row and the second time he has been scratched for two consecutive games this season. He is plainly fed up with his inactivity.

“If I play, I can put the numbers up,” said Audette, who has 12 goals and 31 points in 47 games.

That’s the problem, Coach Andy Murray said.

“Donald needs to understand that it’s not about numbers,” said Murray, who spoke with Audette along those lines Saturday morning before he was scratched for Saturday night’s game.

Audette has to play a more complete game, Murray added, and that game includes work on defense and on the forecheck.

“We’ve also asked Ziggy Palffy and Bryan Smolinski to change their games,” Murray said, “and they’ve done it.”

Taylor said he preferred to keep Audette with the Kings and playing the way he played when he came over from Buffalo in a trade last season, and that any deal would have to be of some benefit to the Kings.

“Donald’s a good player,” said Taylor, meaning the Kings would have to receive value for Audette, whose salary, $2.2 million, could be an impediment to his being traded.

*

The Zamboni logged a lot of miles Tuesday, making ice at Staples Center in an attempt to correct a problem that has had players skating in furrows and pucks bouncing like handballs.

The problem, said Lee Zeidman, director of operations for the facility, is overuse. “The ice was down to five-eighths . . . thick,” he said. “It furrowed, and we couldn’t shave it to get rid of the furrows because it was too thin.”