Buchberger, Emerson Go From Bad to Good

Kelly Buchberger wasn’t all that surprised.

“I’d heard something was up,” he said.

Nelson Emerson shouldn’t have been shocked.

“I’ve played long enough so I should know better,” he said.

The two newest Kings made the trek from Atlanta on Tuesday and will make it down to the Arrowhead Pond tonight, Buchberger to join center Bob Corkum on the fourth line, a unit whose primary role is checking, and Emerson to join Bryan Smolinski on the second line, to which he will bring goal-scoring ability.

After moving over in a trade for Donald Audette and Fran Kaberle, Buchberger and Emerson suddenly are in the Western Conference playoff race, instead of Atlanta, which has lost 50 games.

“You just want to be accepted in your new [locker] room,” said Buchberger, who was Atlanta’s captain. “You want to make yourself part of the team.”

When you bring along a couple of Stanley Cup rings, as Buchberger does from his days with Edmonton, that becomes easier.

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Emerson got an extra examination upon reporting to the Kings, who wanted to make sure he has recovered from a concussion he suffered Nov. 27 when he was checked hard at center ice by Florida defenseman Robert Svehla.

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Defenseman Aki Berg was found to have suffered a concussion when he was checked into the boards by Vancouver’s Todd Bertuzzi on Monday. Berg will not play tonight, and the Kings are delaying a decision to bring either Jan Nemecek from Long Beach or Rich Brennan from Lowell as the seventh defenseman.

Jaroslav Modry will play instead of Berg tonight.