Rookie Inches Ahead at Blue Line

There has been a traffic jam at the blue line in the Kings’ training camp, but rookie defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky is poking his way to the front.

And he’s doing it the hard way.

“I’d say he’s been the surprise back there,” Coach Andy Murray said of the Slovakian, who is among five defensemen competing for two available spots. Rob Blake, Mattias Norstrom, Mathieu Schneider, Jere Karalahti and Aki Berg have already secured their positions.

The five in competition are Visnovsky, a 24-year-old rookie selected in the fourth round of the June entry draft; Andreas Lilja, Jaroslav Modry, Philippe Boucher and Rich Brennan.

Visnovsky is 5 feet 10, 180 pounds at a position whose occupants tend to be at least four inches taller and 20 pounds heavier. And he speaks no English, which has made communicating with his partners on defense difficult. But it hasn’t inhibited his transition from the European game to the bump-and-bang NHL.

“It’s a completely different style,” Visnovsky said through Modry, a native of the Czech Republic who speaks Slovakian.

“Everything happens quicker. You have to make decisions quicker. [In Europe], you seem to have a half-second longer to make decisions. Not so here.”

That’s a product of the smaller NHL rink and quicker, more physical players. A couple have run at Visnovsky, testing him.

So far, he has passed.

“They do not make me afraid,” he said. “I am quick and I bring speed.”

He also brings intelligence and uncanny decision-making.

The communication gap has been a problem when he has been paired with fellow rookie Lilja, as Visnovsky will be tonight when the Kings play host to Phoenix at Staples Center. But Visnovsky appears more comfortable with Modry, who also has stood out in camp and figures to survive the final cut.

“I know what he’s going through,” Modry said. “It’s the same thing I did in my first year here. I had to learn English. He will have to learn it to enjoy playing here.”

For now, Visnovsky rooms with countryman Ziggy Palffy, and plays his game well enough to be a leader of a tight pack.

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The Kings will protect 16 skaters and two goalies on a list that must be finalized today for Friday’s waiver draft.

Expected to be available for the draft are goalies Steve Passmore and Marcel Cousineau, winger Jason Podollan and defensemen Brennan and Boucher, though the Kings would not release the names of protected players.

Unless the Kings pick up a player from another team in the draft, they can lose no more than one player.

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Palffy will not play tonight against Phoenix because he jammed a finger while being slashed in Saturday’s 4-1 win over San Jose at Bakersfield.

No penalty was called.