Rookie Left in Lurch, Is Sent to the Minors

Ziggy Palffy, Jozef Stumpel and Lubomir Visnovsky aren’t the only Slovaks who have disappointed the Kings this season.

Rookie Jaroslav Bednar, scoreless in seven games with the Kings after leading the Finnish Elite League with 32 goals last season, was reassigned Tuesday to the Kings’ American Hockey League team at Manchester, N.H.

Bednar’s demotion made room on the 23-man roster for Nelson Emerson, who was taken off the injured-reserve list after sitting out the season’s first eight games because of a concussion suffered in a Sept. 29 exhibition game.

Bednar, 25, had three goals and an assist in six exhibition games, earning a spot on the opening-night roster. But he never got untracked once the games counted, even when playing for a time with top-line forwards Palffy and Stumpel.

“We’re not happy with our whole team right now, and he’s just part of the equation,” Coach Andy Murray said of Bednar before Tuesday night’s 7-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets. “Maybe if the two guys that he was playing with were playing better, he would have looked better too.

“But at this point we’re not going to send Stumpel or Palffy down.”

Especially not now, after Palffy contributed two goals and an assist and Stumpel had three assists in the rout of the Blue Jackets.

Bednar, who has had trouble adjusting to the more physical style of play in the NHL, might have altered his fate if he had been able to convert one of two scoring chances in Saturday night’s 3-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings.

“I still think he’ll be an NHL player,” Murray said. “But Nelson is back now and if Bednar is not playing in the games, he should be playing in Manchester.”

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Defenseman Aaron Miller, suffering from back spasms since his back stiffened during Saturday night’s game at Detroit, was scratched for the first time. “It’s not anything that should be long-term,” Murray said, “but he’s not feeling real good. He’s pretty stiff.” Miller has sat out practice all week.