New Chance for Boucher

It has been a long road back for the Kings’ Philippe Boucher, who sat out nearly all of the 1999-’00 season, while recovering from a foot injury, and started last season with the Manitoba Moose of the International Hockey League.

But after playing a part in the Kings’ late-season resurgence after his recall from the minors last February, the 6-foot-2, 221-pound defenseman hopes he is in the NHL to stay.

If his play during the first week of training camp in El Segundo is an indication, the Quebec native can count on it.

“I think Philippe Boucher has been the most impressive defenseman in camp,” Coach Andy Murray says. “Part of it is having played in Winnipeg last year, which I think fuels his drive. Winnipeg’s a great place to play, but he’d rather not be playing there.

“The other thing is, the way he played here last year. Bouch was a key performer for us down the stretch, and I think he realizes how he needs to play. He’s playing with some bite, which he has to do-he has to use that size.”

Boucher, 28, says he had to overcome self-doubt to reach this point.

“I had the injury for a year, then I went to the minors,” he says. “After Christmas, it didn’t look like I was going to get the call. It was tough. You start thinking about going to Europe and stuff like that, but I never dreamed of going there. I always wanted to play in the NHL.

“And then I came back up here and finally got a chance at the end of the season. At my age, you never know if you’re going to get another chance, and I took advantage of it last year and I just want to keep it going.

“It’s fun to be here and hockey’s fun again. It’s always been fun to play, but when you have injuries and can’t go out there and perform, it’s hard.”

Murray hoped to cut the camp roster of 52 players by about 15 late Sunday night but said the process might be delayed because of the reduced number of flights out of LAX after Tuesday’s terrorist attacks.

“We don’t want to have people around here knowing that maybe they aren’t part of the picture,” he said, “so we may have to postpone it based on flight availability.”