KING/DUCK REPORT

Goaltender Stephane Fiset and winger Nelson Emerson are the most notable among 16 Kings left unprotected for the waiver draft.

The Kings, however, do not seem fearful of losing either player.

“There are different reasons for putting people on the list,” Coach Andy Murray said. “It might be that their contract is so high that you know that nobody will grab them....

“It’s not always your weakest players that go on it. The idea of the waiver list, and how you handle it is, you try to protect your assets. We go into it with the idea of, who can we maybe slide through the draft?”

Fiset and Emerson would seem to be ideal candidates.

Fiset, 31, is six years older than the Kings’ other backup goaltender, Jamie Storr, and is guaranteed $2.7 million this season, about $1.3 million more than Storr.

Storr and No. 1 goaltender Felix Potvin were among 20 players, including 18 skaters, protected by the Kings.

Emerson, 34, is guaranteed $1.9 million this season and $2 million next season, with a club option of $2.2 million for 2003-04, a steep price for a forward who produced 22 points in 78 games last season.

Any player claimed in the waiver draft will be lost to the team that left him unprotected with $40,000 as compensation.

*

With 11 regulars given the night off, the Kings used a makeshift lineup heavy on young prospects, many of whom will be cut, possibly as early as today.

“I want everybody to know, of the remaining guys, that we appreciate what they’re doing,” AndyMurray said. “Also, we want to see them again to get a better idea of what they can do.”