Murray Regrets Unkindest Cuts

King Coach Andy Murray wore a pained expression late Wednesday night outside the visitors’ locker room at the Arrowhead Pond. It had nothing to do with the result of that night’s game, a 4-1 exhibition victory over the Ducks.

With 11 King regulars given the night off, an enthusiastic group of prospects and selected veterans had swamped the weary Ducks.

“How do you cut anybody?” Murray agonized after the Kings’ third consecutive victory, echoing his belief that the Kings have never been deeper. “How do we cut guys, the way we’ve played the last three games and how hard we’ve worked?

“It’s a rotten business. It’s awful when you can’t [reward] guys on merit.

“It’s going to be a struggle, I tell you. I won’t sleep well tonight.”

Rotten or not, business is business, and Thursday came the news: The Kings had reassigned six players to the minors.

Sent packing for Manchester, N.H., of the American Hockey League were wingers Ryan Flinn, Brad Chartrand and Rob Valicevic and defensemen Tomas Zizka, Brett Hauer and Jason Holland.

The cuts left the Kings with 28 players, including forward Steve Kelly, who will start the season on the injured reserved list after abdominal surgery.

Assuming that the Kings will keep the 18 skaters they protected from today’s waiver draft, and that unprotected wingers Nelson Emerson and Ken Belanger will go unclaimed, four players will vie for the remaining skating position on the 23-man opening-day roster--defenseman Andreas Lilja and forwards Scott Thomas, Adam Mair and Jaroslav Bednar. The roster must be set by Tuesday.

Stephane Fiset, left unprotected in today’s draft, and Jamie Storr are still battling to back up No. 1 goaltender Felix Potvin.