Kings Hoping to Add Youth

It is with the clear intention of making themselves younger that the Kings will open training camp this morning in El Segundo.

With Kelly Buchberger, Nelson Emerson, King-for-a-month Cliff Ronning and their combined 2,820 games of NHL experience dispatched elsewhere this summer, the Kings are looking to add a more youthful look to their forward corps.

The most highly regarded of their rookie forwards are Alexander Frolov, a 20-year-old Russian, and three 20-year-old Canadians--Michael Cammalleri, Jared Aulin and Yanick Lehoux. None has played in an NHL game.

Meanwhile, defenseman Andreas Lilja (NHL experience: 28 games) is expected to fill the void left when Philippe Boucher, a veteran of 377 NHL games, signed with the Dallas Stars in July as an unrestricted free agent. And a rookie, Joe Corvo, could land a spot among the defensive corps.

Hoping to build on the success of a 95-point regular season and a third consecutive trip to the playoffs, the Kings are seriously considering adding two rookies to their top two lines. Given the best chance of making the leap are Frolov, rookie of the year in the Russian Elite League last season, and Cammalleri, who gave up his senior year at Michigan to sign with the Kings.

Steve Heinze, for one, will have a hand in determining the rookies’ fate. If the veteran winger regains the form that led to a promising start last season before a disappointing second half, it will leave one less spot open. Aulin and Lehoux, the former acquired from the Avalanche in the Rob Blake trade, also have been much hyped by the Kings. But it surely must have been disappointing to the club that they were out-played during a summer development camp by Coach Andy Murray’s 17-year-old son, Brady, a high school senior.

Still, the Kings are determined to make their youth movement work. “That’s our big hope, our young players,” Andy Murray said.

Jerry Crowe

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Mighty Duck defenseman Fredrik Olausson, a key free-agent signing, left practice early on the first day of training camp Thursday because of a sore groin muscle. He will get limited practice time until it heals.

Olausson signed a $1.1-million contract over the summer. He was brought in to help improve the Ducks’ power play, which ranked last in the NHL last season.

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Duck assistant General Manager David McNab said that the NHL is serious about eliminating obstruction. McNab and Coach Mike Babcock were the Ducks’ representatives at a meeting in Toronto on Tuesday with Commissioner Gary Bettman, team executives, coaches and on-ice officials.

“This is it,” McNab said. “They are going to go through with it this time. If you make a mistake on the ice, you can’t do something illegal to make up for it.”

Paul Kariya, however, is not convinced. “They have been going to do this for the last four or five years,” he said, “and every time it’s a wrestling match out there by midseason.”

Chris Foster