Murray Is Facing National Dilemma

So, will it be family or country?

For King Coach Andy Murray, it was not a difficult question. This morning, his son, Brady, will try to win a gold medal at the World Junior Championships in Helsinki, Finland, facing Canada.

Brady plays for the United States. Andy was the coach of Team Canada, gold medalists at the World Championships last spring, also in Helsinki. Murray also is considered a strong contender to coach the Canadians in the World Cup of Hockey this summer.

And who is the proud father pulling for?

“Well, my son,” he said. “It’d be nice to turn silver into gold. They’ve got the silver now, which is the first medal the U.S. has won since 1997. That’s what we did when we played the final last year. That was kind of our theme for the final game when we qualified for the final, turn silver into gold, by winning the last game.

“But Canada’s got a great team. It looks like they maybe have a little more depth than what the U.S. does.”

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And, of course, there is the ongoing, rarely dull Jason Allison saga. The issue picked up steam in some give-and-take between Murray and the injured Allison through the media last week. Murray said the player had been cleared to return. Allison denied that in the strongest way possible.

As previously reported, the new team policy is to refer all questions to General Manager Dave Taylor. But Murray did say Sunday after practice in El Segundo that he met privately with Allison last week after the recent controversy. If the situation between Murray and Allison had improved or deteriorated after the meeting, the coach declined to say, referring the matter to Taylor.

Adam Deadmarsh, also out all season, has not resumed activity, let alone skating. Murray said Deadmarsh has not even been able to work out on a stationary bike.

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Forward Esa Pirnes, who has been sidelined for the last 17 games because of a concussion suffered on Nov. 27 in Phoenix, is expected to be taken off the injured reserve list today and assigned to the Kings’ minor-league affiliate in Manchester, N.H.

The thinking behind the move is that Pirnes simply needs to get game action and that Manchester would be the best place to do so.

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Goaltender Roman Cechmanek, out since aggravating a hip injury, is optimistic about his improvement, but Murray is not certain that he will be ready for Wednesday’s game against the Mighty Ducks. He took part in drills with about eight to nine players, including Allison, before a practice Sunday at El Segundo. The team is off today.