Three’s a Crowd Among Goalies

The first day of Kings training camp Thursday had competing goaltenders Dan Cloutier, Mathieu Garon and Jason LaBarbera playing the Three Amigos.

They are fine with the situation, all said, and competition is healthy. Still, the bottom line is, only two figure to be here after training camp. The pecking order seems clear -- Cloutier, Garon, LaBarbera.

First-year Coach Marc Crawford said that the No. 1 job was not open, but added, “That’s not to say there can’t be incremental improvements that change things by the end of camp.”

For now, though, Cloutier, acquired from the Vancouver Canucks, is top dog.

Garon played in 63 games last season and won 31, third-most in Kings history, but his play was sporadic after December.

“The trade didn’t really bother me,” Garon said. “I can only worry about my game. I know I need to be better. I learned last season that you have to be consistent every night.”

Cloutier, who had three consecutive 30-win seasons before missing nearly all of 2005-06 because of knee surgery, became expendable when the Canucks acquired Roberto Luongo from the Florida Panthers.

“I pretty much expected to be traded and Vancouver did a good job of getting it down quickly,” said Cloutier, adding that he had fully recovered from the surgery. “I’ve learned that, sooner or later, they are going to bring someone in to try to take your job.”

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Sean Avery took the ice for the Kings for the first time since they asked him to leave it last April.

After practice, Avery said, “Talk to [Rob Blake],” buttoned his lip and bolted from the team’s dressing room faster than a kid from spinach.

Avery’s rap-sheet-season ended with the Kings suspending him with three games remaining last spring. New General Manager Dean Lombardi, after a lengthy, no-nonsense meeting last spring, brought Avery back, giving him a one-year contract.

Now everyone seems to be trying to save Avery from Avery, whose shoot-from-the-lip style had him buried under controversy last season. He hired a spin/damage control publicist.

Crawford said he’d had “several meetings” with Avery. Team captain Mattias Norstrom asked to sit next to Avery in the team’s dressing room, with Blake on the other side.

“Sean is a good man,” Norstrom said. “It’s not like Rob and I are going to keep him on a short leash. But there’s not a better example on how to be as a player than Rob.”

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Dustin Brown and Tim Gleason, who are not yet under contract, both went through workouts and the Kings extended their qualifying offers by a day. Gleason said he was close to signing. Brown said talks for a long-term contract had broken off and he was likely to accept the qualifying offer.

chris.foster@latimes.com