Terry Murray and Dean Lombardi caught an early-morning flight back to L.A., and Murray will be behind the bench at Staples Center tonight with Manchester coaches Mark Morris and Scott Pellerin.
Jonathan Quick is scheduled to play the full game tonight. In Phoenix, Jonathan Bernier will get more work, playing at least two periods. Jeff Zatkoff is also there. Murray said Erik Ersberg’s injured hand is still giving him problems, and Ersberg is not practicing.
More to come, including Murray’s thoughts on last night’s game.
Not looking good for Erik.
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I’m a little surprised by Ersberg’s injury. It’s either really serious or he’s accepted that he’s lost his job to Bernier. I mean, if it was something he could just bear with, I would think he’d keep quiet about it until he was certain he had a job, but who knows?
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8ball Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:51 pm
@Chris,
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That’s tough for Ersberg. Probably means he loses the job, and makes him less attractive to other clubs interested in trading for an experienced #2.
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Yes, or Ersberg goes on the IR and doesn’t have to be dealt with for a few weeks. Solving the problem that way.
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is Berg really injured? if u ask me,Dean is trying to trade him and they are keeping him on the side to avoid injury!
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rontheking Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 11:29 am
@dude,
Dude! He’s hurt….
Got to feel for the guy. He can’t catch a break…or a puck for that matter.
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DougS Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:11 pm
@dude,
Sheesh, in the actual absence of evidence to the contrary (as opposed to magical thinking), why would you think anything other than that he’s really injured?
Think about it: If they’re so worried about his trade value, how is pretending that he’s injured going to help his value? Value is based on how other teams perceive him. Why would anyone pay up for someone who’s hurt?
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KC23 Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:35 pm
@dude,
There is zero market for goalies right now. Dime a dozen. If you are trying to sell a goalie I doubt telling the media he is injured would be the way to go about it.
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Feel bad for Iceberg… his role with the team was looking grim already, and this injury may have sunk (pun intended) his chances.
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wasn’t it last year that Bernier was hurt in training camp and couldn’t play? He had to be sent back to the minors without having a chance to fight for a roster spot. Ersberg got the benefit of that one last year…but this year it’s Ersberg’s turn to be injured.
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8ball Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:55 pm
@LB,it does make you wonder.
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Went I went to practice on Sunday I think I saw the shot that hurt him. It took him a few seconds to regain himself, it looked harmless at first but I can see how of could hurt him.
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Rich
Get the true story about berg your a newspaperman
I am betting they are saving face he is gone will be sent down and that is that How can you not go with quick and bernier after last season
Fans would be up in arms if no bernier quick to start the season !!!
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DougS Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:20 pm
@backckecker,
Pardon my perplexity, but WTF? Why would the Kings feel any need to “save face” with regard to Ersberg not making the team this year? As if, a) this is first time in the history of professional sports that a player got beaten out of a roster spot by a better, younger player, and b) Ersberg’s profile is all that high to begin with.
I figured the Kings would trade Ersberg over the summer. That they didn’t may be a function of the surplus of goaltending talent, which Rich alluded to. But you’ve got to figure that, since he’s still with the team, the Kings would get much more value out of Ersberg practicing every day and reminding Bernier and Quick that they can’t slack off, rather than pretending that he’s hurt.
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Rich Hammond Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:53 pm
He’s hurt. About 100 people in the stands saw him get hit and fall to the ice. We can cut short the conspiracy theories.
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Doc. Mark 1968 Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 2:09 pm
@Rich Hammond,
It was the puck that was shot from the grassy knoll!
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KC23 Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:40 pm
@Rich Hammond,
Yeah, but oswald was the name on the jersey and I got an 8mm of the whole affair. We are pieceing together the sounds of 9 different phone cams as we speak.
Like the King’s need to soft sell something that has been obvious to everyone since Bernier’s last win after getting called up to the Kings last year.
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8ball Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:25 pm
@KC23,if you’ve got 8mm footage of the JFK hit then you don’t have to work another day
in your life.but i doubt it.
Kinda think if Ersberg is truly done, especially this way, that really sucks.
Think about it – his numbers are great – and if we hypothetically had him ANYTIME between the Chekmanek – Cloutier – Burst (lol) – LaBarbie days, he probably would have been a hero.
All I am saying is that he has good value, like Huet, despite the goalie market.
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Kings fan in temecula Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 12:29 pm
@Ari, Gotta agree with ya there, gotta feel bad for the guy :O
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Rico6Sino Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 2:27 pm
@Ari,
He is a hero, for the time of the LaBarbera days. …Then Ersberg got hurt.
Whether it was the way he looked in practice or from just simply being outplayed by Quick, he hasn’t really been given much of a chance (i.e. enough consecutive games) to show if he can rebuild that rhythm (he had when they were alternating 10 games at a time).
It goes back to the last minute decision to throw him in against the Rangers last year… then to sit him.
It is/was thought of to be a good problem for the Kings last year. (Being fortunate enough to have the depth available to test if a goalie will just sink)… But TM has since looked down on (or at least second guessed) his decision to play Quick as much as he did.
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Ersberg got the Great Shaft in last season’s game at Madison Square Garden.
TM never forgave — or truly trusted — him after that.
It’s not so easy to sit out a month and suddenly be put in the net. I think he did rather well under those circumstances.
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puck73 Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:27 pm
@tuan jim, Could not have said it any better. Too bad, I think most people on this blog, myself included like Ersberg personally, plus he is a solid #2 goalie. That being said, he is sitting on the tracks with a freight train named Bernier about to steamroll right over him !
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DougS
Guess you have it all figured out MR WTF !!!!!
If you understood anything you would understand that is a move to trade
him send him down let him play show value and trade him That keeps
face for the player and the club MR WTF !!!!
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holly Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 2:03 pm
@backchecker,
It really doesn’t save face for anyone, though. There’s no real shame in being beat out by a guy with superior talent level for a number 2 slot. It isn’t like they’re dead even and Ersberg risks getting booted despite “seniority.” And saying “Oh, he’s injured, AHL time!” doesn’t really increase his trade value anymore than saying point blank “Listen, we’ve got a guy here who’s a pretty good number two, but we’ve got a kid who is just flat out better.” I mean, it happens all the time. Not to mention that Bernier and Quick are shining examples of the Kings system working that replacing Ersberg with Bernier would just be a gold star for the organization. Everyone knows that Bernier is a serious threat for Ersberg so even inventing a fictitious injury (which Rich has clearly stated is a real injury) wouldn’t help at all in hiding the true situation. Plus, who wants an injured back up?
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backchecker Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 3:59 pm
@holly,
They can not get anything for him now
They need to send him down show he can play
hopefully then get something for him
This is how they send him down and
show him off
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holly Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 7:08 pm
@backchecker,
I’m pretty sure that sending him down to Manchester doesn’t require a faux injury. Just about everyone in the league is aware that Bernier is a true talent who has the potential (and very likely) to beat out Ersberg when healthy.
Creating a faux injury to justify something that wouldn’t need justifying wouldn’t help the organization move him.
Chris Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:25 pm
@backchecker,
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Chris Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 4:31 pm
@backchecker,
I get what you’re saying. You’re saying that it’s not saving face; it’s a way to get Ersberg to Manchester without waivers (they would say it’s for conditioning coming back from injury). I don’t think they would do that, though. Ersberg doesn’t really have anything to prove at the AHL level. If another team wanted to know how he plays at the NHL level, there’s plenty of video they can watch. The idea just seems too far-fetched, like a conspiracy theory, to hold water.
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8ball Reply:
September 23rd, 2010 at 6:06 pm
@Chris,
conspiracy-theory?
some of them are true.yes. the man-made ones sre tricky.nature can mess your mind up,with a
little help from Fish@Game in my state with 180lb wolves with nowhere to go.why do they
think these damn things disappeared in the
first place?
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