Moller back to Manchester

Oscar Moller raised expectations for himself two years ago when, in his second NHL training camp, he made the Kings’ roster at the start of the season. Moller spent two months with the Kings before he left to represent Sweden in the 2008 World Junior Championships, and Moller injured his shoulder in that tournament. Since then, he’s had a bit of a tough go.

Moller didn’t make the NHL roster out of training camp last season, but did spend 34 games with the Kings and played a big role in the Manchester Monarchs’ success last season. Today, Moller was assigned to the Monarchs’ camp. Moller is still only 21 years old, and is still very much a part of the Kings’ future plans, but he’s not yet ready to claim a top-six forward role, and that’s where his future seems to be, not in an energy/checking role. Whether Moller will ever rise to that top-six level is still a question, one that only he can answer.

Here’s what Terry Murray said today about cutting Moller from the training-camp roster…

MURRAY: “I’m going to bring him back this afternoon, so I can have an opportunity to sit down with him. To me, Oscar is right on track. He played here the first year. We made a lot of changes that first year, and as we got into last year, there seemed to be a little bit of soft stuff that wasn’t quite the same, in my opinion. And other players had stepped up, and we had become a better hockey club as a result of that first season. We made the decision for him to go play (in Manchester) and I think he worked very hard. I saw him in the playoffs in Manchester. His game was a good game, and he put in a very dedicated summer to get himself ready for this training camp. And it shows. He had a good training camp. Going back to Manchester on the right note, in my mind, is, `Just build on your game and be ready.’ Because there’s no question that throughout the season, there is going to be that opportunity that presents itself for him, and he needs to come ready to go.”