Last chance to shine

Five forwards — Kyle Clifford, Rich Clune, Trevor Lewis, Andrei Loktionov and Brayden Schenn — remain in contention for roster spots, and all will be in the lineup for tonight’s preseason finale. The final roster cuts are expected to take place tomorrow, so I asked Terry Murray if those players still had a chance to win hearts and minds tonight, or if the decisions had essentially been made…

MURRAY: “These young guys have come in and played well throughout training camp and worked extremely hard. They have adjusted and understand what we ask from them in every practice, every game. They have grabbed a lot of us, these young guys, right now, already. This will be another opportunity for them to show us that they’re consistent and that they’re ready to do something here at the NHL level. We have to make that decision, clearly, as we get past this game tonight. There will be some fun talk upstairs, to make that final cut.”

The wild card is Scott Parse, who remains off the ice with a groin injury. After today, the Kings have only four days of practice before the season opener, so the likelihood that Parse will be ready for the start of the season is starting to come into question. I asked Murray whether Parse’s status might impact the decision making, in terms of the final roster cuts…

MURRAY: “It does play into it, yeah. Parse, his injury is unfortunate. I was really looking forward to him coming into the training camp, but that’s the way it is, so it does open the door for other players. We have talked a bit about carrying 14 forwards. We’ll see where that goes, after we get through this game.”

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