Options on defense

Terry Murray seemed to be keeping his options open on defense today in practice, as the defensemen were frequently rotating partners in practice drills. Yesterday, Murray committed to a top pairing of Drew Doughty and Rob Scuderi, and today he leaned toward pairing Jack Johnson with Matt Greene — the blog poll wins again! — and Davis Drewiske with Jake Muzzin. It fits with Murray’s model of having one puck-mover with one stay-at-home guy, although that means classifying Muzzin as a puck-mover.

MURRAY: “They played pretty well together before, Greener and Jack. That’s probably the way we’ll lead. I don’t want to say definitely, but that’s probably the way we will go.”

That means Peter Harrold would be a healthy scratch, but Murray today once again referenced Harrold’s “utility” ability. Asked if the Kings might promote a forward to take Alexei Ponikarovsky’s lineup spot in the short term, Murray said he felt comfortable and noted that Harrold can also play forward, as he did last season.

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