Change in laundry, not status, for Penner

For those who don’t get to watch NHL practices, the players typically are on the ice in different colored uniforms. Defensemen wear one color, usually black in the Kings’ case. Forwards can either all wear the same color, or sometimes each line will dress in a different color. Always, though, if an injured player is on the ice, skating and/or doing drills, he is set apart. Terry Murray jokingly refers to them as the “red-cross’’ sweaters. Sometimes it’s actually red, but for the Kings it’s often yellow (never a cross involved). That’s the color Dustin Penner had been sporting in practice the previous few days, as he recovers from a hand injury, but today Penner was in white, like the rest of the forwards. Penner must remain on injured reserve until at least Sunday, but did the change in laundry signify a change in Penner’s status. Well, no, not really.

MURRAY: “That’s just the, what do they call it, the red-cross sweater. Don’t hit him. Stay away, no contact. There’s a purpose for it, obviously, to bring attention to a player who can’t have contact. Usually it’s a white sweater with a red cross on it, not the yellow. [laughs] … He’s on the I.R. for seven days. He’s still a ways away. I don’t know how far, but it’s not an injury that he can help. It’s just rehab and getting better, that’s all. It takes time.’’