Players on the mend travel with Kings; 22 or 23-man roster?

Drew Doughty (upper-body), Jarret Stoll (hip surgery), Jonathan Quick (wrist surgery) and Marian Gaborik (body) traveled to San Jose with the Kings this afternoon and will be with the club for their three-game, six-day road trip. Daryl Sutter had said on Sunday that Doughty, Stoll and Quick had been fully cleared to play.

Darryl Sutter, on Marian Gaborik:
He’ll travel and practice and play at some point.

Sutter, on Jonathan Quick:
Same thing. Everybody is the same as yesterday. That’s the luxury of three games. We’re not playing ‘em all three games. Just talk to ‘em tonight and kind of go from there.

Sutter had previously addressed the question over whether the Kings would open the season with 22 or 23 players, and whether the forward-defenseman ratio would be 14-7, 13-8 or 13-7. On Monday, he was asked if his decision was becoming clearer.

“You know, I don’t know yet,” he said. “It probably depends – numbers to do with salary cap, too. So you’d have to talk to Dean more. If we carried the full roster, you’re at either 14, seven and two, if that’s healthy, and if you go the other way, it’s 13, eight and two. I’m not either way strong. Obviously I’d prefer because we start with seven of 11 at home here, you’re not having to get somebody out on the road, right? So, obviously with that travel, you might be better having your full complement of guys for the first little bit so you’re not having to get somebody. It’s basically a whole day of travel to get ‘em.”

The challenges of recalling a player from Manchester, New Hampshire – a process that requires either a change of planes or an hour-long drive to Boston, coupled with a six-hour flight – was addressed as well, as was the developing discussions of relocating a handful of American Hockey League teams closer to their west coast parent clubs.

Sutter, on the discussions of creating a western AHL division:
They keep [talking about it], so as long as they keep the stick in the fire…There are teams that can drive a player, or hour flight a player. [Reporter: That’s a big advantage.] Yep. Darn rights. And it’s a big advantage to the player, too. It’s hard to bring the guys all that way, and basically a whole travel day, and you’ve pretty much got to know the day before, which is sometimes a tough call. I mean, basically you’re putting trainers on the spot a lot.