Segal's adventures

I’ll be heading out to practice shortly before the flight to Edmonton, and I’ll definitely grab interviews with Andrei Loktionov and Brandon Segal and find out what the plans are for those two players.

If you’re not familiar with Segal’s story, it’s quite a story. Only 26, Segal has been drafted (in the fourth round by Nashville in 2002), traded (to Anaheim in 2007), traded again (to Tampa Bay in 2008) and signed by the Kings, last summer, to a two-year contract. Through all that, he has played in two NHL games, both last season with Tampa Bay.

Today’s practice figures to last about 45 minutes, in contrast to the previous two days, in which the Kings skated for about 80 and 75 minutes, respectively. Here’s what Terry Murray said about the long practices…

MURRAY: “We really needed it. We needed to get on the ice and get some hard work in over a longer period of time. We’d had only one hard practice in 48 days, and that was near the end of October. So as you go through your schedule, with light practice and getting ready for the game, there’s stuff that creeps into the game, habits that can hurt you over the long haul.

“And physically, you’re playing hard in the games but you just need to give that a little extra push as you have time to do it, with some skating and hard work in the drills, and you hope everybody bounces back to a real high level of energy because of it.”