Kings getting ready for Europe trip

As noted earlier, before long, training camp will be finished and it will be time for the Kings to fly to Europe. The Kings will leave for Germany immediately after the “Frozen Fury” game in Las Vegas on Oct. 1. Since the league started playing exhibition — and, later, regular-season — games in Europe in the early 1990s, there’s been plenty of debate about the best way to handle the travel. Some teams have gone over far in advance, while some choose to fly in as late as possible. Coming back, some teams — particularly West Coast teams — have decided to fly directly home, while others have preferred to “play their way” back home with road games in the East.

The Kings are choosing to arrive in Europe on Sunday evening (Oct. 2). They will play a preseason game in Hamburg on Tuesday night, then fly to Stockholm in advance of Friday’s game (and Saturday’s game in Berlin). Their first opponent, the New York Rangers, have chosen to arrive in Europe nearly a full week before the Kings. The Kings have been getting direction from a sleep consultant, who was in El Segundo today to talk to the team and give advice about the best way to deal, physically, with the travel. Based on those recommendations, for instance, Terry Murray will hold his practices at 5 p.m., rather than the morning practices he would normally have in Los Angeles.

MURRAY: “What he talked about in the summer time was actually trying to make the adjustment to go to the European time. So everything is later, with the practices. He wants you to stay up real late the night you arrive. Enjoy Oktoberfest, that kind of idea. `Oh, OK, we can do that.’ [laughs]”