Greene update

They’re calling it the “Red Cross” jersey in Kings training camp, and Matt Greene was able to shed it for at least one day. Injured players participating in conditioning skating have been on the ice in red jerseys, but today Greene was in the traditional black uniform of a defenseman, skating and taking shots near the end of the practice in small-group drills. Greene underwent shoulder surgery in mid-July.

MURRAY: “He’s here at 5:30 every morning doing workouts. He gets a very intense push here, off the ice, every morning, and then he gets all the skating. His physical conditioning is outstanding. Now it’s a matter, obviously, of seeing the doctors again and getting their opinion as to how it is. But it’s getting very close.”

The original expectation was that Greene would miss the first month of the season, and there’s no indication of a change right now. Greene has not yet been cleared for contact drills in practice, which would be the next step in his rehabilitation, and a major one at that.

MURRAY: “I really don’t know if there is an `ahead of schedule’ kind of thing for that surgery. The soft tissue does have to heal. It has to be solid. There’s no room for error on that. You don’t want to get into a second or third operation on a shoulder. There’s only so many times you can go in there, in my opinion, so we want to make sure it’s healed and strong.”

As an aside to the Greene talk, Murray said today that while Greene is out of the lineup, Murray will not name an additional alternate captain. Dustin Brown will be team captain and Anze Kopitar will be alternate captain.