Home      Contact Us      What's New

About Ian

News

Media Center

Miscellaneous

In The Community

Shirts

Links

Kings Looking More Healthy

(from the Daily News)

By Rich Hammond
Staff Writer

December 4, 2002 - EL SEGUNDO - Like a vision out of coach Andy Murray's dreams, Jason Allison, Adam Deadmarsh, Ian Laperriere and Lubomir Visnovsky all stepped on the ice for practice Tuesday morning. Only when those four return to games, however, is when Murray's dream will come true. 

The Kings have yet to play a game this season with a healthy roster, but after two months of consistently bad news, spirits seem to be brighter these days as important contributors return. 

Visnovsky (back) is likely to play Thursday against Nashville. Deadmarsh and Laperriere, both recovering from concussions, are "possible" to play against the Predators, but Saturday's game against Columbus is more likely. 

The truly encouraging news is the progress of Allison, who suffered significant knee ligament damage in an Oct. 29 game against Atlanta and was expected to be out until late January in a best-case scenario. 

But Allison began light skating two weeks ago and already has progressed to the point where he is participating in some contact drills in practice. 

"It's amazing how much stronger Jason is," Murray said. "He did a few competitive-type drills (in Tuesday's practice). I just know that the timetable is moving up quite a bit, it's faster than what we thought. I'm going to ask (trainer Pete Demers), `Does this mean he could be ready in two or three weeks?' 

"The original thought was February, but it certainly looks to me that he's going to be a lot closer than that. It's getting stronger and stronger. The key thing for the doctors is always the chance of further injury, and that chance is coming down dramatically now." 

Of more immediate concern is the status of Deadmarsh and Laperriere, which is difficult to gauge given the inherent uncertainty that comes with head injuries. 

"I think (Thursday's game is) possible for Deader and Lappy, but probable? I don't know," Murray said. "With these things, it's kind of how you feel on a day-to-day basis. They've had a number of good days in a row, but can they keep it symptom-free? I would say (Thursday is) less probable than possible." 

Visnovsky made it through about 45 minutes of Tuesday's hour-long practice but left because of back pain. The other injured King, Ken Belanger, has made little progress since suffering a concussion Nov. 5 against San Jose. 

--So far, so good: Steve Heinze, upset after being left off the Kings' roster after training camp and being passed over several times when the Kings needed a forward, had an assist in Saturday's victory over Chicago and has played two solid games. But his future with the Kings remains uncertain. 

"I just told him to work hard, and I told him what we expect of him," Murray said. "Obviously, he wasn't very happy with what had happened, but I just told him to be solid and compete hard and that's all you can do."

COPYRIGHT 2002 Daily News