Maybe LaFayette Has Found the Right Spot

It’s nothing new, this winger business, said Nathan LaFayette.

Maybe, but it’s different for LaFayette, who played his second game in a row at right wing for the Kings in their 4-0 loss to Phoenix on Saturday night.

In his first, he had a goal and two assists against the Chicago Blackhawks a week ago.

“I played the position a number of times before I came here,” said LaFayette, in his third season with the Kings after coming over from the New York Rangers in a 1996 trade.

His playing winger is the product of an overload of centers, and of the belief among the King hierarchy that it’s easier for a center to play on the wing than the reverse.

The idea is that defensive and playmaking pressures make center a much more difficult task.

“I don’t mind it at all,” said LaFayette of the position switch, which has him playing on a line centered by Yanic Perreault, with Craig Johnson at the other wing.

Neither does Ian Laperriere, also a center and also playing on the wing on a line centered by Ray Ferraro.

The alternative, sitting and watching--which LaFayette has done four times this season--is much less palatable.

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With King goalies Jamie Storr and Stephane Fiset healthy again, goalie Manny Legace, in and out of the Forum all week, was out over the weekend, sent back to Long Beach to play with the Ice Dogs of the International Hockey League. Legace was 2-9-2 with the Kings and had a 2.63 goals-against average in emergency duty that began on Oct. 21.

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Defenseman Rob Blake, sidelined since Nov. 6 because of a broken foot, has begun cardiovascular work in a rehabilitation process that is expected to have him ready to play again about Christmas. . . . With Doug Bodger returning to the lineup, the Kings had more than a game allotment of six defensemen for the first time in three weeks. Philippe Boucher was selected to sit, as was center Brandon Convery, in his second game since coming over from Vancouver on waivers on Nov. 19.