Fiset, Storr Still in Limbo

The Kings, who have made it no secret that they are in the market to trade a backup goaltender, are up against a Tuesday deadline.

If neither Stephane Fiset nor Jamie Storr is dealt before 11 a.m. PDT that day, after which rosters will be frozen for three days, one will be left unprotected in Friday’s waiver draft and possibly lost to the Kings without compensation.

So this has been a training camp like no other for Fiset and Storr, longtime Kings who combined to stop 20 shots Thursday night in a 4-0 exhibition victory over the San Jose Sharks at San Jose.

What’s even more unusual about their competition to emerge as Felix Potvin’s backup is that the outcome is almost entirely out of their hands.

Even if one outperforms the other, it may have very little bearing.

Which one General Manager Dave Taylor trades might depend more on whom another team wants than on whom the Kings would like to keep.

Fiset, 31, is the more accomplished, having compiled a 164-152-44 record and a 3.06 goals-against average in 388 NHL games.

The backup to Patrick Roy in 1996 when the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup, he was traded to the Kings that summer.

But a December knee injury and the Kings’ February trade for Potvin limited Fiset to only seven games last season and, with a contract that will pay him $2.75 million this season, he is a costlier option than the younger Storr.

Storr, 25, will be paid $1.45 million this season. He is 64-55-16 with a 2.59 GAA in 147 NHL games but has yet to show the consistency the Kings expected when they made him the seventh overall pick in the 1994 NHL entry draft.

If the uncertainty surrounding them is distracting, neither has let on.

“Obviously, it’s going to affect you in some way because you know that you could be packing up the family and moving them,” said Storr, whose wife, Niki, is due to deliver the couple’s first child in February. “But all I can control is my work ethic.

“That’s all I’m focusing on, because if I end up getting moved because that was the best thing for the L.A. Kings, I have to be ready to play. Or, if Steph gets moved and I’m going to be here, I still have to be ready to play.” Fiset also said a trade would be most difficult on his family, wife Isabelle and daughter Karolane. His wife is due in late November.

“She can’t take the plane anymore because she is almost seven months pregnant,” he said. “If I’m traded, I’m going to have to bring somebody to drive her over there and sell the house here. It’s just a pain ....

“But you know what? I’m just here to go out there and try my best and try to stop the puck. I’m just focusing on my job and what’s happening is happening.”