Belanger Not Close to Return

By Jerry Crowe

March 31, 2002 12 AM PT

CALGARY, Canada — Eric Belanger, whose recovery from wrist surgery is still not complete, might not be available to the Kings until the playoffs.

“I don’t think we’re looking at any time in the next few weeks,” Coach Andy Murray said of a return to the lineup for the second-year center. “I don’t know if we’ll see him before the end of the regular season.”

Left wing Craig Johnson, who underwent surgery on his right eye March 19, is expected to resume practicing this week.

Belanger, who has not played since Jan. 15, was expected to be sidelined eight weeks after undergoing surgery on his left wrist Jan. 29. But after returning to practice March 22, he reported pain in the wrist and was left home while the Kings made a four-game trip that ended Saturday night.

His outlook was brighter than Murray’s, but he made no promises.

“It’s going the right way,” he said. “I’m pretty optimistic for [this] week, but I don’t want to set any time frame. I want to take it day by day....

“I have to make a full practice and see how it goes. But I’m feeling pretty confident. I hope it’s going to be before the end of the regular season.”

Murray opted for a more conventional lineup Saturday night, replacing defenseman Andreas Lilja with rookie left wing Jaroslav Bednar after using 11 forwards and seven defensemen Thursday against the Edmonton Oilers.

“We want to see how hard Bednar is going to play,” Murray said. “If he’s not going to be playing hard then we’re back to 11 forwards because I won’t use him. He’s got a lot of ability, but he’s got to play hard....

“There’s one way to play the game, and that’s to play it hard. And he’s been a lot better [since being recalled from the minors]. He played three or four real solid games, and then he had a couple that were below par.

“He can be a top-six forward for us, skillwise, but if you don’t fight to get the puck, it doesn’t matter how much skill you’ve got.”

Jerry Crowe