If you were surprised when the Kings recalled goaltender Dan Cloutier from the minor leagues, well, you’re not alone.
Cloutier didn’t see it coming, either.
“I was extremely surprised,� Cloutier said Monday, after the pregame skate for the Kings’ game with Phoenix. “I certainly wasn’t called up for my performance, because I wasn’t playing.�
Cloutier played just 14 games in Manchester, going 4-9-0 with a 3.50 goals against average and .869 saves percentage — numbers that don’t exactly scream for promotion. He was idle for more than two months because of what he calls, rather dryly, “a mysterious hip injury.�
Explains the goalie, who missed 44 games last year with a hip injury that required surgery, “The rotator in my hip, the soft tissue, was inflamed, and I got a cortisone shot. And the doctor had told me to take three or four days and let it settle down, and then get back to practicing.
“And after that, for some reason, the organization felt it was better I take six to eight weeks for whatever reason. I was pretty upset and disappointed
“I wasn’t the happiest camper after I heard that, but did what I was told, worked hard. And we were getting ready to go on a 12, 13-day road trip. I’d worked hard for three weeks and then came to the rink and they told me I wasn’t going on the road. I was pretty upset again; I’m a pretty emotional guy.�
And so, for two weeks, he stayed in Manchester, skating for 45 minutes a day with teammate Joe Piskula, who was recovering from a broken hand and “couldn’t really shoot,� Cloutier said.
“I kind of lost that two weeks, but came back and played one, played two and then I was up here again. So who knows?�
In those two games,
So I stayed at home for two weeks, then came back and played two games and got called up.�
In those two games, Cloutier stopped 13 of 16 shots in a 3-2 loss to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, then saved 20 of 24 shots in a 5-4 win over Milwaukee. Three days after the win, on Feb. 7, he was recalled to the Kings.
Before those games, he said he’d figured he’d never be called up again.
“I know they have to play the young guys, too,� said Cloutier. “It’s a young guys’ league, but I didn’t know what was going to happen
And then Hexy (Kings assistant GM Ron Hextall) called me: ‘Yeah, we’re calling you up.’ I was (thinking), ‘Who’s hurt? What’s going on?’ �
It wasn’t the first time Cloutier had been baffled. He said that, after his initial disappointment at being sent down at the start of the season, he was enthused about the chance, because the Kings told him he’d have the opportunity to play every day to regain his form.
“Then I had a good attitude going down there, that this is great for me, you know?� Cloutier said. “Obviously upset at first, but then you realize, I do need it.�
But as time went on and he saw little action, he became upset, and admits he “kind of got into it a little with the coach down there (Mark Morris). And he’s like, ‘No, it’s coming from upstairs.’ And what can you do?�
What he did was hang in, and now he hopes to take advantage of the unexpected opportunity with the Kings. He has nothing but good things to say about the way the Kings have allowed him to gradually reacclimate himself by watching a couple of games and getting some practices in before he started — and won — at Columbus. He started again Saturday at Phoenix but had to leave after two periods with the flu, giving him a 1-0 record and 2.86 goals-against since his return.
“So it’s been a really funny type of last couple months,� said Cloutier. “But that’s hockey for you. You never know what could happen. Now I’m up here and stay in the now, and don’t look at the past or the future, and see what happens.�
Probably staying put: It appears increasingly unlikely that defenseman Rob Blake, the subject of much trade speculation, will be going anywhere at next week’s deadline.
Blake, currently sidelined with a broken left ankle, said Monday he has not been asked to waive his no-trade clause and doesn’t have any desire to do so.
“I went in and expressed my opinion about staying here,� said Blake. “It’s the same as I had two years ago when I came here, and that’s how it was left.�
Blake also says he wants to play at least one more year, in L.A., having been encouraged by the way he rebounded from a hip injury earlier in the season.
“A quarter of the way into the season, I could tell it was coming around a little more where I wanted to be. I had a little setback with the broken foot; there’s nothing you can do about that. But as far as feeling on the ice, I would like to play another year, for sure.�
Blake says he’s still a week or two away from returning. “It’s two weeks into a fracture,� he said. “I played on it there for a while. It doesn’t really heal when you’re doing that. We didn’t know it was fractured; it felt more like a bruise, but when it didn’t get better, I knew something else was wrong.
“I’ll probably skate next week. … I can do all the other stuff. It’s when it gets in the boot and you twist a little bit (that remains the issue).�
The Manchester shuttle: In the Kings’ latest transaction, forward Brian Boyle (four goals, one assist and a plus-4 in eight games) was returned to Manchester on Saturday to make room for right wing Lauri Tukonen, who becomes the 14th player to see action in both Manchester and L.A. this season. Tukonen, a 21-year-old from Finland who was a first-round pick in the 2004 draft, had six goals and 13 assists in 38 games in Manchester and was minus-1 at the time of his recall. He had no points in four games with the Kings last year.
Coach Marc Crawford said the move was mostly about getting “a chance to see all our prospects.
“Brian played well. He’s quite obviously a guy that looks like he’s going to be a very good player at the National Hockey League level, and I think this is just part of the growing process for him, to go down there and now try and help a team to win. You’re put in more prominent situations down there. He’ll be on every power play, maybe get a chance to kill penalties and be a dominant player. We’ve been quite pleased with his progress. It’s quite possible he’ll be back before too long.
“In the interim, we get a chance to see Lauri Tukonen, who’s been playing very well of late. I talked to Mark Morris, and he said over the last couple weeks, he’s been playing great hockey. So hopefully it’s a case where he comes in and looks as relaxed as some of these other guys who have come up and shown to be.�