One d-man injury away...

...from a disaster. No, it's not 2005/06 and yes, Aaron Miller is still reasonably healthy.

With the news of Oleg Tverdovsky finally making it to the IR (even though he has been out of action for over two weeks now) and Brent Sopel still nursing a broken leg bone as well as a broken hand, the Kings might as well start looking around for a inexpensive defenseman.

They currently have the veterans Blake, Visnovsky, Norstrom and Miller in the top two pairings, with Dallman and Harrold making up the final pair and Mike Weaver providing (invaluable?) backup. Should any of the four vets go south, half of the defensive corps would be made up of players who make me woozy (though for various reasons: Dallman is inconsistent, Weaver is a AHL-type of guy, and Harrold is simply too inexperienced).

I wonder why the Kings management missed out on the opportunity of picking up Jay Harrison from the waivers. The Toronto Maple Leaf/Marlie is a minimum salary player (.450 mln USD for this season) with a little bit of NHL experience. What's more his overall skills are quite sound as he impressed a number of people in Ontario last year during the dreadful period where majority of NHL and borderline Leafs d-men were out. While his role might have been limited on this years Kings to an injury sub, he'd prove of great value to the depleted Monarchs blueline and possibly fight to make it in LA next year. Harrison is only 26.

Since Dean Lombardi chose not to snatch another defensman, he must be a man of unwavering faith. Mind you, I will gladly pray for the well-being of our blueliners - I just hope there are other measures we ought to take before we all kneel down collectively to save a d-man for a rainy day.

("Now, Aaron Miller, would you leave your motorbike alone?! Or else, I'm calling the 911!")