Translating from English to English

Sports Columnist

Feb. 23, 2009 6:50 PM PT

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The Kings’ announcement Monday afternoon that the NHL had granted non-roster status to right wing Dustin Brown and that they had recalled right wing Teddy Purcell from Manchester of the American Hockey League sounds far more mysterious and sinister than it really is.

Brown didn’t accompany the team to Minnesota for Tuesday’s game because his wife, Nicole, is about to deliver the couple’s second child. Brown had previously said the baby was expected in April, so this is well before her original due date. It’s unclear when he will rejoin the Kings, whose next game after that is Wednesday in Philadelphia.

The Kings needed to replace him but needed to create a roster spot to do that because Oscar Moller is still on their roster, even though he’s on a conditioning assignment in Manchester.

So they got the NHL to grant Brown non-roster status and had the space to summon Purcell.

-- Helene Elliott

Sports Now

Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.