Kings' curiosity lands Kyle Quincey in L.A.

It was only natural. Quincey was placed on waivers, the first step for the Detroit Red Wings to send him to the minor leagues. The Kings immediately snagged him Oct. 13 and then stuck him into the lineup, all the while looking for holes in his game.

Murray is still looking, but not finding anything.

"Any time you get a player off waiver wire, you spend the first week or so looking for areas in his game that said, 'Yeah I understand what the other team was doing in wanting to send him down and get some seasoning,' " Murray said. "The biggest surprise is we haven't found that after a couple weeks."

Quincey has played 10 games for the Kings. He already has one goal, five assists, is plus-five and averaging 23 minutes of ice time while being paired with Matt Greene.

The Red Wings may have shipped Quincey out simply because of a logjam, given that the team does not lack for quality defensemen. If they did, chances are they would plug the hole by trading for a veteran.

"That's an organization that, when it needs something, it goes out and gets it," said the 23-year-old Quincey, who played 13 games for the Red Wings over the last three seasons. "They are doing everything to win it every year. Players take pay cuts to go there to have a chance to win."

That can limit opportunities for young players, even someone like Quincey, who was a second-round pick in 2003.

"Actually, they did me a favor," Quincey said. "Of course I want to win a Stanley Cup, but this is a great opportunity to play."

More Ersberg

Erik Ersberg will make his fourth consecutive start in goal for the Kings tonight. He is 2-0-1 in the last week -- his first three starts of the season -- and may be improving his standing in the organization.

"He has the opportunity to show the organization and the coaching staff," Murray said. "I didn't know Ersberg from last year. I believe he played 14 games. With that kind of light workload, you have an idea what his game is. You know what he's like at the international level. We have lots of good reports on that. This is an opportunity to play and keep playing well."

As for Jason LaBarbera's status, Murray said, "Coming out of training camp, to me it was very important to establish a No. 1 goalie."

Ersberg has been good, but not so dominant that his status will change -- yet.

As for the big-picture possibilities about his future with the Kings, Ersberg prefers to avoid the issue.

"That's not anything I can be thinking about," the 26-year-old Ersberg said. "Stopping the puck, that's plenty for me to think about right now."

Foster is a Times staff writer.

chris.foster@latimes.com