Who exactly did the Kings get from Boston? Marco Sturm's knee leaves room to speculate whether he is the next (post-injury) Pavel Bure or Brendan Morrison. L.A. can only hope it's the former.

For a player whose history with his general manager goes back to 1996, Marco Sturm represents quite an enigma for the Los Angeles Kings.

Dean Lombardi tapped Sturm 14 years ago in the first round of his first draft with the San Jose Sharks. Now the Kings' GM, Lombardi was quick to testify to Sturm's character off the ice, as well as his track record on it, when he acquired the forward from the Boston Bruins for future considerations on Dec. 12.

The one thing no one can predict – not Lombardi, not Sturm, not anyone – is how Sturm's surgically repaired right knee will perform when he joins the lineup Tuesday night in Denver.

Sturm has not played a game since May 1, when he tore the ACL and MCL in his knee just 41 seconds into his first shift of a playoff game against the Philadelphia Flyers. The 32-year-old also missed all but 19 games of the 2008-09 season with a knee injury.

“I know it’s going to be hard but I’m going to try to find my game back as soon as possible,” Sturm said upon the trade's completion. “That comes with playing games, a lot of practice. I feel confident about it.”

Sturm had been practicing for about a week with the club on the road before Kings head coach Terry Murray indicated Monday that Sturm would play against the red-hot Avalanche. Sturm won't immediately go in as the top-line left wing, as had been anticipated, but rather on the fourth line.

“I know I talked about before putting (Sturm) up there with (center Anze Kopitar). But what I see, over the last couple days of practice, is that there’s still a little bit of reluctance to get in there and do what needs to be done in order to play on a line like that," Murray told LAKingsInsider.com. "So I think it’s the same scenario I had with Pavel Bure in Florida (after knee surgery). It was, 'I don’t have a lot of high expectations in this game. Let’s just get started.’ I said, 'I’ll give you six minutes of ice time here tomorrow night.’ It was right on the second, six minutes.

"But that’s what I would do with Marco now, after talking with him for several days, several different times. I think it’s just a matter of getting in, getting some shifts in and getting back into the game and getting a little flow in there, so that you’re preparing yourself to move up.”

Now the question is, how long will it take for Sturm to be more than just a fourth-liner? Bure came back to score 58 and 59 goals, respectively, in his first two full seasons back from his injury.

A closer comparison, in terms of career trajectory and skill set, might be Brendan Morrison. Morrison was 31 when he tore the ACL in his right knee late in the 2008 season with the Vancouver Canucks. The forward has played for four teams in three seasons since, never regaining the speed he used to score more than 20 goals four times in Vancouver.

That won't be good enough in Los Angeles, where the Kings have rotated everyone but their mascot in on Kopitar's left wing; this must be Sturm's ultimate destination for the trade to be considered a success. Lombardi did not give Boston anything immediate in exchange for Sturm (it's believed the Kings sacrifced a conditional draft pick, at most), but a team that aspires beyond last season's  first-round playoff exit must address its most glaring deficiency somehow.

The Kings have slipped to 12th in the league in goals per game at 2.81, down from ninth last season, and their power play has plummeted to 22nd (down from seventh) at 16.3 percent. Murray's forward-line combinations over the last six games have been just as inconsistent as his team's results: win, loss, win, loss, win, loss.

Sturm and the Kings -- the youngest team in the NHL -- are both works in progress, both in their own way. Now they're tied to each other. How quickly the progress comes is anyone's guess.

Notes

The Stars pulled within one point of the Red Wings atop the Western Conference standings with a 4-3 overtime win Sunday in Detroit. It was their 14th win in a one-goal game, the most in the NHL. … In their last 14 games, the Stars are 10-2-2. ... Marc Crawford coached the 1,100th game of his career Thursday against the Sharks. Only Ron Wilson and Jacques Martin have reached the milestone among active coaches. ... The Coyotes began their season-long five-game road trip with back-to-back losses to the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers. Their only win of the week came in the shootout Saturday against the New York Islanders. ... During the trip, Coyotes enforcer Paul Bissonnette went shopping. ... Former college goalie Tom Fenton signed an emergency one-day contract and suited up as Jason LaBarbera's backup at Madison Square Garden. ... Playing his second game after missing nearly three weeks with an upper-body injury, Devin Setoguchi scored two goals in the Sharks' 4-3 win over the Dallas Stars on Thursday. He added a goal in Saturday's 4-1 win in St. Louis. ... Jonas Hiller's 45-save shutout against the Boston Bruins on Monday was the first shutout by a Ducks goalie in Boston since Guy Hebert on Oct. 30, 1997. ... Anaheim is 2-2 on its season-long, seven-game road trip, which concludes its Eastern portion Tuesday in Buffalo. ... Ducks LW Corey Perry is tied for fourth in the NHL in points (17-22-39) and leads all forwards in average time on ice (22:15).

Photos by Getty Images

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