from Lisa Dillman of the LA Times,

It looked bad when the Kings winger suffered a sprained left knee Feb. 12 at Madison Square Garden. The Kings were hopeful that he would be available for the playoffs, but they weren't expecting it.

A month and half later, it doesn't look good. Gaborik skated "a little bit" on his own Wednesday, according to Coach Darryl Sutter, but that is one of several steps before he is cleared to join teammates for a full practice.

With six games remaining in the regular season, the clock is more of an opponent than an ally.

"There's no way a player, unless he can play regular-season games, I have no interest playing him in the playoffs," Sutter said after practice in El Segundo. "None. We did that before. If you look back … it's very difficult to put players in.

"As you go into March there's another whole level of play. There's a whole next part too [after that]."

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