Fraser returns after son's medical scare

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Colin Fraser is back with the Los Angeles Kings and ready to play after a medical scare with his son removed him from hockey for a precarious few days.

Colin Fraser

Center - LAK

GOALS: 0 | ASST: 0 | PTS: 0
SOG: 8 | +/-: -1

Fraser said Saturday morning that his 19-month-old son, Calder, was hospitalized when the Kings were in Glendale, Ariz.  He immediately returned to his summer home in Sylvan Lake, Alberta, to be with his family and he missed Games 2 and 3 of the Western Conference Finals.

Fraser said "everyone's healthy and I'm back and ready to play." He was simply happy to return to normalcy.

"At first, I didn't know what to do and I said, 'Forget it, I'm going home,'" Fraser said. "Obviously, I want to play and I want to be here and this is obviously something special. But at the end of the day, family comes first, and family is 100 percent, No.1. Hockey is going to come and go, but my family I'll have forever, so it was a no-brainer for me.

"Even if I did play, my head wouldn't have been in it and I would have been La-la-Land anyway."

Fraser left Arizona at about 2 p.m. on the day of Game 2. He was flying to Alberta and didn't find out about L.A.'s 4-0 win against the Phoenix Coyotes until he landed and checked his phone.

"It was literally the first thing I did," he said. "We were on the descent and I cheated and I turned my phone on early and checked the score. It was 4-0. It was obviously a win-win. Everyone's healthy and the boys won, so I'll take it."

Fraser is the fourth line center and an effective penalty killer for the Kings. Kyle Clifford filled in for him for Games 2-3. Los Angeles coach Darryl Sutter wouldn't say if Fraser would be inserted right back into the lineup for Game 4 on Sunday, although Fraser skated with usual linemates Brad Richardson and Jordan Nolan in practice.

"I talked about [Fraser] the other day because it was a personal issue and he wasn't hurt and he wasn't what you would call a healthy scratch, so unless [Phoenix coach Dave Tippett] is going to sit up here and tell who they're playing, I'm not going to tell you who we're playing," Sutter said.