Kings’ Nicholls, Despite Dispute, Wants to Stay

Bernie Nicholls was home in Haliburton, Canada, when he heard that Wayne Gretzky was traded to the Kings.

“I wanted to come back to L.A. and start skating the next day,” the Kings’ center said. “I was excited, just to have an opportunity to play with the greatest player in the world. And he’s a winner, he’s won all his life.

“That has to rub off on us.”

Only a couple of weeks later, however, Nicholls rubbed King General Manager Rogie Vachon the wrong way when he blasted Vachon for his unwillingness to renegotiate Nicholls’ contract. It was the day after King captain Dave Taylor had signed a 4-year, $2.8 million contract extension, and Nicholls--already mindful of the estimated $20 million deal Gretzky received--wondered why he wasn’t in line for a raise, too.

“Rogie cheated me,” Nicholls was quoted in one newspaper, which was forced to delete some of the other language the King center used to describe his alleged treatment by the general manager.

How long did it take Vachon to respond?

“I called him the same afternoon,” Vachon said. “I wasn’t happy about it, and I told him. And nothing’s changed--we don’t renegotiate contracts.”

That was unwelcome news to Nicholls, but he came to camp here less concerned about cutting a new deal than making sure that he isn’t cut out of the Kings’ future--not after spending 6 1/2 lean seasons with the team.

“I love playing here, especially this year,” he said. “We have a chance to be a great team, and I want to be a part of it.”

Nicholls’ name, however, has been included in numerous trade rumors, most recently in one that has him going to Minnesota for Dino Ciccarelli, who would meet the Kings’ need for a high-scoring right winger.

Vachon acknowledged that he has spoken to the North Stars as well as to Ciccarelli’s agent, Ron Salcer, but says that Ciccarelli would cost the Kings too much--in salary and in players the Kings would have to give up to get him.

That could change. And should Vachon decide that the Kings need a first-rate goaltender, Nicholls--who was the team’s third-leading scorer behind Jimmy Carson and Luc Robitaille last season--is one of the few Kings who would command some value in return. He plays on the power play and he kills penalties.

“I wouldn’t want them to trade me, and I think they’d be stupid to,” said Nicholls, who had 78 points, including 32 goals, in 65 games last season.

“I think I could be a big part of this team. I’m a big-game player--that’s when I play best. And I’ve been a leader. I think the guys look up to me and respect me.

“There isn’t a player in the league who has a bigger heart than me.”

Nicholls, 27, has demonstrated before that he is unafraid to speak his mind. Last season, when Coach Robbie Ftorek walked into the team’s dressing room after the Kings traded defenseman Mark Hardy, Nicholls told him in front of the entire team that it was a bad deal.

“I wasn’t speaking for myself, I was speaking for the team,” said Nicholls, who is an alternate captain. “I think Robbie understood that. He wanted to know how we felt. Everybody was thinking the same thing. I just said it.”

He was wrong to have said Vachon cheated him on the contract, Nicholls said.

“He didn’t cheat me,” Nicholls said. “I know I signed and everything. They don’t have to do a thing about it.”

Nicholls said that $100,000 of the contract each season is deferred, so after taxes he doesn’t even clear $100,000, well below the average salary in the league. What frustrated him, he said, was that after telling Vachon of his request, the general manager never got back to him as promised.

“He never called,” Nicholls said. “And then when I asked him again, he said there was nothing they could do for me.

“I was glad to see a guy get a contract like Davey did. But he’s getting paid three times as much as me. I mean he’s a great player and I’m happy for him, but I feel I’m every bit as good. I wouldn’t mind getting half of what he’s making.

“But there’s nothing I can do. . . . All those years when they look to you as a leader--and I’ve played hurt. I’ve played with a broken jaw and broken fingers and I even tried playing one game with torn knee ligaments after the general manager (George Maguire) asked me if I could--and then all of a sudden they say they can’t help you, that’s hard to take.

” . . . It was like I kind of asked for a favor, and to be put down cold like that, it bothered me.”

But not to the point where he feels he would be better off elsewhere. Not when the chance to be with a winner finally exists.

“Even if I went to another team that won a Stanley Cup, it wouldn’t be the same,” Nicholls said. “To be with a team that has lost a lot, and then have it turn into a winner, that’s what it’s all about.

“There haven’t been too many highlights in my career, and now the future looks so bright.

“I can live with what I’m doing. I don’t want to play anywhere else.”

King Notes

The Kings will play their first exhibition game Friday night against the Vancouver Canucks in Duncan, British Columbia. The game will be broadcast on KLAC (570) beginning at 7:30. A team official said that Wayne Gretzky is not expected to play in that game, but should the next night, when the Kings play the Canucks in Victoria (8:05, also on KLAC).

Gretzky skipped drills after skating in a scrimmage Monday because of a slight groin strain. Luc Robitaille, who did not skate Sunday because of a similar problem, returned to the ice Monday. . . . Dave Taylor missed his third day of practice because of a strained muscle in his lower back.