This King’s a Survivor : Seven Years Later, Vachon Not Only Stays in Charge, He Makes Pivotal Trades

He was called a figurehead with the Kings.

He was called a front man for owner Bruce McNall.

He was called a puppet of Wayne Gretzky’s.

And he was never called about a potential trade, said his detractors, until the serious negotiating was done.

But Rogie Vachon is used to taking shots. He had plenty of practice in his 16 years as one of the NHL’s great goaltenders.

And in his seven years as general manager, he has become just as skilled at fending off criticism.

Not that some of it wasn’t justified. When a team struggles and stumbles as long as the Kings have done, the man in charge of personnel has to take much of the responsibility.

But the criticism of Vachon seemed to run both ways. When the Kings made a bad deal, such as the one that sent Ken Baumgartner and Hubie McDonough to the New York Islanders for since-departed Mikko Makela, it was Vachon’s fault--justifiably. However, when the Kings made a good deal, it was supposedly either McNall or Gretzky who had stepped in to consummate it.

The bad-mouthing of Vachon went public last spring.

In a Times story, several unnamed general managers leveled charges that Vachon did not have his hands on the Kings’ controls but was simply along for the ride.

“Basically, it’s looked at as Wayne runs the show,” said one general manager, who preferred to remain anonymous.

“He (Vachon) is looked on by the rest of the league as basically a puppet,” another said. “He’s a nice person and he does the best he can under tough circumstances. . . . He just rolls with the punches.”

According to Vachon, the biggest punches came from comments such as those, but he has learned to roll with them, as well.

“It’s frustrating,” Vachon said. “It’s not something you want to hear. But the bottom line is, you’ve got to make one guy happy. And as long as the big boy (McNall) is happy, everything else is fine. As long as this office has the final word in any deal, that’s all that matters.”

But the anti-Rogie sentiment got worse before it got better. In the midst of the conference finals last spring, a rumor spread that Vachon was gone.

“It’s a done deal,” one respected Canadian reporter said.

Not exactly.

Instead, only nine months later, Vachon might be in line for executive-of-the-year honors.

His highly controversial trade of Bernie Nicholls to the New York Rangers last January for Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato has provided the Kings with one of the most dominating lines in hockey. And it has finally given Gretzky the linemates he needs to be Gretzky.

Before dislocating his shoulder Tuesday night, Nicholls had 19 goals, third-highest on the Rangers, and 52 points, second-best on the club. But New York fans, believing that Nicholls had been hyped as the final link in a chain that came with a Stanley Cup attached, have been booing him mercilessly.

On the other hand, criticism of the deal in Los Angeles has been almost totally muted by the emergence of the Gretzky-Sandstrom-Granato line as one of the best in hockey. The trio has accounted for 70 goals, 36% of the team’s total, and 176 points, despite the fact Sandstrom and Granato have each missed 10 games because of injuries.

Nearly as important was a deal little noticed at the time. On the eve of training camp, Vachon traded Craig Duncanson, a left wing without much of a future on the Kings, to the Minnesota North Stars for goalie Daniel Berthiaume, who, many thought, didn’t have much of a future in the league.

While with the Jets, Berthiaume got into a feud with the Winnipeg fans over allegedly refusing to sign an autograph. He was traded to Minnesota, where a knee injury limited him to five games.

But Vachon remained impressed with Berthiaume’s skills and obtained him to be the much-needed backup to starter Kelly Hrudey.

Instead, Berthiaume has become Hrudey’s equal, alternating with him in a starting role. Berthiaume has a better record than Hrudey (15-6 to 11-11-5), a better goals-against average (3.06 to 3.17) and a better save percentage (.904 to .889).

Without these two deals, the Kings wouldn’t be leading the Smythe Division.

As a reward, McNall recently gave Vachon a three-year contract extension. “We are pleased,” McNall said, “with the direction our hockey club has taken under Rogie’s guidance.”

McNall laughed at claims Vachon is a figurehead. “I like to be kept informed,” the owner said. “But when I have one idea of what we ought to do and he has another, I go with his opinion. Rather than saying it has to be my way, it’s just the opposite. I never just tell him what to do. I don’t have the experience for that. The ultimate decision I leave to Rogie. I have a lot of respect for him.

“The only time I have a problem is when something is done that is a radical surprise to me. It’s not a matter of whether or not I agree with it, but whether or not I know about it.”

McNall, though, can understand why many observers don’t believe his general manager is in command.

“He can be very quiet and shy,” McNall said. “He can be assertive, but he’s very considerate--not like some general managers who lord over everyone. When you have an I-have-to-be-right attitude and you don’t care what the coaches think, that’s when you get into problems. Rogie does not allow his ego to get in the way of decisions.”

As a matter of fact, when then-owner Jerry Buss called Vachon to Palm Springs seven years ago to offer him the general manager’s job, Vachon wasn’t even egotistical enough to anticipate the offer.

After finishing his playing career with the Boston Bruins in 1982, Vachon returned to the Kings, with whom he had played brilliantly at times during seven seasons.

Vachon came back as a goaltending coach under Coach Don Perry. When Perry and General Manager George Maguire were fired by Buss, Vachon became interim coach for two games.

“When (Buss) asked me to go to Palm Springs, I thought he would offer me the coaching job,” Vachon said. “I had no idea he would offer the (general manager’s) job. I’ve never been good with figures and paperwork and all that stuff. That was never my style.”

When Buss revealed what he had in mind, Vachon pulled back.

“That’s different,” said Vachon, in shock. “Whoa, I’d better go back home and think about this.”

By the time he got home, Vachon knew what he was going to do.

He says he has had no regrets, although it has not been easy hearing about his imminent firing year after year.

“There’s not much you can do about it,” Vachon said. “If it’s going to happen, it’s beyond your control. But it is frustrating. Sometimes, you get nervous about it when people bring it up.”

Getting Gretzky hasn’t stopped people from bringing it up. The negotiations that brought him to Los Angeles were carried on between McNall and Edmonton Oiler owner Peter Pocklington.

One might think that obtaining Gretzky would solve all of a general manager’s problems.

But almost as soon as Gretzky got here, the whispers began that he was doing more than directing traffic on the ice. “All the talk was pretty bad a couple of years ago when Wayne first got here,” Vachon said. “First of all, it wasn’t true. And it’s not good for our organization (to think) that a player is running the team.

“I think we proved that (Gretzky wasn’t making the decisions) last year by making a move that was not popular to Wayne, trading Bernie Nicholls. That was his buddy.”

McNall echoed Vachon’s statement.

“There are deals made that Wayne at the time was probably not too thrilled with,” the Kings’ owner said. “Rogie does not discuss current players on our team with Wayne, (a) out of respect to the players and (b) because it puts Wayne in an untenable position.”

There has been no argument from No. 99.

“I get really frustrated by it,” Gretzky said of talk that he’s behind the wheeling and dealing. “In Edmonton, as much as my teammates came to me and asked me for advice on things and wanted me to communicate with management, they knew I was a player. That’s the way I am here. I have to go to work with these guys every day. I need Marty (McSorley) and Jay (Miller) behind me. I don’t want these guys to think I’m the one saying, ‘Trade that guy.’ That’s not right.”

That’s not to say Gretzky wasn’t consulted about the acquisition of Granato and Sandstrom. Clearly, if you are obtaining players to skate on his line, it might be helpful to know how Gretzky thinks they might work together.

“Rogie realizes that if he’s got the greatest player in the world, it would be idiotic not to ask him,” McNall said. “You don’t ask him if he wants to see Bernie Nicholls traded. But that has nothing to do with the other question: ‘Do you want Granato and Sandstrom?’ ”

Vachon said: “Obviously we’re not going to get a player that we want to put specifically with (Gretzky) without asking him. He might say, ‘Jeez, I don’t like him,’ or, ‘I don’t think it’s going to work.’ So at some point in time, we’ll ask him. But in the trade process, he’s never involved.

“I never get a call from Wayne, saying, ‘You’ve got to go and get this guy.’ A lot of people think that’s the way it happens.

“I’m a nice, easy guy. I get along with everybody. But I couldn’t do business like that.”