ANALYSIS : Vachon Has Played Key Role for the Kings

The media spotlight never seems to shine his way.

It was everywhere else Sunday night in the Kings’ dressing room at Vancouver after they finally put away the pesky Canucks to win their opening-round playoff series in six games.

The cameras, microphones and notebooks encircled:

--Bruce McNall, who bought the team and pumped millions into it.

--Tom Webster, who coached the team with a defensive game plan that turned its fortunes around in the regular season.

--Wayne Gretzky, who led the team with another season worthy of the Great One.

--Kelly Hrudey, who kept the team afloat countless times with one brilliant save after another.

--Larry Robinson and Rob Blake, who sparked the team as the oldest and youngest members of its shining new defense.

But off in a corner, barely attracting attention, stood the man without whom none of this might have been possible.

Rogie Vachon needs no introduction to hockey fans. His number hangs on a Forum wall as mute testimony to his brilliant years as the Kings’ goalie.

But his accomplishments as general manager might prove even greater, though less heralded.

Keep in mind, this was a man critics had all but run out of town a year ago.

Vachon gone?

“It’s a done deal,” was the whisper at last season’s Stanley Cup finals among those supposedly in the know.

Castigated for trading Bernie Nicholls, ridiculed as a puppet and front man for McNall and Gretzky, who were labeled the real movers and shakers of the club, Vachon was taking the rap for another disappointing King season.

And in his seven previous years as general manager, there was reason for him to take much of the blame for the Kings’ ineptness.

But there is a plus side now.

For instance, it was altogether fitting that the Kings beat the Canucks, 4-1, in the deciding game Sunday, because that was the difference in the series.

Four to one.

Four lines to one.

A lot of praise has gone to Pat Quinn, the Vancouver coach and general manager, for making the crucial trade that brought the team Cliff Ronning and Geoff Courtnall and allowed the Canucks to add Trevor Linden to those two to create a dynamite scoring line.

Dynamite, indeed. That line accounted for nine goals and 24 points in the six games against the Kings.

Problem was, that was about it. Vancouver, limited to one effective line, scored a total of 16 goals.

The Kings, on the other hand, had four effective lines. Eleven players scored, nine of them forwards.

And just where did those four effective lines come from?

Try the guy who was supposed to be gone.

The trading of Nicholls for Tomas Sandstrom and Tony Granato created, along with Gretzky, the powerful first line.

Vachon traded Dean Kennedy and Denis Larocque to the New York Rangers for Todd Elik and several others in 1988. Elik, admittedly no Nicholls, has done well enough to anchor the second line.

Vachon got Steve Kasper, the highly effective center of the checking line, from the Boston Bruins in 1989 for Bob Carpenter.

And then, earlier this season, when the Kings were off to a great start and could have been excused for standing pat, Vachon traded Mike Krushelnyski to the Toronto Maple Leafs for little-known John McIntyre, who has become the fourth center.

How about Hrudey from the New York Islanders for Mark Fitzpatrick, Wayne McBean and future considerations in 1989? Another key Vachon move.

Don’t forget Daniel Berthiaume. It’s easy to do so now that Hrudey has become the team’s postseason goalie.

But it was Berthiaume’s effectiveness for much of the season that allowed Webster to rotate his two goalies and give Hrudey the rest he needed to stay fresh for the playoffs.

It was Vachon who acquired Berthiaume on the eve of training camp for little-used Craig Duncanson.

Speed?

The Kings have plenty now, but it’s not because their veterans got faster, they simply were smart enough to add some players to keep everyone fresh.

Vachon traded Phil Sykes to the Winnipeg Jets in 1989 for Brad Jones and dealt little-regarded Mikko Makela to the Buffalo Sabres for Mike Donnelly earlier this season.

Donnelly and Jones have added yet another dimension to the Kings’ attack.

Vachon’s shrewdness was not limited to trades.

He obtained Blake, probably the best young defenseman in the game, as a fourth-round draft choice in 1988, the 70th selection overall.

He got Bob Kudelski, a key figure on Kasper’s line, in the 1986 supplemental draft.

They haven’t all been winners. Trades such as Ken Baumgartner and Hubie McDonough to the Islanders for Makela aren’t anything to brag about. And Vachon took the flak for those and others.

But the team is winning now. If they don’t win another game, the Kings have already had a record-setting regular season with the club he has put together. Vachon has gone from being the whispered target of hockey’s execution of the year a season ago to perhaps executive of the year, depending on how the playoffs go.

Sure, McNall likes to be deeply involved in personnel moves. And Webster is not shy about making his opinions known. And Gretzky, too, offers his input.

But this is Vachon’s team.