Acquiring Kurri Doesn’t Answer Everything

Gretzky and Kurri. With the Edmonton Oilers, they made sweet music together on the ice and history in the NHL.

With Wayne Gretzky at center and Jari Kurri as his right wing, the Oilers dominated the league, winning four consecutive Stanley Cups, and Gretzky established offensive standards.

Now, after a three-year separation, they are united on the Kings, after Thursday’s three-team, nine-player trade.

With Kurri comes a major assumption: That he and Gretzky can again be the dynamic duo of old and win a Stanley Cup.

There was a similar assumption three years ago when Gretzky arrived. But it turned out that one man could not end decades of frustration.

Can two men?

Not without help. And in that regard, the Kings may have lost more than they gained with the trading of defenseman Steve Duchesne and center Steve Kasper, who wound up with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Owner Bruce McNall went out and got another star, another glamorous name to score goals and make headlines.

But what price glory?

In Duchesne, they lost a dependable defenseman, a consistent member of the power-play unit and an offensive threat from the defensive zone. In Kasper, they gave up the center of a checking line that offered the most formidable resistance to the opposition’s big scorers, a valuable penalty-killer and the most reliable King in faceoffs.

Reliable, consistent, dependable. These are words most often associated with Kasper and Duchesne.

Kasper is an 11-year veteran who spent his entire career with the Boston Bruins before being traded in January of 1989. When he was hurt in the playoffs last season, the Kings were hard-pressed to replace him.

Now, John McIntyre, who has proved to be adept in faceoffs and tough on the ice, is asked to fill his skates on the checking line.

It’s a big job for a 22-year-old who has been with the club half a season after coming in a trade with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Penalty-killing, however, is another of Kurri’s areas of expertise.

Duchesne will be even harder to replace. For a team that drastically cut down its goals-against total last season, the Kings looked extremely thin in their defensive corps during the playoffs. Bob Halkidis and Tim Watters were used sparingly. Marty McSorley had some bad nights. Rod Buskas was injured. So, there were Rob Blake, Larry Robinson, Brian Benning and Duchesne.

Blake is a star of the future, but Robinson’s future at 40 is limited, and Benning has yet to emerge as a defensive leader. Which leaves Duchesne.

Or left Duchesne, that is.

Buskas will be back, McSorley is expected to perform as he did in the regular season, and Robinson, it is hoped, has at least one more good season left. Big things are expected of Darryl Sydor, last season’s top draft pick, but he just turned 19. The Kings picked up defenseman Jeff Chychrun in the trade, but he’s more of a tough intimidator.

Who will supply the offensive capabilities of Duchesne, who scored 20 or more goals in each of his last three seasons? And who will replace his consistency?

One source said the Kings aren’t done yet, that a deal for Pittsburgh Penguin defenseman Paul Coffey, a record-breaking offensive threat, could come this summer.

As for Kurri, General Manager Rogie Vachon of the Kings said Thursday that he will join Gretzky and Tomas Sandstrom, creating “the best line in hockey.”

Probably. But the Kings already had a great line in Gretzky, Sandstrom and Tony Granato, and it wasn’t enough. When Gretzky and Sandstrom were hurt, the Kings were exposed as a one-line team. Only Luc Robitaille showed any firepower in other situations.

The arrival of Kurri means the Kings will continue to be a one-line team. They might be better off spreading the wealth by putting Sandstrom on another line.

Finally, there is the matter of age. The Kings have obtained the 31-year-old Kurri for Duchesne, 25, and Kasper, 29. Once the euphoria fades, will reality set in?

Kurri’s arrival may trigger more questions than it answers.

And open more holes than it fills.