Dionne Named to Hall of Fame : Hockey: Center of the Triple Crown line becomes first former King player to be so honored.

For Marcel Dionne, it was like any other working day at his dry-cleaning business in Mount Kisco, N.Y. Hockey was not on his mind on Friday afternoon.

So when his secretary appeared at the door with the news that the people from the Hockey Hall of Fame were on the phone, it took a second to register.

“Then she said, ‘You’ve been elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame,’ ” said Dionne, who played for the Kings for 12 seasons and ranks third on the NHL’s all-time scoring list with 1,771 points. “It was great news, especially since I was elected in my first year of eligibility.”

Joining Dionne this year in hockey’s most exclusive club are Minnesota’s general manager and coach Bob Gainey, who played for the Canadiens for 16 seasons; and Lanny McDonald, who played for Toronto, the Colorado Rockies and Calgary during his 16-year career. Woody Dumart, who played for the Bruins from 1935-1954, was elected in the veteran category.

Dionne is the first King player to reach the Hall of Fame. Former King coach Bob Pulford, now a front-office executive with Chicago, was elected in 1991.

“I never came close to a Stanley Cup,” Dionne said. “But I think if you ask players, this is what they look for. If there’s just one thing, they want to be in the Hall of Fame, in any sport. It’s a special occasion. I think it may even mean more to my family friends and fans. Hey, there’s life after hockey.”

This time, there were more highly qualified candidates than usual among the five nominees. Only three can be inducted each year, which prevented Guy Lapointe and Billy Smith from making the Hall of Fame.

Players are eligible three years after their active careers, and Dionne finished his with the Rangers in 1989.

King owner Bruce McNall was pleasantly surprised by the news. He wasn’t aware Dionne was eligible for election.

“He was the name,” McNall said. “He was the guy I had followed all these years when I was going to Kings games as a fan.”

When Dionne was traded to the Rangers in March of 1987, it was a highly controversial and acrimonious deal. Essentially, General Manager Rogie Vachon called Dionne’s bluff when he asked to be traded.

Now, years later, McNall said he never would have let Dionne leave Los Angeles. Back then, McNall was a part owner of the Kings and Jerry Buss had majority control.

“It was like my first week of having part of the team,” McNall said. “We were moving the guy who for half of my hockey life was my hero.

“It was a pretty weird situation. He was one of the guys who helped keep hockey in L.A.”

Gainey agreed, saying: “He did groundwork in a place like Los Angeles. Without a player like Marcel Dionne there through the ‘70s, I don’t think Los Angeles would still have a franchise.”

For some time, Dionne was bitter over the circumstances that led to his departure. But McNall has made a strong effort to rectify matters, including the retirement of Dionne’s jersey two seasons ago.

Dionne doesn’t spend much time thinking of the past. But his election to the Hall of Fame made him realize how much he meant to the Kings’ franchise.

Before Wayne Gretzky, Dionne was one of the most popular players in Kings’ history, along with Vachon. Dionne, right winger Dave Taylor and left winger Charlie Simmer made up the Kings’ vaunted Triple Crown line.

Dionne’s best season with the Kings came in 1979-80 when he led the league in scoring with 53 goals and 137 points.

“It was special for me there,” he said. “I know people talk about it being so isolated, but I’ll tell you, it was just a fantastic experience. I can’t thank Jack Kent Cooke and Jerry Buss enough for keeping me there.”

However, Dionne was always frustrated by the Kings’ inability to get past the second round of the playoffs.

“When I played there, it seemed like we had 16 or 17 coaches and five or six general managers,” he said. “There was different ownerships. I look back now, if I ran my businesses that way, I’d be broke.

“To me, the frustrating part about the career there was that certain situations just didn’t make sense. . . .”

Notes

The Kings were interested in talking to Boston assistant general manager Mike Milbury about becoming the team’s general manager and coach, according to Milbury. But General Manager Rogie Vachon never spoke to Milbury because Harry Sinden, the Bruins’ president and general manager refused, permission. . . . The Kings interviewed former New Jersey coach Tom McVie on Friday and Buffalo’s former coach, Rick Dudley, is another candidate on the list. Dudley also coached the Kings’ farm club at New Haven, Conn., in the 1988-89 season.

New Member

Career statistics of Marcel Dionne, who was elected to the NHL Hall of Fame on Friday:

REGULAR SEASON Year Team GP G A Pts. ‘71-72 Detroit 78 28 49 77 ‘72-73 Detroit 77 40 50 90 ‘73-74 Detroit 74 24 54 78 ‘74-75 Detroit 80 47 74 121 ‘75-76 Kings 80 40 54 94 ‘76-77 Kings 80 53 69 122 ‘77-78 Kings 70 36 43 79 ‘78-79 Kings 80 59 71 130 ‘79-80 Kings 80 53 84 137 ‘80-81 Kings 80 58 77 135 ‘81-82 Kings 78 50 67 117 ‘82-83 Kings 80 56 51 107 ‘83-84 Kings 66 39 53 92 ‘84-85 Kings 80 46 80 126 ‘85-86 Kings 80 36 58 94 ‘86-87 Kings-NYR 81 28 56 84 ‘87-88 Rangers 67 31 34 65 ‘88-89 Rangers 37 7 16 23 Totals 1,348 731 1,040 1,771

PLAYOFFS

Year Team GP G A Pts. ‘75-76 Kings 9 6 1 7 ‘76-77 Kings 9 5 9 14 ‘77-78 Kings 2 0 0 0 ‘78-79 Kings 2 0 1 1 ‘79-80 Kings 4 0 3 3 ‘80-81 Kings 4 1 3 4 ‘81-82 Kings 10 7 4 11 ‘84-85 Kings 3 1 2 3 ‘86-87 Rangers 6 1 1 2 Totals 49 21 24 45