Kings’ Rally Cap Is On Display

A hockey team catapulting from oblivion to the brink of the Stanley Cup finals accumulates quite a draft. Hitch a ride and watch the gusts of wind blow doors of opportunity wide open.

Play-by-play announcers do the Roy Firestone show.

Ankle-tapers are quoted on the front page of the sports section.

Career assistant coaches, faintly praised for years as “good company men,” are instantly reclassified as “hot young head-coaching material.”

So, yes, if you’re asking, Cap Raeder is enjoying the ride.

Admired mostly for his resiliency during five years as a Kings’ assistant--he served under and outlasted both Robbie Ftorek and Tom Webster--Raeder is now said to be on the Mighty Ducks’ short list of prospective head coaches. Across the ice, Toronto assistant Mike Murphy is another Ducks candidate. So while Barry Melrose and Pat Burns have turned this Campbell Conference final into second-grade recess (“You’re fat!” “Am not!” “Are, too!”), their right-hand men are making somewhat more productive use of the spotlight.

“Audition for Jack Ferreira” continues at 5 p.m. today at the Forum.

Ferreira, the man who will hire the Ducks’ first head coach, goes back a long way with Raeder, their relationship spanning leagues and decades. Raeder played for Ferreira in the late 1970s when Ferreira worked in the front office of the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Assn. Raeder tended goal for the Whalers for two seasons--and, as the story goes, little else. Ferreira laughingly remembers him as a monumentally under-conditioned goalie who never ran, never lifted weights and “did nothing but stop the puck.”

“I live a better life now,” says Raeder, grinning as he pleads guilty to the charge. Fifteen years later, Raeder runs three miles a day, plays tennis, plays softball and favors Red Man over Dunkin Donuts as his chew of choice.

“Look at this stash,” Raeder says conspiratorially as he reaches for the upper shelf inside the Kings’ equipment cubbyhole. Four boxes of smokeless tobacco are stacked high. Raeder reaches into one, grabs a pouch, pulls out a plug and plops down for an interview. No wider than your basic broom closet, the setting fits the unpretentious Raeder to a T.

Out of view, just hangin’ and chewin’ and talkin’ pucks.

“It’s great,” Raeder says of the Duck speculation. “I don’t think too much about it. If and when, I’d have to evaluate my family situation--what would be right for all of us?--and I love it here. The Kings have been very fair to me.”

Raeder then proceeds to downplay his credentials, which comes partly from his personality--basic New England reticence--and partly from his present circumstance--dutiful assistant, not wanting to deviate from the all-consuming mission at hand.

“I feel comfortable as an assistant coach,” Raeder says.

And: “This fits me.”

And: “I think I’m best-suited as a sounding board, somebody there to offer advice.”

But suppose the Ducks come calling, offering something bigger?

“I would listen,” he says. “It would depend on what type of team they wanted, what direction they wanted to go in. I’m not one for jumping into the fire. It’s got to be the right thing at the right time. . . .

“I’d have to talk to Jack about their philosophy. I don’t know how Jack feels about it.”

This is how Raeder feels about expansion construction:

“I’d like a mixed bag. Big people, fast players, tough players, quick players, a little bit of everything. Look at the way San Jose and Tampa Bay went about. San Jose went with a lot of young kids and Tampa Bay went more with veterans. I’d prefer a good mix of both.”

According to his media guide bio, the 39-year-old Raeder has never been a head coach in the NHL. Not true. From 1989 to 1992, Webster served as the league’s first absentee head coach, missing huge chunks of time for his fabled (staged?) stick-throwing suspensions and frequent (psychosomatic?) illnesses.

While Webster was away, Raeder and Rick Wilson shared bench duties. Even when Webster was available and on the clock, Raeder often ran practice.

“It was different,” Raeder says diplomatically. “I don’t know any people who have ever gone through something like that.”

The experience taught Raeder much about the demands of the position.

“I know what they go through,” Raeder says of head coaches, “and it’s a very difficult job. A lot of weight’s on your shoulders. There are many times when you need advice, support and fresh ideas.”

When you need a faithful assistant . . . like Cap Raeder.

“He’s a good friend,” Melrose says, “and a (head) coach needs that. Most of the time, he reads my mind. He plays off me very well, personality-wise, which is what I need.”

Brash Barry and Everyman Cap. One follows the gospel according to Tony Robbins and kicks motivational butt, the other coaxes Kelly Hrudey out of a slump with gentle handling and a few beers. It’s a push-pull approach that has dragged the ne’er-do-well Kings to within two victories of their first appearance in a Stanley Cup final.

Melrose knows that once the Kings complete their run, the tandem could be done. He has heard the Duck rumors. He says Raeder “would be a good choice. He’s a good hockey man, he has a great hockey mind. I certainly hope the rumors aren’t true. I don’t want to see him go anywhere.”

Except, maybe, to Montreal for the ultimate clash of hockey culture.

Two more victories and the Kings are going.

Four victories beyond that and a King assistant shows up for a job interview toting an impressive new title.

Cup Raeder.