His Career Was Saved by Leaving the Kings : Hockey: Goaltender Grant Fuhr, now with St. Louis, has regained his top form and his appetite for the game.

He couldn’t play well unless he played often, but he couldn’t be trusted to play often because he was performing so poorly and Kelly Hrudey was playing so well.

From the day he arrived last February until the last goal he allowed on the last day of the season, almost nothing went right for Grant Fuhr while he wore a King uniform.

Acquired to solve a goaltending problem that didn’t exist, Fuhr never adjusted to sharing the nets with Hrudey. In his first five games, he had a 6.55 goals-against average and .813 save percentage, damaging his rhythm and confidence so badly that he declared himself “lost at sea.”

Although he righted himself late in the season, most observers wrote him off. The Kings, who gave up defensemen Alex Zhitnik and Charlie Huddy, goalie Robb Stauber and a draft pick to get Fuhr and defensemen Denis Tsygurov and Philippe Boucher, made no effort to keep him. Mike Keenan, the St. Louis Blues’ general manager and coach, ignored his 4.04 goals-against average and signed him for $2.1 million over two years.

“My stay in L.A. was great for my golf swing,” Fuhr said. “It was fun to play with Wayne [Gretzky] again and they were a pretty good bunch of guys there. It [his acquisition] didn’t really make sense to me because I didn’t get a chance to play a whole lot. But they did give me a chance to play at the end of the year, which was enough for me to start getting my confidence back and get some offers over the summer.”

His confidence has returned in St. Louis. So have the quickness and the mental toughness that were his strengths when he helped the Edmonton Oilers win five Stanley Cup championships in seven years.

Fuhr made his 29th consecutive start Saturday in the Blues’ 2-1 victory over the Kings at the Forum, the only NHL goalie who has started all of his team’s games this season. Fuhr stopped 40 shots in his first visit to the Forum since his departure and left with a 2.61 goals-against average and .913 save percentage, which rank in the top third in the league in both categories.

He has played all but 38 of the Blues’ 1,760 minutes, so he’s getting his wish to play regularly. He wants to play 80 games this season, he said.

“This is a little more than regular,” Fuhr said, laughing, “but I love it. I’ve had few opportunities to do it the last couple of years, but the best year of my career was the year I got to play a bunch [1987-88, when he started 75 games and won the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goalie]. Mike has confidence in me and he has given me the opportunity, and I’m enjoying it.”

Said King General Manager Sam McMaster: “When we made the trade, he was in Buffalo and he hadn’t been playing a lot. When he got here, I don’t think he was game-sharp and that just compounded the situation. If he had played the way he’s playing today, it would have been a different situation. . . .

When he got to St. Louis, Fuhr had to go through another ordeal: getting acquainted with Keenan. Throughout his career, Fuhr had come to training camp over his playing weight and skated his way into shape. Keenan wasn’t enchanted with that approach, especially when Fuhr failed to finish the bike-riding segment of the preseason physical exam.

Fuhr, who weighed 219 pounds when he reported, was suspended for a week. He was reinstated when he was weighed again and the scale showed 205.

“I got the introduction to the program at the beginning of the year,” Fuhr said. “It was partly my fault. Once you adjust to the program, it’s a piece of cake. Mike’s been great.”

Keenan’s insistence that Fuhr be physically fit has been instrumental in allowing him to handle his heavy workload.

Fuhr began working with Bob Kersee, the husband and trainer of Olympic medal-winning sprinter Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and the results have been dramatic.

“I’m probably in the greatest shape I’ve ever been, now,” Fuhr said. “[Kersee] has kind of altered the menu. He’s taken the fun out of it. I stick to it for the most part. He knows I’m not going to stick to it completely. . . . When your body feels good, your mind feels good.”