Prowling for Goals : King Wing Vitali Yachmenev Has Gone From Chasing Burglars to Being Chased by Defensemen as One of the NHL’s Top Rookies

The competition in the room was daunting.

There was Dimitri Khristich, making his bid as the Terminator. Sean O’Donnell was drawing accolades for his drop-dead, close-to-life impersonation of former King coach Barry Melrose.

Still, King rookie right wing Vitali Yachmenev held out hope at Rick Tocchet’s Halloween party. Dressed as a court jester, the Russian youngster finally decided to approach Wayne Gretzky about midway through the festivities.

“Do you think I have a chance for the prize?” Yachmenev asked Gretzky.

Yachmenev had failed to pick up the nuances of Gretzky’s humor.

Said Tocchet: “He heard Gretz say, ‘$100 prize for the best costume,’ and didn’t know he was kidding.”

On the ice, there is very little misunderstanding when Yachmenev and Gretzky are together. Gretzky has assisted on every one of Yachmenev’s team-leading 11 goals. Starting the season on Gretzky’s line clearly has boosted Yachmenev’s rookie-of-the-year chances.

It has been an unusual season in that no rookie has taken a commanding lead. Yachmenev is tied with Ottawa right wing Daniel Alfredsson for the league’s rookie scoring race at 23 points. Alfredsson has 10 goals and 13 assists in 29 games; Yachmenev has 11 goals and 12 assists in 31 games. Other rookies with a viable chance for the Calder Trophy include Chicago’s Eric Daze, the Islanders’ Todd Bertuzzi and Montreal’s Saku Koivu.

“It would be nice,” Yachmenev, 20, said. “I just try to do my best.”

Winning the Calder would mean a $50,000 bonus to supplement his $305,000 salary. Certainly, his presence as one of the elite rookies has come as a welcome revelation for the Kings. The only King to be named rookie of the year was Luc Robitaille after the 1986-87 season, when Robitaille had 45 goals and 84 points, 38 points after 31 games.

Even locally, the preseason focus centered more on King defenseman Aki Berg and Mighty Duck center Chad Kilger. Yachmenev was the Kings’ third-round selection (59th overall) in the 1994 entry draft. The team’s first two picks were goaltender Jamie Storr and developing enforcer Matt Johnson.

Yachmenev, 20, had a stunning NHL start, with 10 goals and 20 points in his first 19 games, including four goals and six points in the first three games. But, like the rest of the Kings, Yachmenev has all but disappeared offensively in the last month. He has only one goal and three points in the last 12 games.

“He’s still getting the chances,” King Coach Larry Robinson said. “But everyone knows him now and is watching him closely. It’s not like he’s not going to the net. I don’t get the feeling he’s a streaky scorer. Every game he’s getting his chances.

“I’m certainly not disappointed in him.”

Said Yachmenev: “I’m not thinking about how many points I’m getting. We have had a few chances.”

Robinson has been trying a variety of line combinations and has split up Khristich, Gretzky and Yachmenev. Against Ottawa on Wednesday, he kept Khristich and Yachmenev together with Yanic Perreault centering them and put Gretzky on a line with wings Tony Granato and Tocchet.

During the Kings’ struggles, Robinson has had discussions with many of the forwards--Khristich, Granato, Tocchet, to name a few--but not Yachmenev.

“I can’t tell him anything he hasn’t been doing,” Robinson said. “Other than his positioning, maybe, leaving the zone a little early.”

Said Khristich: “He protects the puck very well with his body.”

Yachmenev isn’t big--5 feet 9 and 180 pounds--but he has a sturdy lower body, by virtue of many years of rugged off-season training as a youngster in Russia. What also helped him adapt to the North American game was his decision to play in the tiny Northern Ontario city of North Bay against the wishes of his parents. He spent two seasons there, opening with a 61-goal season that earned him Canadian major junior rookie-of-the-year honors in 1994.

Needless to say, there was not a large Russian community to help ease his path in North Bay.

“It was hard for me, especially in my first year,” Yachmenev said. “I stay by myself. I didn’t know anybody. It take a couple of months. Everybody talks in the dressing room, and I sit there.”

But he learned quickly on and off the ice. In February, Yachmenev attained local hero status in North Bay when he caught a burglar who was breaking into the home of the family he lived with.

Different reports having him chasing the guy for up to two miles. Yachmenev, smiling at the memory, says it was 500 meters.

“He broke a window and I was there by myself,” Yachmenev said. “There was a game that night, so I was home resting. I was in the bathroom and I heard it. I see him and I went after him.

“I catch him and brought him back to the house. He didn’t try to go but said he would give me something to let him go. I said, ‘No!’ Everybody gets to make it a lot of attention because it was such a small town.”

King General Manager Sam McMaster once dreaded watching Yachmenev play for North Bay. McMaster used to work for the Sudbury Wolves in the Ontario Hockey League, and North Bay was the team’s nearest rival.

“I watched Vitali about 30 times, and the thing I noticed the most was that he was a game-breaker,” McMaster said. “With the game on the line, he’d always beat you. He beat us at least three times in overtime. Once, he tied the game with 15 seconds left and then beat us about 20 seconds into overtime. I didn’t like him that night.”

So far, Yachmenev hasn’t had to chase any burglars in Marina del Rey. He has had little time to do anything but wander through stores. “Buying furniture,” he says. “All furniture.”

Khristich reports that Yachmenev is an ideal roommate on the road.

“He’s fine,” Khristich says. “I’m not real picky. I like quiet and a little bit of cool air in the room. He likes both.”

Yachmenev and Khristich don’t have much to say on and off the ice. Said Gretzky: “And I thought Jari [Kurri] was quiet.”

Given the fleeting nature of line combinations, it is only a matter of time before Yachmenev, Khristich and Gretzky are reunited. And Yachmenev has an idea for the hard-to-name line.

“Quiet Line,” he says.