In Search of a...STAR

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the Kings cannot afford to play in front of small crowds when they move into the $300-million Staples Center in the fall of 1999.

The Kings realize this better than anyone. That’s why President Tim Leiweke and General Manager Dave Taylor have acknowledged that the team has been searching for a marquee player since last summer.

Starting with Pittsburgh’s Jaromir Jagr and Detroit’s Sergei Fedorov, the Kings have been busy trying to land a bona fide all-star who would attract fans and help make the team a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.

Fifty-five games into the season, the Kings are still looking, and despite their strong 26-20-9 record and fifth-place position in the Western Conference, the Great Western Forum has had more dismal crowds than sellouts.

But don’t look for the Kings, who are 9-1-1 over their last 11 games before the Olympic break, to make any hasty moves simply to attract more fans.

“We feel that we’re going in the right direction,” Taylor said of the Kings, who have gained 21 of their 26 victories against teams under .500 this season.

“But, we have to be careful. In Los Angeles, I’ve only seen one player in Wayne Gretzky come in and make a huge impact on the market. The Kings have had some very good players over the years. Marcel Dionne was one of the game’s top scorers, but he didn’t have the same impact. . . . I’m not sure that there are too many guys around the league who could come in and make an impact on the L.A. market.”

In 30 NHL seasons, the Kings have advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs only once. That was in 1993, when a Gretzky-led team attracted capacity crowds to the Forum and reached the Stanley Cup finals.

Since then, however, the Kings’ attendance has dropped, and as a team, they haven’t even sniffed postseason play. So when Taylor was promoted to replace Sam McMaster last April, the Kings put together a plan to not only end their four-year playoff drought but to also become one of the league’s most stable franchises.

After examining the makeup of the last two NHL champions--the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche--the Kings decided they needed to establish a core of key players, including a goaltender, a strong physical center with passing skills and an attacking defenseman to form the nucleus of their rebuilding.

Taylor then compiled a list of key free agents to go after and another list of teams that appeared to be ready to make a trade. That’s how the Kings picked up center Jozef Stumpel from Boston before the start of training camp when the Bruins seemed reluctant to keep him as a restricted free agent.

Although the Kings gave up goaltender Byron Dafoe and last season’s leading scorer, Dimitri Khristich, for Stumpel and Sandy Moger, the deal was the type that fits Taylor: making a move without risking the future of the franchise.

“We will only complete a deal when it makes sense to us,” Taylor said. “We’ve talked with a lot of teams, but they always want one of our core players or some of our young talent that we’re reluctant to give up.

“We also have to consider the chemistry of the team. That’s real important because I don’t think that you can win with one player. Hockey is a team sport, and you need everyone pulling in the same direction.”

Neither Jagr nor Fedorov is in a King uniform because the Kings thought that Pittsburgh and Detroit were asking too much. Several times, the Kings have tried to work a deal with the Penguins, but those talks have always included Rob Blake, goaltender Stephane Fiset or 1997 first-round pick Olli Jokinen, three players the Kings consider untouchable.

Because the Kings have philosophically made a commitment not to sign free agents to offer sheets, their pursuit of Fedorov has had to go through the Red Wings. But every time Taylor has had discussions with Detroit, he has walked away feeling that the Red Wings wanted to keep their star player more than they wanted to work a package deal with the Kings.

Aside from Jagr and Fedorov, the Kings also have looked into acquiring other players to help their offense. They came close to swinging a deal for Tampa Bay center Chris Gratton but ultimately lost out when Philadelphia signed him to an offer sheet.

At various times, they’ve had talks with Vancouver regarding Pavel Bure, Alexander Mogilny and Trevor Linden, but nothing materialized because the Canucks wanted Blake. They got nowhere when they checked into the availability of Edmonton’s Jason Arnott and Dallas’ Mike Modano; both of those teams wanted to keep those players at the time.

“I can’t make any comments about players already under contract, but we’ve been exploring all of our options,” Taylor said. “But, quite often, the players are not available. . . . The key is to stay in contact with all of the teams because they may have a player with contract problems or they may just go sour on a player. That’s when you want to be right there [ready to make a deal].”

The other moves the Kings did pull off during the off-season involved two players Taylor knew well--defenseman Garry Galley and left wing Luc Robitaille, both former teammates. They have had an impact on the Kings’ success this season.

Galley, who turned down free-agent offers from Montreal and the New York Islanders, said he signed with the Kings because he liked the team’s new attitude toward winning.

“They said that they are on a plan now, they have a new building coming in here and the ownership here wants to win really bad,” said Galley, who played for the Kings in 1984-87. “When you hear things like that, you know they are going to do it. It’s not something you can rush and get done.”

In Stumpel, the Kings have one of the league’s most underrated stars. He ranks among the top eight scorers and, at 25, hasn’t reached his peak. But even if he does establish himself among the game’s elite players, don’t look for the Kings to stand pat.

“As happy as I am about our record and I’m glad everybody is excited about this team . . . we haven’t done nothing yet,” Leiweke said Monday from his downtown Los Angeles office, which overlooks the construction site for Staples Center. “We have a long way to go in order to win back the respect from our fans, the media and the rest of the league.

“We will not be satisfied until we win the Stanley Cup. I think that’s the difference now between the Kings today and Kings in the past. . . . We don’t want to ever rest on our laurels. We don’t want to be happy just because we make the playoffs, that’s not good enough.”