Duchesne Disappointment May Have Long-Term Effect

The Kings got a hard lesson in economics Tuesday and Steve Duchesne was the instructor.

Tuition was $4.25 million.

“Free agency costs more,” said Dave Taylor, the Kings’ vice president, general manager and chief student, after he had settled Duchesne’s contract and traded him to Philadelphia for defenseman Dave Babych, 37, and a fifth-round choice in the 2000 entry draft.

“Under free agency, you spend more dollars and more years than you really believe a player is worth. And in a lot of cases, you don’t get a return on your investment.”

In this case, the Kings invested $7,451,219.30, which represents the $4.25-million settlement plus most of the first season of Duchesne’s four-season, $15-million contract, signed last July 2.

The return was:

* Four goals, at $1,862,804.30 each.

* Nineteen assists, at $392,169.43 each.

* Twenty-three points, at $323,966.05 each.

Put one way, at $8.5 million for this season, the Mighty Ducks’ Paul Kariya is the highest-paid hockey player in Southern California, but not by much.

Put another, Duchesne might have cost Theoren Fleury a lot of money and the people who buy hockey tickets at the Staples Center next season a hero.

“I’m not sure if you’ll see us too active in the free-agent market in the future,” Taylor said. “ . . . I don’t think you’ll see us enter into a four- or five-year contract and pay big dollars for a player in their 30s anymore.”

Only six weeks ago, the Kings were ready to pay Fleury, 30, $25 million for four seasons if he would sign a free-agent contract that would trigger a trade from Calgary. Instead, he was traded to Colorado and will be a free agent July 1.

The Duchesne deal was one of two swung by the Kings in the last few hours before the trading deadline. They sent center Yanic Perreault to Toronto for minor leaguer Jason Podollan and a third-round choice in this year’s entry draft. Podollan was assigned to the Ice Dogs of the IHL.

Perreault was hardly surprised by being traded.

“You know that when a team isn’t doing well, things are going to happen,” he said. “ . . . I’m not happy with the season I’ve had offensively, but the Kings have been fair with me.”

He had 10 goals--none in the last 23 games--and 17 assists with the Kings, who are struggling to get into the playoffs. With Toronto, Perreault is already there.

Duchesne also joins a playoff team in the Flyers, to whom he was traded by the Kings in 1991, and who traded him to Quebec a year later.

Philadelphia General Manager Bob Clarke had expressed disdain for Duchesne when asked about acquiring him on Friday, saying, “There’s a reason he’s on waivers.”

But Clarke changed his mind when the Kings picked up most of Duchesne’s contract and Clarke learned he could “rent” Duchesne for the rest of the season and playoffs for about $548,780. And besides, Flyer defenseman Eric Desjardins, the point man on the team’s power play, was injured Sunday in a game against Detroit.

“As much as we liked Dave [Babych, who was a healthy scratch in 25 games], we felt we had to do something to help our power play,” said Clarke.

Taylor once thought much the same thing.

“It was our opinion when we signed Steve Duchesne that we were getting a gifted offensive player who could help us on the power play,” he said. “I don’t think it was working from the get-go. I don’t think Steve played the game he’s capable of and I think he will agree.”