Staples Center Replaces Glass

People peering through the glass at Staples Center on Saturday night will get a different view when the Kings play Tampa Bay.

Make that a clearer view. The prism will be gone.

Complaints about the glass that surrounds the rink were justified, said Lee Zeidman, vice president for building operations, and the glass is being replaced by the Canadian company that made it.

“It was distorted,” said Zeidman, who blamed the production process, which involved laminating the layers of glass.

Complaints about the distorted view have been plentiful since the building opened, and many of them came from season-ticket holders who switched from the Great Western Forum, where they had unobstructed views of the ice, to Staples Center, where they found themselves looking through the glass.

Part of the reason is that the slope of the seats is less sheer at Staples Center. Another is that the glass is higher, 72 inches compared with the Forum’s 48. The reason is safety, Zeidman said.

*

The Kings took Sunday and today off because they do not play again until Friday, at the Arrowhead Pond.

*

John Wolf, the Kings’ assistant to the general manager, has spent some time lately with Canadian government officials, making sure defenseman Jere Karalahti can get into the country to play later in the season. The entrance of Karalahti, at Long Beach temporarily, was delayed for two months by U.S. government officials because of a history of drug abuse. Once here, he turned over his passport to Wolf, who was showing it to Canadian officials in L.A. last week when Karalahti was to be sent from the Kings--who were in Dallas--to join the Ice Dogs at Utah.

Without his passport or other photo identification, Karalahti could not board a plane to Salt Lake City to join the Ice Dogs. Wolf said that negotiations are ongoing with Canada concerning Karalahti.