No One Loses in Game of Bruises

Hours before what may have been one of the last significant games the Mighty Ducks will play, General Manager Pierre Gauthier arrived at the Arrowhead Pond wearing new bifocals.

Which proves the suspicion he was seeing the hockey world through rose-colored glasses when he insisted he likes his club as it is and made no major deals before Tuesday’s trading deadline.

That would be the club that is six points out of the final Western Conference playoff berth after its 2-2 tie with the Kings Wednesday. The club whose penalty killing is the NHL’s worst and whose power play, despite the presence of nonpareil scorers Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya, ranks in the bottom of the league.

The club that will be vacationing in mid-April while the Kings, who made a good if not earth-shattering deal Monday to acquire Kelly Buchberger and Nelson Emerson, make their second playoff trip in seven seasons.

“We’re a lot closer to where we want to be than what it might look,” Gauthier said.

It looks as though they’re headed toward a non-playoff finish, their second in three seasons. That can only be a step backward, considering they were in the top eight in the West before Christmas and none of their closest rivals--Edmonton, Phoenix, San Jose and Calgary--has resembled a Stanley Cup contender lately.

“We’re in the middle somewhere and trying to get to the top,” Gauthier said. “Half the league is in the middle, there’s a group on top and a group at the bottom. We want to get up there with the Detroits, New Jerseys and Colorados. Fans must understand the dynamics of hockey are different than other sports. I wish there was a quick fix, but I think we’re on the right plan and the right direction.”

If that plan is to play before a half-empty arena next season, they’re succeeding. One more ticket-price increase should seal it.

Gauthier’s philosophy is to build through the draft and collect assets he can use or bodies he can trade to fill gaps. In a league that next season will grow to 30 teams, that process can be painfully slow. Yet, the economics of the NHL and the restrictions of free agency make it nearly impossible to pull off quick fixes.

The Kings’ rebuilding has mixed traditional build-through-the-draft thinking with an occasional bold trade. To acquire Ziggy Palffy and Bryan Smolinski, the game-breaker and second-line center they desperately needed, they gave the New York Islanders a first-round draft pick and two players they had drafted with first-round picks. Costly, certainly, but to this point, inarguably worth it.

Their escape from the pit of financial and strategic bankruptcy hasn’t been easy or rapid. And it’s not over. Their fifth-place standing in the West is impressive, but it won’t mean much if it’s only the prelude to another four-and-out playoff appearance like their 1998 cameo against the St. Louis Blues.

But because Smolinski and Palffy have played so well, because 1993 draft pick Jere Karalahti has acclimated well to the NHL, General Manager Dave Taylor could trade Donald Audette and Frantisek Kaberle--players whose roles had shrunk--to Atlanta for Buchberger and Emerson, players whose roles are small by design. The Kings are on the verge of something good. The Ducks are on the verge of . . . something.

“We realize we’re not in the playoffs yet,” King Coach Andy Murray said. “This trade helps. I think they’re good additions, but ultimately, it’s the other 18 guys that have been here all year that will make the biggest difference. These guys will support them. They bring intangibles, and we feel fortunate to have them.”

The Kings needed intangibles; the Ducks still need basics and haven’t found support players to surround Kariya and Selanne.

Gauthier believes those players are developing. He may be right. Defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky has matured into an impact player. Youngsters Vitaly Vishnevski, Niclas Havelid, Matt Cullen and Mike Leclerc have the skill to play at a high level and lack only seasoning.

Those kids will complement Selanne and Kariya well in a few years, providing Kariya doesn’t suffer another concussion that forces him into retirement and Selanne, who will be 30 in July, hasn’t passed his peak.

Gauthier doesn’t think along those lines. He can’t afford to.

“People are always saying, ‘You’ve got Kariya and Selanne, two guys you can build around. Aren’t you tempted--or shouldn’t it be your plan, to step up and capitalize on the fact you have those guys?’ ” he said. “My answer to that is I have to think of both the long term and short term. The danger is addressing only the short term, when you start giving up your core assets and spending a ton of money and you’re not getting significantly better . . .

“We’re living the ups and downs about whether our performance as a club is as good as it should be. That’s the growing pains, and we have to live through it. You look at our club. We compete. You can look in retrospect and say, ‘They lost some leads and they played some games where they outplayed and outchanced the other team and lost. They made some mistakes.’ That’s the growing pains, and the only thing we can do is keep pushing in the right direction.”

Even if that direction is to the sidelines during the playoffs. “We’re not going to start throwing our draft picks around to improve,” Gauthier said. “We want to be real good. We don’t want to be a little bit better than what we are now. I think we can sell that to our fans. It’s tough to say that, especially if you miss the playoffs, but that’s what I believe in.”

For that, he may have to be a better salesman than general manager.