Stumpel Settles for Less

Jozef Stumpel got his three seasons.

He didn’t get his $3 million a season.

He did get a lesson in the NHL’s new economics.

A process that began two months ago ended Wednesday when the Kings signed their holdout center to a bonus-laden contract. They would not reveal the terms, but the deal was well below the $9 million Stumpel sought when the two sides first talked contract in August.

Only by reaching some lofty bonus plateaus can Stumpel reach the $3 million he sought, and then not until the third season.

“We’re happy to get Jozef back in the fold,” said Dave Taylor, the Kings’ senior vice president and general manager. “We really wanted to have him in training camp . . . and I didn’t think it would take this long.”

To accommodate Stumpel on the roster, the Kings put captain Rob Blake on injured reserve. He is not on this trip because of a hairline fracture in his lumbar vertebra.

It took as long as it did to sign Stumpel because of what was perceived as an unwillingness to negotiate on the part of the Kings since they made a “take-it-or-leave-it” offer of $2.45 million for the first season in September and difficulty between the club and Stumpel’s agent, Benji Robins, that was resolved this week.

“Every day we talked we left the door open,” Robins said of heightened negotiations that began Friday. “ . . . I’m so relieved. This has been like having a house dropped on you. It’s almost like we’ve been through arbitration.”

Stumpel was due to join the Kings for their morning skate in St. Louis today before they play the Blues tonight. He is not expected to play.

“He’s not in bad condition,” Coach Andy Murray said. “[Goalie consultant] Donnie Edwards worked him real hard yesterday. We’ll take a look at him, but I don’t think he’ll be able to play [tonight]. Maybe on Saturday against Dallas.”

Still to be determined is how soon Stumpel can return to the Kings’ top line with Ziggy Palffy and Luc Robitaille. Each averaged more than a point a game last season in accumulating 198 points as a line.

Center Eric Belanger has played in Stumpel’s stead for all of the Kings’ seven games and shares the NHL points lead for rookies with Philadelphia’s Justin Williams at six.

Robitaille and Palffy have six goals each and share the league’s scoring lead with Boston’s Jason Allison with 12.

“We have a couple of scenarios we’re considering,” Murray said. “One is to put him back with that first unit. But do you do that yet? Is he ready?”

Bryan Smolinski has joined Palffy and Robitaille for a power play that has generated 11 goals in seven games, among the league’s best.

“Do you play Stumpel on the power play with them, or do you play him with Glen Murray on the [second] power play?” Murray said. “He’s played pretty well with him in the past.”

And what of Belanger?

“It’s good for the team,” the rookie said of Stumpel’s signing. “I knew it was just a matter of time before it was going to happen.

“I’ve got no clue what’s going to happen to me. I think I deserve to be with the team, but I have no control over that. I think they have a pretty hard decision, and that makes me feel pretty good.”

Murray reassured Belanger, who came to training camp and seemed destined to be sent to Lowell of the AHL until it became apparent that signing Stumpel was going to be more difficult than the Kings thought.

“We think Eric Belanger deserves to stay here,” he said.

The deal was in peril as late as Tuesday night, when Stumpel was apparently told that it was as good as it was going to get and that his alternative was to return to Slovakia and wait out the Kings.

“He decided this morning that it was just time to play hockey,” Robins said Wednesday.

Stumpel and Taylor talked alone Wednesday morning, and Robins was involved again later in the day before the contract was signed in the afternoon.

To get it done, a bonus arrangement was fattened and compensation was restructured over the life of the contract to absorb fines for missing training camp and the first seven games. Those fines were believed to be $9,800 a day.