Slovak Players Will Have to Wait

The Kings have again made it clear that they will not release Ziggy Palffy or Lubomir Visnovsky to play for Slovakia in the preliminary round of the Salt Lake City Olympics in February. Slovakia is one of eight teams required to qualify for two spots in the main competition leading to the medal round.

Palffy had said this week that he hoped something could be worked out, but the Kings are taking a hard-line stance because the qualifying round coincides with NHL play and they can’t afford to be without two of their top players.

“You look at the situation we’re in right now, and the situation last year, when we made the playoffs by two points, and we have to be committed to putting the best possible team on the ice,” General Manager Dave Taylor said. “So, it’s going to be next to impossible to release players. I can understand where [the Slovaks] are coming from--they want to field as competitive a team as possible--but we have to look after the interest of the L.A. Kings.”

Still, Taylor said that he has agreed to discuss the situation with former NHL player Peter Stastny, general manager of Team Slovakia, in a meeting Saturday in St. Louis.

The Slovaks, who got a tournament-high 10 points from Palffy en route to a sixth-place finish in the 1994 Winter Games at Lillehammer, Norway, are scheduled to play Germany on Feb. 9, Latvia on Feb. 10 and Austria on Feb. 12.

The Kings are not scheduled to play on any of those dates, but they play at Phoenix against the Coyotes on Feb. 8 and at Staples Center on Feb. 11 against the Dallas Stars and Feb. 13 against the Coyotes before taking a 12-day Olympic break.

Palffy, then playing for the New York Islanders, was one of several NHL players who traveled to Nagano, Japan, to play for Slovakia in the qualifying round in 1998 but arrived too late and did not play. Slovakia, playing with a lineup made up primarily of European-league players, missed the cut.

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The Kings have been outshot only seven times in 27 games before Thursday night’s game and had given up only 14 third-period goals, fewest in the league. “Some of our stats don’t relate in any way to our record,” Murray said. “But they say stats are for losers, and I guess that’s what we’re doing right now.” ... Thursday’s game was the first of 10 in 17 nights for the Kings, their busiest stretch of the season. “It’s great,” said Murray, taking the positive view. “You can’t get points if you’re not playing. I’d rather be out there trying to get points than watching other teams.”