Kings Get a Cat for Stretch

Desperate to improve their porous goaltending before they fall too far out of the Western Conference playoff race, the Kings are taking a chance that Felix “The Cat” Potvin has another life left.

The Kings on Thursday acquired the 29-year-old goaltender from the Vancouver Canucks for future considerations, which are believed to be draft picks conditional upon how well he plays. The Kings will pay a prorated portion of his one-year, $2.7-million contract, about $820,000.

“We feel this acquisition will bring some stability to our goaltending and give us some momentum as we continue to strive to make the playoffs,” King General Manager Dave Taylor said. “Felix Potvin is a proven NHL goaltender with a great deal of playoff experience, and that can only help our team in the future.”

Once considered a franchise player, Potvin has seen his stock decline since he led the Toronto Maple Leafs to the Campbell Conference finals in 1993 and 1994, including a memorable seven-game loss to the Kings in 1993. He has been traded twice in the previous two seasons, to the New York Islanders in January 1999 and to the Canucks in December 1999.

His inconsistency this season led the Canucks to acquire goalie Dan Cloutier from the Tampa Bay Lightning last week. Potvin was 14-17-3-2 with a 3.08 goals-against average and .887 save percentage. In 426 games, he is 179-183-60 with a 2.96 goals-against average and .905 save percentage.

“If you’ve watched Felix this year, he’s allowed a soft goal followed by a highlight-reel save,” Canuck General Manager Brian Burke said. “It’s not physical--it’s confidence.”

Potvin had agreed to a conditioning assignment with Kansas City of the International Hockey League but could not report because he’s Canadian and needs a work permit to play for a team based in the United States. That lack of documentation will, at least temporarily, prevent Potvin from joining the Kings. However, a club spokesman said the red tape should be resolved by Monday.

“I’m going to a team that’s not far from the playoffs,” said Potvin, who has been working out at a Vancouver college. “My goal is to play in the playoffs every year.

“We’ve played the Kings twice this year, and every time you play a team like the Kings you can see it’s a real powerful team and that they can score goals. They’re a feared team around the conference. It’s a matter of getting back on track.”

Even a declining Potvin could be an upgrade for the Kings.

Their team goals-against average of 3.10 ranks 26th in the 30-team NHL, and the .884 save percentage compiled by Jamie Storr, Steve Passmore, Stephane Fiset and Travis Scott is the NHL’s worst.

With Fiset on injured reserve and Scott in the minor leagues, Potvin will be the third goalie on the roster, a number Coach Andy Murray said is one more than he plans to carry. However, no moves will be made until Potvin’s work papers are approved.

“As soon as we became aware of the fact that Vancouver made the deal for Cloutier, there was immediate interest on the part of our coaching staff and management to pursue a deal [for Potvin] with the Canucks,” Murray said. “We’re trying to get into the playoffs. It’s a real battle. We feel he’s been a quality goaltender in this league and I look at how well the Vancouver Canucks played the last 25 games last season, and he was a very important part of that.

“We certainly feel that our goaltending could have been better than it has been for us. And that’s not to make excuses for the team. The rest of the team has to be better. There were other goaltenders out there, and we felt Felix Potvin could help us. He has been in pressure situations before, and that’s what we’re going to be in the rest of the way.”

Potvin, who played with King forwards Ziggy Palffy and Bryan Smolinski for the Islanders, said he regards the trade as a fresh start. “It’s good for me right now,” he said. “It’s a real fun situation to go to when the team is so close to a playoff spot. . . . It’s been tough moving around [the last few seasons], but you look around the league and you see a lot of guys who have come back after they were traded. The first one is Grant Fuhr, and Sean Burke this year is having a great year.

“I’m still young and I’m looking forward to this.”

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Shooting Gallery

Felix Potvin is among the worst goalies in the NHL in save percentage.

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Goaltender Team Save % Saves Shots Brian Boucher Philadelphia .872 496 569 Wade Flaherty New York Islanders .881 414 470 Milan Hnilicka Atlanta .8867 689 777 Felix Potvin Vancouver .8873 811 914 Mike Vernon Calgary .889 793 892

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