Fallout of Trade Still to Come

Rob Blake was stoic almost to the end. But when the bus prepared to leave for the Kings’ morning skate without him Thursday and he had to say farewell to Luc Robitaille, his composure crumbled.

Slowly, the two most familiar and accomplished Kings walked through the team’s hotel, tears spilling down Blake’s face and Robitaille’s eyes misting. “We’re all a little bit shocked,” Robitaille said. “Somehow, I don’t think I believed it was going to happen.”

Nor did Mattias Norstrom, Blake’s frequent defense partner. “Everybody knows I’m probably the guy who benefited most from playing with him,” Norstrom said. “The player he is, he took my game to another level.

“It’s really a sad day.”

Although Blake’s exit was emotional, his tears had dried by the time he and rookie center Steven Reinprecht climbed into a taxi that took them to the corporate jet bound for Denver and their new Colorado Avalanche teammates. And certainly, there’s no reason to cry for Blake.

He leaves a team that might miss the playoffs and won’t win the Stanley Cup this year or next and he goes to the NHL’s top team. As the premier defensemen among the unrestricted free agents available July 1, he will command a king’s ransom--if not a King’s.

“I’m fortunate to go to one of the best teams in the league, so in that aspect, I’m real excited,” said the Kings’ former captain, who held fast to his demand for $9.6 million a year and sealed his departure when he rejected a bonus-laden offer last week. “You can’t ask for a better team. You look at the league, and Colorado, St. Louis and New Jersey are the best teams.

“It’s not difficult at all [to leave]. I’ve known it was going to happen since Day One. The longer it dragged out, the worse it got. There’s no animosity. . . . L.A.’s been great for me. They gave me my start in the league. I spent a lot of time there and met a lot of people. It was a great opportunity to play and start a career, and it was tough to give that up, but I don’t think [a new deal] was ever going to come together. I knew from the beginning we were too far apart. It was a business decision.”

Even in hockey, that last bastion of civil players, moderate egos and contracts worth less than a franchise, business trumps sentimentality. As much as General Manager Dave Taylor wanted to keep Blake, he had to make a business deal. Owner Philip Anschutz didn’t become a multibillionaire by being stupid. He bought the Kings probably more to build an arena and develop the nearby real estate than because he loves hockey, but he has a right to limit the amount of money he will lose and he balked at paying Blake more than $8 million, which would have been a quarter of the payroll.

Taylor was told to get what he could, which was right wing Adam Deadmarsh, defense-minded defenseman Aaron Miller, a first-round pick in the June entry draft, the right to select a player from a group of non-NHL or AHL prospects (excluding Colorado’s 2000 first-round pick, Vaclav Nedorost) and a 2002 first-round pick if Blake re-signs with Colorado or a second-rounder if he doesn’t. That’s more than what seemed likely when Blake put Taylor at a disadvantage by insisting he won’t sign with his new team, narrowing the field to teams willing to risk renting him.

The key will be what the Kings do with those draft picks and that prospect. Their developmental system has hardly been fruitful, but they can’t afford to make a mistake with these assets.

“The deal we received from the Avalanche was in the best interest of the Los Angeles Kings, both for the immediate future and down the road,” said Taylor, who negotiated with about half a dozen teams. “The more quality people we bring to the organization, the more good young players we bring in, that’s where we’re going to have our success. This does free up some money in our budget and allows us to be active between now and the [March 13] trade deadline and this summer.”

Reinprecht, 24, started the season impressively but tailed off. However, Colorado General Manager Pierre Lacroix, who has a sharp eye for talent, asked for Reinprecht, perhaps envisioning him as part of a swing toward youth after Colorado wins the Cup and lets its pricey veterans walk away.

Blake is an elite player, a cornerstone defenseman, a protector for Peter Forsberg--the kind of player teams rarely give up.

Deadmarsh and Miller are not at that level. Deadmarsh is admirably gritty, but his willingness to go to the net and use his body have contributed to a string of injuries that has reduced his production. A 33-goal scorer in 1996-97, he scored 22, 22 and 18 the last three seasons and had 13 in 39 games with Colorado this season, most recently on the third line. For the Kings, he will be a top-six forward.

“Acquiring Adam and Aaron fill two slots on our team,” Taylor said. “It adds a little bit of balance.”

Deadmarsh, 25, has two seasons left on a contract that will pay him $2.5 million this season. Miller will earn $900,000 and will be a restricted free agent July 1.

Miller joined the Kings for Thursday’s game at Calgary, but Deadmarsh stayed in Denver with his infant twin daughters, who have been in intensive care since their birth Feb. 9. He said he hopes to play Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Staples Center.

He wept after being told of the trade Wednesday, but by Thursday his mood improved. Or he had rehearsed his lines better. “It hit home pretty hard,” he said, “but I had time to think overnight, and I’m real excited.”

The Kings will go on without Blake, as they went on after Marcel Dionne and Wayne Gretzky were traded. “There are 29 other teams that don’t have Rob,” Robitaille said, “and they win games.”

The Kings have no excuses left. Taylor might make another move or two, but the cloud of uncertainty that enveloped them has been lifted. They didn’t win with Blake--now they must try to win without him. That’s asking a lot for a team that so far has shown so little.