Allison Trade Makes Up for Slow Summer

The Kings have this way of getting back in good graces. They break hearts, then come back the next day with flowers. To all the fans aching over the loss of Luc Robitaille, General Manager Dave Taylor offered a Jason Allison bouquet on Wednesday.

Taylor swung a trade that brought Allison and winger Mikko Eloranta from Boston in exchange for center Jozef Stumpel and right wing Glen Murray. Robitaille had 37 goals last season; Allison had 36. Allison also had 59 assists, and his 95 points tied for fourth in the league. While their scoring output is similar, the big difference is age: at 26, Allison is nine years younger than Robitaille.

Allison, a center, should reenergize right wing Ziggy Palffy, who is only 29. This can be a solid combination for a few years. Not necessarily in a Shaq and Kobe kind of way; perhaps more like Orel Hershiser and Mike Scioscia. For now, losing Stumpel and Murray weakens the depth Coach Andy Murray praised throughout the preseason. But it strengthens the power play and gives the Kings a first-rate first line.

During practice Wednesday, the coach teamed Allison with Palffy and Adam Deadmarsh. Could there be another Triple Crown Line in the works? Taylor, part of the Kings’ most famous line along with Marcel Dionne and Charlie Simmer, laughed at that comparison.

“I hope they’re not that old,” he said. “They could be an effective group. Ziggy and Jason are both good with the puck. They can beat people one-on-one. Adam is the type of guy that can work the corners and go to the net.”

This trade makes up for, to some degree, the Kings’ failure to hook the likes of a Jaromir Jagr or Eric Lindros from the river of NHL movement this summer. As has become the norm, the Kings didn’t make the kind of move that will make fans rush down to the Staples Center box office. But they did nab a player Taylor calls “one of the best young centers in the league.”

The Kings buy Mercedes-Benzes, not Ferraris. They’re not going to spend all of their money on one superstar; they’re not going to ship off all of their prospects, either. But Taylor will hang in there for the smart deal. The three players he sent to the New York Islanders for Palffy two years ago combined to score 12 fewer goals than Palffy last season, and none plays for the Islanders now. The Kings got Bryan Smolinski in that trade as well.

Last season, Taylor capitalized on Colorado’s desire to make a strong run at the Stanley Cup in Ray Bourque’s last year to get Deadmarsh and Aaron Miller from the Avalanche in exchange for Rob Blake, a free-agent-to-be who was leaving anyway. Even though Allison was a restricted free agent and the Bruins could have matched an open-market offer for him, they still had pressure to move him. They didn’t want to sign him to the type of three-year, $20-million contract the Kings did. His holdout was causing a distraction for the team and NHL players (such as Lindros and Alexei Yashin) have shown an increasing willingness to sit out entire seasons.

“I don’t think they were particularly anxious,” Taylor said. “They were looking for fair value in return. They weren’t going to give him away.”

OK, so this wasn’t exactly like shopping at a 99 cents store. But it does say something that the Bruins were willing to take Stumpel back four years after they sent him to the Kings because they were tired of waiting for him to develop.

This trade also says something about Andy Murray’s stamp on the club. It’s Caribbean-water clear that things will go his way. He sniped at Robitaille last year, and the organization made it easy for Luc to leave for a more lucrative offer from the Detroit Red Wings. He publicly expressed his disappointment with Glen Murray during the preseason. Although the winger responded with six goals in the first nine games, it wasn’t enough to keep him in a King uniform and Andy probably didn’t go through any Kleenex after losing Glen.

Wednesday’s trade won’t have the Avalanche or Red Wings hiding in fear. It doesn’t even guarantee the Kings a return trip to the second round of the playoffs. What it does is get them back on the right track after a summer in which it seemed they were slipping behind. They regained their footing and appear ready to make progress.

Or, perhaps, to break more hearts.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at: j.a.adande@latimes.com.