Kings Plan to Stay the Course

While the Dallas Stars signed free agents Bill Guerin and Philippe Boucher, who was leaving the Kings; the Phoenix Coyotes signed Tony Amonte, the New York Rangers signed Bobby Holik and Darius Kasparaitis, and the Mighty Ducks traded for Adam Oates and Petr Sykora, the Kings kept a low profile last summer. They signed Chris McAlpine and acquired Derek Armstrong and Erik Rasmussen, none of whom is likely to set pulses racing.

And although their depth has been strained by injuries to Jason Allison, Aaron Miller, Ziggy Palffy and Adam Deadmarsh and they’re fighting for a spot among the top eight in the West, General Manager Dave Taylor isn’t panicking. As the Kings approach tonight’s game in Minnesota, the seventh in an eight-game, 17-day odyssey, Taylor said he’s not working on a blockbuster trade and sees no need to shake up a team he acknowledged sometimes frustrates him.

“The disappointing part for us recently is, we haven’t been consistent,” he said. “It’s still a little early and, obviously, we’d like to be playing better and have more points than we have now, but we’ve had a tough schedule.... Our guys compete hard. Certainly, if there’s an opportunity to improve our team and the player is a long-term improvement, we’ll consider it.”

Center Marc Savard, traded by Calgary to Atlanta last week for a prospect, didn’t fit that definition.

“We talked about Marc and we like him as a player,” Coach Andy Murray said, “but we have a young guy who’s small, Mike Cammalleri, and he needs to play. It would have been bringing something we already have.”

They haven’t had consistent production from Palffy, whose empty-net goal Saturday in Edmonton was his first goal since the opener. Nor have they had the steady scoring from Bryan Smolinski, who had two goals the second half of last season and has three this season.

“He’s been much better this year,” said Murray, who has played Smolinski at center and on the wing. “He’s got to be a contributor for us to be successful.”

They also need better results from their power-play and penalty-killing units.

“We survived last year on being real good defensively, and special teams,” Murray said.

Their power play led the NHL last season with a 20.7% success rate, and their penalty killing ranked third, at 86.6%. This season, they’re at 14.5% on the power play, 21st, and 82.9% killing penalties, 18th.

Would those percentages be better with Guerin and/or Boucher in the lineup?

Taylor said the Kings’ offer to Boucher was competitive but the Stars gave the 29-year-old defenseman a fourth year on his contract.

“He never came back to us to match it,” Taylor said. “It was disappointing. We would have liked to have kept Philippe.”

As for Guerin, he and the Kings weren’t in the same financial neighborhood.

“We couldn’t put a $9-million player in the budget,” said Taylor, whose payroll is $43.3 million, up from last season’s $40.8 million. However, it dropped from 10th-highest last season to 14th this season, according to the Hockey News.

“At the time, we were focused on getting younger. We have two 20-year-olds [Cammalleri and Alexander Frolov] who are doing fine.... We have to win some hockey games and keep an eye on the big picture. We’re in a difficult part of the schedule and we’ve been in some tight games. We’ve got to find ways to win them.”

They’ll have to win without Allison, whom Murray doesn’t expect back until February. They’re 2-3-0-1 on this trip and 8-6-2-2 this season.

“I thought if we could be in .500 range after this trip and on the season, we’d be in pretty solid position,” Murray said. “The team game we play gives us a chance in every game, and if we have a chance every game, I think we’ll win a good percentage of them and keep ourselves in the hunt.”

Staying in the hunt is one thing. Bagging the Stanley Cup is another, and the Kings haven’t shown they have the depth and dimensions to seriously contend. The Stars missed the playoffs last spring, got better, and lead the West. The Kings lost ground by standing relatively still, and it’s hurting them now.

Next spring will bring the 10th anniversary of their only trip to the Cup finals. It’s time they had something more to celebrate than that.

Sabre Dance

Barely three years after their bitter loss to Dallas in the Stanley Cup finals, the Buffalo Sabres are in disarray. They’re riding an 0-9-2 slide, and a loss or tie today at New Jersey would match the club-record 12-game winless streak in the 1991-92 season.

The NHL has been operating the Sabres since June, when owner John Rigas became enmeshed in the collapse of Adelphia. Their season-ticket base has shrunk to about 7,900 and their attendance average of 12,938 is down 23% from a year ago.

No wonder defenseman Jason Woolley, traded by the Sabres to the Detroit Red Wings last week for a conditional draft pick, was ecstatic, even though he took a $125,000 pay cut.

“This is a new life,” he said.

So far, only one local buyer, Mark Hamister, who owns the Buffalo Destroyers of the Arena Football League, has made an offer for the club.

Defeated New York gubernatorial candidate Thomas Golisano has said he plans to make an offer but he hasn’t made one yet.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman wants to keep the franchise in Buffalo for many reasons, among them belief that a move would create an appearance of league instability.

The Sabres -- and the economy -- haven’t given fans compelling reasons to be supportive. Their goaltending isn’t bad, but they have no scoring depth. Chris Gratton has played well and Miroslav Satan is useful, but they haven’t clicked on the power play and rank last in the NHL. Maxim Afinogenov’s slow recovery from a concussion hasn’t helped.

It’s sad to see the decline of a respected franchise that was the model for small-market teams. A happy ending appears to be a long way off, if it happens at all.

End of an Era?

The Blackhawks said tough guy Bob Probert “has decided to put his hockey career on hold for the remainder of the season” to join their radio broadcast crew, implying he might return. The truth is, he probably won’t play again. Probert, 37, has lots of hard mileage on his odometer. In his prime, he was probably the game’s most feared enforcer, ranking alongside Dave Semenko and Dave Brown and a notch above such sluggers as Tiger Williams, Dave Manson, Stu Grimson and Marty McSorley.

He could play, as evidenced by his 29- and 20-goal seasons with Detroit, but fighting ruined his hands. With more emphasis these days on skill and less on rough stuff, his time seems to have passed. Today’s enforcers must be able to play, especially with the obstruction crackdown producing more power plays and leaving less time for fourth liners.

There will always be a place for guys who stand up for their teammates, but there’s less room for goonery. And that’s as it should be.

Slap Shots

The Flames held a 30-minute team meeting after their 1-0 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday, their third shutout in five games. They have too much talent to be so feeble offensively, but last season’s scoring champion, Jarome Iginla, has four goals and 14 points. Chris Drury, a clutch scorer, needs some support.

Good move by the Red Wings in acquiring Woolley to replace Jiri Fischer, who tore a ligament in his knee and might be out six months. Michigan State alum Woolley could be a decent power-play quarterback.

And good for Detroit Coach Dave Lewis for ignoring suggestions he should start former Maple Leaf Curtis Joseph last Saturday at Toronto. One Toronto columnist insisted Lewis owed it to Maple Leaf fans to play Joseph, a fan favorite in Toronto before he left as a free agent last summer. Lewis’ obligation was to play the goalie he thought had the best chance to win, and he made the right choice: Manny Legace, who has been playing better than Joseph, led the Red Wings to a 2-1 victory.

Canadien captain Saku Koivu, recovered from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma but still going for periodic checkups, launched a foundation whose goal is to raise $8 million and buy a high-tech scanner for Montreal General Hospital. The lack of a PET/CAT scan machine in Montreal meant Koivu had to travel nearly 100 miles for treatment in Sherbrooke last winter. He pledged to donate $1,000 for every point the Canadiens earn in the standings and $100,000 if they win the Stanley Cup. Canadien President Pierre Boivin promised to match Koivu’s donations.

Ranger goalie Mike Richter, kicked in the head Nov. 5, was told he has a concussion. That’s worrisome because he suffered a fractured skull and concussion last March and needed several months to recover. Dan Blackburn can handle the goaltending, but he needs more help from the disorganized defense. The Rangers expect an offensive boost from the return of Holik, hobbled by a sore hip.

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Who’s Hot, Who’s Not ... With the Kings

*--* HOT GP G A Pts +/- PPG SOG Adam Deadmarsh 15 9 3 12 -2 3 41 Alexander Frolov 18 5 5 10 9 0 28 Jaroslav Modry 18 7 5 12 0 4 46 NOT GP G A Pts +/- PPG SOG Ziggy Palffy 12 2 9 11 0 1 38 Bryan Smolinski 18 3 8 11 -4 0 51 Craig Johnson 18 0 2 2 -1 0 16 GP-Games played; PPG-Power-play goals; SOG-Shots on goal

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