Murray Deserves a Nice Reward

This may be sacrilege, but we’re briefly putting aside the question of Shaq’s or Kobe’s team to ponder a more inspirational query.

What about Andy’s team?

Andy’s team has more injuries than the Lakers, less depth than the Dodgers, worse luck than those fightin’ Clippers.

Yet the Kings showed up Thursday night with those giant pads touching the playoffs.

Andy’s team has two minor leaguers, two Hanson brothers and a couple of ice fishermen.

Yet the Kings showed up with full effort, in front of a full house, unafraid to tell the mighty Detroit Red Wings they were full of it in a physical 5-4 loss.

The Kings should be in the tank, yet they are better than many teams that have not lost four of their top six scorers and a top defenseman.

The Kings should have been eclipsed by the Ducks, yet last year’s Stanley Cup finalists aren’t even in the same pond.

Andy’s team indeed, this being the work of Andy Murray, the coach who rules with a pleasant handshake and an iron grimace.

But Andy’s team is at risk of becoming someone else’s team.

Overlooked among the lame shoulders, lame knees and lame necks is the condition of one lame duck.

Murray’s contract, you see, expires at the end of this season.

He has said he is happy here and expects to stay. The Kings say they are happy with him and will take care of his deal.

But these are the full-strength facts.

Murray is considered one of the best coaches in the league, making the playoffs in three of his first four years here with a discount team run by an absentee real estate baron who loves them for the location.

Murray, if his team makes the playoffs, could be one of the favorites for the Jack Adams Award given to the NHL coach of the year.

Murray is the calm, strong link between a cost-conscious management and a restless fan base desperate for a championship.

The team’s effort comes from Murray. The frequent Staples Center sellouts come from that effort. The man has made this team lots of money. Surely the Kings know this.

And surely they won’t blow it the way they blew it with Rob Blake, will they?

“We’ve had some discussions, he’d like to stay, and we’d like for him to stay,” General Manager Dave Taylor said. “It’s just a matter of getting it worked out.”

But when?

If they wait until the summer, even if the league closes shop with a labor dispute, teams will be looking for coaches.

And Murray, who lives apart from his Minnesota-based family, may be looking to get closer to home.

Why take such a chance?

“I don’t see it as a risk,” said Taylor. “It’s going to happen.”

So why not now?

“I’d like to come back, and I’m sure it will get done,” said Murray. “To tell you the truth, I haven’t really thought about it lately. There are so many other things going on.”

Like coaching a team that doesn’t have one player in the league’s top 60 in scoring?

Or surviving a season with a team that has already suffered 380 man-games lost to injury -- a pace to break Boston’s league record of 573 lost games in 1991-92?

Believe Murray when he says he’s not worried about it right now. He is truly not about the money. Both of his contracts here were signed with no negotiations.

“They put down a piece of paper in front of me, I thought it was fair, so I signed it,” he said.

He doesn’t have an agent, relying instead on advice from an old college roommate who is a lawyer in Manitoba.

“What do I need an agent for?” he said.

He has always been grateful to the Kings for hiring him out nowhere, and admits that this colors his attitude toward future contracts.

“Don’t forget, I was coaching high school when they called me,” he said. “They gave me a chance. I am fortunate to have this job. I am very loyal to them.”

But also don’t forget that seemingly intractable stances in the dead of winter can thaw by spring.

And Murray is surrounded by folks who are a bit more realistic.

“Andy believes in acting honorably toward the team and trusts they will act honorably toward him,” said George Ulyatt, his lawyer. “But me, I’d like something in writing.”

Ulyatt chuckled when he said it, but there is a seriousness about Murray’s entering a higher echelon of coaching contracts this summer, especially since there is a chance he will be named to a spot on Canada’s World Cup coaching staff.

“With Andy’s credentials, he would have no difficulty obtaining other coaching positions,” Ulyatt said. “He’s a big boy. And he’s a bright boy.”

Ulyatt laughed again when talking about the simplicity of past Murray deals.

“He’d bring me the contract and I would say, ‘Did you ask for more?’ ” he recalled. “And Andy would say, “No, this seems fair.’ ”

It is precisely this calmness that kept the Kings from imploding when they went 33 days without a win.

It is exactly this sense of fairness that has kept many players from complaining or making excuses.

It is absolutely this tenor that would make Andy Murray so attractive to so many other teams.

Right about now, as they fight through a consistent theme of subtraction, these Kings could use the good news of an addition. A couple of years on Andy Murray’s contract would qualify.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke go to latimes.com/Plaschke.