Kings Sign Scorer Demitra

The Kings took their first plunge into a deep free-agent pool Tuesday, signing forward Pavol Demitra and goaltender Jason LaBarbera. Demitra, a 30-year-old veteran, signed a three-year, $13.5-million deal. He is the first step in the effort to add scoring to the King offense, General Manager Dave Taylor said.

“Pavol is an excellent player and is a very consistent offensive performer with a tremendous amount of experience,” Taylor said. “We also feel he brings an element of leadership, particularly for the younger players on the team.”

Leadership would be nice, but offense is what the Kings need from Demitra.

They relied heavily on young players in 2003-04 after injuries robbed them of Ziggy Palffy, Jason Allison and Adam Deadmarsh.

Demitra had 23 goals and 58 points in 68 games with the St. Louis Blues that season.

Demitra has averaged 29 goals the last seven seasons and has scored more than 30 three times in that span.

LaBarbera, 25, signed a two-year, $1.5-million deal that will pay him $700,000 this season.

He is expected to be the Kings’ backup goalie, behind Mathieu Garon.

The Kings have promised to be active in the free-agent market and have significant room under the NHL’s $39-million salary cap.

Taylor said the team had committed about $26 million to players for this season thus far.

“I think it would be difficult to really put a dollar figure on it, but we view Pavol as a first-line player, and we have the ability to add another first-line player,” Taylor said.

That could prompt the Kings to re-sign Palffy, a Slovak teammate and close friend of Demitra’s.

Taylor said he’d had discussions about re-signing Palffy, who played only 35 games in 2003-04 because of injuries. He turned down a three-year $19.5-million offer from the Kings that season. The Kings pursued former Buffalo Sabre center Miroslav Satan but have dropped out of the bidding. Satan has been seeking a four-year deal at about $4.25 million a season.

The Kings are also believed to be interested in former Mighty Duck Paul Kariya, who played with Colorado in 2003-04.

With Demitra, who can play center or right wing, the Kings can mix and match on the top line.

“The flexibility of playing wing or center made [Demitra] much more valuable to us,” Coach Andy Murray said.

“He’s the type of player who fits into whatever your team needs.”

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Demitra’s record

Pavol Demitra in the NHL:

*--* Year Team GP G A Pts PIM 1993-94 Ottawa 12 1 1 2 4 1994-95 Ottawa 16 4 3 7 0 1995-96 Ottawa 31 7 10 17 6 1996-97 St. Louis 8 3 0 3 2 1997-98 St. Louis 61 22 30 52 22 1998-99 St. Louis 82 37 52 89 16 1999-00 St. Louis 71 28 47 75 8 2000-01 St. Louis 44 20 25 45 16 2001-02 St. Louis 82 35 43 78 46 2002-03 St. Louis 78 36 57 93 32 2003-04 St. Louis 68 23 35 58 18 Totals 553 216 303 519 170

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