Kings to Reassemble With Several New Parts

By Chris Foster

Sept. 14, 2006 12 AM PT

Times Staff Writer

There will be plenty of new faces when the Kings open training camp today at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo.

There will be the same questions, recycled from a year ago.

Will the Kings make the playoffs after staying home a third consecutive season? Can they avoid another late-season collapse? How long before Sean Avery again makes himself the center of attention?

The dust has settled in the team’s spring-cleaning, which emptied nearly the entire front office, the coaching staff, the support staff and several players. Even the team’s facilities have been upgraded. All that was pre-op care, now comes the labor pains.

Rob Blake, Scott Thornton, Alyn McCauley, Dan Cloutier and Brian Willsie are the significant new faces in uniform. They, and the returning players, will try to impress a new regime, General Manager Dean Lombardi and Coach Marc Crawford.

“They haven’t made the playoffs in three years,” Lombardi said. “There better be a sense of urgency if guys have any type of character.”

Lombardi has repeatedly said it will be three years before he has the organization’s infrastructure in place, as he did in San Jose, during his last job as general manager. But three years is a long time to ask traditionally impatient Kings fans to wait. So Lombardi reworked the team over the summer.

“We want people to come in and watch the Kings and at the end of every game be able to say, ‘Hey, that’s not only an exciting team, but a hard-working team,’ ” Crawford said.

Blake, a free agent, returned after four-plus seasons and one Stanley Cup in Colorado. Thornton and McCauley, also free agents, are former San Jose Sharks, who Lombardi counts on to have a presence in the dressing room as well as on the ice. Cloutier, acquired from Vancouver, is the latest to try to fill the Kings’ void in goal that has become as constant as announcer Bob Miller’s voice.

A core of young players returns: Dustin Brown, Alexander Frolov, Michael Cammalleri and Tim Gleason, along with promising newcomers Patrick O’Sullivan and Anze Kopitar.

Avery, whose season was filled with controversial comments and tirades that finally got him suspended by the team, has a one-year contract and is on “double-secret probation,” according to Lombardi. Avery is trying to clean up his image, having hired a personal publicist who has worked for comedian Andy Dick.

Avery, though, is not the only one who needs to impress the boss. Others expect to be under a microscope as the team prepares for its first exhibition against the Ducks on Monday.

“Every year, you got to prove that you deserve ice time,” said center Craig Conroy, one of only 16 players returning who played in at least 50 games last season. “But with new management and a new coach, you really want to show there was a reason why the last management picked you to be here.”

Brown and Gleason have yet to agree to new contracts, though both have one-year qualifying offers that have been extended twice this summer. Brown is believed to be close to agreeing to a new contract.... Defenseman Richard Petiot injured his knee during the rookie tournament this week and is not expected to practice today.... McCauley, still recovering from off-season knee surgery, will not skate today. Rookie forward Lauri Tukonen will be limited to non-contact drills because of a shoulder injury.

chris.foster@latimes.com

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Crown jewels

New faces on the Kings’ roster this season:

Rob Blake: Began his career with the Kings in 1989. Tied for 11th last season for goals (14) and points (51) by a defenseman.

* Scott Thornton: Had 10 goals and 11 assists last season with San Jose.

* Alyn McCauley: Center averaged 11 goals and 16 assists in three seasons with San Jose.

* Dan Cloutier: Played only 13 games for Vancouver last season (knee.) Recorded 1,554 saves in 2003-04.

* Brian Willsie: Played every regular-season game last season for Washington.

KEY DATES

* Exhibition opener: Monday at Ducks, 7 p.m.

* Season opener: Oct. 6 at Ducks, 7 p.m., FSN West