Kings Like Rebuilding Progress Despite Current Inconsistency

When Sam McMaster became general manager of the Kings on May 24, 1994, he took over a team that had missed the playoffs with the third-oldest roster and the second-highest payroll in the NHL.

Since then, McMaster has been a constant for a franchise that has undergone many changes. It has new owners, Philip Anschutz and Edward Roski Jr.; a new chief executive, Bob Sanderman; a new president, Tim Leiweke, and a new coach, Larry Robinson.

At the midway point of this season, the Kings are 17-23-5 and tied for fourth in the Pacific Division, three points out of the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. In a recent interview, McMaster, who has taken a lot of heat for the Kings’ inconsistent development, spoke about the team.

Question: After last season’s trade of Wayne Gretzky, the Kings announced that the franchise was committed to rebuilding through youth. Where are you in that process?

Answer: We have a very good young hockey club. We have eight or nine players on the roster 23 to 21 years of age, and we’ve picked up two first-round picks in the coming draft. And, the unique thing about this year’s draft is that the first round is an exceptionally good round, so we should get two pretty good players.

We have finally built some youth in the organization. We have players at the ages of 19 to 21 who are up and coming. Three years ago, the Kings really had only one or two young players in the whole organization who had the potential to be in the NHL. Now, we have maybe [four] unsigned young juniors [right wing Pavel Rosa, center Eric Belanger, center Don McLean and left wing Josh Green] who we focus toward the NHL; and four or five 20-year-olds in the minors who will have an opportunity to play.

Q: How much depth do you have in the minor leagues?

A: We have a fair amount of depth but we’re not where we want to be because we would like more numbers. Aki Berg [1995 first-round pick] has come up and played well, and we still have [goalie] Jamie Storr, [center] Roman Vopat, then some other young ones in [centers] Jason Morgan and Chris Schmidt. We’re building that depth and once we sign some of our unsigned juniors, it will be even greater next year.

Q: Do you intend to keep your minor league team in Phoenix, despite the arrival of the NHL Coyotes? And if so, will you keep that team in the International Hockey League or move it to the American Hockey League, which is considered a more developmental league?

A: We’re pleased with our relationship in Phoenix . . . but the Kings have never been in a position before to have a great number of young players. Now that we’ll have probably eight players 21 and 20 [years old], it’s almost impossible to develop all of those players at the IHL level. And since development is a huge key to our future . . . there’s a good possibility that we could have two areas of affiliation: one in the IHL with some seasoned veterans and one in the AHL, where we are developing our young players.

Q: Would you consider trading one of your first-round draft picks for a player who can make an immediate impact?

A: Our philosophy is that we should develop through the draft and develop our first-round players. . . . We’re not looking to trade one of our first-round picks, but if an offer came about to really help our franchise, of course we would look at it.

Like the trade we made a couple years ago, when we traded our first-round pick in last year’s weak draft for Byron Dafoe and Dimitri Khristich, who both are young players who’ll be key in the development of our franchise. That was a trade very valuable to us, but this coming year we’ll be very leery about doing that.

Q: What is the status of Storr, who played more with the Kings two seasons ago, than this season?

A: Goaltending is a position where we really do have depth. We have two very quality goaltenders in Stephane Fiset and Byron Dafoe, and Jamie Storr is just playing outstanding in Phoenix and he is ready to play in the NHL. It is something that we’ll have to analyze as we progress through this season and decide what we’re going to do for next season.

Q: What is the status of Dafoe, who will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season?

A: We have the right to match any offer and we’re very interested in re-signing Byron Dafoe.

Q: How about Kevin Stevens, who despite his recent scoring streak, has not produced goals as he once did. What is his future with the Kings?

A: Here’s a case of where points aren’t always the final outcome of the status of a player. Kevin Stevens from Day 1 has really played hard and has gone through a scoring slump, which is something that he is not happy with, and obviously, we would like for him to score more. But . . . the leadership he has had in the [dressing] room, how he works out and the dedication that he has rubs off on our younger players is invaluable to the Kings.

We’re proud to have him on our team and hope that he’s on our team for a long time. We hope that his scoring streak continues and that he has found his touch again. But, his value goes beyond scoring because he does so much more.

Q: What about the Kings’ slumping attendance?

A: When we made the decision to rebuild the franchise--and all of the things that have happened the past two years--we knew that we would have a difficult time at the gate. But we believe that we’re building a very good franchise and that the fans are behind us. . . . We have to be patient and we hope that our fans realize that it takes time to build a championship team and that they get behind us and start coming out again in numbers like they did in the past.

Q: What do you tell them when they question the team’s ownership, which has one of the lowest payrolls in the NHL and no new arena? Why should they believe that the team is willing to spend money?

A: We feel that we have one of the best ownerships in the NHL. These people have come in and taken over a franchise that was in financial trouble and turned it completely around.

They’ve brought in a great marketing crew under Tim Leiweke and have allowed us to do whatever we feel is necessary to rebuild this franchise. They’re into this for the long term. . . .

We do have one of the lowest payrolls, and that is an advantage because we have owners that say we can go out and get a player if he can help us improve. They are behind us totally and committed to putting a new building in Los Angeles everyone will be proud of.

Q: How do you feel about the Kings’ play during the first half of the season? Did it reach or surpass management’s expectations?

A: We had a good start, a very disappointing middle of the first half, where we lost a lot of hockey games in a row that put us behind the eight-ball. There are a couple of reasons why we struggled: We’re building the depth of the team because it isn’t quite where we want it, we had a couple of key injuries and we had a terrible travel schedule. We were a very tired hockey team. But I don’t want to make excuses. We were disappointed that we didn’t win at that time period.

But now we are putting together another string of wins and if you look at it, our goal was to be .500 at the All-Star break and we’re just three wins from that. [If the Kings had won three of the games they lost, they would be 20-20-5.] We feel we’re close enough to make a run in the second half.

Q: Larry Robinson has an out clause in his contract after the season. Do you think he will stay?

A: There’s no doubt in my mind that Larry Robinson will be back. . . . [Rebuilding the franchise] is something that he wants to do and he’s told me that many times. . . . We think that we have the best coach in hockey to deal with the trials and tribulations of rebuilding a franchise. We’re very pleased with the entire coaching staff.

Q: What has it been like for you as general manager of a rebuilding franchise?

A: It’s been a difficult job from . . . the ownership problems, the financial problems, the lockout situation and having a veteran team that had just missed the playoffs. I see a bright future here in Los Angeles because we’re doing the right things to build the franchise. . . . The key for us is to not be making changes, just to make changes.