ANALYSIS: THE PROMISED LAND KINGS ARE ON THE RIGHT PATH TO FIND LORD STANLEY'S CUP.

Byline: Karen Crouse Staff Writer

That sure was cool of the Kings to crash the NHL's annual party and invite all of L.A. to join them. It couldn't have been more fun if Irving ``Swifty'' Lazar had been the host.

The Kings hung out at Gary Bettman's bash longer than Dallas, longer than Detroit, longer than Toronto; long enough, we trust, to learn a few things about winning.

It doesn't matter that Colorado eventually recovered its nerve and haughtily showed the Kings the door - showed them up is what the Avalanche did in its 5-1 win Wednesday in Game 7 of the teams' Western Conference semifinal.

For now, it's enough that the Kings had revelers swooning with their potent mix of grit and desire and caring and believing. To drink in the Kings' play in Games 5 and 6 against both Detroit and Colorado was to quickly become intoxicated.

Goodness knows, their success went straight to L.A.'s head. Go, Kings, Go! became the next-most-popular chant inside Staples Center, after the cries of M-V-P! directed at Shaquille O'Neal.

The Kings were the city's MVP - Most Veracious Pros. They kept it real, but then it's hard to act pretentious when five of the guys you're suiting up on a given night have two-way contracts and your goaltender had been given up for done in February and your flashiest player is a guy named Zigmund.

The Kings were not the most talented team in the playoffs, just one of the more tenacious. Right now they are merely renting space in the Western Conference penthouse where the St. Louises and the Detroits and the Colorados officially reside.

Just because the Kings knocked the Red Wings out of the playoffs and threw a huge scare into the Avalanche before succumbing, it doesn't mean they have arrived. They're moving on up, but they are a couple key players from getting to the top.

The worst thing the Kings could do is sit back and rest on their 13-game playoff run. You don't catch lightning in a bottle and expect to carry it around like a lantern, lighting your way well down the road.

It's probably for the best, in the long run, that the third period happened in Wednesday's Game 7. Because if the Kings had somehow managed to beat a clearly superior Colorado team for the third time at the Pepsi Center, absentee owner Philip Anschutz could have gotten the wrong idea.

It might have encouraged him to keep his purse strings tightened, never mind that the Kings made money enough off their six extra home playoff games at Staples Center to keep Felix Potvin happy and buy another player or two who will bring them closer to that proverbial pot of gold, the Stanley Cup.

John LeClair, a free-agent-to-be, would be a great fit, provided his achy back can pass muster. LeClair is a working-class team's Peter Forsberg, which is a lot more than can be said for the fabulously talented, famously temperamental Jaromir Jagr.

Jagr has two years left on his contract with Pittsburgh but reportedly is on the trading block (stop us if you've heard this before). When Jagr isn't winning games for the Penguins, he's asking to be traded and begging out of playoff games with injuries.

No question, Jagr is a game-breaker. But he's also a ticking time bomb in the dressing room. The Kings' team chemistry is too good to risk blowing to pieces.

Besides, Jagr's $10 million-a-year market value can be better spent on signing LeClair and re-signing veteran forward Luc Robitaille to a one- or two-year contract. Robitaille will be an unrestricted free agent this summer and if the Kings don't do everything they can within reason to make sure he'll retire a King, it'll be a crying shame.

Before questioning Robitaille's effectiveness in the postseason, consider this: Where would the Kings have been during the regular season without his 37 goals? Robitaille was there when it counted in the playoffs, scoring the decisive goal in Game 5 and playing conscientious defense throughout.

Let's face it: Without the energy Robitaille brings to the room and the electricity he brings to the ice, the Kings' power bills would be substantially higher.

Mathieu Schneider had such a marvelous season, he earned the right to test his value this summer on the open market. The Kings should make it worth his while to stay. They desperately need his shot on the power play and his nastiness on defense.

The playoffs gave us a wonderful glimpse of the Kings' future. Centers Eric Belanger and Steve Kelly and defensemen Philippe Boucher, Jaroslav Modry and Andreas Lilja will be better players for having experienced playoff pressure.

The same goes for Ziggy Palffy, who is an eighth-year veteran but a veritable playoff babe. The Kings' leading goal scorer during the regular season had only four playoff games under his belt before this spring.

Palffy picked up his play as the postseason progressed, finally adapting to its intensity by the end of the Colorado series.

``We had to go through the maturation process of losing before we could start winning.'' Those words belong to St. Louis defenseman Chris Pronger, but they could have been uttered by the Avalanche's Milan Hejduk or any of the Kings.

The Kings are close enough to see the Promised Land from here, but they can't afford to stand pat.

LOOKING AHEAD

--The Kings have 12 free agents, three unrestricted and nine restricted. A list of those players, as well as the league's top free agents, follow.

KINGS

UNRESTRICTED

They can sign with another team after July 1 without compensation to the Kings

--Luc Robitaille: Kings will try to lowball him.

--Mathieu Schneider: Could price himself out of Kings' plans.

--Stu Grimson: Still a spot for aging enforcer.

RESTRICTED

The club must offer a 10 percent salary increase by July 1 to retain player's rights.

--Felix Potvin: Kings must do what it takes to keep him.

--Jamie Storr: Won't mind being the backup.

--Aaron Miller: Could wind up team captain.

--Jaroslav Modry: Deserves respect financially.

--Lubomir Visnovsky: Can be a club cornerstone.

--Philippe Boucher: Big shot, not big bucks.

--Marko Tuomainen: Probably won't be back.

--Bryan Smolinski: Club should reward career year.

--Eric Belanger: Rookie surprise.

OTHER TEAMS

--Joe Sakic, Colorado: Should re-sign with Avs.

--John LeClair, Philadelphia: Bad back might hold down suitors.

--Patrick Roy, Colorado: Will have to take a pay cut.

--Jeremy Roenick, Phoenix: Turned down $6 million; should take it now.

--Brett Hull, Dallas: Twilight time.

--Martin Lapointe, Detroit: Wings won't overspend.

--Rob Blake, Colorado: Won't return to Kings.

CAPTION(S):

8 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) Kings players surround goaltender Felix Potvin at the end of their game Wednesday night in Denver.

David Zalubowski/Associated Press

(2) Coach Andy Murray shouts encouragement to his Kings players during playoff game with the Colorado Avalanche.

Hyoung Chang/Associated Press

(3) ROBITAILLE

(4) SCHNEIDER

(5) GRIMSON

(6) POTVIN

(7) STORR

(8) SMOLINSKI

Box:

LOOKING AHEAD (see text)