COULD JAGR POSSIBLY BE THE NEW KING OF L.A.?

Byline: ROGER PHILLIPS The NHL 

This is a warning:

The following is not intended to engender in readers the sense that a tall man wearing No. 68 with a rat's nest for a hairdo will be leading the Kings onto the ice for the starts of their games anytime soon.

This is simply to explain a situation that could - repeat, could - make available a player who actually would heighten the pulse rate of that huge segment of the Los Angeles populace that refuses to attend sporting events unless someone named Magic or Shaq or Wayne (or Jaromir) is playing for the home team.

But as talk understandably continues about the Kings' need for a marquee player, perhaps it is time to ask a basic question: What exactly would define a marquee player in the Los Angeles hockey market?

He would be somebody who would score, somebody with charisma and skill, somebody who would attract nonfans the way Wayne Gretzky did when he arrived a decade ago, and somebody who would fill the Staples Center.

From the context of the Los Angeles hockey market - an oxymoron? - there are only four such players in the NHL (if you don't count elderly sorts such as Gretzky, Mark Messier and Gordie Howe). Two of them, Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne, already play in Anaheim. A third, Eric Lindros, is not likely to be leaving Philadelphia anytime soon.

That leaves 26-year-old right wing Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins - the bankrupt Pittsburgh Penguins. The sorry state of a franchise that won Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992 appears on the surface to be the perfect opportunity for the NHL's deeper-pocketed teams to shift into vulture mode.

How bad are things in Pittsburgh? Papers filed in bankruptcy court revealed the Penguins owe $137.45 million to their creditors, including more than $35 million in deferred salaries and signing bonuses to 22 current and former players.

Among the players owed deferred money are such retirees as Mario Lemieux ($17.94 million) and Joe Mullen ($838,007) and such former Penguins as Kevin Stevens of the New York Rangers ($2.66 million) and Luc Robitaille of the Kings ($149,636).

It all appears to add up to Pittsburgh's having a desperate need to unload salaries, and with Jagr owed some $42 million over the next six years, removing his salary from the payroll would have the biggest short-term impact of anyone.

The Kings have the financial means to make a pitch for Jagr. For the first time, they have a system teeming with prospects. But wresting Jagr from Pittsburgh isn't as simple as it sounds.

If Pittsburgh dealt Jagr, it would be equal to franchise suicide, probably creating more problems than it would solve for the Penguins. What Pittsburgh fan would ever buy a Penguins ticket again if the team's last link to glory were dealt in the prime of his career?

And even if the Penguins did decide to trade Jagr, the line of interested teams would extend around the Igloo. The Kings would hardly be the sole bidders.

So don't buy a new Kings jersey with ``Jagr'' on the back, at least not yet.

BLUE LINES By Roger Phillips

LIKE FATHER LIKE SON

Dallas right wing Brett Hull has 997 career points. When he reaches 1,000, he and father Bobby will become the first father-and-son combination in NHL history to each record 1,000 points. Here are the top five father-son combos in NHL history:

Points Father, Son

2,592 Howe, Gordie (1,850) and Mark (742)

2,167 Hull, Bobby (1,170) and Brett (997)

1,881 Howe, Gordie (1,850) and Marty (31)

1,038 Apps, Syl Sr. (432) and Syl Jr. (606)

887 Hodge, Ken Sr. (800) and Ken Jr. (87)

DUMB AND DUMBER

Flyers GM Bob Clarke on Vancouver holdout Pavel Bure and Pittsburgh holdout Petr Nedved: ``What makes you think these guys are not going to walk out on the next team they get to? Bure is just as dumb as Nedved, and Nedved is an idiot.''

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BOX: BLUE LINES By Roger Phillips (see text)