CUP CAN LAND ANYWHERE : GRETZKY HOPES TO BENEFIT FROM WIDE-OPEN NHL.

Byline: MICHAEL VENTRE

Not to denigrate the Colorado Avalanche, but the Stanley Cup is pretty much up for grabs these days. Experts, pundits, prognosticators, soothsayers, naysayers, you name it, they all picked the Detroit Red Wings. Or the Pittsburgh Penguins. Or the Philadelphia Flyers.

That Lord Stanley's Cup now resides at perhaps its highest elevation ever keeps Wayne Gretzky from feeling low. And it may give him the Blues, or vice versa.

``It shows that there are no sure winners in the NHL,'' he said this week.

Lately, Gretzky is jetting to and fro, opening a restaurant in Mexico, filming commercials in Toronto and preparing for a charity golf tournament in L.A. The Cup may be in foreign hands, but it never strays far from his thoughts.

``If you get the right momentum and the right group of guys,'' he said, ``anybody can be successful.''

Which brings us to St. Louis. Gretzky probably will wind up there. His agent, Michael Barnett, is negotiating with the Blues now. Gretzky will play in the World Cup later this summer and would like to have a contract done with St. Louis by Aug. 12.

The speculation about New York? Blame it on Barry Melrose. (If you're an ex-King, that's usually a good place to start anyway.) In Gretzky's case, he said, it was Melrose, the investigative journalist, who created the ruckus.

``Barry wouldn't let up on the question,'' said Gretzky with a laugh. After enough prodding, The Great One admitted that it would be dreamy to play again alongside Mark Messier.

It will be. The two will join forces on the World Cup team. As for full-time employment, it's looking more and more like the two will be reunited only if Messier engineers a trade to St. Louis.

``I still hope it works out with St. Louis,'' Gretzky said. ``The people there were very kind to me.''

When a team like the Blues gambles and makes a trade knowing that the superstar is a free agent at season's end, it pins its hopes on the possibility that the superstar might just want to stay there out of appreciation.

``I think there is a certain sense of loyalty,'' Gretzky said. ``But if both parties can't work it out, it's not the end of the world.''

It only seems that way sometimes.

It has been a few months since the Kings let Wayne Gretzky go. Since then, not a peep. The regular season didn't end so much as it expired pathetically. When the playoffs began, the Kings were off to barbecues and golf tournaments.

Magic Johnson unretired, and then retired again. The superstar void in Los Angeles is tangible. Without Magic, the Lakers struggle for identity. But at least they have banners to keep them comfy.

Without Gretzky, the Kings scratch their heads, consider their depth chart, and hope that some of the neophytes can transform miraculously into goal-scorers and ticket-sellers.

Wayne Gretzky is a memory here. Even he admits it. No chance, he said, no chance of seeing him again in a Kings sweater.

``With the direction that the Kings decided to go in, I really don't fit in,'' he said. ``They're going with a total youth movement. That's what they decided to do, and that's what they should do now. They'll have growing pains, but it's the right direction for their game plan.''

He said he harbors no bitterness. L.A. is still his adopted home. He'll move into his new house on the grounds of Sherwood Country Club in the coming weeks. His family loves the area.

``If anything,'' he said, ``I regret not being able to finish my career here. But that's part of pro sports. The decision was out of my hands.''

St. Louis is also growing on him. The city welcomed him warmly. And the team is a snug fit. Gretzky didn't need a youth movement. He needed hungry veterans who wanted one more shot at hockey's most prestigious hunk of metal.

``I will say this about St. Louis,'' he explained. ``It's more of a situation that fits my needs in the sense that they want to put together a team to win it now. Their agenda is to win today. That gives me a better chance at the Cup.''

Last weekend, Gretzky and his family attended a barbecue at the home of Marty McSorley. Many current and former Kings were there. Hockey was not mentioned.

Yet the Avalanche and Panthers were still at it. Negotiations between Barnett and Mike Keenan continued. The World Cup is approaching. Pickup games on Monday and Thursday nights are about to commence.

And the Bulls were hammering the Sonics.

``It's not like the NBA, where you're playing in the East and you know the Chicago Bulls are there and so you also know that you're probably playing for second place,'' he said. ``In hockey, anything's possible.

``Colorado went out and got (Patrick) Roy, got one or two other guys and . . .''

He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't have to. In that, you get the trouble with the Kings and the future of Wayne Gretzky in one breath.

MEMO: Michael Ventre's column appears in the Daily News four days a week.

CAPTION(S):

Photo

Photo: (color) ``If you get the right momentum and the righ t group of guys, anybody can be successful.''

Wayne Gretzky, St. Louis Blues center