FOR DEADMARSH, THE AGONY IS IN THE WAITING.

Byline: KEVIN MODESTI

By now, Adam Deadmarsh could be back on the Staples Center ice, scoring more goals than anybody else in a purple sweater, making the Kings a better team.

If only sympathy could cure a concussion.

Deadmarsh is surrounded by the only men who understand what he's going through - men who have experienced the fear and frustration that take over a rattled brain.

``He's a gamer. He's a tough guy. For him to be out, I'm sure it's killing him,'' Steve Heinze was saying of Deadmarsh, the right wing who has missed 20 of the Kings' games, including their 2-1 loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night.

Heinze knows because he had a concussion after a collision along the boards this season. For him, the hardest part wasn't missing three weeks of games because of dizziness and fatigue. The hardest part was going to a mall to pick out his wife's Christmas present and finding his suddenly delicate system overwhelmed by the sights and sounds in the Ann Taylor store.

``It was like an anxiety attack,'' Heinze said. ``Did I want to get her pants or a dress or what? It was just too much to compute. I had to leave the store. A big, tough hockey player, things like that aren't supposed to bother you. It was frustrating and weird and a little bit scary.''

Ken Belanger knows because he had a concussion after an open-ice check this season. He's beginning his third month out of uniform. Not that civilian life is a picnic for the afflicted.

``It's like a circuit breaker in your head,'' Belanger said. ``Your brain gets overloaded. Just driving can make you nauseous.''

Head coach Andy Murray knows because he had a concussion after his automobile accident in Wisconsin last year. He was laid up for nearly two weeks. Unable to stay awake and unable to sleep.

``You've got to sleep. But you can't close your eyes because everything is spinning,'' Murray said. ``I wound up walking around the house all night.''

Team broadcaster Jim Fox knows because he had a concussion when he was a Kings player, the result of a shoulder to the jaw behind the net. Fox was helped up from his hands and knees by trainer Pete Demers and played on. On the bench later, Dave Taylor realized his teammate was messed up.

``I looked up and said, `Dave, the clock's broken,' '' Fox said. ``He said, `The clock's all right.' I had played three shifts and I didn't know it. When I got hit, there was 15 minutes on the clock, and when I looked up there was three minutes.

``I'm in the shower, and next thing I know I'm in front of the doctor. I started to cry. He said that's not unusual. It's scary.''

Taylor's own clock would be cleaned later. His Kings' playing career was ended by a series of concussions. Now he's the team's general manager, wishing Adam Deadmarsh could play but knowing why he can't.

Deadmarsh, 27, the hero of the Kings' playoff victory over Detroit the season before last, will tell you the symptoms of post-concussion syndrome haven't been as serious for him as they were for his fellow Kings - or for some other hockey and football stars in the past few years, when head injuries seem to be more and more common.

He suffers from the light-headedness, vertigo and fatigue, but he hasn't had the memory loss, panic attacks or depression. He doesn't worry that the injury will force him to stop playing hockey.

His frustration is that he has felt so close to coming back for so long.

Deadmarsh got hurt when the back of his head slammed the glass as he was forechecking in Toronto on Nov. 12. He came back after nine games and played in five before being reinjured when a teammate's knee struck his jaw in Phoenix on Dec. 15.

He was the Kings' leading goal-scorer at the time with 13. He's still the Kings' leading goal-scorer today. Jason Allison and Ziggy Palffy need him back. The team is three games over .500 with him, four games under without him. It went into Saturday five points out of a playoff spot in the NHL's Western Conference.

``I'm pretty hopeful it's coming to an end,'' Deadmarsh said at the Kings' game-day morning skate in El Segundo. ``I've played through a lot of injuries. But this is one you can't play through.''

He's staying in shape and doing eye exercises so that, some day soon, sudden shifts in his field of vision no longer will make him dizzy.

``I could wake up in a couple days and feel great,'' Deadmarsh said from behind a stubbly beard. ``Every day, I wake up hoping for that day.''

He looks fine, sounds sharp. That's one of the things about a concussion. Only the victim really knows something is wrong.

The Kings have had to put 12 players on the injured list at one time or another this season, most of them with back, knee and groin injuries. Thank goodness Adam Deadmarsh has bosses and teammates who know his injury is something different. You don't rush a concussion.

``It's not just your hockey future (that's at stake),'' Heinze said. ``You want to be able to play with your kids when you get older, to teach them their ABCs.''

If only sympathy could make it better.