KINGS LEARN PRICEY LESSON; L.A. MOVES DUCHESNE, PERREAULT ON BUSY LAST DAY FOR NHL TRADES.

Byline: Roger Phillips

The Kings will look back on the Steve Duchesne signing as a mistake and an education - a costly education.

Beating Tuesday's NHL trading deadline, the Kings gave the disappointing Duchesne a $4.25-million parting handshake, then traded him to the Philadelphia Flyers, squeezing their way out of the mistake as best they could. Time will tell if they learned from the experience.

``This will be a very difficult, very expensive lesson,'' Kings general manager Dave Taylor said after sending Duchesne to the Flyers for veteran defenseman Dave Babych and a fifth-round draft choice in 2000.

Attempts to reach Duchesne were unsuccessful.

Taylor also traded center Yanic Perreault to Toronto for minor-league right wing Jason Podollan and a third-round choice in this year's draft. Podollan was playing for St. John's in the AHL and was leading the league with 42 goals.

On a busy day in the NHL, there were 21 deals involving 30 players, with the Mighty Ducks picking up veteran center Peter Zezel from Vancouver for future considerations. The Detroit Red Wings made the biggest splash, acquiring Chicago defenseman Chris Chelios, New York Rangers defenseman Ulf Samuelsson and Tampa Bay left wing Wendel Clark to bolster their hopes for a third consecutive Stanley Cup.

As for the Kings, the lesson they hope they learned cost them $4.25 million - the amount they had to pay Duchesne so he would permit them to tear up the remaining three years of his contract, worth $11.25 million. The Kings avoided a pure buyout of Duchesne's contract, which would have cost them $7.5 million.

After the old deal was scrapped, Duchesne signed a new contract with the Kings for the rest of this season at a rate comparable to the $3.75 million he had been earning under his former contract, and the team then traded him to the Flyers. He will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, as he was a year ago.

``In the world of free agency,'' Taylor said, ``you generally have to commit to more dollars and more years than you feel a player is worth and in a lot of cases, you don't get a fair return for your investment. . . . I don't know if you will see us too active in the free-agent market in the future. The thing that bothers me is if a player has a great year, he's looking for top dollar, and when he doesn't have a great year, the risk is still with the team.''

The Kings signed Duchesne last July 2 to a four-year deal worth $15 million. With Tuesday's settlement, the Kings wound up paying Duchesne roughly half of the contract in one year.

The fiscal effect of their other dealings Tuesday were negligible. Perreault ($750,000 this year), Babych ($1 million) and Podollan ($400,000) are in the final years of their contracts.

Perreault, 27, began his career with Toronto and last season was second on the Kings with 28 goals. He had only 10 this season and only six in his previous 61 games.

Podollan, 23, was assigned to the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the IHL. ``He has been improving every year,'' Taylor said of Podollan, adding that the Kings hope to have him play for them this season. ``If his skating improves slightly, it's just a matter of working on a consistent basis and he'll be an NHL player.''

In other trades Tuesday:

Montreal traded center Vincent Damphousse to San Jose for a fifth-round pick in 1999 and a conditional draft pick or picks in 2000.

Buffalo traded center Derek Plante to Dallas for a second-round pick in 1999.

Washington traded center Dale Hunter and a third-round pick in 2000 to Colorado for a second-round pick in 1999 or 2000.

Calgary traded defenseman Chris O'Sullivan to the Rangers for defenseman Lee Sorochan.

Tampa Bay traded goalie Bill Ranford to Detroit for a conditional draft pick.

Washington traded winger Craig Berube to Philadelphia for future considerations.

DAY OF DEALS

Some players who were dealt Tuesday:

Kings acquire D Dave Babych (Phi.), Fifth-round pick in 2000 (Phi.), F Jason Podollan (Tor.), Third-round pick in '99 (Tor.)

Anaheim acquires C Peter Zezel (Vancouver)

Philadelphia acquires F Craig Berube (Washington), D Steve Duchesne (Kings)

Toronto acquires C Yanic Perreault (Kings)

Detroit acquires D Chris Chelios (Chicago), D Ulf Samuelsson (NY Rangers), F Wendel Clark (Tampa Bay), G Bill Ranford (Tampa Bay)

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, Box

PHOTO (1--Color) PERREAULT

(2--Color) DUCHESNE

BOX: DAY OF DEALS (see text)