KINGS UPDATE: ROSA AWAY FOR A WHILE POPULAR WINGER WILL REFINE HIS GAME IN FINLAND.

Byline: Matt McHale Staff Writer

Lee Hamilton, the afternoon drive-time voice of XTRA Sports Radio, started talking last week about the stalemate between the Kings and Jozef Stumpel by saying, ``And with the devastating loss of Pavel Rosa. . . .''

Devastating is not the word the Kings used after Rosa, a popular winger on the team two years ago, turned down a 10 percent raise last spring to return this season. He recently signed with a team in Finland, although the Kings retain his NHL rights.

``I don't think they really had any plans for him,'' said Rosa's agent Jiri Chra. ``He only played three games for them last year and if they really wanted him they would have offered him more than they did. Still, he was very sad. He is such a likeable young man.''

Rosa, 23, became an immediate fan favorite two seasons ago when he scored two goals in his first NHL game. He played 29 games for the Kings that year, scoring four goals and 16 points. But when new coach Andy Murray arrived last season, Rosa was sent to minor-league Long Beach.

``He is a good player but needs to work on his quickness,'' Murray said. ``We've had a very competitive camp and I don't know if he would have made it. A year over there might help him.''

The NHL scouting report on the 5-foot-11, 188-pound Rosa, who will play for HPK Hameenlinna in Finland, was ``not skilled enough to be a skill player and not physical enough to be a physical player.''

Rosa, a native of the Czech Republic, was the Kings' third pick and 50th overall in the 1995 draft. He scored 46 and 63 goals during seasons in junior hockey but never made the jump after his early success.

His NHL salary last year was $850,000, although he received considerably less playing for Long Beach.

Even if the Kings want to bring back Rosa after this season, it could be difficult. He would have to clear waivers, and with two expansion teams this year, he might be taken.

--Notes: The Kings do not play until Friday, against the Mighty Ducks in Anaheim. They have scheduled a scrimmage for today that will mark the first appearance of Craig Johnson, who did not play in the first three exhibition games because of an ankle injury. . . .

Ian Laperriere, who centered the third line with Johnson last season, is a week away after undergoing reconstructive surgery on his right knee last April. Laperriere played much of the second half with a torn ACL. ``It's doing pretty well for just 4 1/2 months after surgery,'' Laperriere said. ``There is no pain right now. We're just waiting for clearance from the doctors.'' . . .

The Kings, who reassigned 14 players to minor-league or junior affiliates after Sunday's game, will make the rest of their roster moves this weekend in order to get down to 23. ``We want to get the group we'll take into the season together for about two weeks,'' Murray said. ``This weekend won't be easy. There has been a lot of great competition for jobs.''

Murray will keep two goaltenders but would not confirm that Steve Passmore, acquired from Chicago last spring, will be the one to go.