Saint Louis Blues Hockey Team

It wasn't one of the blockbuster moves that have been rumored since the Kings hit the skids a few weeks ago, but General Manager Rogie Vachon got defenseman Brian Benning from the St. Louis Blues Friday for a third-round draft pick in 1991. Benning, who has played in only seven games this season, is what Vachon terms an "offensive-minded defenseman," a "Steve Duchesne type." His acquisition, however, does not necessarily mean that Duchesne is about to be traded.

When the Detroit Red Wings trailed the St. Louis Blues, 3-2, in their quarterfinal playoff series and their record-setting season was on the verge of ending short of the Stanley Cup, center Steve Yzerman guaranteed the teams would return to Joe Louis Arena tonight for a seventh game. He was right--and he played a key role in making sure of that.

For Bruce McNall, it began in the bright, noisy glare of a news conference beamed around the hockey world in 1988. It ended in the quiet of his residence with five simple words on an answering machine. McNall, who brought Wayne Gretzky to the Kings eight years ago, kicking off the golden age of hockey in Los Angeles, didn't need to turn on the radio or television Tuesday night to learn that the golden age had ended with the trade of Gretzky to St. Louis.

Would new King owners Philip F. Anschutz and Edward P. Roski, Jr., have been making a sound, financial decision if they had decided to pay Wayne Gretzky $21 million through the next three seasons? And would Gretzky--fully knowing he could likely get $21 million from the St. Louis Blues--have been fiscally smart to take any sort of pay cut through his final playing days on a substandard team? No and no.

All along the way, even as he attained his boyhood dream of playing in the NHL, there were hints that all was not well with Mike Danton. Until recently, the best-known evidence of that was two years ago when he legally changed his last name from Jefferson, saying he had "issues" with his family. Typically, Danton never said what exactly those issues were, but this much is clear: Differences with his family are no longer his biggest problem. Danton, 23, a fourth-line center for the St.

That familiar stride, practically bent at a 90-degree angle at the waist as he drives up ice during sprints. The blond hair from out of the bottom and sides of the helmet. That metallic stick. It was Wayne Gretzky, all right. Wearing blue. Wayne Gretzky. As a Blue. The new spirit in St. Louis began with a light workout Wednesday afternoon at the 8-Rinks Ice Sports Centre in suburban Vancouver, a warmup for tonight's game against the Canucks and the rest of his hockey life.

Stephane Fiset didn't like the decision but said he understood. Jamie Storr was surprised but said he was excited and nervous. Coach Larry Robinson said it was nothing personal but something had to be done. That was the fallout here Friday after Robinson's decision to replace Fiset with Storr as starting goaltender tonight for Game 2 of the Kings' best-of-seven first-round playoff series against the sharpshooting St. Louis Blues.