Kings at a glance
	Camp schedule: Sept. 11: HealthSouth Training Center (El Segundo, Calif.) Coach: Andy Murray (3rd season, 77-59-25-7) General manager: Dave Taylor (5th season)

It's difficult to know whether the Kings are turning themselves into a scrappy bunch of overachievers on purpose or whether they're just too cheap to pay to keep any of their veteran talent. Either way, it's clear that Los Angeles is not going to try to keep up -- money-wise -- with the big-spending teams in the West. If the Kings make it in the playoffs, it will be just like the Oilers have for years -- on smart trades, hungry youngsters and solid goaltending.

How low can you go? The Kings low-balled Rob Blake, but made a smart trade to get back solid assets in Adam Deadmarsh and Aaron Miller. They low-balled Luc Robitaille, but used the money saved to acquire free agent Steve Heinze (27 goals). However, if they continue to low-ball goalie Felix Potvin (a restricted free agent who could miss camp), they could be in severe trouble. Sure, Potvin was struggling before he hit L.A., but the Kings have no other option in net. Both Stephane Fiset and Jamie Storr have proved that in the past.

Is there a scorer in the house?: With Heinze, Randy Robitaille, Rob Valicevic and Ken Belanger acquired as free agents in the offseason, the Kings will have a new look in the forward department. Zigmund Palffy (38 goals, 89 points) and Bryan Smolinski (27 goals, 59 points) give some anchors to the top two lines, but with Jozef Stumpel (63 games played) and Deadmarsh (57 games) both injury prone, it appears just about anybody could end up playing in a scoring role.

Who needs Blake?: In addition to acquiring Aaron Miller and seeing strong work from rookie Lubomir Visnovsky, there were plenty of other reasons to let Rob Blake go. The Kings have amassed one of the strongest groups of young defensemen in the league. Watch players like Andreas Lilja, Brett Hauer and Joe Corvo during the exhibition season. They'll be battling against Jere Karalahti, Mattias Norstrom and Jaroslav Modry.

Kings 2001-02 preseason schedule
Date	Opponent	Time
Sat., Sept. 15	Anaheim	Canceled*
Tue., Sept. 18	Anaheim	10:30 p.m.
Thu., Sept. 20	at San Jose	10:30 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 22	vs. San Jose at MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas	10:30 p.m.
Wed., Sept. 26	at Anaheim	10:30 p.m.
Sat., Sept. 29	Colorado	10:30 p.m.
Mon., Oct. 1	at Colorado	9 p.m.
*Rescheduled for Sept. 18