Kings stuck in Toronto

By DAVE FULLER -- Toronto Sun It looks like the King boys -- Derek and Kris -- won't have to leave Toronto after all.
The Maple Leafs have been unsuccessful in attempts to move the veteran forwards and with a slew of unsigned free agents also competing for jobs, the Kings find themselves stuck in career limbo.
"It's a hard situation to go through," Leafs general manager/coach Pat Quinn said yesterday. "In some cases, some players can accept that role -- that they might be in the lineup, they might be out of it. Other players have difficult times doing that."
Derek King, 32, finished fourth in Leafs scoring last season, then laboured through the playoffs.
Kris King, 34, a gritty winger who collected four points and 110 penalty minutes in 1998-99, became expendable after the Leafs beefed up their lineup.

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Quinn remembers being in a similar situation with the 1977-78 Atlanta Flames. He ultimately lost his job after breaking his leg teaching his daughter how to skateboard.
"Certainly, any player who has been around a while, can empathize with them," Quinn said.
The two Kings sat out the Leafs' opening two wins -- 4-1 Saturday in Montreal and 4-0 Monday over Boston.
With the Leafs more or less compelled to dress seven defencemen after Bryan Berard and Cory Cross joined the team late last week, the Kings aren't likely to play tonight against Colorado, either.
"We made the decision after the (Cross) trade Friday night that we were going to dress seven defencemen, otherwise Derek probably would have played," Quinn said.
"We took him out, based on the kind of camp he had. Derek, historically, has been a slow starter. It doesn't mean in the big picture that he's not better than the others. That's the part we're going to have to solve."
Meanwhile, Quinn hoped younger Leafs wouldn't become too comfortable with their positions under this apparent changing of the guard.
"Learning how to win is not a one-time thing, it's a process," the coach said. "You have to work on it every day. And it's elusive."

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