Kings' Blake Fulfills Potential

By LONNIE WHITE

June 26, 1998 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

After being mentioned as a potential Norris Trophy winner for most of his career, the Kings’ Rob Blake finally won the NHL’s award for best defenseman on Thursday for his play over the 1997-98 season.

“It’s just awesome for Rob to win it,” said King Coach Larry Robinson after Blake beat out Detroit’s Nicklas Lidstrom and St. Louis’ Chris Pronger for the award. “I think it lifts a huge, huge load off his shoulders. . . . He had been so close [to winning the award] but then was always hurt, so he never won it. Now he has and he’s worked hard to get it. It’s a great building block for him and for us as a team.”

Winning the Norris Trophy--which was presented in Toronto in a special televised awards show--caps a breakthrough season for Blake, who will become a restricted free agent next month.

Not only did he have 23 goals and 27 assists to help lead the Kings into the playoffs for the first time in five seasons, but Blake gained international recognition by being selected as the top defenseman at this year’s Nagano Olympics and at last summer’s World Championships in Finland.

“It’s funny, but I had thought that I had a good shot to win until I arrived to Toronto and started to read the newspapers here,” said Blake, who earned $260,000 in contract and league bonuses for the award.

“It was really tough [dealing with the pressure of] being tagged as a potential winner so early in my career . . . but [that] helps makes it so exciting, to finally win it and to be considered at that level. It’s somewhere I want to get back to each year now.”

It’s understandable if Blake had problems concentrating on the Norris Trophy this week because he’s getting married on Saturday.

“This has been a real hectic week for me,” said Blake, who traveled with Tony Granato, who is in his wedding party, to the award ceremony. “I had my bachelor party this past weekend [in Southern California], I flew to Toronto [for the Norris Trophy], fly back to Los Angeles [today], get married on Saturday and then leave for my honeymoon week right after that.

“Up until now, I really hadn’t been thinking about the award.”

Robinson, a Blake teammate for two seasons at the end of his career, was a finalist for the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year but lost out to Boston’s Pat Burns.

“I’m very honored just to be nominated,” said Robinson, who won two Norris Trophies during his career. “Especially when you look at the coaches who weren’t, like Scotty Bowman, [and] we all know what he has done.”

Burns engineered a dramatic turnaround in Boston’s fortunes this year, a 30-point improvement that brought the team back to the playoffs.

Burns, who also won the award with Toronto in 1993 and Montreal in 1989, is the first coach to win the Adams with three different teams.

“To win it three different times with three Original Six teams is something I’m very proud of,” Burns said. “There’s a lot of people to thank along the way.”

Winger Teemu Selanne of the Mighty Ducks was a finalist for both the Hart Memorial and the Lady Byng trophies, but Buffalo goaltender Dominik Hasek took home the award for most valuable player to his team and Pittsburgh center Ron Francis was given the Byng award for sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct.

For the second year in a row, Hasek was the league’s top winner. Along with his Hart Trophy, he also won the the Vezina Trophy for most outstanding goalie for the second consecutive season and fourth time in his career.

Hasek, who had 33-23-13 record with a 2.09 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage, earlier Thursday was presented with the Lester B. Pearson Award, the most valuable player award as decided in voting by his fellow players.

Other award winners were Dallas’ Jere Lehtinen, the Selke Trophy as most outstanding defensive forward; Boston’s Sergei Samsonov, the Calder Trophy as top rookie; St. Louis’ Kelly Chase, the Clancy Trophy as player who best exemplified leadership; and St. Louis’ Jamie McLennan, the Masterton Trophy as the player who best exemplified perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

McLennan, the Blues’ 26-year-old backup goalie, overcame a life-threatening bout of bacterial meningitis two years ago. He had to learn how to walk again, yet made it back to the NHL.

“My muscles were so beaten up that I couldn’t walk for a while,” he said. “It was pretty scary.

“I didn’t have a contract, I had this illness, and I lost 20 pounds. I finally got over it, and I owe so much to the Blues.”

Times wire services contributed to this story.