Kings Simply Want to Forget : Hockey: The club hopes things work out for McNall, but focus is on getting ready for season.

The post-McNall era is under way for the Kings, and not a moment too soon for a hockey franchise trying to conduct business as usual while its most visible figure not named Wayne is on such thin ice that a fleet of Zambonis couldn’t help.

What was Bruce McNall doing at that Kings’ exhibition in San Diego?

“Signing autographs constantly,” said Joe Cohen, the new chairman of the Kings.

McNall continues to cast a large shadow over the team he owned until financial difficulties forced him to sell 72% of the operation last May.

When the Kings play the New York Rangers tonight at the Forum in the first of their three home exhibitions, McNall will be there, probably signing autographs as usual.

Meanwhile, the Kings move on, especially in the front office. Since May 16, when Cohen and business partner Jeffrey Sudikoff bought the majority interest in the Kings, 15 front-office employees have left. Ten were fired right away, among them General Manager Nick Beverley, and five more have left since.

In the marketing department, the nine-person staff lost four.

Nick Salata, the publications director, said he has been too busy to be worried. “Our staff is so small, we all thought, ‘Well, OK, let’s get going,’ ” he said. “I haven’t really had time to come in here and be down about anything.”

Cohen said the Kings have made no plans involving staff reductions in the event of an owners’ lockout, a possibility as the NHL and the players’ union continue negotiating.

Said Salata: “As a working stiff, I’m at the mercy of many elements. I go full bore until somebody tells me to stop.”

No one is telling anyone to stop anything right now. In fact, the new King bosses are aggressively operating the franchise, pushing season tickets.

The Kings sold 11,959 season tickets last season, coming off their unexpected drive into the Stanley Cup finals.

And despite last season’s disappointment--they failed to make the playoffs--the Kings still had sold 10,954 season tickets by Tuesday morning.

Except for a few high-priced seats, about 5% of the Forum, the Kings did not increase season-ticket prices. The average price is $37.

The Kings also offered a payment plan for season tickets for the first time and initiated a 12-game mini-season ticket plan beginning at the start of the season. Previously, the mini-plan wasn’t offered until January.

There is hope that the attention the Kings get will soon shift to the ice and away from McNall’s legal and financial problems.

Don Burkholder of Hawthorne, a season-ticket holder for 20 years, said when he thinks about the Kings, he doesn’t think about McNall. “I personally don’t even care,” he said. “I’m more concerned about them starting Kelly Hrudey in the net more than anything now.”

Season-ticket holder Jack Kates of Cypress is a member of the Forum’s Section 12 club, which has its own newsletter. Kates is known in those parts by his nickname, “Pull the Goalie.”

Kates, who runs an automotive advertising agency, said McNall should be held up to scrutiny.

“If someone (cheats) me for something-million dollars, I don’t like it too much,” Kates said. “I do not like dishonesty.

“But Bruce McNall does not affect the way I feel about the Kings. The only thing that irritates me is the trade with Pittsburgh that gave away (Luc) Robitaille, the greatest left wing in the history of the game.”

The Kings are banking on that kind of reaction in the face of McNall’s continuing problems, believing that hockey will be the topic of concern and that the Kings will be allowed to move forward.

Cohen said the Kings continue to stand behind McNall.

“The Kings are stable,” he said. “We are happy to have Bruce’s help. We care about him and we hope that everything will work out well for him.”

McNall, who bought the Kings from Laker owner Jerry Buss in 1988, faces criminal charges stemming from a federal grand jury investigation into his financial dealings.

McNall sold 72% of the Kings largely to pay off $90 million in loans and credit from Bank of America.

Besides the 28% share of the team he retained, McNall also kept 100% ownership of four Slap Shops, which sell King merchandise.

Cohen said it is up to the Kings to make sure the focus is on them, not their former owner. “When the Kings win, that’s the story,” he said. “When the Kings don’t win, there are all sorts of stories.”

One story Cohen would like to see written is about an agreement to build a new hockey arena. It hasn’t happened yet, although he said the Kings have investigated potential sites downtown, near the Forum, in El Segundo, Hawthorne and Torrance.

Cohen, Sudikoff and Lester Wintz, the new executive vice president, make up the Kings’ stadium task force.

Cohen emphasized that he has a genial working relationship with Buss, who owns the Forum and holds the Kings’ lease until July of 2018.

To illustrate the goodwill, Cohen said Buss had made “lease adjustments.” The Kings pay Buss about $10 million a year under terms of the lease, which calls for 12% of the gross revenue.

Reports in March said that Buss had offered to reduce the rent by $2 million per year.

In the meantime, the Kings are tying the laces of their skates for the first time this season. There will be hockey on the ice. Unless there’s a lockout, of course.