ANALYSIS : Kings in the Middle of Biggest Power Play : Hockey: Impending Gretzky decision doesn’t give team a chance to celebrate its finest season.

The Kings could not leave Montreal quietly. A large group of rowdy fans surrounded the team bus, attempting to rock it, while others were trying to hang from the windows after the Canadiens had defeated the Kings on Wednesday night for their 24th Stanley Cup championship.

Was it a microcosm of the way their season ended?

Or was it a foreshadowing of a potentially bitter and divisive off-season?

The Canadiens’ fans were still celebrating in the stands when Wayne Gretzky unexpectedly announced that he was contemplating retirement. It cast something of a pall over the Kings’ magical playoff ride through Canada, which ground to a halt with a combination of an illegal stick, three consecutive overtime defeats and the cumulative effects of having traveled more than 23,000 miles.

His bombshell has forced an assessment of the Kings’ future, rather than their past or present. Gretzky could make his decision within the next week or delay it until closer to the NHL’s expansion and entry drafts in a little more than two weeks in Quebec City.

There are three plausible scenarios:

--He is altogether serious about retirement. Maybe Gretzky is sick of the travel, the pressure to succeed and interference from King management. More than one player has suggested that the burden of being Gretzky, the hockey player, has produced a cumulative negative effect.

--He is not convinced that the Kings are headed in the right direction and will play for another team. Rumors have Gretzky going anywhere from Detroit to the New York Rangers to the Mighty Ducks. Respected hockey men with lengthy and successful track records are running those organizations.

--He is executing a power play on the behalf of himself and his teammates and will stay in Los Angeles if he succeeds. Everyone who knows Gretzky recognizes his intense desire to play on a competitive, successful team. For him, losing the services of defenseman Marty McSorley, forward Warren Rychel and assistant coach Cap Raeder, among others, over potential contract squabbles is unnecessary and represents a step backward, rather than forward.

The question is: Will it be enough to rework Gretzky’s contract and retain personnel he considers key? Or does he want leadership other than President Roy Mlakar and General Manager Nick Beverley?

It’s too early to tell whether enough bridges have been burned for the Kings to continue business as usual.

Other than Gretzky, the key figure in this struggle is McSorley. The first sign of which way the battle is going might have come when King Coach Barry Melrose made a big show of hugging McSorley in front of the entire team on the flight home.

Gretzky’s retirement hint has grabbed the headlines and international attention, but the Kings are facing a whole summer of decisions. Quickly, they need to prepare for the expansion draft. The Kings will lose two players and can protect one goaltender, five defensemen and nine forwards.

Although there will be a surplus of quality goaltenders available, the Kings have to decide whether to protect 25-year-old Robb Stauber, their “goaltender of the future,” or 32-year-old Kelly Hrudey, whose playoff performance helped them reach the final and had Montreal Coach Jacques Demers shaking his head, saying: “I never knew Kelly Hrudey was this good.”

There is the dicey situation with center Jimmy Carson. Melrose’s actions--not his words--clearly demonstrated that Carson is not a big part of his plans when he kept him out of six consecutive playoff games, including the first three of the Cup finals. Only injuries to other players allowed Carson to get back into the lineup.

Carson, 24, played out his option this season. The Kings need to decide whether to trade him before the expansion draft, leave him unprotected or re-sign him. Others who played out their option are McSorley and Corey Millen.

Rychel is an unrestricted free agent as are forwards Gary Shuchuk and Marc Potvin. Defenseman Rob Blake, forward Tony Granato, Hrudey, Stauber, Tomas Sandstrom and Mike Donnelly are all heading into their option years.

The Kings also have to determine the future of three veterans--defenseman Tim Watters, right wing Dave Taylor and forward Pat Conacher--all of whom played large roles during the regular season. Taylor seems willing to return but is waiting to take his cue from management. But don’t expect much to happen until we hear from Wayne. All roads lead to Gretzky.