(After an extended length of time, J.T. emerges from his office to grab something to drink from the break room refrigerator. He sees Rogie VACHON sitting at the table reading the Los Angeles Times.)
VACHON: "You alright? Ready to get back on track?"
"I think so, yeah."
VACHON: "Okay. So, our payroll is exactly $170 thousand more than it was when you were hired. Your estimate was $200 thousand, if I remember right?"
"Yep. It was."
VACHON: "Do you foresee any additional spending before the season starts?"
"Probably around $35-40 thousand more. Is that gonna be alright?"
VACHON: "That's fine. Which player did you have in mind?"
"Well, actually ... that would be enough to sign a couple of guys. What I want to do is sign one of the guys we've drafted, and later on I'd like to bring in a guy for depth; probably a forward."
VACHON: "What about this draft pick you want to sign? What position does he play?"
"It's Daren Eliot. He's a goaltender. We drafted him in 1980, after his freshman year at Cornell University. He stayed at Cornell and got his degree about a month or so ago."
VACHON: "Eliot ... Eliot, that name sounds familiar to me."
"The consensus seems to be that Darren is quite a bit more promising than I had initially thought, so I figure we can take a chance on him. Especially since we've almost completely strip-mined our top affiliate in New Haven."
VACHON: "Damn. That's not pretty. Where's Galley? And Kontos and McSorley???"
"They're on the big club's preseason roster. I'd rather see them work out here in Culver City. They'll be in New Haven once the regular season starts."
VACHON: "Oh, right. What's with all the guys on the trading block?"
"Those are the guys who've never had any affiliation with the Kings in the past, present, or future. Like I said, I won't use those guys. I doubt I'll see any offers for them, but you never know. Doesn't hurt to find out, either way."
VACHON: "Oh, you know what? I think we actually have a pretty recent scouting report on Eliot. That's why his name sounded familiar. Let me go have a look."
(VACHON heads to his office and returns with a sheet of paper.)
VACHON: "According to this, he's already made the trip to New Haven in anticipation of being signed, and is working out there. It's only an estimate of his potential, but it looks as if our scouting is in line with the consensus."
"Hmmm. That's something I'm going to monitor pretty closely over the course of the season. If that assessment of potential holds up, he'll be our most promising prospect."
VACHON: "Is that right?"
"Yeah. We're critically short on prospects, which is a big reason why I did so much trading."
VACHON: "Since you've chosen to delegate the Entry Draft duties to George, you've essentially placed this in his hands."
"I'm simply leaving it there. Speaking of which, is George in Culver City now?"
VACHON: "Yeah ... about that. Dr. Buss wants him to spend the season in New Haven! As I recall, Dr. Buss's words were 'the farther George is from the media out here, the better.' So, I don't think we're going to be running into him all that much anymore."
"My heart is breaking."
VACHON: "No doubt. I think all that's left at this point is to get through training camp, isn't it?"
"Pretty much. We'll take a look at any significant development that takes place from now until the end of August, and then it's on to the preseason games."
VACHON: "I can't wait."
"Continuing with the sarcasm, are we?"
VACHON: "Ha, not this time. Get out of here. See you tomorrow."