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December 6, 2005
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
Just point to a target
If Teemu Selanne is the Finnish Flash, then defenseman Ole-Kristian Tollefsen is the Norwegian Nightmare. Come across the Syracuse Crunch blueline with your head down or try to slither along the boards when Tollefsen is catching a wave and surfing across for a hit and, well, the next face you see might be the trainer’s. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder quickly has established himself as one of the AHL’s hardest hitters. He doesn’t just bodycheck – he punishes. “He’s a hard-nosed kid who loves the big hit, the open-ice hit,” said coach Gary Agnew. “He just has a knack of being able to time when he can step up and deliver the hit. I wouldn’t say it’s a lost art, but it’s somewhat rare today. He has a real talent and it’s something we…
Maybe mirror would help?
Ted Saskin messed up. Trevor Linden messed up. So did others on the NHLPA executive who pushed last summer to fast-track Saskin as Bob Goodenow’s replacement and to approve Saskin’s contract without a vote of team reps, as is specified by the union constitution. Saskin and Linden messed up in more ways than one. Linden’s decision to set Saskin’s salary on the basis of information provided by Saskin himself was not either man’s finest hour. Many players were galled that Saskin was awarded $2 million annually, the same salary Goodenow earned minus 24 per cent. Goodenow put in 15 years and oversaw a period of unprecedented salary escalation; shouldn’t Saskin have to work his way up to Goodenow’s heights? Saskin’s attempts at damage control have been lacking. Some players asking questions about…
Wacky waivers
If we believe everything played out just the way Anaheim GM Brian Burke and Columbus GM Doug MacLean say it did – and who are we to assume otherwise? – we are left to conclude their understanding of the new CBA is in tip-top shape. Both men got exactly what they wanted out of a ticklish situation. MacLean, six days after acquiring Sergei Fedorov in a trade with the Ducks, was able to unload Marchant’s unwieldy contract, with three years left after this season at an average of $2.5 million per year. Burke, meanwhile, landed a player the Ducks “have wanted…for some time” five days after passing on Marchant when he was put on waivers the first time, the day after the Fedorov trade. Marchant’s name came up in trade talks around…
Reborn Joseph gets a leg up
These kid goalies sure are all right, Curtis Joseph mused as he looked out over the practice rink. They were all so composed, so square to the shooter, so effortless in their movements. Sometimes his nephew was among them. The more Joseph watched, the more he was impressed. Heck, these kids are better than all right, he thought. They’re better than me. “He would look at the kids at the goalie school and say, ‘I don’t do that, do I?’” remembers David Franco, a former Jr. B netminder and Joseph’s off-season tutor in Vaughn, Ont. “And I’d say, ‘No, that’s what I’m trying to get you to do.’” Joseph doesn’t dispute it. If he wanted to become a better goalie, he had to learn what the kids were learning. That meant rebuilding…
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