Search for your favorite player or team
© The Hockey News. All rights reserved. Any and all material on this website cannot be used, reproduced, or distributed without prior written permission from Roustan Media Ltd. For more information, please see our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
September 6, 1991
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.
VACHON FORCED TO SIGN HUDDY
Charlie Huddy has been a dependable, no-nonsense NHL defenseman for more than a decade, but he had never envisioned making this kind of money. Four years, $2.4 million. The Los Angeles Kings had little choice but to agree to those terms Aug. 6, matching the Philadelphia Flyers’ offer sheet to the 32-year-old Huddy, a free agent without compensation. “It’s beyond my wildest dreams,” Huddy said. The Kings, who acquired the free agent’s signing rights from the Minnesota North Stars in a trade June 22 that cost them center Todd Elik, would not have been compensated by Philadelphia had they decided not to open the vault. Signing Huddy was particularly important because the Kings already had traded one defenseman (Steve Duchesne) and lost another (Jeff Chychryn) for the first month of the season following bone graft…
PAVELICH, LAWTON OFF TO SAN JOSE
SHARKS The Sharks have added an Olympic gold medalist and a first overall pick to their roster. Center Mark Pavelich, who played for the Miracle-on-Ice team at Lake Placid in 1980, and Brian Lawton signed as free agents Aug. 9. Pavelich, 33, has been out of hockey for two seasons. He played in Europe after six NHL seasons in which he had 137 goals and 328 points in 353 games. Lawton, 26, was chosen by the Stars with the first pick in the 1983 entry draft. He has never come close to reaching expectations and spent last season with the IHL’s Phoenix Roadrunners…Sharks’ defensemen Dan Keczmer and Tom Pederson were named to the preliminary 31-player roster of the U.S. Olympic team, which will play 64 exhibition games before a final 23-man…
SECOND-ROUND PICK ANSWERS OVERSEAS CALL
The San Jose Sharks will have a special interest in Germany this season. Specifically, the Sharks will be keeping a close eye on the German hockey league’s first division because that’s where second-round draft pick Ray Whitney will be playing. Whitney, a 5-foot-9, 160-pound center who had 67 goals and 185 points for the Western League’s Spokane Chiefs last season, surprised the Sharks by signing a two-year contract with the Cologne Sharks on July 30. He reportedly will pocket about $170,000 (U.S., tax free) per season, and says he hopes the experience will be a stepping stone to the NHL. “My goal still is to play in the NHL,” Whitney said. “But for now, I think this is my best option.” Whitney, 19, said the prospect of returning to junior was a primary factor…
HOLDING PATTERN STIFLES STRUGGLING TEAM
A quiet summer is not what the New York Islanders wanted or needed. It has been anything but a day at the beach for a franchise that entered August awaiting an owner and a resolution to the long-running impasse with its only superstar. Because the sale of the team had not been completed, the organization was unable to make any major decisions—notably one involving the Islander future of Pat LaFontaine, who never did rescind his request for a trade. As negotiations with prospective buyers continued, LaFontaine’s agent made it clear the high-scoring center would not play for the Islanders this year unless new ownership was in place. Agent Don Meehan even said his client would play for the U.S. Olympic team rather than for current owner John O. Pickett, who rankled LaFontaine…
Made possible with the support of
