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June 12, 1992
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.
Rangers’ dreaded curse lives on
It is one year since I vowed to never again predict the New York Rangers would win the Stanley Cup. Now, having once more broken the promise, I returned to the office of Dr. Peter Puckchaser, noted NHL psychoanalyst. SF: I’m back, Doc, O-for-52 years. DP: You? With this ridiculous ‘Rangers-win-the-Cup’ thing? I thought I cured you of the habit last spring. SF: But, Doc, that was before they got Superman-Captain Marvel-Human Torch, rolled into one. masquerading as Mark Messier. Everything was going to change with Captain Courageous. He would fly over the ice like Superman, leading his team to the Cup. DP: You mean The Paper Messiah. How many goals did he give away in the playoffs? A half-dozen. That glorious saviour was actually the unsung goat in Game 4 against Pittsburgh, giving…
Demers dream is dead
Quebec fans can forget about having Jacques Demers behind the Nordique bench sometime in the near future. According to a Journal de Quebec poll released May 24, 76 per cent of Nordique fans want Demers to coach the team. But the 48-year-old radio and television analyst isn’t about to give up his broadcasting career for another shot at coaching in the NHL. Demers signed a five-year deal with Radiomutuel to stay in the broadcasting ranks. He has been with the station for the past two seasons following a NHL coaching career. He coached Quebec, St. Louis, and Detroit from 1979 to 1990, compiling a 268-286-86 record. During his first two seasons as a broadcaster, Demers had a clause in his contract that permitted him to end his broadcasting deal if he was approached by another…
Beefing up tiny lineup Burke’s No. 1 priority
The first time Brian Burke met Richard Gordon, Burke was part of a group trying to entice Gordon to purchase a piece of the Hartford Whalers. Gordon declined. Burke, then a player agent living in Boston, was going to be president and general manager of the Whalers. The deal never took place in 1986. Two years later Gordon bought the team and considered making Burke his GM in 1989. Finally, after further review, he finally did hire Burke, 36, to replace Ed Johnston as the team’s GM May 26. Burke, who beat out Washington goalie Mike Liut for the job, agreed to a three-year contract with a provision for a fourth year if the Whalers reach a certain level in the standings. In 1989, Burke, who was Vancouver Canucks’ director of hockey operations…
Webster learns coaching really is hot seat in NHL
Tom Webster admits he learned something new from his Los Angeles Kings’ coaching stint. “You’re in this business long enough,” Webster told Windsor Star columnist Lloyd McLachlan, “you learn to apply a lot of different theories and philosophies. I’ve got a new one. The business is an entenal flame nipping at your butt. Sometimes the flame is burning high and hot, sometimes it’s down low at the pilot light. No matter what you do, it’s always going to be there.” Minutes before he met with general manager Rogie Vachon to learn he had been fired, Webster drove through the blitzed L.A. riot area. “I said to myself, ‘Things cannot be any worse than what I’m witnessing here. If something happens to me today, how can it be worse than this?’…