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.

August 1, 1992

The Hockey News August 1, 1992

<div class="byline">By Ed Willes</div>The wait is almost over.Four years after the Winnipeg Jets made him their first choice in the 1988 NHL entry draft, Finnish right winger Teemu Selanne is coming to North America.Selanne and agent Don Baizley are rumored to be seeking a contract of $800,000 per season but that doesn&rsquo;t necessarily mean with the Jets.Selanne became a free agent without compensation July 1-the Jets were unable to sign him within the four-year post-draft period-and Baizley suggests a deal with the Jets isn&rsquo;t necessarily close.Should another team sign Selanne-Toronto is reportedly interested-the Jets would have the right to match the offer. Winnipeg general manager Mike Smith said signing Selanne is a top priority for his club this summer.Baizley has talked with the Jets but is not guaranteeing anything.&ldquo;Other teams are free to make an offer,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But we haven&rsquo;t got to that point yet. They don&rsquo;t want to jump in and drive the price up while we&rsquo;re negotiating with another team.&rdquo;Selanne, 22, played for Finland during the Canada Cup and Olympics. He led his Jokerit Helsinki team to the Elite League title and was the league&rsquo;s top scorer.CAMP CUTBACK: Inflation has hit every other sector of the community but the numbers at Winnipeg&rsquo;s training camp in September will be at an all-time low.No more than 40 players will invited to camp and that figure will only drop in the future. General manager Mike Smith wants to cut the number of players on contract from 50 to 36 in the next two years.The Jets are even considering cutting back on their farm affiliate. When Winnipeg&rsquo;s contract with Moncton of the American League expires in a year, Smith may consider sharing a farm club like they used to do with Montreal in Sherbrooke.NOTEBOOK: The Jets keep drafting players from Russia, so it&rsquo;s only fair they offer some sort of kickback. Defenseman Mike Muller, a second-round pick of Winnipeg in 1990, will spend next season with Moscow Dynamo. The six-foot-three, 212-pounder spent last season with the University of Minnesota. He left for Moscow July 4 for the camp that opens July 20.Ed Ratushny, father and agent of Jets&rsquo; blue line prospect Dan, is trying to get his son declared a free agent. There&rsquo;s a provision in the NHL&rsquo;s bylaws which allows a &ldquo;defected&rdquo; player to become a free agent after a certain period of time. To qualify, a player has to play in a league unaffiliated with the NHL for one season. Ratushny spent most of last season in Switzerland. Ed Ratushny hopes the league will consider that when they rule on his son. &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Signing Selanne priority

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div>For obvious political, geographical and divisional reasons. Monheal is probably the last place the Quebec Nordiques would have dealt Eric Lindros.But that didn&rsquo;t prevent the Montreal Canadiens from making overtures for the teenage star.According to a published report, the Canadiens contacted the Nordiques and were attempting to acquire Lindros before he was dealt to the Philadelphia Flyers in a blockbuster trade on draft day.Monheal even would have offered all-star goaltender Patrick Roy as the central figure in a potential multiplayer deal.The identity of any other players proposed couldn&rsquo;t be confirmed but it&rsquo;s believed that Pierre Page, coach and general manager of the Nordiques, told Quebec management personnel that few of Montreal&rsquo;s players were of interest to him.It is believed Page&rsquo;s personal wishlist was limited to the likes of rearguards Eric Desjardins and Mathieu Schneider, along with forwards Shayne Corson and Gilbert Dionne.It&rsquo;s also believed Canadiens&rsquo; managing director Serge Savard was much more interested in delving into the Lindros derby than was his boss, Montreal president Ronald Corey.FREE WHEELERS: The Canadiens have never lured a big-name free-agent away from a rival team.But now they appear serious about acquiring left winger Vincent Damphousse from Edmonton.The Oilers&rsquo; free-agent is a native of Montreal who just happens to be represented by a Montreal-based agent, Pierre Lacroix. That makes negotiations convenient if nothing else.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re still shopping,&rdquo; Lacroix said when asked if his client is interested in coming to the Canadiens.Damphousse is a Group II free agent. If he&rsquo;s signed to a contract between $500,000 and $1 million per season, he&rsquo;ll cost his new team two first-round draft picks.Damphousse has the right to choose equalization instead of compensation but the Oilers have the right!I to match any offer.Damphousse, who earned $700,000 last season, led the Oilers with 38 goals and 89 points in 80 games.The flashy playmaker is exactly what the Canadiens need. That&rsquo;s why Montreal might also trade for him.The Oilers have been working on a (three-for-one deal that would send Damphousse east for Shayne Corson, Stephan Lebeau and a prospect.DEMERS RELEASED: Jacques Demers has been released from a contract he signed with a Quebec radio network only a week before he was named coach of the Canadiens.Demers, who had coached Quebec, St. Louis and Detroit before agreeing to replace Pat Bums, was employed by the Radiomutuel network as a commentator on Nordique broadcasts.In May, he signed a multi-year contract-worth slightly more than $ 100,000 annually-with the network.Demers secured an extra year on&rdquo; the deal by dropping a clause allowing him to accept a coaching offer. The network will be compensated over the next three seasons with advertising space for its Montreal station, CJMS, mainly in the Canadiens&rsquo; souvenir program, as well as on the Forum scoreboard.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Benoit Brunet, a Group II free agent, signed a one-year contract with an option after being injured for much of this past season. The 23-year-old opened the season with Fredericton of the American League. He had 16 points in six games, earning a recall. In 18. games with Montreal, he had four goals and 10 points before breaking his right ankle Dec. 4. &#9632;

Roy was centerpiece of possible Lindros deal

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THE DRAW

<div class="byline">By Roy Cummings</div>The Tampa Bay Lightning has a Gretzky of its own but he&rsquo;s not the Great One everyone has heard about.He&rsquo;s Wayne&rsquo;s brother, Brent, a 20-year-old the Lightning acquired with its third pick (49th overall) in the 1992 entry draft. Brent played for the Belleville Bulls of the Ontario League this past season.And just in case anyone thinks the move was nothing more than a publicity stunt. Lightning general manager Phil Esposito has news for you.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t pick Brent Gretzky just to sell tickets,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;We did this because my feeling is Brent Gretzky was by far the most talented player in the OHL last year.&ldquo;This kid can play. Not like his brother. Nobody can play like that. I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;ll ever see another one like him. But Brent can do a lot of the same things Wayne does. He sees the ice well, just like Wayne does and he makes those beautiful passes. He has that gift. That Gretzky gift.&rdquo;Esposito isn&rsquo;t the only one who is high on Gretzky. One team&rsquo;s head scout said he was one of the steals of the draft.Like his older brother, Brent plans to play a finesse game, making plays and setting himself up for scoring opportunities.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to be a physical player,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not my style.&rdquo;And it may never be. At 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds, Gretzky has a build that, like his brother&rsquo;s, appears a bit frail. That led every team in the league to pass on him during last year&rsquo;s draft. But he has been working out with weights to build up strength.&ldquo;I knew I had to get stronger physically after last year and I still have more work to do in that area,&rdquo; he said.Gretzky had 43 goals and 121 points this past season. Esposito is hoping he can add some offense to the lineup.Gretzky, meanwhile, is just hoping for an opportunity to play against his legendary brother.&ldquo;He has been running from me for 11 years,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;I just want to take one good shift against him.&rdquo;EXTRA HELP: The Lightning beefed up its offense, its blue line and its power play when it signed a couple of Hartford Whaler castoffs to multiyear contracts July 9.The Lightning signed speedy left winger Mikael Andersson and defenseman Marc Bergevin, both of whom were unrestricted free agents.Andersson, who has spent most of his career on checking lines, said he hoped the move to Tampa Bay would give him a chance to show off more of his offensive talents.&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve played long enough on a checking line,&rdquo; said Andersson, who scored a career-high 18 goals and 29 assists last season. &ldquo;I would like the chance to play on the first or second line.&rdquo;Bergevin, who would have been a Group II free agent had the Whalers offered him a contract, said he was stunned they let him get away for nothing.&ldquo;You would think that they would have offered me a contract just so that they could have got something in return,&rdquo; he said.NOTEBOOK: Manon Rheaume. who gained international recognition last winter when she became the first female goaltender to play in a junior game, apparently has accepted an invitation to attend Tampa Bay&rsquo;s training camp. &ldquo;I am a girl who likes challenges,&rdquo; Rheaume told Le Journal de Montreal. &ldquo;I really shouldn&rsquo;t miss an opportunity like this.&rdquo;Rheaume, who helped lead Canada to the 1992 Women&rsquo;s World Championships, said her ultimate goal is to represent Canada&rsquo;s women&rsquo;s team at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Norway-if women&rsquo;s hockey is accepted as a sport. &#9632;

He’s not Wayne but the Gretzky is a good one

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011376/6221093-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="359" height="467"></div>Finally, Eric Lindros will get what he has wanted all along-a room of his own. After years of sharing living space in Toronto with younger brother Brett. Lindros is on his way to Philadelphia.Eric challenged more than the laws of the NHL when he refused to report to the Quebec Nordiques. He and Brett, a highly touted hockey-playing 16-year-old, challenged the laws of physics by cramming nearly 13 feet and 450 pounds into their bedroom.Lindros will sleep easier next season knowing he finally has a team. So will the NHL&hellip;for now. Only the coming years will tell if other young men will enter the NHL with dreams of deciding their own fate. Small-market teams pray not.Lindros is the first player in the game&rsquo;s history to possess just the right combination of skill, courage and stubbomess to meet the NHL on his terms, not theirs. Concern should not be great the entry draft process is about to collapse because of one extraordinary man. The confrontation may have seemed destructive but the points of view were instructive.The player: freedom of choice is not a revolutionary concept. Nobody tells a lawyer where he has to practise. The league: players are compensated handsomely for respecting certain rules that maintain order. Lawyers don&rsquo;t need other lawyers to practise in a league.Ultimately, though, this lawyer stood by his convictions, withstood incredible cross-examination and won his case. I do not agree with everything Lindros has said and done this season but I do agree he has the right to choose his own road to the NHL. He happened to choose the road less travelled by.Gil Stein has adopted the same leadership style as that of the late Bart Giamatti. Giamatti brought a passion for baseball to the commissioner&rsquo;s office before his death in 1989.Stein is demonstrating the same joy for hockey. That may seem evidence of an effort to distance himself from John Ziegler&rsquo;s administration-one more passionate about bucks than pucks.But Stein says he is just being himself. That he is a fan, first and foremost, and not the anti-Ziegler. People who know the ex-president say he got a bad rap, anyway. They say he watched lots of hockey&hellip;on television. Cynics insist that is impossible in the United States. (See story on page 5.)Stein said he is a man of action during an interview at The Hockey News. He appears to be that but it would help, also, if he were a man of asking. Stein is doing the right thing by making himself available to the press all over North America but he would get more out of the process if he came armed with questions as well as answers.One of our favorite persons has decided to take a break from THN. Dave Elston&rsquo;s work will no longer appear on the editorial page, much to our disappointment but surely to the relief of those lampooned by the Calgary cartoonist.Elston, 33, plans to pursue other professional interests after a seven-year run with THN-during which time he established himself as the hockey world&rsquo;s pre-eminent cartoonist. He will continue to appear in the Calgary Sun.Our cartoons will now be done by several artists, including Rob MacDougall of Oakville, Ont., whose first effort is on page 6. His work has appeared previously in THN and Inside HOCKEY.Thanks for the memories, Elston.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021119/6221086-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="343" height="345"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eric Lindros did things his own way during a turbulent season of confrontation with the NHL. (Photo by steve somerville)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Lindros sets precedent but NHL need not panic

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-07199/6221131-1-eng-US/f0002-072.jpg" title="f0002-07" width="348" height="347"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03810/6221159-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="53" height="43"></div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04590/6221152-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="52" height="41"></div>Gil Stein. If nothing else, the president-elect&rsquo;s world tour keeps hockey in the news during the summer.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-05432/6221145-1-eng-US/f0002-052.jpg" title="f0002-05" width="57" height="43"></div>Central League. The game&rsquo;s return to such markets as Dallas and Tulsa was long overdue.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-06313/6221138-1-eng-US/f0002-062.jpg" title="f0002-06" width="53" height="45"></div>THN, We took a dive when we cheered the OHL&rsquo;s diving penalty. The proposed rule was recently scrapped.</div><div style="clear: both;"></div>No organ transplant. We have accepted a new Chicago Stadium but surely the famous organ can be part of it.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-08101/6221124-1-eng-US/f0002-082.jpg" title="f0002-08" width="331" height="245"></div> &#9632;

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CHEERS & JEERS

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0004-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011546/6221249-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Ricci, above, was the key player for Quebec, who also got Steve Duchesne, left, and Ron Hextall. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption></div>After a fretful year of cajoling, pleading, begging and finally surrendering the rights to Eric Lindros, the Quebec Nordiques held what had to be the most expensive auction in the history of professional sports.And when arbitrator Larry Bertuzzi&rsquo;s gavel came down June 30, the Nordiques had become a much richer team, both on and off the ice.Still, examining the deal closely, and considering what other teams reportedly offered, you have to wonder whether the Nordiques could have done better.They certainly feel they could have. By their own admission, they believe they had consummated a better deal with the New York Rangers. The only problem is, Bertuzzi ruled the Nordiques had struck a legitimate deal with the Philadelphia Flyers first.But that&rsquo;s another story. (See page 4.)To review: the Nordiques got veteran goalie Ron Hextall; a proven offensive defenseman in Steve Duchesne; third-year center Mike Ricci; defenseman Kerry Huffman; highly regarded forward prospect Peter Forsberg; a first-round pick next season; a future draft pick and $15 million.The Rangers reportedly agreed to part with goalie John Vanbiesbrouck (or defenseman James Patrick if Vanbiesbrouck was ruled a free agent), forwards Tony Amonte, Doug Weight and Alexei Kovalev, three I first-round draft picks and I $12 million.&ldquo;We drew a line going I into the negotiations,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; general I manager Russ Farwell. I &ldquo;It has been proven lately that a dominant player is the key to a successful year.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s why the names of players such as Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov, Brian Leetch and Jeremy Roenick invariably surfaced when Lindros trade I rumors circulated. That&rsquo;s also why it was surprising the Flyers were in the running, since they did not have a true marquee player to put in the package.Even more surprisingly, they didn&rsquo;t even have to give up one of their two best players-right winger Mark Recchi or center Rod Brin&rsquo;Amour.And when you consider a team that has not qualified for the playoffs for three consecutive seasons did not have to do so, you have to wonder if the price for Lindros was all that hefty.Of course, it all hinges upon how the teen star actually develops; whether he turns out to be as good as some people have projected.&ldquo;If he turns out to be a franchise player, he&rsquo;s worth it,&rdquo; said New Jersey Devils&rsquo; vice-president Max McNab. &ldquo;I think the Flyers and their fans will be more patient than the Rangers. You get a cornerstone like him, and you build around him. But it takes quite a while to build.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-021384/6221242-1-eng-US/f0004-022.jpg" title="f0004-02" width="570" height="863"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-031162/6221235-1-eng-US/f0004-032.jpg" title="f0004-03" width="601" height="876"></div>Here&rsquo;s who was sent to Quebec, with their statistics from last season in parentheses. (For their reactions to the trade, see page 45.)1. Mike Ricci, C, 20 (20-36-56, 78 games): The Flyers hated to part with Ricci and he may well become a dominant player with the Nordiques, assuming they don&rsquo;t trade him to Edmonton for Vincent Damphousse. He is the kind of &ldquo;gamer&rdquo; Quebec has lacked since trading Dale Hunter to Washington in 1987. He&rsquo;s an honest player, willing to take a hit to make a play, and has tremendous leadership skills.Ricci has not emerged as a big scorer but tragic circumstances-his father passed away this summer after a lengthy illness-and skating shortcomings have hampered his development.&rdquo;2. Peter Forsberg, C, 19 (9-19-28, 38 games): The Flyers have talked a good game on Forsberg&rsquo;s behalf since taking him sixth overall in 1991.The Swedish center is said to possess a deft offensive touch and is willing to play a physical style, too (he had 78 penalty minutes for MoDo of the Swedish League). Nice scouting reports but a long way from a sure thing.3. Ron Hextall, G, 28 (16-21-6, 3.40 GAA): The Flyers have been trying to trade Hextall for the past three years. But the combination of his salary ($735,000 U.S.), reputation and health problems conspired to make him virtually untradeable.When he&rsquo;s good, there are few better. The problem is, he hasn&rsquo;t been consistently good for almost four years. Hextall has not lost his ability to handle the puck and kick-start an offense but his ability to stop the puck is not what it used to be and that is the ultimate test of a goalie.Assuming his recurring groin-muscle problems-and his temper-are under control, Hextall should be an asset.4. Steve Duchesne, D, 27 (18-38-56, 7s&rdquo;games): The Philadelphia media voted Duchesne the winner of the Barry Ashbee Award this past season as the club&rsquo;s best defenseman but that isn&rsquo;t saying much.Although blessed with ample offensive skills, Duchesne does not play a physical game. His statistics were hollow; he was unable to quarterback the power play and it took all of about two months for the club to figure out there was no way he was going to be offered a $1-million contract as he expected.5. Kerry Huffman, D,24 (14-18-32, 60 games) Huffman has been one of the most enigmatic players with the Flyers over the past five years.He appeared to be a rising star when he broke into the NHL as an 18-year-old in 1987-88 but a thigh injury halted his progress.Since then, he has fallen short of expectations and left the team for a short time during the 1990-91 season due to a lack of playing time.He showed some mental toughness by returning to the minor leagues and earned a regular spot on the club with a strong training camp last fall, eventually turning into a solid performer.<h2>Chapter II: The Contract</h2>While nobody expects the Eric Lindros/Philadelphia Flyer negotiations to be as long and painful an affair as the Quebec Nordique saga, they were dragging on through mid-July.Just how much the 19-year-old is asking for isn&rsquo;t clear but one thing is certain: he will sign the most lucrative rookie deal in NHL history-probably cracking the top five in the NHL. There were reports Lindros would demand a $20-million four-year contract but he said that is outrageous. &ldquo;I won&rsquo;t ask for that kind of money, that&rsquo;s ridiculous.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was offered $55 million over 10 years by Quebec and I turned it down.&rdquo;The following list is based on figures made available by the NHL Players Association, with the addition of some bonus clauses.<h3>TOP TEN</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-04953/6221228-1-eng-US/f0004-042.jpg" title="f0004-04" width="426" height="207"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-05773/6221221-1-eng-US/f0004-052.jpg" title="f0004-05" width="413" height="209"></div> &#9632;

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Taking a Flyer…or Five

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden and Mike Ulmer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011459/6221280-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The NHL wants to give stars such as Mario Lemieux a chance to shine.</figcaption></div>The sound and the fury of a league in transition this summer is the NHL facing up to its biggest challenges. And none is more vexing than the absence of a network television contract in the United States, President-elect Gil Stein has made rectifying that situation his highest priority.&ldquo;My target is (that) we&rsquo;ll have our stars on network television somewhere, somehow and get it started in 1993-94,&rdquo; Stein said July 7 during an interview at The Hockey News offices in Toronto. Towards that end, a U.S. broadcast negotiating committee was formed under the joint auspices of Stein and chairman of the board Bruce McNall. Its mandate is to increase exposure of NHL broadcasts in the United States.The NHL has not been seen regularly on U.S. network television since 1975 and has just completed a much-criticized, four-year arrangement with SportsChannel America. It yielded $56.5 million for the NHL, including just $5.5 million for a one-year extension that carried through the past season. In comparison, the National Basketball Association received $230 million in 1991-92 alone.For a league suffering from NBA-envy, that is a bitter pill to swallow. In part because of TV frustrations, the NHL is considering rule changes that would permit the game&rsquo;s skill players to better demonstrate their talents. League general managers and governors will decide in late August whether to introduce rules that would heavily penalize &ldquo;unacceptableaggression&rdquo;&mdash;most prominently fighting, excessive stickwork, cheap shots and hitting from behind. Fighting is the public focal point and rule changes under consideration could lead to expulsion for players who fight.&ldquo;The reason we&rsquo;re concerned whether (fighting is) interfering with network television.&rdquo; Stein said, &ldquo;is because the growth onto network television represents everything that&rsquo;s good for hockey, everything we should aspire to. We need more reach, we need more respectability, we need the best image the sport can have.&rdquo;Stein is not alone in the suspicion fighting is harming hockey&rsquo;s image. But is it limiting the NHL&rsquo;s appeal to the NBC. CBS, ABC and Fox television networks? That is hard to judge, although NHL vice-president (broadcasting) Joel Nixon said in a telephone interview July 13 no network executive had ever told him fighting was an impediment to TV acceptance. A more tangible concern has been whether a high enough percentage of local affiliates would pick up hockey games to justify putting it on the network.The NHL has never had start-to-finish coverage of a season by a major U.S. network and would probably begin by aiming for three to four regular-season games in February and March, plus some post-season games. Timing for a TV breakthrough could be on the NHL&rsquo;s side. The networks have taken a beating in sports programming in recent years and may be looking for cheaper buys than those represented by Major League baseball, the National Football League and the NBA. Additionally, hockey has always had good demographics, attracting a young, upscale audience-the kind, for instance, Fox has pursued so aggressively. A meeting was arranged between the NHL and Fox.Under Stein&rsquo;s leadership, the NHL is approaching the broadcast industry with renewed vigor. Broadcast committee members are Stein, McNall, New York Rangers&rsquo; governor Stanley Jaffe, New York Islanders&rsquo; president Jack Krurnpe, Madison Square Garden president Bob Gutkowski and Spectacor West president Joe Cohen.Stein and McNall are optimistic a television package can be worked out because of a widening geographical presence in the U.S. &ldquo;It could be exposure on ESPN or network or a combination but I think the possibility is good, in large part because we are expanding into California and Florida,&rdquo; McNall said in a July 8 telephone interview. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ve got a better chance because the other sports are so pricey.&rdquo;The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; owner is in favor of rule changes that would make the game more marketing-friendly, including those aimed at reducing the incidence of fighting and excessive stickwork. Others share McNall&rsquo;s vision of the on-ice product, including Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; owner Howard Baldwin. He wants the board of governors to adopt a six-point proposal that would do everything from penalizing aggressors in fights with expulsion to establishing five-minute majors as the minimum penalty for cross-checking, butt-ending, high sticking, slashing and spearing to making those who commit holding and hooking infractions remaining in the penalty box for the full two minutes of their penalties.Stein is anxious for the NHL to exploit not only North Anerican opportunities but overseas options as well-pointing to European and Asian markets that could provide TV and merchandising revenue. &ldquo;We have a long way to go in international (marketing) to get up to speed but we need to get there quickly,&rdquo; Stem said. &ldquo;It can&rsquo;t be a slow process because it&rsquo;s very fruitful now.&rdquo;The internationalism of hockey, which includes playing games in Europe, has domestic implications, too, witness the impact of the U.S. Olympic basketball squad-a dream team of NBA players. It has represented a publicity bonanza for the league. Both Stein and McNall would like to investigate the possibility of shutting down the NHL during the 1994 Winter Olympic Games. &ldquo;I like the idea (of a mid-season Olympic break), I think it would be a great thing,&rdquo; McNall said. &ldquo;Gil and I have discussed it and he thinks it would be a great idea. Now the question is, how does the Players&rsquo; Association feel about it? And how would the owners feel about a break in the season and the effect on revenues?&rdquo;Stein has only been promised a short-term role as league leader but he has vowed to keep the league moving forward. The presidentelect said he is contemplating changes to the NHL infrastructure and did not rule out moves before the 1992-93 season starts. One new post apparently in the works is that of hockey lieutenant. That person, who would work closely with the commissioner, could be responsible for such matters as rules and regulations, officiating policy, player development and discipline. &ldquo;As far as needing someone who&rsquo;s really a hockey person to run the hockey operation. I think we need it, I think we have needed it and I think I will have it,&rdquo; Stein said. McNall mentioned somebody with the expertise of NHL vice-president (hockey operations) Jim Gregory would be a candidate for that kind of job.The NHL has enlisted the services of headhunting firm to conduct the search for a new commissioner-as the position of president will become known when John Ziegler&rsquo;s term ends Sept. 30&mdash;but McNall said, &ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t a huge rush.&rdquo; He said Stein is doing &ldquo;a great job&rdquo; and added the 64-year-old president-elect could be a candidate. &ldquo;(His) age is certainly a factor,&rdquo; McNall said, &ldquo;but isn&rsquo;t as important as the work. If he can do the job and everybody is happy, he&rsquo;ll certainly be a candidate. Or it might be that a change is made regardless.&rdquo; &#9632;

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NHL begins all-out offensive for TV deal

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>In Eric Lindros&rsquo; first media conference after his trade from Quebec to Philadelphia, one reporter took it upon herself to tell the teen, &ldquo;the people of Quebec are pretty pi---- off right now.&rdquo;If that was the case. Lindros said, I can echo that&rdquo;It&rsquo;s safe to say the Nordiques and the Lindroses won&rsquo;t be exchanging Christmas cards in the foreseeable future. But at a news conference in Toronto just hours after arbitrator Larry Bertuzzi&rsquo;s decision June 30, Lindros refused to slag the organization that held onto his draft rights for more than a year and then traded him to two teams in one day.When asked by the same reporter how he would respond to Quebecers, Lindros said: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry it didn&rsquo;t work out. It had nothing to do with Quebec. I was concerned with the ownership and its lack of winning spirit.&rdquo;Bertuzzi&rsquo;s decision to award Lindros&rsquo; rights to the Flyers came 10 days after the trade was made. It took five days of testimony to sort out a messy dispute that included the Nordiques, Flyers and New York Rangers. Nordique president Marcel Aubut traded Lindros to the Rangers, Bertuzzi ruled, after he had already made an enforceable deal with the Flyers.The trade to Philadelphia represented a vindication for the talented teen, who has been the target of much criticism. Although the Flyers would not have been Lindros&rsquo; first choice, he indicated he was thrilled about his new destination.&ldquo;It has been a long 15 months,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My bags are packed and it feels great. I&rsquo;m happy I&rsquo;m in Philadelphia.&rdquo;Bertuzzi said a phone call was the key to his decision. All along. Aubut had refused to allow teams to talk to Lindros until a deal had been reached. So when Aubut supplied the Flyers with the number of the Lindros family cottage June 20. that was enough for the Flyers to assume there was a deal.Aubut later told Lindros&rsquo; agent Rick Curran his client had been traded to the Flyers. When Aubut came to the Flyers&rsquo; hotel suite about a half hour before the draft to ask how things had turned out, Snider gave him a thumbs up.However, the Rangers and Nordiques finalized a deal for Lindros about 10 minutes later and at noon, Aubut informed the Flyers that he was accepting the Rangers&rsquo; deal.&ldquo;Aubut&rsquo;s strategy worked very well,&rdquo; Bertuzzi said. &ldquo;He used his considerable skills as a negotiator to extract from his fellow club owners and general managers the best they had to offer in a determined attempt to help the Quebec Nordiques for now and for many years to come,&rdquo;Bertuzzi said future considerations owed to the Nordiques-which will replace the 1992 first-round choice that was originally in the deal-will not include any roster players. Bertuzzi gave the two sides until July 17 to come up with an agreement. &#9632;

No parting shots from relieved Lindros

I would like to know who the so-called hockey experts were that voted in the Top of the Pups survey (THN, June 26).How can Jeremy Roenick (rated third) not be die best young player in the NHL?He is a great two-way player who has averaged more than one goal every two games so far in his career, including 53 this year.Jaromir Jagr, who tied for first with Eric Lindros, is a fine offensive player with great skills and dazzling moves. But defensively, he isn&rsquo;t even close to J.R.If Roenick, who has some pretty nifty moves of his own, played with the best player on the planet and didn&rsquo;t have to carry the Blackhawks, his numbers would have been even better this season. Jagr wasn&rsquo;t even among the Penguins top three forwards until Mark Recchi was traded.Lindros, meanwhile, will be a fine NHL player but I don&rsquo;t believe he&rsquo;ll be as effective as Jeremy Roenick.Bob Sanks,Des Plaines, III.<h2>Quit whining</h2>You whining sissies (Steve Dryden and gang) are proof the minority cries the loudest.Two popular hockey magazines took surveys of their readers and found the majority enjoys fighting as part of the game and doesn&rsquo;t want to see it banned. When a fight breaks out, I don&rsquo;t see fans turning their backs or booing. I see quite the opposite.Is it just a coincidence enforcers are the most popular players with the fans? What about the 19,000-plus who showed up at Detroit&rsquo;s Joe Louis Arena to see the rematch between Bob Probert and Troy Crowder? It just happened, for that day, it was the bigger part of the game. So just who is THN speaking for?I&rsquo;m also tired of Whining Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s anti-fighting crusade. He says fighting is preventing the NHL from getting a major TV deal in the United States but anyone can see that hockey, unfortunately, is a regional game.Mario Kremzar,Wallingford, Conn.<h2>Dynasties live</h2>Once again, THN&rsquo;s fortune-telling staff is a little off with its predictions. It looks as though dynasties aren&rsquo;t a thing of the past after all (THN, May 8).And it seemed like such a safe bet at the time, what with the Pittsburgh Penguins down three games to one in the first round against the Washington Capitals.I think I will go out on a limb and bet the meaner, leaner Penguins will be on the ice for the Stanley Cup finals again next year.Clifford Anderson,Prince Rupert, B.C.<h2>Face the nation</h2>As an avid reader of The Hockey News since the early 1970s, I have come to rely on your publication for its accuracy. But I noticed a glaring error in your recent NHL Draft Preview &rsquo;92 issue.On page 22, Alexander Alexeyev is said to hail from, &ldquo;Kiev, Russia.&rdquo; In case you have been sequestered under a rock for quite some time, Kiev is the capital city of a newly independent Ukraine, a country with nearly 53 million inhabitants.I need not remind you of the sizeable Ukranian-Canadian population who no doubt consider such innocent blunders to be offensive.Hilary J. Cholhan, M.D.Rochester, N. Y.<h2>Changes needed</h2>Damien Cox&rsquo;s May 22 column should be required reading for the NHL&rsquo;s hierarchy. His ideas on making the regular season more meaningful are perfect and are needed in the NHL.How can the league justify letting teams such as Buffalo. Hartford and Minnesota in the playoffs when Calgary finishes with as many or more points and doesn&rsquo;t qualify?Follow a National Basketball Association-style format, as Cox suggests, and the regular and post-seasons will be a lot more exciting.Ken Parkin,Powell River, B.C.<h2>Pat on the back</h2>Pat Bums leaving the Montreal Canadiens a &ldquo;cop out&rdquo;?I&rsquo;ve learned something in my eight years as a Canadiens&rsquo; fan: their coaches are under incredible media pressure to win the Stanley Cup. Anything else is considered failure.Bums did a fantastic job with the Habs, keeping them competitive while key players such as Patrick Roy and Guy Carbormeau were out with injuries. Other teams would have wilted under similar circumstances.The Canadiens&rsquo; loss is the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; gain.Ron Alama,North Woodmere, N. Y.Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 445-0753&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, Ont., M3B 2R2&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

Hawks’ Roenick is NHL’s top dog

<div class="byline">By Brent Hurst</div><h2>Nightmarish new teams</h2>NHL expansion for fans in Ottawa and Tampa Bay may be a dream come true, but if recent history is any indication they&rsquo;ll likely watch a nightmare unfold this season.Of the last seven expansion teams, only Atlanta and Buffalo have topped 60 points in their first years.Here&rsquo;s how the teams fared:<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021118/6221404-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="591" height="349"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03714/6221397-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="552" height="724"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brendan Shanahan</figcaption></div><h2>Free agents paying off</h2>Big-name free agent signees such as Brendan Shanahan have had an immediate impact on their new teams.Here&rsquo;s a look at how the four most significant free agents of recent years-Shanahan, Dave Christian, Scott Stevens, and Brian Propp-have fared before and after changing teams.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04441/6221390-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="588" height="392"></div> &#9632;

f0006-02

LISTS

<div class="byline">By Rand Simon</div>The NHL Players&rsquo; Association re-confirmed its executive at its annual summer meetings June 27-28 in St. Petersburg, Fla.President Bryan Trottier received a new two-year term and vice-presidents Andy Moog, Ryan Walter, Mike Gartner and Doug Wilson were also re-confirmed.The main purpose of the meetings was for the association to update its members on the status of arbitration with the NHL over what constitutes the average players&rsquo; salary and to detail the NHLPA&rsquo;s licensing program.Executive director Bob Goodenow did not need to be re-confirmed at the meetings. His contract with the NHLPA runs through the end of next season.The meetings were attended by about 40 player representatives and alternates and the NHLPA&rsquo;s legal staff.<h2>Mighty Quinn</h2>Former Philadelphia Ryer Dan Quinn won the Isuzu Celebrity Golf Championship in Stateline, Nev., July 12.Quinn, who was released by the Flyers in June, sank a 60-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole en route to a one-stroke victory. Quinn finished the 54-hole tournament at 213, three under par. Defending champion Rick Rhoden-a former Major League baseball pitcher-and Dick Anderson-a former National Football League defensive back-finished tied for second. Quinn, now a free agent, won $75,000.Pittsburgh Penguin Mario Lemieux had a total of 226. Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Tom Barrasso and St. Louis Blue Brett Hull each finished at 235.<h2>Central coaches</h2>All six teams in the revived Central League will be coached by ex-NHL players.Only the Wichita Thunder, which was expected to appoint Joe Paterson, hadn&rsquo;t officially named a coach by July 13.The other coaches: Ron Flockhart (Dallas Freeze), Pete Mahovlich (Fort Worth Fire), Steve Carlson (Memphis RiverKings), Mike McEwen (Oklahoma City Blazers) and Garry Unger (Tulsa Oilers).<h2>Golden choice</h2>Cory Cross, a defenseman from the University of Alberta Golden Bears was chosen by the Tampa Bay Lightning with the first pick in the supplemental draft June 19. He scored three goals and 10 assists in 39 games and had 76 penalty minutes.The other selections were: 2. Ottawa, Steve Flomenhoft, Harvard (Eastern College Athletic Conference); 3. San Jose, Brian Konowalchuk, Denver (Western Collegiate Hockey Association); 4. Quebec, Rich Shulmistra, Miami (Central Collegiate Hockey Association); 5. Toronto, Nick Wohlers, St. Thomas Jr. B; 6. Calgary, James O&rsquo;Brien. Brown (ECAC); 7. Philadelphia, Garrett MacDonald, Northern Michigan (WCHA); 8. New York Islanders. Chris Foy, Northeastern (Hockey East). &#9632;

Trottier remains president

<div class="byline">By Larry Humber</div>It&rsquo;s a given that the expansion Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators are going to be bad next season.Just how ghastly they&rsquo;re going to be is of concern to Las Vegas bet-shop operators, people whose livelihood depends on such things.Shop operators took a beating on last year&rsquo;s newcomers, the San Jose Sharks, and they have taken steps to ensure there isn&rsquo;t a repeat of that fiasco.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011485/6221459-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="692" height="745"><figcaption class="caption-body">Vegas bet shops lost big time on David Bruce and the San Jose Sharks.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;The Sharks were so pitiful, it didn&rsquo;t matter what odds we put up,&rdquo; said Jay Kornegay, who calls the shots at the Imperial Palace sports book. &ldquo;They were getting beat by touchdowns.&rdquo;It got so bad that many Vegas establishments refused to deal Sharks&rsquo; games for a while. Now, the word is they&rsquo;ll pass on Lightning and Senator games until those teams prove they&rsquo;re more than whipping boys. That may take months but it&rsquo;s better for shop operators to lay low than to get hammered day after day.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s never a good idea to book something if you don&rsquo;t know what to expect,&rdquo; Kornegay said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s better to keep it off the board until you get a feel for it.&rdquo;If he was forced to come up with some kind of line, Kornegay said he&rsquo;d make either Ottawa or Tampa Bay about a 4 1/2-goal underdog to the NHL&rsquo;s top teams, such as the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins.&ldquo;They&rsquo;d probably still bet Pittsburgh at that price,&rdquo; Kornegay said.The only time either team is likely to appear on Vegas betting boards in the near future is when they face off against each other. Kornegay joked that the showdown between the two will probably end up in a tie.Las Vegas odds against the Lightning or Senators taking the Cup are l,500-to-1.As for the seasoned Sharks, they&rsquo;re at 500-to-1. &#9632;

f0007-01

All bets are off for expansion teams

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div>For those of you who expected the new and relatively more lenient rules regarding free agency to cause a swap shop of players among teams in the NHL, wait a while longer.As the summer drags into August, it is unlikely there will be the sort of activity which will cause huge headlines.In fact, even with the looser ties that bind a player to a team, it was never likely this summer would produce the blockbuster maneuvers such as the Scott Stevens to St. Louis and then to New Jersey bomb shells of previous summers.&ldquo;There hasn&rsquo;t been much movement yet, that&rsquo;s correct,&rdquo; said Sam Simpson, the director of operations of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, &ldquo;but generally things start heating up at the end of July. If you even go back to last summer, it was late in the summer things started moving.&ldquo;Also this summer, maybe there aren&rsquo;t the same big-name type players available. A guy like Andy Moog-he would have been a free agent but he signed a deal (before the summer.)&rdquo;There was one significant free-agent signing July 13 when Group I free agent Rob Zamuner signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Zamuner received a three-year, one-way deal for $925,000, which could set a standard for players at his performance level. He had one goal and two assists in nine NHL games and had 19 goals and 72 points in 61 American League games with the Binghamton Rangers.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-02996/6221490-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="703" height="1004"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Leetch is a free agent but he&rsquo;ll likely be back with the New York Rangers.</figcaption></div>As a Group I free agent, Zamuner had the option of choosing either equalization (players and/or draft picks) or compensation (draft picks) to be received by his former team, the New York Rangers. Since Zamuner chose equalization, the Rangers did not have the right to match Tampa Bay&rsquo;s contract offer. The Rangers and Lightning had 48 hours after the signing to work out compensation or submit their proposals to an arbitrator.As the summer moved past mid-July, the free agent parade had a few minor movements as defenseman Gord Roberts moved from Pittsburgh to Boston and Mikael Andersson went from Hartford to Tampa Bay. There was one big-name headliner as Edmonton defenseman Dave Manson was offered a multi-million dollar deal by Washington. The Manson transaction is a clear example of how the new type of Group II free agents would be more able to move.Under the previous rules, players between 24 and 30 who were signed to big contract could have cost a team five first-round picks, as was the case when St. Louis signed Stevens.Instead, the Capitals-who still have three first-round picks left from the Stevens deal with the Blues-would have lost three first-round picks had Edmonton not elected to match the offer.Premier players who are still available in that Group II listing are defenseman Brian Leetch and goaltender Mike Richter of the New York Rangers; goaltender Kirk McLean of Vancouver, defenseman Glen Wesley of Boston; and defenseman Steve Duchesne of Quebec.Leetch is represented by Athletes and Artists, the same management group which represents Kevin Stevens, the Penguins&rsquo; star who was in the same situation last summer. In Stevens&rsquo; case, it was the old rules of five first-round picks as compensation, and even at that price the Bruins gave Stevens an offer sheet which was matched by Pittsburgh.&ldquo;I think word gets around that clubs are going to match offers,&rdquo; said Leetch&rsquo;s agent, Jay Grossman, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s hard to tell right now. We&rsquo;ll see what happens as we get deeper into negotiations (with the Rangers) and deeper into the summer.&rdquo;One of the reasons it is early is because the NHL and NHLPA are still in the process of determining the figure which is the league average. The NHL has contended it is $233,900 while the NHLPA uses the figure $379,000-a figure used by the league during negotiations for a collective bargaining agreement.Much of the confusion has to do with deferred money and bonuses and after the NHL contended that playoff money was included in a standard contract during the players&rsquo; strike, the league is going to have a difficult time excluding that pool of money in these arguments.This &ldquo;average salary&rdquo; figure affects several players-most notably Rangers&rsquo; goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, who contend they are players with 10 years of experience and earning less than the league average, which would make them free agents without compensation once in their careers.NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow and NHL president-elect Gil Stein have agreed to have the figure determined by an independent arbitrator. That decision should be handed down by early August. &#9632;

f0007-02

New rules fail to spur signing binge

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011554/6221521-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="361" height="453"></div>A friend called Bruce McNall to congratulate him on becoming chairman of the NHL&rsquo;s board of governors. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ve got it wrong,&rdquo; laughed the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; owner. &ldquo;Send condolences.&rdquo;He will get neither from me; just some pointed questions about prickly issues McNall must solve if the NHL is to cross into a brave new world.THN: What are the most pressing problems you face?McNall: Overall, the situation of credibility and under that category, getting a good U.S. broadcast deal. We have to expose this game to as many people as we can. We have to have rules that will help the sale of the sport. The collective bargaining agreement is critical and must be addressed. And we have to find a commissioner as soon as possible and get the best man we can find.THN: If you were picking a commissioner, what kind would he be?McNall: A people-person salesman who understands media and merchandising. We&rsquo;re in a marketing era. I&rsquo;m a close friend of (National Basketball Association commissioner) David Stem&rsquo;s but I&rsquo;m also a big fan and I&rsquo;d like to see someone as close to him as our choice.THN: How did you ever wind up with the chairman&rsquo;s job?McNall: I keep asking myself that: &lsquo;What happened?&rsquo; I was surprised because I got support from all sides of the spectrum and not necessarily people who agree with me. They said, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re the sort of person we want.&rsquo; I looked around the room and saw a lot of influential, successful people who&rsquo;ve been around the NHL a long time. To find myself as chairman is intimidating-also an honor-and causes a fair amount of pressure because I don&rsquo;t want to let them down.THN: How long will it take to convert the NHL&rsquo;s image from negative to positive?McNall: We can do it quickly. Take John Ziegler&rsquo;s case. Perception became everything. One of the things the NHL never recognized, oddly enough, was the media. Why be closed? Why play games? Why not come out and be more open and let them know what&rsquo;s going on? One of the reasons they wanted me in this job is that I&rsquo;m open. Maybe I&rsquo;m too open.THN: Is peace possible between owners and the players&rsquo; union?McNall: Oh, yeah. I want to get players to buy in to the idea that for the long-term health of everybody that somehow a revenue-sharing situation has to happen. What I mean is revenue-sharing between players and owners. A salary cap is mandatory. Rather than calling it a cap, I call it a percentage of revenue-sharing-a partnership. It works in the film industry.THN: What about revenue-sharing among teams?McNall: Other sports do it automatically because they have so many more broadcast dollars. For them it&rsquo;s not a big issue. In the case of hockey, there&rsquo;s such small TV dollars it&rsquo;s much more difficult. In the long run, we ought to try to develop more league-wide revenues. In the short run, we have to look to where we can provide new revenue that doesn&rsquo;t presently exist.THN: What are the chances of getting the NHL on U.S. network TV?McNall: It&rsquo;ll take time but I think it can happen. If it doesn&rsquo;t happen that way we can come close to equalling it with either a combination of cable systems or ESPN or equivalent networking of SportsChannel, Prime Network, USA and MSG to accomplish the goals, not unlike what happens in baseball or basketball.THN: What are the chances of catching the NBA in popularity?McNall: They&rsquo;re a long way ahead. In time we can become competitive again. One way to be competitive with any successful business that&rsquo;s similar is to do it their way. If Michael Jordan were treated in the same way as Gretzky or Lemieux, the NBA would not have an easy time selling its sport. The NBA has effectively marketed its stars and makes certain the stars are allowed to perform in a way that shows their ability and skills of the game to its utmost extent. I&rsquo;m sure if they doubleteamed Michael Jordan every time he came down the court, the other team might win the games but it&rsquo;s not going to be very interesting.THN: What&rsquo;s your view on the fighting issue?McNall: As owner of the Kings, I prefer to see fighting gone. From the chairman&rsquo;s viewpoint, the question is how it helps or hurts us market our sport. Some say it helps fill seats. Others say it hurts. We&rsquo;re going to have to sit down and quantify that.THN: Can you think of a couple of words that sum up what went wrong in recent years?McNall: A lack of unity and trust. From A to Z, players and owners and teams treated each other-their own partners-without trust on all levels. It was everyone out for himself. Not thinking of the common good. &#9632;

f0008-01

Chairman McNall vows to be forthright

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div>Finnish hockey authorities say they have been approached by NHL officials about long-range plans for an NHL team in Helsinki. Meanwhile, the International Ice Hockey Federation is becoming more alarmed about NHL designs on Europe. The IIHF only recently recognized the NHL as a competitor and has formed its first marketing committee. Gil Miller, an American sports-TV executive who frequently deals with European teams says anti-NHL animosity has grown among Scandinavian teams. &ldquo;They don&rsquo;t want the NHL intruding,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;and they&rsquo;re prepared for a helluva fight.&rdquo;&hellip;Right winger Teemu Selanne, a free agent whose rights are owned by the Winnipeg Jets, will leave Finland on unhappy terms. After leading Jokerit to the Elite League title, Selanne refused to play for Finland in an exhibition series with Sweden. Finnish authorities deemed the exhibition mandatory and Selanne went fishing rather than play. Selanne, the Jets&rsquo; first-round choice in 1988, is being pursued by several teams but the Jets retain the right to match any offer.<h2>Snappy dresser</h2>NHL staffers are amused by the sartorial metamorphosis of president-elect Gil Stein. Before replacing John Ziegler, Stein, who had been the league&rsquo;s vice-president and chief counsel, was notorious for his loosely-fitting un-chic, lawyer-in-court clothes. &ldquo;As soon as Gil became president,&rdquo; a New York league official says, &ldquo;he became a fashion plate overnight.&rdquo; Once elusive, Stein has done another about-face: in the public relations area where he has become eminently available to the media. Insiders believe it&rsquo;s part of Stein&rsquo;s well-thought-out bid for the commissionership. &ldquo;Gil isn&rsquo;t running for the job,&rdquo; says one amused governor, &ldquo;he&rsquo;s galloping.&rdquo; The betting is the 64-year-old won&rsquo;t get it because the league is opting for a younger man&hellip;One NHL source says a Connecticut-based international executive headhunting firm has been making discreet calls nationwide to find candidates for the newly-created commissionership. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re looking for a man who is expert in three areas,&rdquo; a source says, &ldquo;and they are marketing, labor and TV.&rdquo; Although it had been estimated the new commissioner would be named by September, a club president says he expects the process will drag on to the winter.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021216/6221559-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="537" height="584"><figcaption class="caption-body">Retiring jerseys doesn&rsquo;t sit well with former Hab Dickie Moore.</figcaption></div><h2>Going for gold</h2>A general manager&rsquo;s proposal which will reach the discussion table next winter will be for the NHL to take two weeks off for the 1994 Olympics in order to allow professionals to participate&hellip;. Here&rsquo;s a twist; an NHL Hall of Famer who does not want his uniform retired. Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; immortal Dickie Moore told that to his childhood pal Larry Zeidel after the defenseman suggested the Habs should place Moore&rsquo;s No. 12 next to Maurice Richard&rsquo;s No. 9 and Jean Beliveau&rsquo;s No. 4. Dickie told Zeidel, &lsquo;I want to see my number skating around the ice, not in the rafters.&rsquo; &ldquo;<h2>Just say no</h2>Bruce McNall has been acclaimed across the board for his appointment as NHL board chairman but friends say he has a weak spot that must be addressed if he&rsquo;s to function at his best. &ldquo;Bruce&rsquo;s biggest problem,&rdquo; says a fellow board member, &ldquo;is he can&rsquo;t say no to anyone.&rdquo;&hellip;Several owners have turned their attention to another problem they believe is more important than any and that is survival of the less-wealthy franchises. &ldquo;The battle already is on,&rdquo; says one owner. &ldquo;On one side you have the Rangers, Leafs, Blackhawks, Kings, Ryers and Bruins-the wealthy ones-and on the other, you have teams that simply can&rsquo;t throw money around.&rdquo; The key issue, already being debated, is how to create fiscal parity. &ldquo;We must eliminate peaks and valleys,&rdquo; warns a club owner, &ldquo;otherwise we&rsquo;re headed for disaster.&rdquo; The long-range hope of the smaller franchises is some form of gate-sharing.<h2>Eric&rsquo;s not free</h2>Bob Goodenow&rsquo;s non-intervention in the Eric Lindros dispute prompted criticism. &ldquo;He should have said the NHLPA recommends making Lindros a free agent,&rdquo; says a source who has been involved with player negotiations. Goodenow laughs it off and says it was not feasible. &ldquo;His rights belonged to the Nordiques. They attempted to trade his rights but that doesn&rsquo;t make him a free agent. I&rsquo;m not aware of any way we could have legally done it.&rdquo;&hellip;There&rsquo;s grumbling along NHL public relations row over the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; dismissal of publicist Bud Bailey for economic reasons. One club publicist says, &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll pay a player $850,000 but they&rsquo;ll drop someone who&rsquo;s making $30,000 when it&rsquo;s a drop in the ocean.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-03917/6221552-1-eng-US/f0008-032.jpg" title="f0008-03" width="529" height="682"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Goodenow received criticism over the Lindros dispute.</figcaption></div><h2>THE WEEKS IN HOCKEY: JUNE 29-JULY 12</h2>A compendiuin of significant events and developments.June 29: Five days of submissions in a lawsuit between seven former players and the NHL regarding allocation of pension money ends at the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto.June 30: NHL arbitrator Larry Bertuzzi rules the Philadelphia Flyers and Quebec Nordiques made an enforceable trade June 20 that sent the rights to Eric Lindros to Philadelphia for Ron Hextall, Mike Ricci. Kerry Huffinan, Steve Duchesne, Peter Forsberg, a first-round draft choice in 1993, future considerations and $15 million.July 2: Professor Theodore St Antoine of the University of Michigan Law School is appointed an arbitrator to settle outstanding disputes between NHL owners and players.July 3: Edmonton Oilers match the Washington Capitals&rsquo; $4.2 million, four-year offer for defenseman Dave Manson.July 7: Free-agent defenseman Mark Howe signs two-year contract with Detroit Red Wings.July 8: Canada&rsquo;s national junior team loses its head coach when Alain Vigneault of Quebec League&rsquo;s Hull Olympiques is named an assistant coach of the Ottawa Senators. Perry Peam of the Alberta Institute of Technology is named head coach.New York Rangers trade right winger Tim Kerr to Hartford for a 1993 draft pick. &#9632;

f0008-02

Expansion not yet Finnished; Helsinki may be next in line

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011489/6221590-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="362" height="471"></div>Be forewarned I will be messing with Mother Nature in this column. I am about to switch winter to summer by insisting once every four years hockey become a warm-weather sport.Now you may be one of those persons accustomed to things being in certain places. I respect that but if change wasn&rsquo;t both good and necessary, Doug Shedden would still be the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; best player. I do not categorically reject the fundamental notion that everything should have a season. Even Warren Young had one season. But please hear me out.The other night, I was watching the U.S. Olympic basketball team squeak by Lower Slobovia, 865-23, when it came to me: Sleep. Watching $5 million-a-year athletes running rings around a bunch of guys whose country&rsquo;s gross national product couldn&rsquo;t cover a pair of Air Jordans was not what I would call a deeply patriotic experience. However, the sight of those flags flapping like Michael Jordan&rsquo;s tongue and the publicity the Dream Team is generating has caused me to consider the possibility that this is a great thing for basketball.However, I first consider myself a citizen of the world community of puckdom. So I look down my long nose at this so-called basketball competition. If these slaughters have become an ultimate experience, then the roundheads should see a Canada Cup. There, a team containing Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux was once pushed to three 6-5 games before winning the last contest in the final minute.But the Canada Cup is only on SportsChannel. So not enough people can see it and most don&rsquo;t want to anyway despite desperate attempts by evangelists such as me to spread the gospel. There are too many other things going on in September. The only hockey most Americans want to watch is once every four years, when a bunch of NHL prospects and never-to-bes are wrapped in red, white and blue so they can beat Italy and lose to the Russians.With all due respect for what Ray LeBlanc did, we who truly appreciate hockey understand that the current Olympic version is a glorified, second-rate tournament. But the Olympics are the world&rsquo;s premier sporting stage, so it is about time the NHL availed itself of the exposure the Games offer. The world&rsquo;s best hockey league should endeavor to have hockey moved from the Winter Games to the summer so its stars can be exposed to the greatest possible audience.Gil Stein, the NHL president-elect, is pushing for the league to shut itself down for a few weeks so the players can play in the Winter Games. I&rsquo;d settle for that but the summer concept has fewer complications. The NHL wouldn&rsquo;t have to close for three weeks. The Olympic coaches wouldn&rsquo;t have to throw together a team in a few days. If the NHL schedule would have to continue through the Winter Games, a Lemieux might have to miss the Penguins&rsquo; only appearance of the year in Hartford because he is in Norway trying to win a medal for Canada.An Olympic tournament that allows the best players to perform for their countries would replace the Canada Cup, which sadly has never caught on in the U.S. and probably never will. The NHL&rsquo;s participation would produce enough financial spinoffs to dwarf what the Canada Cup earns for the player pension fund, plus introduce new fans to the glorious spectacle of the game being played at its highest level.A summer summitwould be easier on the participants than the Canada Cup format. The players would get a month after the completion of the Stanley Cup playoffs to recharge, then another month after the Games before NHL camp. The Winter Games will survive without hockey, too. Figure skating, which carries the TV ratings anyway, will remain the top attraction. If the absence of hockey leaves a void, team biathalon, with the competitors shooting at each other, would fill the bill.Summer hockey is an absurdity only to someone with no vision. The sport can be played in indoor rinks during all seasons the same way basketball, an indoor sport that was invented to kill time between fall and spring, can be enjoyed year-round.If Gunter Sabetzski and the International Ice Hockey Federation fuddyduds don&rsquo;t want to go along with this, then abolish the IIHF and let those guys go get a job. The NHL, which has almost all the best players, should call the shots.Moving hockey to the Summer Games isn&rsquo;t just an idea. It should become one of the first priorities of the new NHL president. The ultimate marketing vehicle is available to a league that has had trouble selling itself. On a cold day in July, maybe the NHL could find a light. &#9632;

f0009-01

Hey prez, let there be summer hockey

<div class="byline">By THN staff</div>Place any one of the six Patrick Division teams in another division and they&rsquo;d immediately be considered shoo-ins for a playoff spot. But in the survival-of-the-fittest Patrick, nothing can be taken for granted.Because of the division&rsquo;s strength, none of its inhabitants can afford to rest on their laurels this summer-not even the two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.The following is a breakdown of each teams&rsquo; greatest needs and how they might go about addressing them. Similar stories on the Norris, Smythe and Adams divisions appear on pages 16, 21 and 44.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2>Nowhere are the Devils more vulnerable than at center, where a poor sophomore season from Kevin Todd could leave the team in serious trouble.Todd is coming off a solid rookie year in which he scored 21 goals and 63 points but general manager Lou Lamoriello will make a strong effort to acquire a veteran center.Behind Todd are Peter Stastny, who turns 36 in September and is a free agent, and 30-year-old Patrik Sundstrom, whose career is in jeopardy because of a calcium deposit in his left thigh.With Laurie Boschman gone via the expansion draft, the Devils will turn to Russian Alexander Semak, 21-year-old Jarrod Skalde and Janne Ojanen, who returned from Finland just prior to the playoffs last season.Never before has Lamoriello so desperately needed to swing a deal for a capable center. Estranged Devil Sean Burke remains the GM&rsquo;s greatest trade bait.<h2>N.Y. ISLANDERS</h2>With their change of tempo and attitude last season, adding a lot of skating and scoring ability, the New York Islanders came up short in one area. That is, literally short. Coach Al Arbour said they need size up front.Although they have qualified defensive centers in Claude Loiselle, Hubie McDonough and Tom Fitzgerald, the Islanders can use a big, rugged checker for all their intradivisional games against Mario Lemieux, Mark Messier and Eric Lindros.The Islanders are hoping to deal from their wealth of defensemen. Assuming they can sign the two from the Commonwealth of Independent States, Vladimir Malakhov and Darius Kasparaitis, any one of Jeff Norton, Wayne McBean, Jeff Finley, Rich Pilon, Gary Nylund, Dennis Vaske or Dean Chynoweth could be traded.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021058/6221628-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="545" height="781"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Ogrodnick&rsquo;s days as a New York Ranger appear over.</figcaption></div><h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2>Even if die New York Rangers had obtained Eric Lindros, they still would have holes to fill, most notably on defense and left wing.The defensive needs may be addressed if Peter Andersson can be freed from obligations in Sweden and Sergei Zubov can be secured from Russia.On the left flank, Rob Zamuner saw some action last season and appeared ready before signing with the Tampa Bay Lightning. John Ogrodnick, meanwhile, seems to have played his last game as a Ranger.Of course, if general manager Neil Smith can get Alexei Kovalev away from Moscow this year, the talented winger might fill the bill very nicely.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2>Three straight years of paltry goal totals have resulted in three consecutive dark Aprils at the Spectrum. No doubt Eric Lindros will help cure this problem. A full season with Mark Recchi should provide the Flyers with a go-to guy in close games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-03675/6221621-1-eng-US/f0009-032.jpg" title="f0009-03" width="547" height="785"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour is one of the Flyers&rsquo; few offensive weapons.</figcaption></div>After that, however. Rod Brin&rsquo;Amour and Kevin Dineen are the only other bona fide scorers.Mike Ricci has taken his 20-plus goals to Quebec. Steve Duchesne and Kerry Huffman, the Flyers&rsquo; two highest goal-scorers from the back line, are also headed north.The solution? For starters, the Flyers could use a healthy Pelle Eklund, who is probably their best playmaker. He&rsquo;s coming off an injury-filled season that ended in knee surgery.Andrei Lomakin showed signs of scoring ability but his season was diminished by a broken thumb and what looked like fatigue late in the year. And the Flyers are hoping Brian Benning and Garry Galley can step up to provide some offense from the blue line.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2>Mario Lemieux and Ron Francis give Pittsburgh a 1-2 punch at center few teams can match but a lack of depth at that position figures to be the Penguins&rsquo; greatest problem.Center Jiri Hrdina retried less than a month after the Penguins won their second consecutive Stanley Cup and center Bryan Trottier was not a lock to return for a third season in Pittsburgh.The shortage of bodies at center is one of the reasons Pittsburgh chose Martin Straka in the entry draft. The Penguins believe he can play in the NHL immediately and he surely will get an opportunity if Patrick can secure his release from his Czechoslovakian team, Skoda Plzen.Jock Callander, who performed admirably during the playoffs, might get another chance to play in the NHL but has faltered on several previous occasions.It&rsquo;s also possible the Penguins will shift Shawn McEachern back to center, where he played in college but they prefer to use him on the wing.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2>The Capitals have several tangible needs but what they need most is less concrete.As the team became more offensive-oriented last season, captain Rod Langway&rsquo;s influence waned.The team has wonderful balance but there is no offensive leader. Dino Ciccarelli&rsquo;s departure to Detroit magnifies that problem. None of the Caps gives you the impression he is capable of carrying the team through the playoffs to the Stanley Cup. Mario Lemieux showed that was the difference in the first round of the playoffs last spring.A frade for a player such as Steve Yzerman, who was rumored to be on his way to Washington for Kevin Hatcher at one point during the off-season, might be the answer. &#9632;

f0009-02

Follow the Leader

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div>Dominic Roussel deserved some consideration for best supporting goaltender last season but he won&rsquo;t have time to enjoy the praise. Suddenly he&rsquo;s a leading man.The Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; rookie goalie was thrust into that role when six-year veteran Ron Hextall was sent to Quebec in the Eric Lindros trade.Roussel, who has played 17 NHL games, showed enough ability last season to make Hextall expendable.That doesn&rsquo;t mean Roussel has proven he can play on a regular basis over an 84-game schedule. But the trade was a strong vote of confidence from Flyers&rsquo; management.Roussel&rsquo;s numbers were impressive during his limited playing time. He had a 2.60 goals-against average and was 7-8-2 for a last-place team with a 32-37-11 record.The first inkling that the Flyers were comfortable with Roussel came in February when they included backup goalie Ken Wregget as part of a multi-player trade with Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.Roussel, who shuttled back and forth between Philadelphia and Hershey of the American League for much of the year, came up for good on Feb. 20, the day after the trade.Despite his limited NHL experience, he said he&rsquo;s ready for the challenge of a regular job.&ldquo;I think of last year as being under a test,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I played against the Rangers a couple times, Pittsburgh, New Jersey&hellip;so it was a good experience for me and I had a chance to show the Flyers I can play.&ldquo;This is a good chance for me right now. When you just get in the league, you don&rsquo;t expect the veteran is going to be traded right away.&rdquo;Roussel, 22, has spent the summer at home in his native Quebec so he was able to keep up with the Lindros rumor mill. At one point, he was mentioned as a possible player in the deal.But he couldn&rsquo;t worry about that. All he could think about was his future with the Flyers.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never had any doubts that I could play. I&rsquo;ve seen just about every goalie in the league and I know I can do the job,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That was the first step-that I have confidence in myself. The second step is that the Flyers have confidence in me.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not nervous at all. It&rsquo;s a big challenge.&rdquo;HOT TICKET: The announcement of Eric Lindros&rsquo; arrival had an immediate impact on merchandise sales and season tickets.The Flyers are about to break ground on their new arena. Spectrum II and Lindros is expected to have a major impact on the sale of superboxes and tickets in the building, scheduled to open in 1994.The Spectrum switchboard lit up with telephone calls for four hours the afternoon the arbitration decision was announced.Flyers&rsquo; vice-president of sales Jack Betson said he had not seen anything like it in his 10 years with the team.&ldquo;Some people who had canceled their season tickets called back to say they want them back,&rdquo; he said.The Flyers have already received deposits on 46 of the 109 luxury boxes planned for Spectrum II.NOTEBOOK: The Flyers signed Swedish goaltender Tommy Soder strom in July. Soderstrom has turned in impressive performances over the past year in both the Canada Cup and the World Championships. The Flyers hope to have him in training camp in September&hellip;Mark Howe&rsquo;s departure to Detroit leaves Pelle Eklund as the dean of players on the roster. Eklund arrived in the 1985-86 season. He and Dave Brown are the only remaining players from the team that reached the Stanley Cup finals in 1987. Brown has spent time with the Edmonton Oilers since then. &#9632;

Hextall’s departure puts Roussel on center stage

<div class="byline">By Frank Brown</div>It took a somber moment at a sad event, the funeral of Mike Ricci&rsquo;s father, for two competitors to reach respectful hands across the barricade of team rivalry.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m sorry I spit on you,&rdquo; Keith Acton said.&ldquo;Well, I&rsquo;m sorry I punched you in the face,&rdquo; Tie Domi replied. &ldquo;But I didn&rsquo;t like having that big plug on my shirt.&rdquo;And while the exchange hardly consummated a non-aggression pact, the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; pest and the New York Ranger&rsquo;s mean streak agreed to a one-day truce out of respect for Ricci&rsquo;s loss. The ActonDomi incident, during a Flyers-Rangers meeting last season, became a bygone bygone.&ldquo;I told him (Acton) I was still going to run him every time I&rsquo;m on the ice,&rdquo; Domi added, trying, as always, to get in the last word. Acton replied this time by inviting Domi to his golf tournament.Domi, of course, accepted. Summer means free time for some hockey players, free agency time for certain others. Domi has split his off-season shifting between both categories. The right winger is a Group I free agent and Tampa Bay has reportedly shown some interest in acquiring his services.&ldquo;It&rsquo;d be weird if I ever left New York,&rdquo; said Domi, who didn&rsquo;t even want to think about trying to hit Mark Messier or Brian Leetch. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to leave New York but I want to play. If I come back to New York, I&rsquo;m going to show I can play; if it takes trying to beat Paul Broten out. I&rsquo;ll try to beat Paul Broten out.&ldquo;Ice time is confidence, and confidence is most of the game. But Roger (Ranger coach Neilson) told me at the end of the season that if I come back next year, he&rsquo;d give me the opportunity to play. He thinks and Neil (general manager Smith) and all the coaches think I can play regular and get 15 goals or something.&rdquo;The trade of right winger Tim Kerr to Hartford July 7 seemed to support that claim. Kerr&rsquo;s departure, for an undisclosed draft choice, relieved a bit of congestion on the right side. Mike Gartner. Tony Amonte, Broten and Joe Kocur (another option play-out) remain on the depth chart in that slot along with Domi.NOTEBOOK: Goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, who remained with the Rangers&rsquo; after arbitrator Larry Bertuzzi&rsquo;s ruling on the Eric Lindros trade went in the Flyers&rsquo; favor, is awaiting another arbitrator&rsquo;s ruling. The second arbitration is to determine exactly what constitutes a year of service and what the actual average salary was in the NHL last season. Each involves Vanbiesbrouck, who played one game in 1981-82 and who earned $375,000 last season, his option season. There remained a chance Vanbiesbrouck could be declared an unrestricted free agent as a player who completed 10 professional seasons or more and who, in the last season of his contract, did not earn more than the average NHL salary.Not much progress had been made on the Brian Leetch contract talks through early July. Rangers&rsquo; president Neil Smith was preoccupied with the Lindros saga, and Leetch&rsquo;s agent. Jay Grossman, has waited patiently for substantive negotiations to begin. While Smith has decreed the Rangers will match any offers from other teams in order to keep their Norris Trophy winner. Grossman said he has had calls from two or three &ldquo;very interested&rdquo; teams but wants to get a line on the Rangers&rsquo; thoughts first&hellip;Center Randy Gilhen, who was entering his option year, signed a new contract with the Rangers July 8. Gilhen, 29, had seven goals and 14 points in 40 games for New York after coming over in a mid-season trade with Los Angeles. &#9632;

Free agent Domi wants to extend run on Broadway

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div>He arrived in the NHL as an 18-year-old understudy to Glenn (Chico) Resch and was destined for a series of setbacks that would&rsquo;ve broken the spirit of many young goalies.But persistence finally paid off for Craig Billington, who was rewarded on June 24 for his improbable comeback with the New Jersey Devils with a new three-year contract worth $225,000 per season.&ldquo;It has kind of gone full circle for me,&rdquo; Billington said. &ldquo;Last summer everyone was pretty certain I&rsquo;d be going back to the Olympic team. But when Sean Burke didn&rsquo;t come to the Devils&rsquo; training camp, I got re-routed at the last minute. At least now I know where I&rsquo;m headed.&rdquo;Billington spent all of the 1990-91 season with the Canadian national team and appeared to be out of the Devils&rsquo; plans when Burke refused to play in New Jersey last season.Billington was given a shot at the backup job and beat out Alain Chevrier in training camp. He went on to post a 13-7-1 record and 3.04 goals-against average in 26 games as Chris Terreri&rsquo;s backup.&ldquo;Craig made the most of the opportunity he was given last season and clearly earned this new contract,&rdquo; said general manager Lou Lamoriello. &ldquo;He did the job whenever he was called on and we feel very comfortable with our goaltending tandem of Chris Terreri and Craig.&rdquo;Billington&rsquo;s season was cut short when he sustained a right knee injury March 11 in Edmonton. After missing six games, he attempted to play on March 29 in Philadelphia but reinjured the knee and required arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage. The London, Ont., native was unable to play in the playoffs against the New York Rangers.&ldquo;The knee is coming along great. It&rsquo;s excellent,&rdquo; Billington said. &ldquo;It feels the best it has ever felt.&rdquo;KEEPING PACE: Rather than tear apart the team&rsquo;s roster and financial structure, the Devils reluctantly dropped out of the Eric Lindros auction.However, Lou Lamoriello is confident his team can still keep pace in a division of superstars (Lindros, Mario Lemieux. Mark Messier).&ldquo;We&rsquo;re happy with our team.&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;You can say we need a center but the strength we have on the wings, at defense and in goal, well, you can&rsquo;t disassemble that. We were involved quite intensely (in the bid for Lindros) until it got to a point where it made no sense in terms of cost efficiency both in players and money.&rdquo;The healthy return of John MacLean and the arrival of rookie defenseman Scott Niedermayer should help the Devils.&ldquo;I think Scott Niedermayer, not putting any pressure on him, is going to help us out offensively by jumping into this lineup,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have that type of explosive defenseman.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Patrik Sundstrom. who was limited to 17 games because of a thigh injury, will be offered a new contract conditional upon his health if he can pass a physical&hellip; Veterans Pat Conacher and Dave Barr, goalie Doug Dadswell and defensemen David Craievich and Kevin Dean were all given termination conttacts.Lou Lamoriello said he still expected to trade free-agent goalie Sean Burke, who was married June 27. &#9632;

Billington gets healthy reward for impressive backup work

<div class="byline">By Dave Sell</div>As strange as it might seem, Bobby Carpenter is once again a Washington Capital.The one-time 53-goal scorer and Can&rsquo;t Miss Kid who departed Washington in 1987 under acrimonious circumstances. Carpenter was a 29-year-old free agent without compensation until he signed a two-year deal with the Capitals June .30.The deal will pay Carpenter $500,000 in base salary in 1992-93 and has two option years, so it could be a three-year deal. But it wasn&rsquo;t the numbers that were notable. It was the fact that after so much name calling-even if it was five years ago-the Capitals wanted Carpenter back and he wanted to come back.&ldquo;If I knew 11 years ago. what I know now, I&rsquo;d still be here,&rdquo; Carpenter said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s called growing up and being mature about things. There were times that I wasn&rsquo;t and things were difficult. I had a strong head that got in the way.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s different now. I&rsquo;m an established player who has a lot of experience. A lot of the little problems that affect you in first or second or third year are meaningless now because you know the difference. I&rsquo;m lucky enough to be around to see that.&rdquo;Carpenter played all 80 games in each of his first five seasons as a Capital and in the fourth one (198485) he scored 53 goals. But after a scoring dip in 1985-86, relations between Carpenter and then-coach Bryan Murray deteriorated to the point where general manager David Poile told Carpenter to stay home, to not practise or play games, while he tried to trade him.On Jan. 1, 1987, Poile pulled off a trade that still causes pain for New York Ranger fans: For Carpenter and a second-round draft pick, the Capitals got Mike Ridley, Kelly Miller and Bob Crawford. Crawford was released two months later but Ridley and Miller remain part of the Capitals&rsquo; foundation.Carpenter left with guns firing, saying that Murray had a communications problem with him &ldquo;and a lot of players. Behind the bench, he panics. And if a coach panics, the players on the ice will, too. He is a big problem.&rdquo;Now, Carpenter termed it ail a &ldquo;misunderstanding,&rdquo; which is also how he described the situation with his most-recent former employers, the Boston Bruins. The Brains, who were concerned about Carpenter&rsquo;s surgically repaired left knee, wanted Carpenter to undergo a physical before they made a contract offer that would have brought them compensation if he went elsewhere. When Carpenter declined, the Bruins did not make a large enough offer.OFFER MATCHED: The Capitals were disappointed Edmonton chose to match the $4.6-million offer sheet tendered to defenseman Dave Manson. The possibility of the Capitals adding Manson temporarily spawned a new spat of rumors involving a trade of defenseman Kevin Hatcher, perhaps as part of a deal for Detroit&rsquo;s Steve Yzerman.&ldquo;Do I want to leave?&rdquo; Hatcher said. &ldquo;Obviously. I&rsquo;ve liked playing in Washington for seven years. On the other hand. I grew up in Detroit. If there was a place to get traded to, this would be it.&rdquo;Though some people would not trade Yzerman straight up for Hatcher. the Capitals insist they wouldn&rsquo;t make it either.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to do that,&rdquo; said Jack Button, director of player personnel. &ldquo;If we got a center, it would need to be a harder player than Yzerman. Michal Pivonka can be a gamebreaker and is coming into his own.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Al Iafrate signed a new deal for two years and an option which will see him make $850,000 this season&hellip; Providence College&rsquo;s Mike Boback. who had 24 goals and 48 assists last season, has signed with the team. &#9632;

Carpenter back in picture

<div class="byline">By Mark Herrmann</div>In the year since he took up golf, Pierre Turgeon has passed milestones that can take decades of work at the driving range. He broke 100, then broke 90 and broke the barrier from beginner to a 16-handicapper.It seems Turgeon is a natural, just as the New York Islanders kept insisting he was on the ice during his first season with the team.In a division brimming with big name centers, Turgeon, 22, is the Islanders&rsquo; marquee entry. Although their man does not have the high profile of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Mario Lemieux, the New York Rangers&rsquo; Mark Messier or Philadelphia&rsquo;s Eric Lindros, the Islanders don&rsquo;t feel overmatched up the middle.&ldquo;I think he has got untapped potential,&rdquo; coach Al Arbour said. &ldquo;We saw that the second half of the season. He has to do that on an 84-game basis and be consistent. We&rsquo;re not putting pressure on him to do everything but he can do a lot of things.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s par for the course, given the athletic skill Turgeon showed when he played for the Buffalo Sabres from 1987-91.Islander veterans, who had seen the 6-foot-1. 203-pound Turgeon occasionally for the past four years, maintain they did not know how good he was-especially as a passer-until they saw him every day.In 69 games after the Islanders acquired him in the Pat LaFontaine trade, Turgeon collected 87 points and made a decisive impression on his new team.Being a natural, though, can have its limitations. Flair and flash are not qualities Turgeon brandishes on or off the ice. Teammates chide him by saying that for Turgeon, &ldquo;Hello&rdquo; constitutes a speech.Typically, he downplayed his place in the Patrick Division constellation.&ldquo;There are a lot of good centers but you can&rsquo;t just think about one or two players on a team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You need scoring from left wingers, right wingers. Some games, you need goals from your third and fourth line.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011422/6221755-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="505" height="692"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pierre Turgeon has adjusted to Long Island on and off the ice.</figcaption></div>Sometimes, teams need more than goals from their top players. Especially when a team is starved for attendance the way the Islanders are. But marketable or not, Turgeon seems a good fit for the franchise. Long Island is not in the middle of the New York media whirl and the Islanders never have encouraged players to be outspoken or outrageous.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t deny I had a good time in Buffalo. We had a good team. But I really like it here,&rdquo; Turgeon said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great group of guys. It made it so much easier to get settled when guys right away would come by and say, &lsquo;Hi, how are you doing.&rdquo;After a month at home in northern Quebec, Turgeon found a house in the north shore Long Island community of Glen Head in June and decided to settle there for the summer.&ldquo;Long Island is really nice,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And it has great golf courses.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Islanders are expected to announce for the second straight year they will conduct a week of training camp in Troy, N.Y., the site of their American League affiliate, the Capital District Islanders&hellip;Despite the lack of a schedule or a firm new price structure (the proposed sale to a consortium of Long Island businessmen still had not been officially completed in early July), team officials reported an increase in interest at the box office. &#9632;

f0013-01

Turgeon quiet voice in land of super centers

<div class="byline">By Davs Molinari</div>As mid-summer closed in, the Pittsburgh Penguins felt they had all the components needed to make a serious run at their third Stanley Cup in a row.Well, almost every one. The glaring exception is they don&rsquo;t know who is going to coach.Scott Bowman, the man who filled the job last season, and general manager Craig Patrick were talking about the possibility of Bowman going behind the bench again this fall but neither side is saying what the future holds.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve started discussions but nothing has been resolved,&rdquo; Patrick said.Patrick said he does not have a deadline for filling the position. If Bowman doesn&rsquo;t take the job, the Penguins will have their fifth coach in four seasons; the others were Gene Ubriaco. Patrick and Bob Johnson.Bowman, who spent the 1990-91 season as the Penguins&rsquo; director of player recruitment and development, took the coaching job on an interim basis last Oct. 1, after it became apparent Johnson would not overcome the brain cancer that ultimately claimed his life.Throughout the season, Bowman told friends he had no desire to coach beyond last season but after the Penguins won the Stanley Cup he said he would consider such an offer if it was lucrative enough.Relations between Bowman and the players were strained for much of last season, mostly because of the stark contrast between Bowman&rsquo;s approach to the job and that of Johnson. Badger had a knack for being the players&rsquo; buddy; Bowman&rsquo;s style is to be detached and autocratic.He and the players seemed to work out their differences during the spring, however. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t smooth all year but the way he finished up was great,&rdquo; Kevin Stevens said.And Bowman has a resume that is hard to ignore. He was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame last September and is the winningest coach in NHL regular-season (778 victories) and playoff (130) history.He also has coached in a record 207 playoff games and has won six Stanley Cups, more than anyone except Toe Blake. Bowman has coached 1,356 regular-season games, more than anyone except Al Arbour (1,438) and Dick Irvin (1,437).HALL INDUCTEES: The late Bob Johnson and former players Rick Kehoe and Jean Pronovost will be the first inductees to the newly formed Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; Hall of Fame.Johnson led the Penguins to their first division, conference and Stanley Cup titles in his only season as coach. 1990-91. He was stricken by terminal brain cancer during the subsequent off-season.Kehoe, now a Penguins&rsquo; assistant coach, played 10 seasons in Pittsburgh and ranks second on the franchise&rsquo;s all-time list in points (636), games played (722) and power-play goals (95); third in goals (312) and fourth in assists (324).Pronovost also played 10 seasons with the Penguins and appeared in a franchise-record 753 games. He was the team&rsquo;s first 50-goal scorer and ranks second in goals (316), third in points (603) and fifth in assists (287).NOTEBOOK: General manager Craig Patrick announced the retirement of center Jiri Hrdina. who was widely hailed for helping right winger Jaromir Jagr adapt to life in North America. Hrdina played on both Cup-winning teams in Pittsburgh and was on Calgary&rsquo;s championship club in 1989&hellip;Trainer Skip Thayer resigned July 7 to join the Tampa Bay Lightning, where he will be reunited with his longtime friend. Tony Esposito. &#9632;

Great Scott! Cup champs in search of coach

<div class="byline">By THN staff</div>Can&rsquo;t anybody around here score? Well, the Detroit Red Wings can but beyond them, forget it.The Wings&rsquo; total of 320 goals placed them fourth in the league. No other Norris team finished in the top half. If it wasn&rsquo;t for the expansion San Jose Sharks, the division would have had the two lowest scoring teams-the Minnesota North Stars and the Toronto Maple Leafs.So, it&rsquo;s not difficult to figure out what the teams in this division need to acquire before the start of the 1992-93 season. While Detroit is the only team in the division which didn&rsquo;t have major offensive shortcomings last season, the Wings were the only team to make a move to improve their offense thus far in the off-season. Detroit acquired five-time 40-goal scorer Dino Ciccarelli from the Washington Capitals June 20 for Kevin Miller.<h2>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h2>Few teams in the league work as hard or grind out a game as well as the Chicago Blackhawks. But as the Hawks discovered when they lost in the Stanley Cup finals to Pittsburgh, that can only get you so far.To take the next step, the Hawks need to improve at forward. They need bigger, quicker and more skilled people up front to compete with a team such as the Penguins. The Hawks need to relieve the pressure of producing off the shoulders of Jeremy Roenick and Steve Larmer.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011281/6221817-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="551" height="769"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Larmer carries too much pressure to score in Chicago.</figcaption></div>There&rsquo;s a hole at center crying to be filled behind Roenick, Brent Sutter and Mike Hudson, and left wing is an area of concern once you get past Stephane Matteau and 32-year-old Michel Goulet.It&rsquo;s certain general manager Mike Keenan will make at least one trade before the start of next season. There&rsquo;s a surplus of talent on defense and in goal that Keenan can use to get help up front.Off the ice, the Hawks need to address their free-agent problem. Seven regulars are free agents: Matteau, Hudson, Rob Brown, Brad Lauer, Jocelyn Lemieux, Steve Smith and Jimmy Waite.Ten more Hawks are entering the option years of their contracts, including Ed Belfour, Keith Brown, Dirk Graham and Brian Noonan.<h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2>Mark Howe&rsquo;s signing was the first of a three-step plan coach and general manager Bryan Murray has for the off-season.Murray is still on the lookout for a big, tough defenseman; the Wings made overtures to Edmonton&rsquo;s Dave Manson before he signed a contract with Washington that the Oilers matched. If, as expected, the Oilers make Manson available, the Wings will likely be involved in the bidding.Murray also wants a big, feisty winger with some talent, and has made Pittsburgh free agent Phil Bourque a priority acquisition.Not to be overlooked is keeping goaltender Tim Cheveldae happy with a new contract, which never seems to be a problem in Detroit. Cheveldae is renegotiating after appearing in 72 games last season. The two sides are expected to come to an agreement by the time training camp opens in September.<h2>MINNESOTA NORTH STARS</h2>The Stars need more goal scorers-lots of them-and they&rsquo;ll probably need to trade their best one to get more.Brian Bellows, a steady 30-goal scorer for 10 seasons, remains on the Stars&rsquo; trading block and it wouldn&rsquo;t be a big surprise if he was elsewhere on opening night.The Stars scored 246 goals last season, third fewest in the NHL. Bellows reached the 30-goal level for the seventh time and scored more goals than all the other left wingers on the team combined.The defense only chipped in 25 so there&rsquo;s a need there, too, but the emphasis in trades should be focused on forwards with a history of basking in the glare of the goal light, at least occasionally.<h2>ST. LOUIS BLUES</h2>The biggest void the Blues had last season was at defense because of the loss of Scott Stevens to the New Jersey Devils. The Blues lost Stevens as compensation for signing Brendan Shanahan and never really recovered. They need a presence on defense in addition to agitator Garth Butcher. The Blues have plenty of good defenseman but don&rsquo;t have a stud.The Blues also could use a veteran backup goaltender behind Curtis Joseph. The current backup is Guy Hebert, who played 13 games as a rookie last season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021003/6221810-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="542" height="786"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rich Suffer appears to be on the way out of St. Louis.</figcaption></div>The Blues must determine whether defenseman Paul Cavallini and the Sutter brothers fit into their plans. Cavallini played in the All-Star Game three seasons ago but has suffered injuries the last two seasons.At least one of the Sutter twins, Rich, seems to have fallen out of favor with management. He was left unprotected in the expansion draft and may be on the way out. Both Rich and Ron were reported to be part of the package the Blues offered for Edmonton&rsquo;s Esa Tikkanen.<h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2>This team needs help everywhere but in goal. The club is particularly short of experienced help on the wings, where the only returning veteran with offensive capabilities may be captain Wendel Clark.At least one defenseman would be nice, and the same goes for an offensive center. Toughness and speed are major team shortcomings.Cliff Fletcher is determined to pry Dave Manson away from Edmonton, a move which would help the Leafs on the blue line and in the toughness department.Signing some free agent forwards-Joe Mullen of the Pittsburgh Penguins is one possibility-would give the Leaf prospects another year to mature. The club is also working on signing Finnish winger Teemu Selanne, but Winnipeg holds matching rights to the free agent.Look for the Leafs to make at least one major trade before training camp. &#9632;

f0016-01

Goal-oriented

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03746/6221855-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="369" height="489"></div>You probably don&rsquo;t want to read an entire column devoted to Eric Lindros or Gil Stein any more than I want to write it. It is, after all, summertime, when the livin&rsquo; should be easy. So let&rsquo;s keep this light with a few random thoughts on hot topics:&#9633; Fighting must go.When the NHL governors get together Aug. 23-24 in Tampa, they have the opportunity to strike a blow for common sense and the promotion of the game of hockey.Forget all the talk about halfway measures-only instigators being ejected or frequent fighter penalties-the time has come for sweeping reform.Fight and be ejected. In fact, drop your gloves and be ejected.It&rsquo;s just that simple.If the NHL is going to try to sell its product to non-fans in the United States-that&rsquo;s the only way to create pressure for a U.S. network TV deal-the league&rsquo;s tolerance of fighting must be erased.You can&rsquo;t ban fighting. Or abolish it. There will still be fights-far fewer no doubt-but the combatants will know it means automatic ejection.And please don&rsquo;t peddle the tired argument of a poor player being able to take a good player out of the game by starting a fight. The minute the poor player drops his gloves, he&rsquo;s gone and the good player can turn his back on the fight in good conscience.NHL interim president Gil Stein should try to rationalize the league&rsquo;s current fighting policy to the nonhockey fans in the U.S., the same ones he&rsquo;s going to try to win over in the years to come.The fact is, you can&rsquo;t make sense of it.That&rsquo;s why it&rsquo;s time to take the full plunge on anti-fighting legislation.And while the governors are at it, they might want to announce a legitimate crackdown on illegal use of the stick. Most suspensions given out for stick fouls remains little more than lip service to a serious problem.With the leadership changes that have been made, NHL governors claim they are entering a brave new world. Aug. 23-24 in Tampa is the time to prove it.&#9633; I don&rsquo;t know who won or lost the Eric Lindros trade and probably won&rsquo;t for a few years to come.But what I am more interested in knowing is what impact did the turmoil of the past year have on the psyche of a 19-year-old kid who&rsquo;s more sensitive and, at times, insecure than he would appear to be?It is not a healthy situation to wake up each morning for a year and be so totally immersed in one&rsquo;s own affairs.Nor is it ideal to be in a situation where many people wish to see one stumble and fall. Yet that, for the most part, is exactly the situation in which Lindros finds himself.Competitive as he is, Lindros will use that pressure as motivation. But it&rsquo;s negative energy.Hockey, or any sport for that matter, is a game played best when it&rsquo;s fun. After the events and pressures of the last year, can Lindros merely have fun playing the game?For his sake, the sake of the Flyers and the game itself, let&rsquo;s hope so.&#9633; It was a pleasure to watch Toronto Maple Leaf general manager Cliff Fletcher at work during the entry draft.His moves that day weren&rsquo;t the kind that win executive of the year but they were smooth as silk.Fletcher turned a first- and third-round pick into two first-rounders. He flip-flopped picks with the New York Islanders (No. 5 overall for No. 8 overall) and netted himself the Isles&rsquo; second-round pick. Then he flipped the Isles&rsquo; second-rounder and the Leafs&rsquo; third-rounder to Washington for the Capitals&rsquo; second pick in the first round (No. 23 overall).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04544/6221848-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="543" height="688"><figcaption class="caption-body">Cliff Fletcher</figcaption></div>He secured two players-Brandon Convery and Grant Marshall-the club had rated highly.Slick, very slick. Just the kind of managerial maneuvering Leaf fans aren&rsquo;t accustomed to seeing.&#9633; Finally, it&rsquo;s not often you get to cover one strike (10 days for the NHL) and be pail of another (32 days for the Toronto Star).But then, with I&rsquo;affaire Lindros, the departure of John Ziegler, the Alan Eagleson investigation among other major stories, it was just that kind of year, wasn&rsquo;t it? &#9632;

f0016-03

Common sense says fighting must go

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div>Picking Russians in the NHL entry draft was the easy part. Now the St. Louis Blues must cut through the red tape necessary to get them to training camp this fall.&ldquo;For this team, it&rsquo;s a learning experience,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; president Jack Quinn.The Blues had not drafted a European, much less a Russian, since they picked Swede Robert Nordmark in the 1987 entry draft. They went five years without a European before taking five Russians this year.At least three of them will be with the team next season.Left wingers Vitali Karamnov (62nd overall) and Vitali Prokhorov (64th), and center Igor Boldin (180th) are expected to be signed, sealed and delivered by the start of camp. Igor Koralev (38th) and Yuri Gunko (230th) aren&rsquo;t expected to be with the Blues for a couple of years.&ldquo;We have ourselves organized,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;We feel comfortable with how we&rsquo;ll do it. There is distance and barriers in language but we expect to have them properly signed and at camp on Sept. 9.&rdquo;The Blues have already hired an interpreter, a local college student from Moscow, and they&rsquo;re waiting to receive Karamnov&rsquo;s contract with Dynamo Moscow and Prokhorov&rsquo;s with Moscow Spartak. Boldin is a free agent.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to see a copy of their contracts as a basis of going forward,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to find the attitude of the clubs they&rsquo;re with now.&rdquo;Quinn said the Blues stayed out of the eastern European market until this year because of the transfer fees. They couldn&rsquo;t afford to pay them.&ldquo;Three or four years ago, teams paid brokers three-quarters of a million dollars just to get into the country to talk to the (Russian Ice Hockey) federation,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;And then they had to pay transfer fees. The Iron Curtain was up and everyone was trying to figure out ways to smuggle and buy players. Now that the curtain is down, we think it&rsquo;s time to get into the market.&rdquo;BIG CHEESE?: Blues&rsquo; chairman Mike Shanahan was flattered when he was contacted in June by a member of the NHL committee searching for a commissioner.&ldquo;It did come as a surprise to me,&rdquo; said Shanahan, who&rsquo;s content with life in St. Louis running the Blues and his company, Engineered Support Systems. &ldquo;I think our whole community and our hockey fans should be complimented that our name would be mentioned in that context.&ldquo;The league is only as strong as its weakest team. We needed to build up St. Louis. It was one of the weakest teams. A good job was done by all of the people in the organization.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Blues made a late bid to join the Eric Lindros derby but the Quebec Nordiques weren&rsquo;t interested after general manager Ron Caron said, &ldquo;No Mr. Brett Hull and no (No. 1) picks until 1996.&rdquo;&hellip;After having his last two summer fishing vacations interrupted by the free-agent signings of Scott Stevens and Brendan Shanahan, Caron said the Blues would have a hard time tracking him down this summer. He told Jack Quinn, &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll really find me in the bush this year.&rdquo; Quinn said that Caron&rsquo;s brother Leo assured Quinn that if the Blues need to find Caron, he knows where to find him. &#9632;

Team’s Russian experiment to kick off at training camp

<div class="byline">By Gary Olson</div>Shane Churla is an equal-opportunity thumper. He&rsquo;ll crash into Brett Hull and Bob Probert with equal exuberance and no regard for the consequences.There are no untouchables in Shane Churla&rsquo;s world. And you don&rsquo;t need to watch his shifts to know he&rsquo;s on the ice; just listening will be enough.But the Minnesota North Stars silenced Churla last spring, benching him for the playoffs. He had been injured with another in a series of separated shoulders late in the season but was available as the North Stars attempted to repeat as Campbell Conference champions.The team player that Churla is, however, he didn&rsquo;t pout or sulk but he was clearly wounded by the slight.&ldquo;My attitude is that I&rsquo;m going into (training) camp with something to prove to the coaching staff and some of the players,&rdquo; Churla said. &ldquo;It has already been a long summer.&ldquo;I thought I could help the team but I guess I didn&rsquo;t fit in the coaches&rsquo; plan. (Sitting out) was the hardest thing I&rsquo;ve had to do during my hockey career. I thought I had established myself, proved to them that I wouldn&rsquo;t be a loose wire out there.&ldquo;My whole career has included a lot of ups and downs and I&rsquo;ve never had any guarantees. I guess I&rsquo;ll have to show I can do the job.&rdquo;Churla&rsquo;s playing time began to shrink at the exact time center Trent Klatt arrived from the University of Minnesota. It didn&rsquo;t go unnoticed.&ldquo;He seems to be the guy they gave my job to,&rdquo; Churla said. &ldquo;I thought I&rsquo;d earned my spot with the team but it just shows that I have to work harder and be sharper every day. I&rsquo;m looking forward to when training camp starts.&rdquo;Klatt, 20, was a fourth-round draft choice of Washington in 1989. He was acquired along with Steve Maltais last June for Shawn Chambers. Klatt had 21 goals and 51 points in 32 games during his junior year. He played in Minnesota&rsquo;s last regular season game and six playoffs games without a point.Churla wants to regain that feeling of being wanted. When the San Jose Sharks feasted in the Minnesota talent pool last summer in the cross-pollination draft, Churla was gobbled up. It took a trade to get him back. Now he has to deal with talk of the NHL eliminating fighting, which may make him dispensible.&ldquo;A guy has to change with the game or he&rsquo;ll be out of a job,&rdquo; Churla said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;ll never take checking out of hockey so I think I can still play the game without being a hazard.&rdquo;HOMECOMINGS ABOUND: Some former North Stars seem to be flocking back to the Met Center.Lome Henning, the North Stars&rsquo; coach for all but two games of the 1985-86 and &rsquo;86-87 seasons, is the leading candidate to fill the coaching vacancy on Bob Gainey&rsquo;s staff that was created when Andy Murray left. Henning has been an assistant coach with the New York Islanders since he was fired in Minnesota.Bill Goldsworthy, the Stars&rsquo; first star player and the only Minnesota player to have his sweater retired other than the late Bill Masterton, appears close to joining the organization again.He was a scout for the Sharks the last two seasons but will probably work with the Stars in both hockey and community relations positions.NOTEBOOK: The Stars&rsquo; stillchanging schedule for next season includes 12 games against the St. Louis Blues: nine regular-season and three exhibition games&hellip;A top-class horse belonging to Neal and Sally Broten was struck by lightning during a summer storm and had to be destroyed.Veteran forwards Brian Propp and Bobby Smith were offered termination contracts. &#9632;

Churla chomping at the bit

<div class="byline">By Keith Gave</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011099/6221958-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Detroit native Mark Howe (left), the NHL&rsquo;s plus-minus leader in 1985-86, returns to the site of his father Gordie&rsquo;s many triumphs.</figcaption></div>The Detroit Red Wings are getting that old Stanley Cup feeling again.And Howe.&ldquo;I feel revitalized,&rdquo; team owner Mike Hitch said after signing Mark Howe, long known to Detroit fans as Gordie&rsquo;s boy, to a two-year deal. &ldquo;It just feels like it&rsquo;s pulling us closer together for our drive to the (Stanley) Cup.&ldquo;There has been a hole in this organization ever since Gordie left. I don&rsquo;t think it has ever been replaced and I don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;ll ever see it replaced.&rdquo;Nevertheless, many Wings&rsquo; fans will enjoy watching another Howe wearing the winged wheel. And few fret that Mark comes to Detroit at age 37, when most NHL players have long since retired.Hey, didn&rsquo;t his dad play until he was 52?Of more concern is Mark&rsquo;s aching back, which has caused him to miss more than 100 games the past four seasons with Philadelphia. Surgery last summer to repair herniated discs helped alleviate the problem but he still missed 12 games because of back pain. He missed another 26 with a broken thumb.Yet Howe believes he is capable of playing 70-75 games, &ldquo;if things go well&rdquo; this season.Terms of the deal were not disclosed but money wasn&rsquo;t the most important issue, Howe said.He returned to his native Detroit-where as a youngster he used to scalp tickets outside Olympia Stadium-for several reasons, the most important of which was the chance to get his name on the Cup before he retires, probably at the end of this contract.&ldquo;And it&rsquo;s also a great city for my family to live in,&rdquo; he said.The Detroit area&rsquo;s excellent junior hockey program, which has produced numerous NHL stars, will provide opportunities for Howe&rsquo;s 14-year-old son, Travis, to develop his skills.Also, Mark&rsquo;s parents, Gordie and Colleen, live near the Michigan resort town of Traverse City, about 31/2 hours northwest of Detroit.And brother Marty, with whom he began his professional career alongside Gordie with the Houston Aeros of the World Hockey Association, begins the season as associate coach of the Flint Bulldogs of the Colonial League. Another brother, Murray, is a physician in nearby Toledo, Ohio.One more thing: Mark Howe is reunited with his old defense partner, Brad McCrimmon. During their heydeys in Philadelphia, the two formed the best defense tandem in the NHL.During the 1985-86 season, they led the NHL in plus-minus; both were above plus-80.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s my closest friend,&rdquo; said Howe, who joked that the two may have to part ways over a sweater number. Howe wore No. 2 for 10 seasons in Philadelphia, during which he set most Flyers&rsquo; records for defensemen. McCrimmon wears No. 2 for the Wings.So at a press conference during which he was introduced, Howe slipped on a sweater with his name and No. 4 on the back.Good enough, That number was made famous by Bill Gadsby, one of Gordie&rsquo;s teammates during the early 1960s who remains a close friend of the Howe family.Meantime, Gordie Howe said he was thrilled to see his son return to Detroit.&ldquo;I hope it goes as well for him as it did for me when I was there,&rdquo; said Gordie, who remains one of the most revered athletes in Detroit history. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really happy for the young man.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Alan Kerr&rsquo;s tenure with the Red Wings apparently is over after one season with the team. Wings&rsquo; coach and general manager Bryan Murray said the team has no plans to re-sign him to a contract. Kerr is a free agent without compensation. Chicago reportedly has shown an interest in signing him.Right winger Paul Ysebaert, who led the NHL in plus-minus with plus-44 last season, escaped serious injury when his car was broadsided by a truck that ran a red light near his hometown of Sarnia, Ont. Ysebaert&rsquo;s &#9632;

f0019-01

New Wing brings famous name and know-Howe

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div>Dominik Hasek likes playing in Chicago but he&rsquo;d rather leave the Blackhawks than spend another year as No. 2 goalie behind Ed Belfour.Hasek, honored as the NHL&rsquo;s all-rookie goalie this past season when he was 10-4-1 with a 2.60 goals-against average, says he won&rsquo;t be happy until he gets at least 30 starts. He made 17 starts in 1991-92 and appeared in 20 games.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if my future is there,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I will come back next year but if I don&rsquo;t play more, I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;ll be back after that. I don&rsquo;t want to play 20 games. If I play more, I will be happy, I&rsquo;m used to being No. 1.&rdquo;Hasek has two years remaining on the contract he signed in 1990 when he came to North America from Czechoslovakia, where he was considered the premier goalie in Europe.The 27-year-old Hasek hinted he would consider returning to play in Europe if he&rsquo;s not used more or traded. Hasek intends to return to Czechoslovakia when his career is over.&ldquo;I like playing hockey in the U.S. but I feel more comfortable in Czechoslovakia,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult to explain but it&rsquo;s my home and my life is there.&rdquo;Hasek intends to challenge Belfour for the No. 1 job in Chicago once training camp begins.&ldquo;If I play the best I can, anything can happen,&rdquo; Hasek said. &ldquo;I know I can be No. 1 but I know I have to play better than Eddie. If I play the same as Eddie, he&rsquo;ll be No. 1.&rdquo;It could be a three-way battle between Belfour, Hasek and Jimmy Waite. Waite is a free agent and said he&rsquo;d also like to change addresses in order to find more playing time.BAXTER HIRED: Darryl Sutter completed his coaching staff June 23 when he hired Paul Baxter as an assistant. Rich Preston will remain on staff as Sutter&rsquo;s other assistant.Baxter, 36, is a former defenseman who played eight seasons with Quebec, Pittsburgh and Calgary. He spent the last three years as an assistant coach with the Flames after serving two seasons as coach of Calgary&rsquo;s farm team at Salt Lake City. He signed a three-year contract.&ldquo;When I tried to answer the questions about the perfect guy I wanted, I kept coming back to Paul,&rdquo; said Sutter. &ldquo;I was looking for a former player, preferably a defenseman, with coaching experience. I wanted someone who knew our conference, and someone with the desire, commitment and work ethic to be a coach.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: It&rsquo;s two years in a row the Hawks have the NHL&rsquo;s all-rookie goalie. Dominik Hasek received the honor this season and Ed Belfour in 1991&hellip;General manager Mike Keenan planned to speak with Ottawa about re-acquiring Mike Peluso, whom the Senators claimed in the expansion draft.The Hawks are considering starting their Sunday home games earlier next season, at 6 p.m., instead of 7:30. &#9632;

Hasek looking out for No. 1

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div>Just when the Toronto Maple Leafs appear set to get immediate help from Europe, it seems likely they&rsquo;ll lose a proven player to the other side of the Atlantic.With Russian winger Nikolai Borchevsky and Czechoslovak forward Patrik Augusta signed, sealed and all but delivered, the Leafs seem reconciled to losing Glenn Anderson-the team&rsquo;s No. 1 right winger last season-to a club team in Austria, of all places.But then Anderson has always done things a bit differently.Anderson scored only four goals in the first 40 games last season after coming over in the Grant Fuhr deal with Edmonton. He was revitalized, however, by the acquisition of center Doug Gilmour after Christmas and ended up second on the team in scoring after earning 45 points in his last 36 games.Anderson made it clear, however, that he was looking forward to becoming a free agent at the end of the season, and has apparently been unwilling to even discuss working out an increase on his $350,000 per season contract.&ldquo;Glenn is seriously looking at Europe,&rdquo; said Leaf general manager Cliff Fletcher. &ldquo;Part of it&rsquo;s financial but it is also something he may want at this stage of his career.&rdquo;If Anderson does leave for Austria, the Leafs may decide to take a run at 35-year-old free agent right winger Joe Mullen.Mullen scored 42 goals this past season for Pittsburgh but was sidelined by a serious knee injury late in the year and missed the playoffs.The Leafs are also pursuing Finnish winger Teemu Selanne, who became a free agent after failing to sign with the Winnipeg Jets. Selanne is viewed by many as a potential star but the Jets have indicated they will exercise their right to match any offer.Fletcher is also still keenly interested in defenseman Dave Manson, who was retained by Edmonton after the Oilers matched a four-year, $4.6 million contract offer sheet from the Washington Capitals.Fletcher would like to trade for Manson, and is rumored to be working on a multi-player swap with Oilers&rsquo; GM Glen Sather.NOTEBOOK: The Leafs will play two games at Hamilton&rsquo;s Copps Coliseum next season&hellip;Leaf GM Cliff Fletcher was scheduled to leave July 15 on a trip to Hong Kong, Singapore, Bali and finally to Barcelona for the Summer Olympics&hellip;New Leaf head coach Pat Burns has decided to retain both Mike Kitchen and Mike Murphy as assistant coaches. Both have received two-year contract extensions. &#9632;

Fletcher may sign Mullen if Anderson opts for Europe

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01742/6222037-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="360" height="457"></div>This is how I got into trouble last year-by predicting the San Jose Sharks would be an on-ice disaster-but I figure, may as well have the courage of your convictions. So here we go again.The Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators will be hard-pressed to win 10 games each this season.There, I said it again. And I&rsquo;ll say this again too. This is not a knock against either Tampa Bay general manager Phil Esposito or his Ottawa counterpart, Mel Bridgman. This is a knock against the NHL.The league&rsquo;s two newest members contributed a total of $100 million to 21 NHL teams-or roughly $4.8 million per club. For that, they were fighting over the right to draft C.J. Young, Todd Hawkins and Todd Ewen?Ridiculous.Instead of looking out for the long-term good of the game, the league fell back on a traditional approach-always stiff the newcomers.Consider Esposito&rsquo;s challenge in Tampa Bay: Trying to sell hockey in a new market. Presumably, the curious will come out in the first season. Maybe they&rsquo;ll all be back for their first year in the new building which is scheduled to be ready for the 1994-95 season.Then the Lightning will be on its own, forced to sell the game with its on-ice product.Under a decent expansion plan, the Lightning&rsquo;s product could be pretty good by year three or four. Under the terms they were saddled with this season, forget it.If the NHL truly wants to expand to 28 teams by 2000, they need a plan that will give their newest members half a chance.I propose this: Instead of protecting 16 players, plus receiving exemptions for perhaps a dozen others, teams would only be allowed to protect 12 players only. No exemptions for anybody-not for juniors, not for minor pros, not for drafted players from Europe.Then the expansion teams would get the No. 13 player from every club-and sometimes they&rsquo;d do better than the No. 13 player since teams may protect a prospect ahead of someone on their roster.After that, I would allow the established team to fill with three other players, thus making the second player available the No. 17 man on the depth chart.Now, instead of choosing between high-salaried, aging pros or minorleague prospects with limited upside, the expansion teams would start with 10 pretty good NHLers and 10 so-so players.On the other side of the issue, no established team would lose a star. Even a team as deep in front-line players as the Pittsburgh Penguins has a noticeable dropoff after the first dozen-or-so players on the roster.But they would actually lose one player they wanted to keep, which is a fair-and-reasonable price for their cut of $100 million.Back on the expansion front, Esposito and Bridgman would suddenly have had some real options. As it stands now, it will be difficult for Tampa and Ottawa to match San Jose&rsquo;s success because: a) 40 players were drafted this year, not just 20; and b) they didn&rsquo;t have access to the handful of solid NHLers-the Neil Wilkinsons and Rob Zettlers of the world-who ended up in San Jose, courtesy of their sweetheart deal with the Minnesota North Stars.&ldquo;When we hit the rocky roads and the potholes,&rdquo; admits Tampa Bay coach Terry Crisp, &ldquo;we won&rsquo;t have the one leg up that San Jose had.&rdquo;Or try it out another way. Who will be Tampa Bay&rsquo;s best player next season? Two years from now, the answer is probably Roman Hamrlik, the 18-year-old defenseman the Lightning chose with the first selection in the entry draft.In general though, 18-year-old defensemen in mediocre draft years don&rsquo;t provide much of an impact in their first seasons. Moreover, there&rsquo;s a real danger of playing an 18-year-old on defense, especially on a poor team. Confidence can be a fragile thing, especially if you&rsquo;re adjusting to a new language and a new style of play as well.So if not Hamrlik, then whom? Shawn Chambers, who played two games last year after getting into only 29 two years ago? Michel Mongeau, who played 36 games last year after only seven the year before?See the problem.If established teams could protect only 12 players, then maybe instead of Chambers, Tampa would have gotten Calle Johansson or Sylvain Cote off Washington&rsquo;s defense. Or maybe Bob Bassen instead of Mongeau from St. Louis.That at least would give them a chance to build.As it stands now, all the NHL did was provide them with the opportunity to sink. &#9632;

f0021-01

Expansion teams destined to sink

<div class="byline">By THN staff</div>The upside-down look to the standings in the Smythe Division this past season was not an aberration.The regular-season champ Vancouver Canucks would love a hulking center to counter against the Mark Messiers of the league. But their wish list is shorter than that of the former powerhouses, the Calgary Flames and Los Angeles Kings, both of which are breaking in new coaches, not to mention new players, while eliminating old problem areas.The following is a breakdown of the teams&rsquo; greatest needs and how they might go about addressing them.<h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2>Resolving their unsettled goaltending situation is a priority for the Calgary Flames.Essentially, they have two choices. Either re-sign Mike Vemon-which means he&rsquo;ll come back as the No. 1 goalie-or trade Vernon and introduce a youth movement under new coach Dave King.The best solution would be to offer Vernon a new deal. As much as the Flames like their potential, both Trevor Kidd and Jason Muzzatti could benefit from more experience.Kidd is only two games into his pro career and could use a half-season in Salt Lake. Muzzatti is just one year removed from college hockey and would do well to apprentice first.Meanwhile, Vernon&rsquo;s market value could probably be enhanced by keeping him in the organization and waiting for other teams to realize how badly they need help in goal.<h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2>What the Oilers need and what they appear willing to pay for are two different things.They need to sign three key free agents-Vince Damphousse, Kevin Lowe and Joe Murphy. Scott Mellanby, Craig Simpson, Norm Maciver, Greg Hawgood and Peter Ing are also on the market.They need Dave Manson&rsquo;s shot and belligerent attitude but they aren&rsquo;t eager to pay the millions he fetched from a Washington offer.Edmonton needs Lowe&rsquo;s leadership but he&rsquo;s being pursued by Quebec which has all that Eric Lindros money to throw around. They need Damphousse&rsquo;s offense but he may get a $1-million offer from Montreal.The Oilers need a backup goalie but apparently aren&rsquo;t willing to pay Ron Tugnutt over $400,000 to play 25 games behind Bill Ranford.Tugnutt, Esa Tikkanen and Petr Klima are candidates for trades unless general manager Glen Sather decides to deal Manson.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02401/6222075-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="550" height="784"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Vernon is a marketable commodity in Calgary.</figcaption></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2>What the Kings need more than anything is a revitalized Wayne Gretzky, Jan Kurri, Paul Coffey et al.Now into their thirties, it&rsquo;s certain they won&rsquo;t combine for 400-plus points per season like they did in Edmonton three consecutive years during the mid-1980s.New coach Barry Melrose would love scoring balance on a second and third line as well as six defensemen who can play regularly, two things the franchise had never had.Another need is in goal where the well has run dry behind 31-year-old Kelly Hrudey. Daniel Berthiaume was traded and the once highly touted Robb Stauber is no longer a factor. That leaves the door open for Dave Goverde or Darryl Gilmour to latch on.Since the Kings don&rsquo;t have a whole lot to trade and they&rsquo;re lean on draft choices, the best alternative is to pursue the free-agent market.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03214/6222068-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="543" height="768"><figcaption class="caption-body">Johan Garpenlov will be counted on to key San Jose&rsquo;s offense.</figcaption></div><h2>SAN JOSE SHARKS</h2>If the Sharks want to improve on last season&rsquo;s finish, they must produce more than the league-low 219 goals they scored in their NHL debut.The Sharks hope to get offensive boosts from players such as winger Johan Garpenlov, a late-season acquisition who had 11 points in 12 games last season, and center Ray Whitney, a second-round draft pick who had three points in two games after signing with the Sharks.But the Sharks also have to dip into the free-agent market or swing a trade to get the type of help they need. Only Pat Falloon and David Bruce scored 20 goals last season. Draft pick Jan Caloun, who scored 32 goals in 37 games in the Czechoslovakian Elite League last season, might help plug the hole.<h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2>After the successful season they had, the Vancouver Canucks aren&rsquo;t about to get greedy. But that doesn&rsquo;t mean they don&rsquo;t have needs.The most pressing one is for a physical center. Cliff Ronning, Igor Larionov and Petr Nedved are nifty but they&rsquo;re dwarfed by the forest of centers around the division.A booming shot from the point to complement the playmaking of Jyrki Lumme is another need. A backup goalie who can win more than Troy Gamble did is also on the wish list.If coach-GM Pat Quinn wants to make a deal, he has a surplus of veterans on the wing and blue line to deal. Quinn should re-sign 31-year-old Russian Larionov who played out his option and is a free agent under Group III status. Pavel Bure blossomed under the guidance of his fellow countryman last season.<h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2>Under the circumstances, what the Jets need most is an interpretor. It&rsquo;s quite probable the Jets will ice a team made up of more Europeans than any other team in NHL history.Suffice to say verbal communication may be a problem, GM Mike Smith&rsquo;s European movement is not a misdirection play. The players he has drafted and is bringing to Winnipeg are exactly what the team needs most.Winnipeg&rsquo;s offense was the fifth-poorest in the league last season. That&rsquo;s expected to change with the addition of several imports including Teemu Selanne, provided the Jets match any offers for the free agent.It&rsquo;s no big secret the Jets also have to become stronger physically. Mike Hartman and Shawn Cronin were the only sources of toughness. A bruising defenseman and a couple of hard-hitting forwards would help. &#9632;

f0021-02

Pivotal project

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div>Dave Manson won&rsquo;t be spelling his name on a jersey in Capitals&rsquo; letters next season.The Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; free agent defenseman-who signed an offer sheet from the Washington Capitals on June 26 that would have paid him $4.6 million (U.S.) over four seasons-returned to Edmonton July 3 when the Oilers matched the offer.The Oilers apparently matched with the intent of trading either Manson or left winger Esa Tikkanen to relieve pressure on their payroll.Both Manson and Tikkanen will make $1 million next season.Edmonton general manager Glen Sather was incensed at the offer and couldn&rsquo;t believe it had come from the Capitals, whose GM, David Poile, had apparently been preaching fiscal restraint.&ldquo;Everybody is bitching about player salaries and here they keep jacking them up,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;David Poile was the chairman of the general managers&rsquo; committee and talked about guys driving salaries up. People become so self-serving.&ldquo;You fight with the collective bargaining agreement, trying to keep things so that teams can operate at a reasonable level. Now here comes an opportunity for themselves and they jump right in.&rdquo;Sather wanted to make it clear, however, that he didn&rsquo;t actually blame Poile exclusively for going after the talented defenseman.&ldquo;I certainly don&rsquo;t think it was David Poile&rsquo;s judgment,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It came from either the guy who wanted to be president of the league, Dick Patrick, or Abe Pollin.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s all academic now, as the Capitals won&rsquo;t be getting the high-priced defenseman. In fact, Sather told The Washington Post that he&rsquo;d love to deal him to a Patrick Division rival. Poile could not be reached for comment.Sather has definitely worked the phones, testing the waters for an upcoming Manson trade. And he got a big bite from the Toronto Maple Leafs.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re interested. I&rsquo;m not sure what he&rsquo;s up to. We&rsquo;re curious, obviously,&rdquo; said Leafs&rsquo; GM Cliff Fletcher.Any deal with the Leafs is likely to include defenseman Dave Ellett.CUTTING BACK: Just days after the season ended with the Oilers&rsquo; Campbell Conference final loss to Chicago, Glen Sather hinted there was a pay-cut in the offing for at least one player.He didn&rsquo;t name him but made it obvious he was talking about free-agent left winger Craig Simpson, who had played on a one-year, double-eagle contract and struggled with just 24 goals and 61 points in 79 games-obviously not good enough for his $655,000 salary.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a gamble,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;Some guys think they&rsquo;re going to shoot the eyes out of the net and it doesn&rsquo;t happen. Some are going to have to take cuts.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Rumor has it the Montreal Canadiens are set to offer Oilers&rsquo; free-agent left winger Vincent Damphousse a three-year, $3 million deal. Damphousse led the Oilers with 89 points this past season. The Montreal native was already spotted playing hockey in Montreal but it was a ball hockey tournament run by Canadiens&rsquo; goalie Patrick Roy. Damphousse made $700,000 plus a $50,000 all-star bonus last year. &#9632;

Manson returns for now

<div class="byline">By Mike Weaver</div>The San Jose Sharks have put a three-headed monster in their general manager&rsquo;s office but the men involved in the new format say there is a certain beauty to the beast.&ldquo;There is no question in my mind this system will work,&rdquo; said director of player personnel Chuck Grillo, who has been sharing the general manager&rsquo;s job with former assistant GM Dean Lombardi and coach George Kingston since the Sharks abruptly fired Jack Ferreira June 26. &ldquo;Basically, we&rsquo;re consultants to one another. It&rsquo;s a system of checks and balances.&rdquo;Apparently, Sharks&rsquo; owners George and Gordon Gund and president Art Savage didn&rsquo;t believe enough checks and balances existed when Ferreira was calling the shots. At the time of Ferreira&rsquo;s firing, Savage said the team was seeking to move in a new direction and wanted to get more people involved in the decision-making process.&ldquo;I think this move shows progressive thinking on their part,&rdquo; Grillo said. &ldquo;I have a positive feeling about it.&rdquo;Although specific reasons for Ferreira&rsquo;s dismissal are sketchy, some Sharks&rsquo; officials have indicated he wasn&rsquo;t a good fit in the team&rsquo;s horizontal management structure and wasn&rsquo;t a good politician.Management also felt Ferreira wielded too much power and hurt himself with an attitude that the team&rsquo;s hockey department should rate above others in the organization.There were also times when Ferreira and staffers didn&rsquo;t agree on whether certain players should be in the NHL or the minors. He some times made decisions that were unpopular with his subordinates.For example, Kingston wasn&rsquo;t overjoyed in March when Ferreira tried to trade center Kelly Kisio to Chicago for a draft pick. Ferreira lost more points when the deal was voided because documentation failed to reach the league&rsquo;s central registry before the deadline.Still, those issues were regarded as minor by Ferreira&rsquo;s staffers and he was widely credited for pouring a solid foundation for a team that finished its first year with a respectable 17-58-5 record.&ldquo;We lost an excellent hockey man,&rdquo; Kingston said. &ldquo;I was shocked and disappointed but I&rsquo;ve always prided myself on being part of a solution. I think we&rsquo;re putting together three people who have been good at what they&rsquo;re doing, and we should be able to lean on each other and make decisions that are based on a well-enlightened consensus.In a nutshell, the duties will be divided this way: Kingston will be primarily responsible for player movement and will be the point-man for all trades; Grillo will continue to be responsible for player development and the entry draft; and Lombardi, who recently turned down an offer to become the deputy director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, will handle contracts and administration.NOTEBOOK: Associate coach Bob Murdoch turned down an offer to become the coach of the Canadian national program so he can remain with San Jose&hellip;The Sharks offered termination contracts to goalie Brian Hayward and forwards Perry Anderson. Perry Berezan. Steve Bozek. Paul Fenton and Brian Lawton. &#9632;

Team’s new GM triumvirate replaces powerful Ferreira

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div>Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; free-agent defenseman Gerald Diduck is noted for his hard-nosed play on the ice and he appears to be taking a similar approach in his contract negotiations.Diduck played out his option last season and is seeking a healthy raise on his $280,000 (U.S.) contract. According to one rival agent-Diduck is represented by Bob Thomton-the 27-year-old Edmonton native wants in the neighborhood of $800,000 per season. That would make him the highest-paid defenseman on the Canucks by about $200,000.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see myself far below Dave Manson as far as a player goes,&rdquo; said Diduck, referring to Manson&rsquo;s new four-year, $4.6 million deal with the Edmonton Oilers.For Diduck to command-or at least think he can command-that kind of money again illustrates the volatility of the market.Two years ago, Diduck was traded by the New York Islanders to the Montreal Canadiens for an aging Craig Ludwig. Half a season later, he had a falling out with the Canadiens and found himself skating with the McGill University team while Montreal tried to dump him. The Canucks picked him up for a fourth-round draft choice on Jan. 12, 1991.In his one full season with Vancouver, Diduck appeared in 77 games, collected 27 points and was minus-3. His numbers alone are not impressive but he did play tough and was selected the most aggressive Canuck by team management.Canuck boss Pat Quinn has stated he wants Diduck back and with Vancouver retaining the right to match, Quinn has a fallback position. However, the Canuck boss also hinted he may not match if he finds the price tag too high.JOB SEARCH: As promised, Pat Quinn did not begin interviewing candidates for Brian Burke&rsquo;s old job in the Canuck front office until after the draft. A late entrant in the sweepstakes was deposed San Jose general manager Jack Ferreira.&ldquo;There would certainly be some interest on my part,&rdquo; said Ferreira, who is qualified to fill the role of director of hockey operations.Other declared candidates include player agent and former Boston Bruin Mike Gillis as well as Bob Brown, general manager of the Western League&rsquo;s Kamloops Blazers.NOTEBOOK: The Canucks lost unrestricted free-agent defenseman Jim Agnew to the Hartford Whalers. Agnew, a tough but very limited player, dressed for only 24 games last season and did not collect a point. He was 10th on the Canucks&rsquo; depth chart so his loss was hardly a great one. &#9632;

Diduck’s aggressive style spills into contract talks

<div class="byline">By Rick Sadowski</div>Just how much influence does Wayne Gretzky wield in the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; front office anyway?It is a question that won&rsquo;t go away no matter how many managerial changes the club makes.&ldquo;It&rsquo;ll come up again this year, too,&rdquo; Kings&rsquo; owner Bruce McNall acknowledged. &ldquo;The perception (that Gretzky is in command) is always going to be here. We all value his opinions but the fact is he is not the fellow who makes the decisions.&rdquo;McNall&rsquo;s decision to re-structure the front office is seen by some as an attempt to quash the league-wide perception that Gretzky has been calling the shots since his acquisition from Edmonton four years ago.In stepping down as team president June 25 in favor of executive vicepresident Roy Mlakar, McNall appeared to be sending a signal that he no longer will be as active in the daily operations of the franchise.McNall also seemed to be sending a message that Gretzky, his friend and business partner, is a Kings&rsquo; player and nothing more.He and Gretzky have been saying that all along, mostly to deaf ears.Nick Beverley, who has replaced Rogie Vachon in the general manager&rsquo;s chair (Vachon became McNall&rsquo;s assistant), is going out of his way to declare he will be in charge of all player personnel moves.&ldquo;I will make the decisions,&rdquo; Beverley said, &ldquo;but I will do it in such a way that we will consult with one another first and thoroughly research everything.&rdquo;Presumably, the group includes McNall, Mlakar and Vachon and excludes Gretzky.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re all very comfortable with the way Wayne conducts himself,&rdquo; Beverley said. &ldquo;The perception is a lot different than the reality. For me, (the perception) is a lot more of a problem outside the organization than it is inside.&rdquo;New coach Barry Melrose said he was anxious to meet with Gretzky, and he is not at all intimidated by a franchise that has devoured three coaches in five years.&ldquo;Wayne is a big piece of what I want to do here,&rdquo; Melrose said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been asked if I&rsquo;m scared of coaching him. Why would I be? He&rsquo;s the greatest player in the world.&rdquo;Beverley said the Kings will either do it Melrose&rsquo;s way or hit the highway.&ldquo;I will be a coach&rsquo;s general manager,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It has got to be known amongst all the players that the coach has the GM&rsquo;s total support.&ldquo;Some players can try an end run if they like but when they come to the point of getting somewhere, there are going to be some fences up. And they&rsquo;ll be channeled right to me.&rdquo;STAYING POSITIVE: Barry Melrose is a voracious reader of self-improvement literature. One of the people he would most like to meet is Anthony Robbins, the author of Awaken the Giant Within.He was tuned into it five years ago while he and current Philadelphia general manager Russ Farwell were at Medicine Hat of the Western League.Melrose&rsquo;s favorite book is The Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun, a business psychology book.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s the perfect book about coaching,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It really grabbed me.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Barry Melrose was expected to meet with assistant coaches-in-waiting Cap Raeder and Rick Wilson, who have been in limbo since coach Tom Webster was fired May 4. Melrose knows Wilson from their coaching stays in the WHL. He knows of Raeder through former Kings&rsquo; coach Robbie Ftorek. &#9632;

Gretzky important but he’s not king of the castle

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>Theo Fleury is one of the smallest players in the NHL but entering the 1991-92 season, his list of accomplishments was one of the longest.By the ripe old age of 23, the 5-foot-6 dynamo had played in an All-Star Game, scored 50 goals in a season and won a Stanley Cup.He had also shone in international competition, winning a World Junior Championship, a silver medal at the 1991 World Championships and a Canada Cup title.There were few questions for Fleury to answer when the season began. So he stepped back, relaxed and promptly had a season that fell considerably below expectations.He scored 33 goals and 73 points, a respectable total but well below his totals from the previous year (51 goals, 104 points).So next season, Fleury&rsquo;s goal will be to focus on the pursuit of excellence.&ldquo;It makes sense,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been a pro for four years. Maybe even though I&rsquo;ve done all those things, I&rsquo;ve got to go back to where I was and prove it again and again. Coming into the fall, I&rsquo;ve got to get a new focus.&rdquo;Fleury blamed last season&rsquo;s slide on several things. He was tired at times, both physically and mentally and it didn&rsquo;t help that the Flames had their worst season since 1975.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01799/6222226-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="561" height="621"><figcaption class="caption-body">Theo Fleury&rsquo;s production dipped by 18 goals In 1991-92.</figcaption></div>Fleury also didn&rsquo;t adjust well to the loss of center Doug Gilmour, who was traded to Toronto in mid-season.&ldquo;It seems like we were in transition the whole year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Off the ice, there were a lot of things going on. People were unhappy. No matter what you say-that those things don&rsquo;t affect you-on the inside, they do.&ldquo;It was really sad. We had some great players in this dressing room. Whether everybody had bad years or what, we all seemed to do it at the same time. I can take a lot of the responsibility. I didn&rsquo;t play as well as I could play. When you&rsquo;ve only got one guy scoring goals (Gary Roberts), it&rsquo;s not enough.&rdquo;REESE THE PIECE: Goaltender Jeff Reese is wondering where he fits in with the Calgary Flames.With Mike Vernon surviving the Eric Lindros trade talks and Trevor Kidd poised to grab the No. 2 job, the 26-year-old netminder is in limbo.Reese had a strong finish last season, getting a chance to play all the key games down the stretch until the Flames were officially eliminated from playoff competition.If Vernon doesn&rsquo;t return, there will be an opportunity for Reese. He would be the most experienced goaltender in the Flames&rsquo; organization.&ldquo;Nobody&rsquo;s going to give it to you, no matter who&rsquo;s here,&rdquo; Reese said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just going to work hard and play as many games as I can.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Robert Svehla, the Flames&rsquo; fourth-round choice in the 1992 entry draft, could get a look as soon as next season. The towering defenseman played for Czechoslovakia-alongside Frantisek Musil-in the last World Championships&hellip;Left winger Chris Lindberg, lost in the expansion draft to the Ottawa Senators, was re-acquired by the Flames June 19 but the price was fairly steep: rookie defenseman Mark Osiecki, the only real blue line prospect in the organization. Osiecki&rsquo;s departure paves the way for Alexander Godynyuk to play a larger role for the team next season. &#9632;

f0028-01

Fleury won’t rest on laurels; has a lot to prove in ’92-93

The Bulls are back in Birmingham.Nine years after the original Birmingham Bulls disbanded because of the demise of the World Hockey Association, the East Coast League announced July 2 it is putting an expansion team in the Alabama city for the 1992-93 season.Birmingham will be the third ECHL project for owners Bob Polk, Ron Fuller and Doug Kirchhofer. The Knoxville residents were responsible for establishing solid franchises in Nashville in 1990 and Cincinnati in 1991.<h2>East Coast League</h2>Polk will serve as president and general manager, while Fuller, a former pro wrestler, is in charge of marketing and promotions. Kirchhofer, who is also president and GM of the Cincinnati Cyclones-the team has since left for the International League-will have a limited role in the Bulls&rsquo; operation.Ark Clarkson, former principal owner and general manager of the Birmingham Barons of the Southern (Baseball) League, was named a limited partner who will serve as an advisor.The Bulls are expected to be affiliated with New Jersey. A coach has yet to be named.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got the proper people and they have a successful track record,&rdquo; Clarkson said. &ldquo;These people know what they are doing.&rdquo;Polk said low ticket prices and a quality product were the keys to his group&rsquo;s accomplishments in Cincinnati, where the Cyclones averaged more than 9,500 fans last season. The same formula will be followed in Birmingham.The Bulls have a major-league facility, according to ECHL president Pat Kelly. The Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center seats about 17,000. Gordie Howe scored his 1,000th career goal in that building during his WHA career.American college football is king in the south and hockey will be a tough sell. But the Bulls&rsquo; ownership team plans to prove critics wrong.&ldquo;People say hockey won&rsquo;t go in the south,&rdquo; Clarkson said. &ldquo;If that&rsquo;s the case, why is Wayne Gretzky in Los Angeles? Why is there a new NHL team in Tampa? Atlanta&rsquo;s got a new team in the IHL. Ice hockey is moving.&rdquo;MR. ED: Eddie Johnstone. 38, was named coach of the Johnstown Chiefs July 6. The former New York Ranger and Detroit Red Wing coached the Vernon Lakers to three consecutive British Columbia Junior League titles. Johnstone succeeds Steve Carlson.<h2>International League</h2>The San Diego Gulls gained an edge behind the bench by hiring ex-Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; coach Rick Dudley.&ldquo;This is a decision I made because of the organization and the people in it,&rdquo; Dudley said. &ldquo;I had some other options but San Diego is one of the finest organizations out there.&rdquo;Dudley, 43, was the coach of the Sabres from 1988 until he was fired last season. The former coach of the defunct Flint Spirits has a two-year deal with the Gulls.He joins rookie coaches Curt Fraser (Milwaukee) and Rick Meagher (Peoria) as the International League&rsquo;s newest bench bosses.ECHL transfer Cincinnati has retained exSaginaw coach Dennis Desrosiers.FROM RUSSIA: Fort Wayne Komets&rsquo; coach Al Sims returned July 5 from a special coaching clinic held in Moscow.Sims was the only IHL representative in a contingent of 30 NHL, minor-league and college coaches that became the first group ever invited to work with the Russian Hockey Federation.English-version documents and United Nations-style headset interpretation were used to translate lectures. The speakers included renowned Red Army coach Victor Tikhonov, Anatoli Tarasov-who is regarded to be Russia&rsquo;s father of hockey-and Hall-of-Fame goalie Vladislav TretiakThe traveling party also scouted players interested in playing for North American teams.I-OPENERS: The IHL confirmed the Kalamazoo Wings will receive a full travel subsidy from the league&rsquo;s remote teams despite the fact the program will be cut back and be extinct in two years. The travel subsidy has been in place for eight seasons. It was designed to give teams in smaller markets-like Kalamazoo-a break on travel costs. Teams in San Diego, Phoenix and Atlanta will help pay for the Wings&rsquo; traveling expenses.<h2>American League</h2>The players and coaches have come and gone. And some teams are defunct as well.But Jack Butterfield has remained president of the American League since 1966-67 and he&rsquo;ll hold that position for at least two more years.The AHL&rsquo;s board of governors voted Butterfield to another two-year term, which will give him 28 years as the league&rsquo;s leader.&ldquo;The old shoe just keeps turning up,&rdquo; he said.While the AHL will operate with a league-record 16 franchises for the upcoming season, Butterfield still has a wish list.&ldquo;The problem I see in the league is that everyone would like to make money but everyone isn&rsquo;t making money,&rdquo; Butterfield said. &ldquo;Hopefully through our marketing and better business practices, we can achieve that.&rdquo;Making the product more visible would help, Butterfield maintains. That&rsquo;s why the league is pursuing a game-of-the-week package on Canadian television.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying very hard for that,&rdquo; he said.Butterfield said the chances of an AHL game of the week in the U.S. are remote, especially since the NHL has trouble securing one.HAMILTON IN SOUTH: The expansion Hamilton Canucks will play in the Southern Division next season, the league&rsquo;s only six-team division, with Baltimore, Binghamton, Hershey, Rochester and Utica.The Providence Bruins, who transferred to Rhode Island from Portland, Me., take the Maine Mariners spot in the Northern Division. There are no other divisional changes.Because the league continues to place an emphasis on divisional play, as well as trying to cut travel expenses, four teams won&rsquo;t play the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs. They are Binghamton, Utica, Springfield and New Haven.-With files from Nick Gates, Dave Eminian and Kevin Oklobzija. &#9632;

No Bull: hockey’s back in Birmingham

Joe Crowley will have his medical bills paid but it&rsquo;s uncertain who will be paying them.Crowley, who played this past season for the Trois-Rivieres Draveurs of the Quebec League was suing the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association for medical costs related to a knee injury he suffered in a March 17 game against the Hull Olympiques.The CAHA&rsquo;s insurance policy, which covers all three major junior leagues, stipulates that all players must have primary insurance coverage. The CAHA&rsquo;s plan is secondary and covers costs that are not covered in a primary plan.<h2>Quebec League</h2>Canadian-born players have primary coverage through provincial insurance plans but Crowley, a native of Concord, Mass., did not have primary coverage.When the CAHA pointed this out to Crowley, his agent Neil Abbott threatened to sue the CAHA, the QMJHL and the Draveurs for Crowley&rsquo;s $3,000 in medical bills.QMJHL president Gilles Courteau wrote a vaguely-worded letter to Abbott on June 18 saying that his league and the CAHA would do everything necessary to see that the bills are paid.However, neither Abbott nor CAHA medical programs manager Glen McCurdie had been contacted by Courteau as of mid-July. Courteau could not be reached for comment. Attempts to reach league representatives failed as the QMJHL office closed for the month of July.McCurdie said that while the CAHA will not change its policy, it would be easier to pay the bills than go to court.&ldquo;If it&rsquo;s going to cost us $4,000 or $5,000 in court costs, it&rsquo;s easier for us to play the bills and be done with it,&rdquo; McCurdie said.HULL OF A JOB: With the departure of Hull coach Alain Vigneault to an NHL assistant&rsquo;s job with Ottawa, the jockeying for the Olympiques&rsquo; job has begun. Hull assistant coach Michel Charron is a favorite along with Steve Marangere, a former junior standout with the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s.<h2>Ontario League</h2>The Owen Sound Platers are looking for a coach after Rick Tarasuk abruptly quit the Ontario League team following just one season.Tarasuk and Platers&rsquo; general manager Rob Holody got into a heated discussion at the team&rsquo;s season-ending barbecue, leading to Tarasuk&rsquo;s decision.&ldquo;Rob knows why,&rdquo; Tarasuk said when asked why he quit. &ldquo;There were a number of issues that had to be addressed. I figured this was as good a time as any to part ways instead of having problems arise down the road.&rdquo;Holody was just as vague-&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure what it&rsquo;s about,&rdquo; he said-but sources said Tarasuk wanted more say in decisions. Tarasuk returns to his teaching job at Bloor Collegiate in Toronto.MOVING ON: OHL referee Don Van Massenhoven, 32, and linesman Scott Driscoll. 24, have earned their stripes. Both are entering the NHL&rsquo;s training program. Van Massenhoven will work primarily in the American League with some NHL assignments his first season.He requested a leave of absence from an eight-year career with the Ontario Provincial Police that is paying him $50,000 to earn $27,000 his first year on the NHL staff. Driscoll will work 40 games in the NHL and 40 in the AHL.DIVING SIGNAL: Coaches and general managers decided against adopting a minor penalty for diving but referees will use a signal to notify teams and spectators that in his opinion the player took a dive and no penalty will be called.Neutral zone interference-such as pick plays, grabbing an opponent&rsquo;s stick and pushing a player offside-will be penalized while checking from behind will be called in all areas.London goalie Fred Brathwaite, bypassed in the NHL draft after leading the OHL with a 3.31 goals-against average and four shutouts, has been invited to the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; training camp.<h2>Western League</h2>The Brandon Wheat Kings hired Bob Lowes as coach July 7.Lowes, an assistant with Seattle last season, replaces Kevin Maxwell, who left to become director of scouting for the Hartford Whalers.Lowes, 29, signed a two-year contract. It will be his first head-coaching job.&ldquo;I always felt Bobby would be a good coach,&rdquo; said Wheat Kings&rsquo; general manager Kelly McCrimmon. &ldquo;This is the first time where we&rsquo;ve been looking for a coach at the same time he was looking for a job in our league.&rdquo;BOTHWELL DISMISSED: The Medicine Hat Tigers opted not to renew the contract of coach Tim Bothwell.Bothwell, who guided the Tigers to an impressive 88-51-5 record the past two seasons, had his contract expire May 15.&ldquo;It is with regret I have to make this decision,&rdquo; said Dennis Polonich, hired as Tigers&rsquo; GM June 17. &ldquo;It was my gut feeling and my decision that if I was going to start with a new direction, I wanted to start fresh.&rdquo;OVER THE TOP: The Red Deer Rebels selected five overage players in the third phase of the Western League expansion draft June 30.Chosen were: defenseman Steve Yule (Kamloops), left winger Dennis Saharchuk (Portland), right winger Curt Regnier (Prince Albert), center Mike Kennedy (Seattle) and defenseman Evan Marble (Medicine Hat). The Rebels then traded Marble to Moose Jaw for defenseman Kevin Masters.Each WHL team was allowed to protect three 20-year-old players. The Rebels were allowed to pick one player from five teams. The expansion Rebels will be permitted to ice five overage players next season. Other teams can only dress three.-With files from Ken Warren, Ken Campbell, Jim Cressman and Vance Oliver. &#9632;

League avoids lawsuit

f0030-01

Can’t Beat the Real Thing

VOTING FOR THE NHL&rsquo;S SEVEN MAJOR AWARDS WAS CONDUCTED BY FOUR GROUPS. THE PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY WRITERS&rsquo; ASSOCIATION CAST 69 BALLOTS FOR EACH OF THE HART. NORRIS. SELKE. LADY BYNG AND CALDER TROPHIES. THE FULL PHWA MEMBERSHIP VOTED ON THE MASTERTON TROPHY WHILE THE NHL BROADCASTERS&rsquo; ASSOCIATION VOTED FOR THE JACK ADAMS TROPHY. A SPECIAL PANEL OF PLAYERS. LEAGUE EXECUTIVES AND JOURNALISTS CHOSE THE KING CLANCY WINNER.EACH VOTER FOR A MAJOR AWARD MADE THREE SELECTIONS PER BALLOT. WITH FIRST-PLACE COUNTING FIVE POINTS, SECOND-PLACE COUNTING THREE POINTS AND THIRD-PLACE GARNERING ONE VOTE.THE VOTING RESULTS FOLLOW WITH POINT TOTAL AND FIRST. SECOND AND THIRD PLACE VOTES.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1342/6223771-1-eng-US/f0042-132.jpg" title="f0042-13" width="566" height="1394"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1439/6223764-1-eng-US/f0042-142.jpg" title="f0042-14" width="555" height="1950"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-1538/6223757-1-eng-US/f0042-152.jpg" title="f0042-15" width="1108" height="1278"><figcaption class="caption-body">Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; Patrick Roy was awarded the Vezina Trophy as the NHL&rsquo;s top goaltender for the third time in four years.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0042-13

NHL TROPHY VOTING RESULTS

<div class="byline">By THN staff</div>When the Quebec Nordiques finally pulled the trigger on the Eric Lindros deal with Philadelphia, they suddenly became a contender in the mediocre Adams Division.By adding Mike Ricci, Steve Duchesne, Ron Hextall, Kerry Huffman and Peter Forsberg, the Nordiques enhanced their chances of making the playoffs.To keep pace with Quebec, Adams&rsquo; teams can&rsquo;t afford to sit back and enjoy the summer without bolstering their teams. The following is a breakdown of their greatest needs and how they might fill them. Ottawa is not included.<h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2>The Bruins went into the off-season with two definite areas of need.&ldquo;We could still use some help at left wing,&rdquo; said assistant general manager Mike Milbury, &ldquo;and we&rsquo;d like to find some more size and toughness on the blue line.&rdquo;The upcoming season will determine whether Boston drafted itself out of its problem at left wing, an area Sinden says he has been trying to fix &ldquo;since John Bucyk retired.&rdquo;The Bruins used their first two draft picks on Dmitri Kvartalnov and Sergei Zoltok, left wingers from the former Soviet Union Milbury believes will make the club in 1992-93.Boston also got some defensive help by signing veteran free agent Gord Roberts but Milbury still pledged to &ldquo;be aggressive over the summer, whether it&rsquo;s in the free agent market or through trades.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01254/6223809-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="545" height="762"><figcaption class="caption-body">Clint Malarchuk&rsquo;s No. 1 job in Buffalo is anything but certain.</figcaption></div>The name kicked around most often is Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Phil Bourque, in whom the Bruins have admitted some interest. Bourque, a native of nearby Chelmsford, Mass., could potentially fill needs at both left wing and defense. He played both positions in Pittsburgh.<h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2>The Sabres&rsquo; biggest weakness appears to be where they seem to be deepest: in goal.The Sabres have four goaltenders with NHL experience and a fifth is looking to move up. Two more are on the roster in Rochester of the American League and Buffalo drafted a goalie in the 1992 entry draft.That would seem to be a problem of oversupply but in choosing among Tom Draper, Daren Puppa, Clint Malarchuk and Stephane Beauregard, there are problems.Draper finished the season as the No. 1 man but questions about his ability remain. While he was good in the Adams semifinal against Boston, Andy Moog was better. Draper is also slightly built-he&rsquo;s listed at 5-foot-11, 180 pounds-which prompts questions about his durability.Puppa, a free agent with compensation, has had two poor seasons in a row and does not figure in the team&rsquo;s long-range plans. He was the backup late last year because Malarchuk was ill. It&rsquo;s expected he will be moved before or during training camp.Malarchuk is the Sabres&rsquo; most experienced goaltender but problems with injuries and a mental disorder-obsessive compulsive disorder-clouded his 1991-92 season. He is expected to fully recover from his illness but will have to prove he can still perform on the ice.<h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2>The Whalers have needs everywhere. New GM Brian Burke and coach Paul Holmgren are starting with the team&rsquo;s size and demeanor in order to improve an NHL-low 13 home victories. Burke says he wants &ldquo;more beef&rsquo; and for players to compete with &ldquo;a snarl.&rdquo;On paper, the biggest need probably is to replace Ulf Samuelsson (traded away in 1990) with a big, tough, quality defensive defenseman. But despite some superb goaltending at times from Frank Pietrangelo (in March and in the playoffs) and Kay Whitmore (in October and in February), the Whalers&rsquo; goaltending was inconsistent. The No. 1 goalie slot is still in question.Another huge need for the Whalers is for their two stars, John Cullen and especially Pat Verbeek, to play much better than they did last season.Cullen led the club with 77 points but he was a team worst minus-28 and too little a factor in too many big games. Verbeek, a perennial 40-goal man, lapsed to 22 and was a nervous wreck during his six-month contract and arbitration squabble.<h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2>The Canadiens have three big needs heading into next season. They have to acquire a scorer, pick up a physical defenseman and find a qualified backup goaltender.Filling the void on offense is the top priority. Other than Kirk Muller (36 goals), no Canadien scored more than 30 goals this past season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02157/6223802-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg" title="f0044-02" width="529" height="777"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Verbeek must rebound for the Whalers to be competitive.</figcaption></div>If the Canadiens don&rsquo;t acquire free agent Vincent Damphousse from Edmonton or trade for another sniper, such as Los Angeles&rsquo; Luc Robitaille, their only alternative is to promote one of their scorers from Fredericton of the American League-left winger Patrick Lebeau (33 goals) or center Jesse Belanger (30).Along the blue line, the Canadiens must go outside the organization since the team appears to have lost confidence in minor-league defensemen Donald Dufresne and Alain Cote.Acquiring a qualified backup goalie became evident when Roy floundered in the playoffs.<h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2>Having traded Lindros for a package of young talent, GM Pierre Page&rsquo;s main off-season goal is adding experienced free agents, especially on defense.Page has stated on several occasions he is interested in signing free-agent defenseman Kevin Lowe from Edmonton.The Nordiques would also like to acquire a veteran forward to mix in with considerable youth up front. Page wants to sign New Jersey free-agent center Peter Stastny and bring him back to Quebec but Devils&rsquo; GM Lou Lamoriello said he doesn&rsquo;t want to lose Stastny, who made about $560,000 last season. &#9632;

f0044-01

Up for grabs

<div class="byline">By Kevin Dupont</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-03108/6223847-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="360" height="464"></div>A midsummer night&rsquo;s sports fantasy: a day in the life of the NHL&rsquo;s new commissioner.Here it is, the fantasy of all fantasy leagues. Forget the goals, assists, $ 100-prize money and pitcher of beer at the end of the season.Use your mind now instead to think what a league the NHL could be, with some creativity, a return to old-time values (like four-on-four play) and a lot less input from the marketing, advertising and showboat folk.For instance, now that I&rsquo;ve been named NHL commish for a day:&#9633; Say good-bye to Score-O. Really, what kind of professional league allows fans in loafers and spiked high heels to slip and slide to center ice like drunken seals for a chance to drive away in a suburban van? The whole idea is something out of Bull Durham, without the chewing tobacco. &#9633; Tell the maintenance crews across North America to spare themselves a few gallons of red paint. No more red line. The NHL game has already been placed in a small box, which limits the skills of many Europeans. Let&rsquo;s at least get to see what some of them can do with their speed if not their finesse. &#9633; Revive the Flying Frenchmen. The same goes for the EuroOilers of the &rsquo;80s. Let a two-minute penalty remain a two-minute penalty, with perhaps a cap at two power-play goals. And bring back play that had both sides skating one man short on coincidental minors. Think about it: two dynasties forced two pervasive, overreactive rule changes. If baseball had leadership like that. Babe Ruth would have brought on the banning of the home run. &#9633; Stop construction on the new Chicago Stadium. Don&rsquo;t add another brick until plans are made for the organ from the old Stadium to be transplanted into the new one. Sure, luxury boxes count but so does mood. &#9633; Send Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; owner Marcel Aubut a bill for $5 million. His double dealing around Eric Lindros was yet another slap across the league&rsquo;s face. There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with reminding the owners they have to live up to a moral standard, too. Don&rsquo;t blame the league, the Philadelphia Flyers or the New York Rangers for what Aubut did; blame Aubut. And use the fine revenue to beef up the pensions of the old retirees. &#9633; Move the 1993 entry draft to Kiev. Wouldn&rsquo;t it be easier? And let&rsquo;s ask Don Cherry to be the MC. &#9633; Tell the hockey teenagers of the world there won&rsquo;t be a repeat of I&rsquo;affaire Lindros. From now on, once a player is selected in the draft, his playing rights remain with the club that selects him-up until the time he finally signs a pro contract with that i team. No more two-year loopholes. Come to the party under the host&rsquo;s rules, or don&rsquo;t come to the party. &#9633; Cancel the mid-season All-Star Game. Anything&rsquo;s better. Bring in the previous season&rsquo;s Stanley Cup winner to play a team selected by the fans. No need to have one player from every team. It&rsquo;s a game about stars and pageantry, not benchwarmers and parity. &#9633; From here on, any on-ice official will face suspension and/or fine for entering-or attempting to break up-a player fight. Just let the players fight. And when talents like Jeremy Roenick and Pavel Bure get carved up like Christmas turkeys, the owners will finally do the right thing. &#9633; Forget adding a franchise in Helsinki. Better to try to keep Hartford from sinking. &#9633; Add just a slight curled lip to the top of all the phonyglass that lines the boards. The guess here is that half the errant pucks that go whizzing into the crowd will now just drop to the ice. Fans will be safer. Games will be faster. &#9633; Create one national anthem, the multi-national NHL anthem. The way the game has evolved, with more and more Europeans, the ice is loaded with Tomases, Dmitris and Vladimirs who don&rsquo;t know a rocket&rsquo;s red glare from a maple leaf. New-age music for a new age. &#9633; Bring back the hip check, the wooden stick, leather skates and sweaters that lace at the top. &#9633; Take away all advertising along the boards, and don&rsquo;t even think about putting a pizza ad in the ice.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0482/6223840-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="542" height="725"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeremy Roenick</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0044-03

Aubut and Nordiques should be penalized

<div class="byline">By Jeff Jacobs</div>Somewhere between green and black falls the newest dark blue shade of the Hartford Whalers&rsquo; uniforms.But in early July, the Whalers still were contemplating green (as in ticket money) and black (as in the mood after the Eric Lindros trade).As the club hit the fourth of July weekend, the Whalers had sold only 5,700 season tickets. That&rsquo;s 78 per I cent of last year&rsquo;s base of 7,302.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to turn things around on the ice before the ticket situation will get dramatically better,&rdquo; said director of ticket sales Jim Baldwin.The Whalers held the line on ticket prices for season ticket holders if they ordered before June 20. A $2 increase went into effect on that date.The team hopes to get another 1,000 season ticket holders before the start of the 1992-93 season. In their financial heyday five years ago, the Whalers had more than 9,000 season ticket holders.&ldquo;There will be some black nights where we get thumped and people will contemplate suicide,&rdquo; said general manager Brian Burke. &ldquo;But there will be a lot of fun nights. There are a lot of similarities between the Whalers of 1992 and the Vancouver Canucks of 1987-although the down turn in the economy is different here.&ldquo;And hockey is more than a sport in Canada. It&rsquo;s a religion. But hockey is the only major-league sport in Hartford and I think it&rsquo;s a religion for a lot of people here, too.&rdquo;Burke knows the Nordiques will be much stronger next season after adding Ron Hextall, Mike Ricci, Peter Forsberg, Steve Duchesne and Kerry Huffman in the Eric Lindros trade. It puts the Whalers in danger of missing the playoffs for the first time since 1985.&ldquo;It (the trade) was a black day for the Whalers,&rdquo; Burke said. &ldquo;They became a division favorite and blew past everyone. But I wasn&rsquo;t hired for a 12-month job. I was hired to build over 24 and 36 months.&rdquo;KERR SIGNS: On the same day free-agent Mikael Andersson left the Whalers to sign a four-year deal with Tampa Bay (July 8), Burke decided to sign oft-injured winger Tim Kerr.The Whalers acquired Kerr, 32, from the New York Rangers for a conditional 1993 draft pick, likely a sixth rounder. The Rangers are expected to pick up half of Kerr&rsquo;s $500,000 salary (up to $700,000 including incentives on a deal with a year and option remaining).&ldquo;He&rsquo;s capable of 30 goals if he can stay healthy,&rdquo; Burke said.&ldquo;Tim might have the best hands in the NHL in terms of getting the puck and shooting it,&rdquo; said coach Paul Holmgren, who played with and coached Kerr in Philadelphia.Kerr, who has a history of knee and shoulder problems, scored at least 50 goals in four consecutive seasons (1983 through 1987) but played in more than 40 games in just one of the past five.He had seven goals and 18 points in 32 games this past season.NOTEBOOK: After trading away Brad Shaw and deciding not to offer another contract to free-agent Marc Bergevin. Brian Burke added to his defense corps by signing unrestricted free agent Jim Agnew June 29. Agnew was a spare defenseman in Vancouver but is projected to be among the top six in Hartford. He signed a two-year-plus-option deal for about $250,000 a year&hellip;Burke has some interest in signing Canucks&rsquo; free-agent center Igor Larionov. &#9632;

Burke promises positive future even though things look bleak

<div class="byline">By Kevin Johnston</div>The one-year migrane headache finally wore off when Quebec traded disgruntled Eric Lindros to Philadelphia. But now the Nordiques are wondering if all they did was break down the migrane and turn it into a bunch of little headaches.The June 30 deal that netted the Nordiques five players, two draft picks and cash may also include a few problems coming Quebec&rsquo;s way. There&rsquo;s concern some of the players would rather have been sent to the moon than La Vieille Capitale.Goalie Ron Hextall, defensemen Steve Duchesne and Kerry Huffman and forwards Mike Ricci and Peter Forsberg make the Nordiques a better team on the depth chart. What happens on the ice, however, is a different story.Hextall&rsquo;s agent, Steve Mountain, was quoted in the Philadelphia Inquirer as saying Hextall would be devastated if he was traded to Quebec, that he would have difficulty adapting to the culture. Moreso, he F couldn&rsquo;t see how he would force his wife and children to move to Quebec.Ricci&rsquo;s agent, Anton Thun, was quoted in the same paper saying Ricci was going through tough times (his father Mario recently died of cancer) and would have difficulty adapting to a different culture. He also mentioned the tax structure.At a July 1 media conference in Quebec in which only Ricci attended-Duchesne spoke via telephone from Los Angeles-Thun was saying something different.&ldquo;I have no reason to believe Mike won&rsquo;t be in Quebec for the start of camp,&rdquo; Thun said. &ldquo;Mike is in a low point right now, with his father dying and his leaving a town he loved. But I&rsquo;m sure things will work out.&rdquo;Thun compared Ricci&rsquo;s contractual situation to that of Mats Sundin and Owen Nolan both of whom are looking for hefty increases. &ldquo;Mike is surely in their class,&rdquo; Thun said.At the press conference, Ricci expressed disappointment when Nords&rsquo; president Marcel Aubut and coach-GM Pierre Page kept saying they preferred the deal with the Rangers. Arbitrator Larry Bertuzzi ruled Quebec&rsquo;s deal with Philadelphia was the first and only one.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what to think,&rdquo; Ricci said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m looking at the names Quebec picked up for Lindros and they don&rsquo;t seem all that bad. But they don&rsquo;t seem good enough. It isn&rsquo;t a fun situation. I&rsquo;m here as a courtesy to the Nordiques and the fans.&rdquo;Page and his wife Donna went to Philadelphia after the trade so they could meet with Hextall and his wife.&ldquo;I was impressed by the man,&rdquo; Page said. &ldquo;He knows what he wants for himself and his family. He was shocked by the trade and I understand. But I&rsquo;m confident he&rsquo;ll report. Time will fix things. He hasn&rsquo;t said no and I haven&rsquo;t asked him for a yes. Not yet, anyway. The next step is his.&rdquo;Duchesne had always maintained he would love to play in his home province. The stumbling block for the Sept-Iles, Que., native is his contract, as it is for Huffman.Forsberg arrived in Quebec just hours after the press conference and missed the excitement. Page considers him the key to the deal. He will play one more season with MoDo in the Swedish Elite League next winter and should join the Nords for the 1993-94 season.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Janne Laukkanen. a member of Finland&rsquo;s national team, is expected to attend training camp&hellip;Scott Young, picked up from Pittsburgh in the Bryan Fogarty deal, is testing the free agency market. Pierre Page said he would match any offer. Young, a Group 11 free agent, played in Italy and for the U.S. Olympic team this past season.Page will remain as coach next season. He hired an administrative aide, Francois Giguere, to help sort out all the paperwork a GM has to go through. &#9632;

Problems may not be over

<div class="byline">By Jim Kellay</div>Former Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; center Christian Ruuttu is a member of the Winnipeg Jets&hellip; on paper only.Ruuttu was a free agent subject to compensation when the Sabres traded his rights to the Jets for goalie Stephane Beauregard before the June 17 expansion draft. But Ruuttu has told the Jets he will not sign with them and is negotiating with three other NHL teams.Should Ruuttu not sign with the Jets, it should be of no concern to the Sabres. However, general manager Gerry Meehan said he&rsquo;s willing to talk to Winnipeg GM Mike Smith about revamping the deal.Why he would do that isn&rsquo;t exactly clear. Meehan said only that he wanted to talk to Smith and maybe there would be &ldquo;some alteration to the agreement.&rdquo;Ruuttu is a Group II free agent. Under the terms of the new collective bargaining agreement, teams signing free agents for between $350,000 and $500,000 per season would owe the former club one first-round draft pick.A first-round pick could be of some significance to the Sabres. Two of the three teams said to be dealing with Ruuttu are the Hartford Whalers and the Chicago Blackhawks. The Whalers had a poor 1991-92 season and could have another one this year. Their first-round pick would be a valuable commodity.Meehan was happy to get Beauregard and said he wouldn&rsquo;t be part of a new deal if Ruuttu signed with another team.Beauregard was Winnipeg&rsquo;s No. 3 goalie behind Rick Tabaracci and Bob Essensa. Had Buffalo not made the deal, it would still hold right of compensation or equalization for Ruuttu. The Jets had no such advantage with Beauregard and would probably have lost him in the expansion draft.The Sabres now have five goalies on their roster&mdash;Daren Puppa, Clint Malarchuk, Tom Draper, David Littman and Beauregard. Bill Pye and John Bradley are also waiting in the wings in the Sabres&rsquo; American League affiliate in Rochester.Ruuttu was unavailable for comment and his agent was extremely cautious in his remarks.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve learned from experience not to talk about these things until a deal is done,&rdquo; said Don Baizley. &ldquo;Let&rsquo;s just say that Christian will be playing in the NHL next season.&rdquo;RINK OF DREAMS: The Sabres are a small step away from getting the new arena they say they so desperately need.Buffalo city council agreed July 7 to put up $2.35 million to buy land and prepare architectural plans for a new rink, overriding a veto by mayor James Griffin.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to see Buffalo become a bush-league city, a city of minor-league teams and second-rate players,&rdquo; said council member Eugene Fahey.The Sabres must now come up with a plan to finance the estimated $100-million project. They previously proposed putting up $40 million with the city, county and state contributing the rest but that was rejected.Sabres&rsquo; owner Seymour Knox III has repeatedly said the team could move from Buffalo or be sold if a new arena isn&rsquo;t built.NOTEBOOK: The Sabres reported a deficit of $3.5 million despite playing to 92 per cent capacity this past season. That prompted the largest one-time ticket price hike ever, an average of 20 per cent. A top-priced gold or red ticket will now cost season ticket holders $30.00 (up from $25.00). Those seats will sell at the ticket window for $40.00. The Sabres lowest priced ticket went from $8.50 to $10.00 for season ticket holders and $12.00 to $13.00 for over-the-counter sales. &#9632;

Ruuttu deal with Jets not open-and-shut case

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div>Alain Vigneault is moving up but he won&rsquo;t have to move out.Vigneault, 31, left the Quebec League&rsquo;s Hull Olympiques to join Rick Bowness&rsquo; Ottawa Senators&rsquo; coaching staff as an assistant July 8. E.J. McGuire, who coached Boston&rsquo;s farm team in Maine of the American League last year, is the other assistant, and former New York Islander Glenn Resch will work with the team&rsquo;s goalies.&ldquo;Alain is in a unique situation,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;He can make the jump to the NHL and he doesn&rsquo;t have to make a move.&rdquo;Vigneault, who enjoyed a successful five-year run as coach the Olympiques, lives in Hull, which is located just across the Ottawa River from Canada&rsquo;s capital.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great opportunity all around,&rdquo; said Canada&rsquo;s 1987-88 major junior coach of the year. &ldquo;For the last five years, I&rsquo;ve been with a first-class junior organization.&ldquo;The first time I met Mr. Bowness, I felt he has the same philosophy as across the river. We were always interested in finding solutions rather than guilty parties.&rdquo;McGuire, 40, worked closely with Bowness, who was let go as the Bruins&rsquo; head coach in early June. For the seven years before that, McGuire was an assistant under Mike Keenan in Philadelphia and Chicago.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m impressed with the philosophy here,&rdquo; said McGuire, who earned his PhD in sports psychology from the University of Waterloo in the summer of 1990. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re dedicated to building with young people.&rdquo;Bowness received applications from about 50 candidates for the assistant coaching jobs and interviewed about a dozen before settling on Vigneault and McGuire.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve got different backgrounds but there&rsquo;s a lot that&rsquo;s similar about them,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re hard-working, committed coaches. They know the game and they know how to communicate well.&rdquo;Bowness said the assistant coaches would not be assigned exclusive areas of responsibility.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe in saying, &lsquo;You&rsquo;re responsible for the defense and you look after the video,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I believe in getting coaches involved in everything-travel plans, game plans, the style of game we&rsquo;re going to use.&rdquo;BATTLIN&rsquo; BRUCE: While many members of the board of governors are making noises about abolishing fighting, Senators&rsquo; chairman and governor Bruce Firestone said he doesn&rsquo;t mind the odd tussle between two tough guys.Firestone, whose team made last year&rsquo;s penalty minute leader, Mike Peluso, an early choice in the expansion draft, doesn&rsquo;t want to see &ldquo;draconian penalties&rdquo; introduced to eliminate fighting entirely.&ldquo;As far as a fight between two talented athletes in the heat of the Stanley Cup final&hellip;as a Canadian and a fan, I don&rsquo;t find that particularly objectionable,&rdquo; Firestone said.Firestone said he would like to see fighting eliminated as a &ldquo;tactic&rdquo; in which one team would use an enforcer to purposely take a more talented player off the ice.NOTEBOOK: The future of the Senators&rsquo; AHL affiliate, the New Haven Nighthawks, remains cloudy because of poor season-ticket sales. Only 700 had been purchased for the 1991-92 season through mid-July. The team could be moved, sold or play suspended for year. A decision is expected by the end of July. &#9632;

Assistant feels right at home

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div>Nearly everything about coaching hockey has interested Tom McVie since he started that aspect of his career 19 years ago.There has been just one exception: McVie could never get excited about being an assistant.That exception came with an exception, however, so last month McVie took a job he never thought he&rsquo;d take: He became an assistant to new Boston coach Brian Sutter.A couple of factors changed McVie&rsquo;s thinking, one of which was the fact he was unemployed when the Bruins made their offer.&ldquo;I was fairly sure I was going to get a job,&rdquo; said McVie, fired as New Jersey coach despite leading them to the best season in team history (38-31-11). &ldquo;There wasn&rsquo;t a lot of attraction for me in being an assistant, though.&rdquo;Until Sutter, who replaced the deposed Rick Bowness in Boston, called. A combination of admiration for Sutter&rsquo;s four-year track record in St. Louis, plus a longer-standing respect for the Boston organization, were enough to convince McVie to become an assistant for the first time.McVie was reunited with the organization that gave him his start in coaching. Bruin general manager Harry Sinden gave McVie his first bench job in 1973-74, hiring him to lead the Dayton Gems of the International League, and a pre-training camp experience.&ldquo;They brought me in a week before camp to work with some guys who were coming off injuries,&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;I was there to put guys like Bobby Orr, Phil Esposito, Don Awrey through paces and I was really working them.&ldquo;Here I was, an unknown minor-league coach working with some of the best players in the world. I half expected one of them to come up and ask &lsquo;Who the hell are you?&rsquo; but the whole time, not once did any of them even look at me sideways. They just kept working.&ldquo;I was so impressed. I realized right then what a great, hard-working organization Boston had, and I said to myself that someday I&rsquo;d be a coach for the Bruins. It was just that since then, either I&rsquo;d already had a job when they had a spot to fill or it was the other way around.&rdquo;McVie had feelers from a couple of other NHL teams once New Jersey let him go but he forgot about them when Sutter called.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if I&rsquo;d have been interested in this job with any other team,&rdquo; McVie said. &ldquo;But I have all the respect in the world from Sutter. He was the one who made the initial contact with me, and he really made me feel like I was wanted and needed.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Bob Carpenter&rsquo;s decision to sign a free-agent contract with Washington was likely the continuation of what may turn out to be a mass exodus of Boston left wingers. The Bruins also lost Jeff Lazaro to Ottawa in the expansion draft. In addition, re-signing free agents Brent Ashton and Scott Arniel was not a high priority (Arniel was told he could try to make his own deal), and Andy Brickley played last season on a termination contract. By mid-July, Dave Reid and Ted Donato were the only left wingers from last year under contract.Former Bruins&rsquo; assistant coach and New York Ranger/Buffalo coach Ted Sator, who had been stateside during the playoffs checking out job opportunities, elected to return to coaching in Italy. &#9632;

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August 1, 1992

Signing Selanne priority

Roy was centerpiece of possible Lindros deal

THE DRAW

He’s not Wayne but the Gretzky is a good one