Schneider tries to put rocky start behind him

Without knowing it, defenseman Mathieu Schneider might “have laid the foundation in August for what would become the Montreal Canadiens’ first controversy of the season. Schneider attended a conditioning camp the Canadiens conduct each summer, several weeks before the start of camp. Although attending these informal workouts is strictly volunteer, most players at least make a token appearance to begin working some of the summer kinks out. Schneider, married the month before, made it clear he would have been content had the summer been prolonged. He carried that attitude through camp and into the season. “I don’t know what his problem is,” a confused coach Jacques Demers said. Schneider dressed for the opener against the Hartford Whalers Oct. 6. Although Montreal won 4-3, Schneider was on the ice for two of the Whalers’ goals,…

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Kings’ coach says No. 99 still NHL’s No. 1 player

LOS ANGELES-The U.S. Postal Service not only delivers the mail, it delivers the motivation for Barry Melrose. Should the Los Angeles Kings win the Stanley Cup this season, The Hockey News may earn an assist. It turns out Melrose’s subscription to THN provides him with the stuff of Anthony Robbins. He even uses it to awaken the giant within Wayne Gretzky. “He has been riding this Hockey News thing-the eighth-best player,” Gretzky said. “He reminds me constantly about it.” Gretzky is rated No. 8 in a THN Yearbook ranking of the NHL’s best players. Listed ahead of him are Mario Lemieux, Eric Lindros, Doug Gilmour, Chris Chelios, Pat LaFontaine, Teemu Selanne and Patrick Roy. “Wayne is the greatest player who ever played and he’s the greatest player in the NHL right today,” Melrose…

Players happy to be out of Shark-infested waters

It’s safe to say that Do You Know The Way To San Jose? is not a favorite song of Neil Wilkinson or Jeff Hackett. The two new Chicago Blackhawks are just glad they found the way out of San Jose. “I spent my two years in prison,” said Hackett, who came to the Hawks from the Sharks with Wilkinson in a summer deal for Jimmy Waite. “It’s great to be in an organization that you know is working toward winning something.” Wilkinson, who was the future considerations in the deal, said he felt a different atmosphere the first day he walked into Chicago Stadium. “It’s really nice to be back in an organization where you’re treated like a professional athlete,” Wilkinson said. “You’re respected here. In San Jose, you were more of a commodity.…