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.

September 1, 1994

The Hockey News September 1, 1994

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02543/6393129-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY DAN HAMILTON)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01737/6393136-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="190" height="189"></div><p>It has taken four full seasons, but Mathieu Schneider has finally proven one thing: He is the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; best defenseman.</p><p>He thinks he is, but more importantly, so does his boss&hellip;most of the time.</p><p>&ldquo;A <i>focused</i> Mathieu Schneider is our best defenseman,&rdquo; said Canadiens&rsquo; coach Jacques Demers. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying our others are bad, but I use him and give him more ice time than any of the others. No question, he&rsquo;s our best.&rdquo;</p><p>Offensively gifted with a flair for leading rushes, Schneider scored 20 goals and 52 points in 75 games last season. And he played sound defensively, exhibiting a robust, physical dimension.</p><p>&ldquo;Mathieu Schneider&rsquo;s value has been proven,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s outstanding defensively, among the (NHL&rsquo;s) elite players. He has progressed tremendously in the two years I had him and he&rsquo;s ready to assume a leadership role. He has all the tools.&rdquo;</p><p>There were difficult times as well last season. Schneider didn&rsquo;t accompany the team on its flight from Pittsburgh after being benched in only the second game of the season.</p><p>Schneider claimed he overreacted to not playing and admitted that, as a veteran, he shouldn&rsquo;t have acted so irrationally. Demers claimed at the time Schneider had personal problems, but said they weren&rsquo;t drug or alcohol related.</p><p>Personal tragedy followed that winter when Schneider&rsquo;s wife, Evon, suffered a miscarriage.</p><p>Schneider persevered and put together a great season, the first 20-goal effort of his career. Entering his option season, Schneider claims he&rsquo;s among the top 10 defensemen in the league and wants to be in the top-10 salary range.</p><p>Schneider earned $420,000 (U.S.) last season. He believes he&rsquo;s being grossly underpaid and has filed for salary arbitration. He would like to earn at least $1.5 million or $2 million annually.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not saying it&rsquo;s troubling me,&rdquo; he said,&rdquo;but I&rsquo;d be lying if I said I don&rsquo;t think about it. The market has been pretty well set.&rdquo;</p><p>Eric Desjardins was the Canadiens&rsquo; highest-paid defenseman last season, at $825,000. Without disparaging his teammate, Schneider believes he&rsquo;s Montreal&rsquo;s best rearguard.</p><p>&ldquo;I think I&rsquo;ve become a big leader on this team, especially on defense,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I guess it&rsquo;s a matter of pride or competitiveness, but I strive to be the best at my position in my sport.</p><p>&ldquo;We all want to be needed by our teams. I&rsquo;d like to believe I&rsquo;m a big part and they need me to win. I&rsquo;ve improved each season, and my last two, I feel I was the best.&rdquo;</p><p>Schneider&rsquo;s salary demands could well lead to his departure from Montreal. The Canadiens can afford to pay Schneider, but he&rsquo;s one of eight experienced defensemen and the one who would bring the most in a trade. The Canadiens desperately need a playmaking center and might be forced to part with the 25-year-old.</p><p>Yet there&rsquo;s no denying the Canadiens could use Schneider&rsquo;s offense. Montreal was held to 283 goals last season-43 fewer than the year before. Without many scoring threats at forward. Canadiens&rsquo; defensemen must contribute offensively for the team to be competitive.</p><p>Selected 44th overall in 1987, Schneider burst onto the scene two years later as an offensive specialist.</p><p>He honed his defensive game under former Montreal coach Pat Bums, controlling his aggression and cutting down on unnecessary penalties.</p><p>&ldquo;I have to be physical,&rdquo; Schneider said. &ldquo;It gets me into the game. But I also take pride in the fact I play defense and offense. A lot of defensemen score 70 or 80 points, but how often are they scored on?&rdquo;</p><p>Of the eight defensemen who scored 70 or more points last season, six had a better plus-minus figure than Schneider&rsquo;s plus-15. Of the 18 who matched or bettered Schneider&rsquo;s 52 points, 10 had better marks.</p><p>The 5-foot-11, 189-pounder finally seems prepared to fulfill his prophesy.</p><p>Canadiens&rsquo; general manager Serge Savard called Schneider the next Chris Chelios after the Norris Trophy winner was traded to the Chicago Blackhawks in June, 1990 for Denis Savard. At the time, Schneider was a rookie with 48 games of NHL experience.</p><p>The trade has come back to haunt Savard, but Schneider has patterned his style after Chelios and might yet make Canadiens&rsquo; fans forget Savard&rsquo;s gaffe. But Schneider still has a long way to go before he reaches Chelios&rsquo; stature.</p><p>&ldquo;He does a lot of the same things as Chelios,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;He scores, is capable of playing physical and defense, while giving us lots of other dimensions.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03438/6393122-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="673" height="331"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Montreal&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 199495 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04341/6393115-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="670" height="996"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05258/6393108-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="667" height="130"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06218/6393101-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="668" height="394"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0038-02

NHL TEAMS

Is Schneider among best?

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0046-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02152/6393665-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY JIM LEARY/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01224/6393672-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="194" height="193"></div><p>Some people thought Mikael Renberg should have been the NHL&rsquo;s rookie of the year last season.</p><p>Renberg wasn&rsquo;t among them.</p><p>Not because his numbers weren&rsquo;t good enough. The Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; 22-year-old right winger broke the NHL goal-scoring record for Swedish rookies, notching 38, and he obliterated Flyer team rookie records for both goals and points (he collected 82).</p><p>It&rsquo;s just that Renberg is a modest sort, not given to boasting about his personal accomplishments.</p><p>Often rookies who have great first years have trouble duplicating those accomplishments. Renberg need only to consult teammates Tommy Soderstrom and Dimitri Yushkevich for evidence of that.</p><p>The Flyers believe Renberg can and will avoid the sophomore jinx. He has all the tools-a great work ethic, size and speed.</p><p>And a good second year by Renberg is crucial to the Flyers&rsquo; fortunes this season. The Flyers still have a real deficiency on defense and need Renberg&rsquo;s firepower on nights when the scores begin to rise.</p><p>Renberg flew all the way from Sweden to Toronto in June just to watch New Jersey Devils&rsquo; goalie Martin Brodeur walk away with the Calder Trophy as the best first-year player.</p><p>In doing so. Renberg joined a list of famous Flyer runner-ups-one which includes Hall of Famer Bill Barber and Ron Hextali.</p><p>No Flyer has ever won the award.</p><p>&ldquo;To be honest with you, I think Brodeur deserved to win the award,&rdquo; Renberg said. &ldquo;He took his team to the playoffs and played great. I&rsquo;m not disappointed, just happy to be among the three finalists.&rdquo;</p><p>Renberg said he has a little psychological ploy he&rsquo;ll try on himself to avoid slipping his second year.</p><p>&ldquo;I try to think that every year is my first year, he said. I never played last year. I wasn&rsquo;t here then. I&rsquo;m coming in like I have to earn a job.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m satisfied with the way I played last season, but we didn&rsquo;t make the playoffs. It doesn&rsquo;t matter if I played well if the team didn&rsquo;t succeed.&rdquo;</p><p>Flyers&rsquo; first-year coach Terry Murray said he was impressed by how mature Renberg played last season.</p><p>&ldquo;He surprised me last year, just came out of nowhere,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He looks to me like he has a tremendous attitude. If he goes out and does the things he&rsquo;s capable of, he can certainly be one of the stars on this team.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a power-type of forward, plays in traffic, handles the puck extremely well and can buy some time and space for his center.&rdquo;</p><p>Renberg has already achieved superstar status in his native country. He and Olympic Games hero Peter Forsberg are the two of the most popular targets for autograph hounds in Sweden.</p><p>&ldquo;I try to hide, but they find me,&rdquo; Renberg said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s part of the job. You have to keep your feet on the ground. One year is just one year. I have to prove that I can play a lot of years here.&rdquo;</p><p>Much of Renberg&rsquo;s success, of course, came from playing alongside Eric Lindros. The two complement each other and there&rsquo;s a good chance they will play together again this season, despite a change of coach and general manager.</p><p>&ldquo;I like playing with hard-working players,&rdquo; Renberg said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the way the game should be played.&rdquo;</p><p>Just having a year under his belt should prove invaluable.</p><p>&ldquo;When I come into this season, I&rsquo;m going to feel a little more comfortable,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I know what it&rsquo;s all about. I can stay cool between the games. I don&rsquo;t have to think too much about a game if I play badly.&rdquo;</p><p>Renberg has also taken on a leadership role with the team. Last season in a game against the San Jose Sharks, the Flyers were in the throes of a losing streak and were behind entering the third period.</p><p>Renberg announced in the dressing room that he was going to score a pair of goals in the third period and the Flyers would win. He outdid himself by scoring a hat trick and the Flyers did indeed win.</p><p>New Flyers&rsquo; GM Bob Clarke likes what he sees in Renberg.</p><p>&ldquo;Size, work ethic, skill-he has everything to be a great player,&rdquo; Clarke said. &ldquo;He has a tough personality and he&rsquo;s not going to be denied.&rdquo;</p><p>Considering the Flyers can&rsquo;t afford to be denied a playoff spot for the sixth straight year, those are valuable traits indeed.</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-03104/6393658-1-eng-US/f0046-032.jpg" title="f0046-03" width="682" height="338"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Philadelphia&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0485/6393651-1-eng-US/f0046-042.jpg" title="f0046-04" width="673" height="999"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0564/6393644-1-eng-US/f0046-052.jpg" title="f0046-05" width="673" height="129"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0656/6393637-1-eng-US/f0046-062.jpg" title="f0046-06" width="674" height="397"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0046-02

Renberg back to basics

<p class="dropcap"><span>P</span>at LaFontaine has a career points-per game average of 1.20 and peaked at 1.76 in 1992-93. He is the most prominent omission from our top 300. Only players who appeared in a minimum of 21 games are included. LaFontaine scored 18 points in 16 games, missing most of the year with a knee injury. Other notable veterans who didn&rsquo;t play the requisite number of games last season are Quebec Nordique Owen Nolan (four points in six games). New York Ranger Petr Nedved (20 points-19 games), St Louis Blue Peter Stastny (16 points-17 games) and the Los Angeles King Dan Quinn (seven points-13 games). Rookies are not included on this list. See each team&rsquo;s list of top five prospects for help with newcomers.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0069-064/6394470-1-eng-US/f0069-062.jpg" title="f0069-06" width="599" height="2105"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0069-06

IN THIS ISSUE

PAT HANDS ARE GOOD

f0074-09

SCHEDULE

EAST COACH LEAGUE

f0002-01

1994-95 SEASON PREVIEW

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011559/6391896-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"></div><p>For Brendan Shanahan, the code has always been the same: Fight one of us, fight all of us.</p><p>In the playground. On the ice. In the boardroom. The latest example? Shanahan took umbrage at something said during the Aug. 18 meeting of league and NHL Players&rsquo; Association officials and reprimanded commissioner Gary Bettman.</p><p>&ldquo;Wipe that smirk off your face,&rdquo; Shanahan reportedly instructed Bettman after the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; free-spending ways were scorned.</p><p>Shanahan was vague on the details of the confrontation. &ldquo;The feeling the league (gave) us was they were laughing at the Blues, that they weren&rsquo;t intent on making money and couldn&rsquo;t get past the first round of the playoffs,&rdquo; Shanahan said. &ldquo;I guess what I was saying was, &lsquo;Guys, watch what you say about my team.&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>NHL spokesman Arthur Pincus said the exchange arose out of a misunderstanding.</p><p>&ldquo;It was an intense meeting and it was an attempt at humor,&rdquo; Pincus said. &ldquo;When Brendan expressed his displeasure, the comissioner said that if (Shanahan) was offended, he was sorry.&rdquo; Fighting has always come naturally for Shanahan. It&rsquo;s scoring that has been a learned process for him in the NHL. Shanahan scored 52 goals in 1993-94-his second straight 50-goal season-and earned a berth on the first all-star team, the first such honor of his career.</p><p>&ldquo;Brendan has only scratched the surface of what he can do,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; acting coach Bob Berry.</p><p>Shanahan, 25, is a prototypical 1990s power forward. Last year, he became the second player in NHL history to record 50 goals, 100 points and 200 penalty minutes in a single season. (Kevin Stevens of the Pittsburgh Penguins did it in 199192.) Shanahan had to reawaken the warrior within last year. After a 1992-93 season when he fought only once and scored 51 goals, the rugged left winger was obliged to re-establish his predatory credentials.</p><p>&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a question of Shanny not getting his space,&rdquo; Berry said. &ldquo;It was a question of not letting anyone infringe on what he had already earned. There were a couple of instances where he had to make a statement.&rdquo;</p><p>In one of Shanahan&rsquo;s seven bouts last season, he beat up Keith Tkachuk after the young Winnipeg Jet&rsquo;s stick cut him for 40 stitches.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my nature,&rdquo; Shanahan said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve grown up enough to know you don&rsquo;t do it off the ice, but within the sport, (fighting) happens. I don&rsquo;t like to think about it because if I do, it&rsquo;s nerveracking, but I enjoy it every once in awhile.&rdquo;</p><p>Shanahan, the product of a warm, middle-class Irish-Canadian family, has a genuine and spontaneous manner. The Shanahans valued laughter. Rose and Donal, his late father, immigrated to the Toronto area from Ireland and Donal would tell the boys how the couple&rsquo;s first home was beside an apple tree that sustained the new Canadians for the first few months.</p><p>Donal, moonlighting as a gravedigger to feed his children while putting himself through firefighting school, would sometimes nap in a freshly dug hole. The boys were competitive and tough. Older brother Don had 11 years on Brendan, Brian eight and Shaun six and from toddlerhood on. Brendan struggled to catch up.</p><p>&ldquo;I remember watching them in Jr. A lacrosse and I loved the camaraderie they had,&rdquo; Shanahan said. &ldquo;If one guy got into a fight, it would only take another minute until the other was fighting. No one wanted to be outdone.&rdquo;</p><p>When they were in school, Shaun would occasionally delegate fighting chores to Brendan if the older brother&rsquo;s adversary was too young. &ldquo;It was like living with Don King,&rdquo; Shanahan said.</p><p>The boys observed a code. They could fight among themselves, but in lacrosse and on the rink, fighting one brother meant fighting them all. Brendan fought in the schoolyard and through minor and junior hockey.</p><p>As an 18-year-old rookie with the New Jersey Devils. Shanahan found his fists were all he had. He wasn&rsquo;t experienced enough to anticipate the play or fast enough to catch up.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not ashamed to say it,&rdquo; Shanahan said. &ldquo;I was in over my head when I first came into the league. My first fight was against Jay Wells and I remember the team got a boost from it, guys patted me on the back after the game. It was respect.&rdquo;</p><p>Respect for the rest of Shanahan&rsquo;s game grew in his second season. After a junior career and rookie season spent at center and right wing, he moved to the left side on a line centered by Patrik Sundstrom and built around the scoring abilities of right winger John MacLean. Shanahan scored 22 goals as the line&rsquo;s designated mucker and his NHL apprenticeship had begun in earnest.</p><p>&ldquo;Whenever I got off the ice, those guys would be talking about what I did right or wrong,&rdquo; Shanahan said. &ldquo;Playing with those guys gave me the kick I needed to learn the game.&rdquo;</p><p>In 1991, Shanahan&rsquo;s apprenticeship was transferred to St. Louis when he signed with the Blues as a free agent. An arbitrator awarded the Devils defenseman Scott Stevens as compensation. While only a fair skater, Shanahan has excellent balance, a heavy shot and a quick release. Shanahan is one of the league&rsquo;s best onetime artists, working in tandem with clever center Craig Janney.</p><p>He credits Brett Hull with advancing him as a scorer: &ldquo;The trick to being open is never being at the right spot too early and Hully is great at that. There&rsquo;s a time to make noise, to barge in front of the net and there&rsquo;s a time to get there quietly.&rdquo;</p><p>There&rsquo;s no denying Brendan Shanahan has barged to the top of the NHL.</p><h2><b>MAN ON THE RISE</b></h2><p>Brendan Shanahan&rsquo;s goal and penalty-minute totals have consistently risen since he was selected second overall in the 1987 entry draft. Listed are games, goals and penalty minutes.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021264/6391889-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="503" height="407"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0003-01

FEATURES

Figting spirt of St. Louis

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011502/6391927-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Eric Lindros becomes one of the youngest players to wear the &lsquo;C&rsquo; in NHL history.</b></figcaption></div><p>Everyone knew the day was coming.</p><p>But even Eric Lindros seemed startled when Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray walked into the dressing room on the second day of training camp and casually made the announcement Lindros would be the team&rsquo;s next captain.</p><p>Murray didn&rsquo;t make a big deal out of it. He simply told the parties involved and let the word spread through the dressing room grapevine.</p><p>So now it&rsquo;s official. The Flyers are Lindros&rsquo; team, both in title and in spirit.</p><p>&ldquo;I was a little surprised, I didn&rsquo;t feel this was going to happen right away,&rdquo; Lindros said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m honored by it. But it takes a big leadership group, it&rsquo;s not just one guy.</p><p>Lindros should not have been shocked. He has emerged as the Flyers&rsquo; best all-around player-one of the best in the league-and has come a long way since he joined the Flyers two seasons ago.</p><p>When he first joined the Flyers, Lindros said he didn&rsquo;t think he would make a good captain. He wasn&rsquo;t sure he had the right people skills. But he will also be the first to tell you the ability to lead comes from maturity and to get there, there is no substitute for experience.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m better prepared for this than I was (a year or two ago),&rdquo; Lindros said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll be better tomorrow than I am today. I think that every bit of time that elapses you draw from, learn conclusions from.&rdquo;</p><p>Lindros will start the season among the youngest captains in NHL history. Although no official records are kept, it is believed that Steve Yzerman, Dale Hawerchuk and Kirk Muller were the only players younger than Lindros to be named captain.</p><p>When the season opens, Lindros will be 21 years, seven months old.</p><p>Making the adjustment that much more challenging is the fact Lindros is exploring uncharted territory. Because he always played with older teammates, he was never a captain in minor hockey and the only experience he had wearing the &lsquo;C&rsquo; was not a good one. Lindros captained the 1992 Canadian national junior team, which finished a worst-ever sixth amid controversy at the World Junior Championships in Germany.</p><p>But in two short years, Lindros has matured, shown leadership traits and took control of the Flyers, in some ways, long before Kevin Dineen was relieved of the &lsquo;C.&rsquo;</p><p>Early in Lindros&rsquo; career, the Flyers shied away from the idea of giving him the team captaincy. They thought he had enough responsibility just dealing with instant stardom and the expectations that surrounded his entry into the league.</p><p>&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t want the &lsquo;C&rsquo; to be a burden on anybody, but we don&rsquo;t think it will on Eric,&rdquo; said Flyers&rsquo; general manager Bob Clarke. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s our best player and we expect him to lead by example. There&rsquo;s no reason for him not to be captain of this club.&rdquo;</p><p>It will be Lindros&rsquo; mission-along with new alternate captains Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour and Mark Recchi-to lead the Flyers into the playoffs for the first time since 1989.</p><p>It&rsquo;s obvious the Flyers want even more from Lindros and this is their way of showing it. And there&rsquo;s good reason to believe Lindros will deliver immediately. The third season is historically the breakthrough year for many great players and Lindros appears ready to take his game to the next level.</p><p>There have been times in the past two years when Lindros has been clearly frustrated by the play of some teammates. He didn&rsquo;t feel it was his place, though, to sound off.</p><p>Lindros said he still won&rsquo;t necessarily verbalize those frustrations, but rather try to lead through example. If that doesn&rsquo;t work, at least now he can speak freely without feeling like he&rsquo;s encroaching on someone else&rsquo;s territory.</p><p>&ldquo;Not everyone is going to play the same way you want them to play,&rdquo; Lindros said,&rdquo;but you have to use the strengths that everyone has and try to find a way to do it, find a way to bring them along.</p><p>&ldquo;But that&rsquo;s not all me, that&rsquo;s a coach&rsquo;s situation. I guess the best way to lead is to do it yourself. That&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;ll try to be doing.*&rdquo;</p><p>Garry Galley and Dave Brown rotated the alternate captain&rsquo;s role with Lindros last year. Clarke said it is time for the young players to take over leadership.</p><p>&ldquo;At this point, it&rsquo;s the right move,&rdquo; Clarke said. &ldquo;Obviously, Eric is the right man to be captain. He possesses the leadership qualities and abilities it takes to be a captain.&rdquo;</p><p>Brind&rsquo;Amour said all Lindros has to do is keep playing the way he has and most of the rest will take care of itself.</p><p>&ldquo;Eric, just by his presence, the way he plays-he&rsquo;s not going to have to change anything. He leads by example. He&rsquo;s the focal point and everyone looks up to him even though he&rsquo;s young. That&rsquo;s a pretty good reason to make him a leader.&rdquo;</p><p>Recchi also continues to take on a greater role in the Flyers&rsquo; leadership. The Flyers&rsquo; leading scorer the past two seasons is ready to do whatever is asked.</p><p>&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t have to have a letter to have more responsibility, but this is fine with me,&rdquo; Recchi said. &ldquo;This is Eric&rsquo;s third year and it was going to happen, so why not give it to him? He&rsquo;s ready to step up and be captain and I think it will be great for him. He has matured a lot over the last two years.&rdquo;</p><p>Murray and Clarke didn&rsquo;t have to deliberate long on the decision. &ldquo;I think he probably gained an awful lot of experience over the last two years and I think there&rsquo;s a lot of leadership that will come out of that guy,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s the young players&rsquo; time. Lindros, Brind&rsquo;Amour and Recchi are obviously the top players on the team.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0005-01

Philly’s Captain Crunch

<div class="byline">By John Dellapina</div><p>Seventeen months ago, the math appeared all too obvious to Neil Smith, the logic all too irrefutable.</p><p>During Smith&rsquo;s tenure as the team&rsquo;s general manager, the New York Rangers without Mike Keenan had amounted to many things-several of them admirable, such as NHL regular-season champs in 1991-92.</p><p>But Smith&rsquo;s Rangers minus Keenan had never added up to the only result that had come to be acceptable in New York: Stanley Cup champions.</p><p>So seventeen months ago, it was clear to Smith only one course of action was possible. He had to hire Keenan, no matter what the cost or risk of future ugliness-both of which he knew would be prohibitive.</p><p>One day after the Rangers completed an embarrassing, playoff-missing 1992-93 season with a loss to the Washington Capitals, Smith introduced Keenan at a Madison Square Garden news conference as the new coach.</p><p>Smith&rsquo;s figuring, of course, proved absolutely correct. On June 14, 1994, with Keenan behind their bench, the Rangers finally won the Stanley Cup for the first time since, well, you know when.</p><p>A month later, Keenan skipped town.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011679/6391965-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="511" height="1104"></div><p>And now it&rsquo;s time for new math. Now it is time for the Rangers to prove that even if part of Smith&rsquo;s logic rang true-that the club needed Keenan to win it all the first time-that hardly means that they can&rsquo;t win again without him.</p><p>Not surprisingly, Smith would like nothing better than to be proven at least partially wrong.</p><p>By the end of last season, he and Keenan weren&rsquo;t even speaking to each other. And though the messy circumstances surrounding Keenan&rsquo;s exit splattered mud on everybody involved, it&rsquo;s clear Smith did a dance of joy when NHL commissioner Gary Bettman&rsquo;s resolution of the matter officially severed Keenan&rsquo;s ties to the Rangers.</p><p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t speak for the players, but I would think their motivation is to prove we&rsquo;re for real and not just a flash in the pan,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;I have no doubt that these guys can win the Stanley Cup again. And I honestly believe we&rsquo;ve upgraded the team over the summer and we&rsquo;ll have as good a chance to win it again this year.&rdquo;</p><p>Smith tinkered with his lineup during the off-season, but left the core intact. The biggest acquisition was that of talented, enigmatic center Petr Nedved from the St. Louis Blues. Added to the mix as role players were defensive winger Mark Osborne from the Toronto Maple Leafs and bruising defenseman Glen Featherstone from the Boston Bruins.</p><p>Gone as part of the Keenangate ruling are veteran forward Esa Tikkanen and extra defenseman Doug Lidster, while experienced center and faceoff specialist Craig MacTavish signed with the Philadelphia Flyers.</p><p>As the slightly modified roster reported to its first training camp under new coach Colin Campbell, the players expressed similar confidence in their ability to repeat. But they were hardly unanimous in any desire to prove that they, not Keenan, were the driving forces behind last year&rsquo;s title run.</p><p>Some, such as goalie Mike Richter, felt stung by Keenan&rsquo;s exit and said they&rsquo;ll be motivated to show they could win without him.</p><p>Others, such as enforcer Joey Kocur, wished Keenan well and said the distinction between offseason business and in-season loyalty is clear-cut and does not allow for emotional responses that blur the line.</p><p>Still others, such as physical defenseman Jeff Beukeboom, reacted with puzzlement bordering on insult when it was suggested the players might need some outside motivation other than the desire to be their best every night.</p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021145/6391958-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="1840" height="3378"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Adam Graves and the rest of the Rangers&rsquo; Stanley Cup-winning core returns intact for another run.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY BRIAN WINKLERS/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;Obviously, there&rsquo;s going to be motivation to win again just because of the pride players have,&rdquo; Beukeboom said. &ldquo;Personally, no matter who&rsquo;s coaching, I feel I&rsquo;ve got to play hard each game. That&rsquo;s something I learned when I was young and winning Cups in Edmonton.&rdquo;</p><p>From his vantage point behind Beukeboom in the Rangers&rsquo; net, Richter views the upcoming season differently. He sees a lot of Ranger motivation coming from how Keenan left New York.</p><p>&ldquo;Without a doubt that will be a motivating factor,&rdquo; Richter said of proving the Rangers can win without Keenan. &ldquo;Because of the way he left, there are some pretty strong feelings on both sides about it.</p><p>&ldquo;There will always be that desire to prove we were the guys that did it. We accomplished a great thing last year as a group and he had a part of it. But Mike said himself, he never scored a goal or made a save.&rdquo;</p><p>Even the bitterest of Rangers couldn&rsquo;t begrudge Keenan a significant share of the credit for last season&rsquo;s triumph.</p><p>From his audacious screening of an imaginary Rangers&rsquo; victory parade on the opening day of training camp to his stick-breaking tirade following a lackluster practice session in November, Keenan seemed to push all the right buttons during a season in which the Rangers won the Presidents&rsquo; Trophy.</p><p>Several players alleged he lost control of the wheel during the play-offs-particularly during the sweaty seven-game Eastern Conference final against the New Jersey Devils and again while rumors of his contact with the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; organization swirled during the Stanley Cup final.</p><p>A newspaper story in late June quoted unnamed players as saying captain Mark Messier was, in effect, coaching the team late in the playoffs. Those players stated Messier held things together when they threatened to come apart following a crucial Game 4 loss to the Devils in the conference final.</p><p>In that game, Keenan shockingly benched Messier, Brian Leetch and Adam Graves and later hinted cryptically about injuries that still have yet to be fully explained.</p><p>But on the night the Rangers won the Cup, Messier made a point of proclaiming that Keenan&rsquo;s speech to the team the day before had a galvanizing effect that was critical to their Game 7 victory.</p><p>What is clear is that whenever one of the many storms kicked up around last year&rsquo;s Rangers, Keenan was at its center.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a guy who has a strong personality and I think he was the focal point much of last year,&rdquo; Richter said. &ldquo;Players certainly wouldn&rsquo;t want to feel that we couldn&rsquo;t win something without him. Besides, he never asked us to do anything we didn&rsquo;t ask of ourselves.&rdquo;</p><p>Countered Kocur: &ldquo;Mike was a major part of what we did last year. We basically had the same team we&rsquo;ve had the previous couple of years and we couldn&rsquo;t do it. Mike knew what buttons to push.</p><p>&ldquo;Mike started the process in motion.&rdquo;</p><p>About the only thing a vast majority of the Rangers seemed to agree upon as they got down to the business of defending their first title in 54 years was a profound desire to win for Campbell, the highly respected, longtime NHL assistant coach. This is Campbell&rsquo;s first shot at head coaching and he is extremely well liked by the Ranger players.</p><p>&ldquo;The biggest thing about everything that went on this summer is that it has given Colin Campbell the chance of a lifetime,&rdquo; Kocur said. &ldquo;Colie has waited his whole life for this.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0006-01

Broadway encore?

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><p>The 1993-94 season was known around the NHL as The Year of the Goalie. And for the first 10 games of the season, it was The Year of the Cat.</p><p>Felix Potvin was the major reason the Toronto Maple Leafs set an NHL record by going 100-0 to start the season. But how the season ends, not how it starts, is the true measure of success and Potvin&rsquo;s ended as he stood defenseless, watching Greg Adams of the Vancouver Canucks swat the series-winning goal past him in overtime of Game 5 in the Western Conference final.</p><p>Potvin was spectacular in the first round against the Chicago Blackhawks, so-so in the second against the San Jose Sharks and shaky against the Canucks. His playoff performance and up-and-down season served to further suspend the verdict on the 23-year-old Potvin as to where he ranks among the game&rsquo;s elite.</p><p>When asked how good Potvin can be, Leaf coach Pat Bums replied: &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know. How good can he be?&rdquo;</p><p>To some, he&rsquo;s right there with his idol Patrick Roy as the best in the game. His selection as the starting goaltender for the Western Conference side in the NHL All-Star Game certainly demonstrated what fans around the league think of him.</p><p>But to others-most notably astute hockey analyst Howie Meeker-he&rsquo;s a guesser who stands too far back in his net and spends his life on his knees, a reflex goalie whose impact will diminish with each passing season.</p><p>Those critics point to two dreadful slumps during the season when Bums had to call upon backup Damian Rhodes to carry the load for short periods of time. Potvin returned with a vengeance both times, but then had problems in the playoffs.</p><p>With goaltenders, of course, the verdict is never fully in and every goalie has his detractors. Even Roy, who began his NHL career so spectacularly as the Conn Smythe Trophy winner in the 1986 playoffs, gathered a legion of critics in the next two playoff tournaments with sub-par results.</p><p>So how good is Potvin? To the Hockey News and its 1994-95 Yearbook, he is the 12th best player in hockey, ranked ahead of stars such as Raymond Bourque, Pat LaFontaine, Mike Modano, Mark Messier and Teemu Selanne, and the second best goalie to Roy, and ahead of the likes of Bill Ranford, Dominik Hasek, Ed Belfour and Curtis Joseph.</p><p>Statistically, the numbers from last season don&rsquo;t support that kind of ranking. Indeed, it would be hard to make a case for Potvin as one of the top five goalies in hockey based on numbers alone.</p><p>A total of 15 stoppers with appearances in 30 games or more had better averages than Potvin&rsquo;s 2.89 goals-against average in 66 games. Eight had save percentages equal to or better than Potvin&rsquo;s.907 figure. In his rookie season, Potvin led the league in GAA with 2.50 and was second in save percentage at.910.</p><p>In the playoffs, Potvin posted a 2.46 GAA and.912 save percentage in 18 appearances, but those numbers were built on his first round efforts in which he yielded just 10 goals in six games to the Blackhawks. Against the Sharks and Vancouver, his average was more than three goals per game.</p><p>Potvin also plays for one of the best defensive teams in hockey, but if this is considered a sophomore slump, some teams would love to have a career&rsquo;s worth of Potvin&rsquo;s sophomore slumps.</p><p>So what gives? Is he or isn&rsquo;t he the heir apparent to Roy as the game&rsquo;s best?</p><p>Well, the short answer is that he is. It&rsquo;s a mantle that is his to grasp should health, circumstance and luck fall his way.</p><p>Here&rsquo;s why:</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011589/6391996-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="733" height="1474"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Felix Potvin was a big reason why Leafs fell into the NHL record book in 1993-94.</b></figcaption></div><p>&#9633; In his second year of full NHL work, Potvin demonstrated the ability to make the breathtaking save. His stop against Chicago&rsquo;s Joe Murphy in early in the Hawks-Leafs playoff series was nearly beyond belief, at least until he matched it in the sixth and final game of the series at Chicago Stadium.</p><p>Since he is a self-taught goalie, those kinds of stops display a natural flair that only the very best possess. That natural talent first came to the fore in an NHL game in 1992 when the Leafs were a dreadful club and Potvin came up to play four games and posted a 2.29 GAA.</p><p>&#9633; He has succeeded at every level of hockey at which he has competed, a virtually spotless resume.</p><p>He was Canada&rsquo;s major junior goalie of the year in 1991, the American League&rsquo;s top rookie and top goalie the next season, a member of the NHL all-rookie team in 1993 and a starter in the All-Star Game last winter.</p><p>&#9633; He is, as his nickname The Cat would suggest, utterly unflappable, more emotionless on the ice than many of the other top NHL backstop-pers.</p><p>In games, in post-game discussions with members of the media and even in his briefly nasty contract dispute with the Leafs last fall, Potvin has exuded coolness under fire.</p><p>&#9633; Potvin has developed an ability to adjust to the tendencies of enemy shooters. When shooters were all going high against him in his first year, he began to stand up in his crease more.</p><p>Last year, Leaf goalie consultant Rick Wamsley detected a flaw in the way Potvin was playing angles during one of his slumps. Two weeks later, Potvin was named NHL player of the week for a string of excellent performances.</p><p>&#9633; Potvin is passionately committed to the game. His big contract last fall didn&rsquo;t result in any major lifestyle alterations.</p><p>His major off-season activity has always been, and remains, fishing.</p><p>There is, however, a major piece missing from the Potvin resume that will keep the critics&rsquo; voices alive. He still has yet to deliver the monster playoff season, a spring of suffocating goaltending that leads his team to the ultimate prize.</p><p>He was the Memorial Cup&rsquo;s top goalie in 1991, but his Chicoutimi Sagueneens did not win. In the playoff drive of the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs to the AHL Calder Cup final in 1992, Potvin struggled in the postseason, and even gave way to backup Rhodes during the final against the Adirondack Red Wings. The Baby Leafs lost.</p><p>In his first extended NHL playoff exposure in 1993, he had a 2.84 GAA in 21 games, but allowed 10 goals in the final two games of Toronto&rsquo;s conference final loss to the Los Angeles Kings.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s harder to lose by one goal,&rdquo; he said,&rdquo;because you think if maybe you stopped one more shot you&rsquo;d have a chance to win.&rdquo;</p><p>Last year, he was brilliant at times, but was inconsistent.</p><p>&ldquo;I had a good playoff series against Chicago; San Jose I wish I had done better; and Vancouver,&rdquo; he said,&rdquo;well when you lose like that you&rsquo;re never happy with yourself.&rdquo;</p><p>But the Leafs are more than happy with him. &ldquo;He has brought us a long way over the last two years,&rdquo; Bums said,&rdquo;and he&rsquo;ll bring us a long way again.&rdquo;</p><p>But widespread acclaim will likely escape Potvin until he takes his team all the way. It&rsquo;s not fair, but that&rsquo;s goaltending.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0008-01

Where does Cat rank?

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011573/6392034-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Trevor Kidd and the kids in Calgary will have to carry the Flaming torch in goal now.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY C.J. RELKE)</span></figcaption></div><p>Twenty-six teams, 26 challenges. It&rsquo;s as simple as that.</p><p>The new season means a new challenge for each NHL organization. Here are the most pressing:</p><p><b>Mighty Ducks of Anaheim:</b> Improve the power play. The Mighty Ducks&rsquo; power-play unit finished 26th overall last season. Rookies Paul Kariya and Oleg Tverdovsky should help.</p><p><b>Boston Bruins:</b> Find a No. 1 goalie. Either Blaine Lacher or Evgeni Ryabchikov must emerge as rookie-of-the-year candidate or the Bruins will have to make a trade.</p><p><b>Buffalo Sabres:</b> Don&rsquo;t get goal-happy. A healthy return of Pat LaFontaine shouldn&rsquo;t cause the Sabres to stray from the defensive system that was so successful last season.</p><p><b>Calgary Flames:</b> Replace goalie Mike Vernon. Candidates Trevor Kidd, Andrei Trefilov and Jason Muzzatti have just 47 NHL games experience combined.</p><p><b>Chicago Blackhawks:</b> Find wingers to complement Jeremy Roenick. Tony Amonte clicked with J.R. in high school, but this is the NHL.</p><p><b>Dallas Stars:</b> Strengthen the left side, preferably with a winger possessing offensive potential and one who doesn&rsquo;t dream of returning to the glory days with the Montreal Canadiens.</p><p><b>Detroit Red Wings:</b> Cut down on goals against. Don&rsquo;t expect newcomer Vernon to do it singlehandedly; he&rsquo;ll need help from the defense corps.</p><p><b>Edmonton Oilers:</b> Find another Jason Arnott. Rookies play a key role in Edmonton&rsquo;s game plan. Perhaps David Oliver will be this season&rsquo;s big rookie surprise.</p><p><b>Florida Panthers:</b> Score more goals, plain and simple. Florida proved solid goaltending and team defense is only good enough to <i>almost</i> make the playoffs.</p><p><b>Hartford Whalers:</b> Support goalie Sean Burke. That might lead to more wins, which might lead to increased attendance, which might lead to the franchise staying put.</p><p><b>Los Angeles Kings:</b> New year, same old problem-solidify goaltending. Even if that means turning it over to 19-year-old rookie Jamie Storr.</p><p><b>Montreal Canadiens:</b> Survive without an offense. The Canadiens place too much faith in goalie Patrick Roy&rsquo;s ability to carry the team on his back.</p><p><b>New Jersey Devils:</b> Awaken the giant I. People keep harping about the Devils&rsquo; lack of a bona fide scorer. Does the name Stephane Richer ring a bell?</p><p><b>New York Islanders:</b> Awaken the giant II. Pierre Turgeon must re-emerge and prove once and for all he can make those around him prosper.</p><p><b>New York Rangers:</b> Inject some much-needed youth into the lineup. The core of the Stanley Cup team was young enough, but there were undeniably a lot of aging role players along for the ride.</p><p><b>Ottawa Senators:</b> Find a major-league defenseman. The Senators have a bunch of guys who would be No. 4 or 5 on most teams.</p><p><b>Philadelphia Flyers:</b> Strengthen the blueline. Were Tommy Soderstrom and Dominic Roussel that bad or was it the defense?</p><p><b>Pittsburgh Penguins:</b> Find an impact defenseman under the age of 27. We already told you they will survive without Mario Lemieux.</p><p><b>Quebec Nordiques:</b> Find a quarterback for the power play. They had the league&rsquo;s fifth-worst power play with nobody leading the rush.</p><p><b>St. Louis Blues:</b> Add grit. Which shouldn&rsquo;t really be a problem now that Mike Keenan controls the roster and the bench. Soft Blues beware: Your days are numbered.</p><p><b>San Jose Sharks:</b> Get another productive year out of Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov. These oldtimers remain pivotal.</p><p><b>Tampa Bay Lightning:</b> Do something, anything. How could a team that didn&rsquo;t make the playoffs do so little in the off-season?</p><p><b>Toronto Maple Leafs:</b> Rebuild rock-solid defense. Never mind Wendel Clark, Toronto&rsquo;s biggest off-season losses were on the blueline.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011426/6392027-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="554" height="764"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Igor Larionov may be an oldie, but he&rsquo;s also a goodie.</b></figcaption></div><p><b>Vancouver Canucks:</b> Resist the temptation to move Trevor Lindon back to the wing. He proved in the final he&rsquo;s a more effective center.</p><p><b>Washington Capitals:</b> Establish home-ice advantage. The Capitals are just seven games over.500 at home the past two seasons combined.</p><p><b>Winnipeg Jets:</b> Convert left winger Keith Tkachuk to center. At least that&rsquo;s the plan to make up for a lack of pivotal scoring punch.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0010-01

Looking to meet new challenges

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><p>Brian Rolston isn&rsquo;t being brash. He honestly thinks he can win rookie of the year this season.</p><p>He just wants to make sure it&rsquo;s in the NHL as a New Jersey Devil, not the American League as an Albany River Rat.</p><p>&ldquo;I like to set goals for myself and one is being the top rookie,&rdquo; said Rolston, a 21-year-old center. &ldquo;My first concern is to make the team. Not many guys who don&rsquo;t make the team win rookie of the year.&rdquo;</p><p>Rolston is among the group of eight top candidates who could challenge the two favorites-Peter Forsberg of the Quebec Nordiques and Paul Kariya of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim-for the Calder Trophy.</p><p>It should be noted we identified the top 12 candidates in last year&rsquo;s THN Season Preview and conspicuous by his absence was the winner: Goalie Martin Brodeur of the Devils.</p><p>We will not slight the Devils in back-to-back years.</p><p>Rolston was the top goal-scorer for the United States at the 1994 Winter Olympics with seven in eight games. In 49 games with the U.S. Olympic team last season, Rolston scored 27 goals and 55 points.</p><p>The fourth center listed on the Devils&rsquo; depth chart behind Alexander Semak, Corey Millen and Jim Dowd, Rolston is in the perfect position to make a rapid rise up the ladder. Semak slumped last season and Millen was scratched from playoff games. Dowd struck for five goals and 15 points in 15 games with the Devils in his third pro season.</p><p>Rolston arrived at training camp at 6-feet-2, 192-pounds and beaming with confidence. He knows what his job with the Devils is-score goals-and he&rsquo;s ready to meet the challenge. &ldquo;For sure I can score in this league. If I don&rsquo;t, I don&rsquo;t have a job in the NHL,&rdquo; Rolston said.</p><p>Rolston has been a top prospect since he was drafted 11th overall in 1991. He scored the national championship winning goal for the Lake Superior State Lakers in 1992 and was USA&rsquo;s best performer during the Olympics.</p><p>&ldquo;God gave him a great hockey body; he just has to learn to use it at the NHL level,&rdquo; said Tim Taylor, Rolston&rsquo;s coach with the U.S. Olympic team. &ldquo;He has a great knack for scoring goals.&rdquo;</p><p>As usual, a few candidates remained unsigned-but NHL teams have until midnight Sept. 30 to sign underage juniors. Here are the nine other top candidates for the Calder, in alphabetical order, with their ages as of Oct. 1 in parentheses.</p><p><b>Jason Allison, Washington (19):</b> Skating could hold Allison back; that and the fact he&rsquo;ll play behind Joe Juneau, Dale Hunter and Dave Poulin. If given an opportunity to play regularly, the 6-foot-2, 192-pounder could put up good numbers. The Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s player of the year led the Ontario League with 55 goals and 142 points last season.</p><p><b>Radek Bonk, Ottawa (18):</b> The 6-foot-3, 215-pound Czech center will be out to prove the Florida Panthers and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim were wrong in not taking him with one of the first two picks. The numbers he put up playing as a 17-year-old for the Las Vegas Thunder of the International League last season-42 goals, 87 points and 208 penalty minutes-were impressive.</p><p><b>Viktor Kozlov, San Jose (19):</b> Kozlov has the size-6-feet-5 and 209 pounds-and potential to be a great player, but has struggled with consistency. He dazzled at an international tournament as a 16-year-old, but hasn&rsquo;t been a real standout at any level since. However, Kozlov has the physical makeup and natural talent to make his mark.</p><p><b>Kenny Jonsson, Toronto (19):</b> Jonsson has the potential to step in and be a regular on a team that has a depleted blueline corps. A big, powerful skater, Jonsson is not physically overpowering, but is solid and plays an outstanding positional game. He appeared in two pre-season games last year and the Leafs loved what they saw. He has distinguished himself in international performances.</p><p><b>Ed Jovanovski, Florida (18):</b> If he signs and sticks, Jovanovski could go from bantam to the NHL in three easy steps. Nobody knew who Jovanovski was a year ago, but suddenly there are great expectations for the 6-foot-2, 205-pound defenseman who was chosen first overall in 1994. He brings toughness and two-way potential to a team that needs help on the blueline.</p><p><b>Peter Forsberg, Quebec (21):</b> Nordiques&rsquo; coach Marc Crawford said: &ldquo;We expect Forsberg to be one of our top players and I don&rsquo;t think that&rsquo;s expecting too much.&rdquo; There should be no real transition period for 5-foot-11,190-pound Forsberg, a center who led MoDo of Sweden in scoring and penalty minutes the past two seasons. He has long been considered the best player outside the NHL.</p><p><b>Paul Kariya, Anaheim (19):</b> We are not proclaiming Kariya to be the next Wayne Gretzky. Far from it. But. the 5-foot-10, 175-pound left winger does possess Gretzky-like vision on the ice and demonstrated last season with the Canadian Olympic and national teams he has the ability to step right in and be an impact player. He was among the best players on both teams.</p><p><b>Jeff O&rsquo;Neill, Hartford (18):</b> Should he sign with the Whalers, O&rsquo;Neill is in perfect position to be a darkhorse Calder winner should Forsberg and Kariya flop. Think about it, the Whalers put him with potential 50-goal man Geoff Sanderson and power forward Steven Rice and he can score 30 goals and 90 points. The 6-foot, 176-pound O&rsquo;Neill is gritty and has leadership qualities.</p><p><b>Oleg Tverdovsky, Anaheim (18):</b> The last 18-year-old defenseman to make a real impact in his rookie season was Ray Bourque, so perhaps it&rsquo;s a little premature to anoint the 6-foot, 185-pound Tverdovsky the next big thing. But the second pick overall in 1994 possess blinding speed, is highly skilled and determined. He will likely need some adjustment time.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Perfect 10: Identifying top rookie candidates

<div class="byline">By Tom McMillan</div><p>It was a strange September in Pittsburgh, a strange way to start the hockey season. No Mario. Eerie.</p><p>&ldquo;I guess for a while we&rsquo;ll still be looking around for him,&rdquo; said Kevin Stevens, the left winger on Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s line for the past three seasons. &ldquo;But we&rsquo;re going to have to get over that this year.&rdquo;</p><p>Lemieux confirmed all the rumors Aug. 29, announcing he would take a one-year medical leave of absence in 1994-95. It marks the first time since Lemieux was drafted in 1984 the Penguins enter a season knowing he won&rsquo;t be around to save them.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve learned how to play without him in the past, but we didn&rsquo;t do a very good job of it at times last year,&rdquo; said defenseman Larry Murphy. &ldquo;There was always this feeling that he was going to come back and get it done for us. Well, we know that&rsquo;s not going to happen this year.&rdquo;</p><p>The difficult call for Penguins&rsquo; management is whether to prepare for a one-year Lemieux hiatus or a retirement. The four-time NHL scoring champion says he&rsquo;ll return to action next season if his health improves. But that vague standard leaves open the possibility of a retirement announcement next summer.</p><p>Lemieux signed a seven-year contract with in 1992, shortly after leading the team to its second straight Stanley Cup. At the time, he&rsquo;d already undergone one major back operation and battled back from a rare bone infection known as osteomyelitis.</p><p>Since then, Lemieux has been diagnosed with cancer, undergone radiation treatments, had a second back operation and taken 12 cortisone shots to reduce pain and inflammation. He was a shadow of his former self in last year&rsquo;s playoffs against the Washington Capitals, scoring seven points in six games and going minus-4.</p><p>With two Cups, two Hart Trophies and two Conn Smythe Trophies already to his credit, with his place in hockey history secure, does he really want to come back and go through it all again?</p><p>Lemieux and his agent, Tom Reich, say yes-providing he&rsquo;s healthy. But if he is to return in 1995-96, Lemieux will have to satisfy his own curiosity as to whether he can be a dominant player again. He doesn&rsquo;t want to go through the motions and be a 55-point scorer in a health-shortened 40-game season.</p><p>Aside from the obvious medical considerations, it also will be interesting to see how Lemieux reacts to his extended time away from the rink. A professional hockey lifestyle is all he has known since dropping out of school after the 10th grade to concentrate on his career with the Laval Voisins of the Quebec League.</p><p>How much will he miss the camaraderie of the dressing room? I he demanding, but unique travel schedule? The challenge of competition? The adoration of the crowd?</p><p>And if he doesn&rsquo;t come back? Maybe he&rsquo;ll be convinced his strength and stamina never will return to their pre-cancer levels. Remember, Lemieux&rsquo;s incredible stamina on the ice is what set him apart from many of the NHL&rsquo;s other stars.</p><p>And maybe he&rsquo;ll enjoy settling into a relaxed, non-hockey lifestyle, where he&rsquo;ll be free to play with his infant daughter, Lauren-and to satisfy his craving for golf.</p><p>Lemieux himself says there is a &ldquo;strong possibility&rdquo; he&rsquo;ll be back next season, but who can predict the future?</p><p>&ldquo;Mario&rsquo;s health is the most important thing here,&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;Hockey means a lot to all of us. But you&rsquo;ve got to have your health.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Will Lemieux’s one-year hiatus become permanent?

<div class="byline">By Mike Weaver</div><p class="dropcap"><span>V</span>iktor Kozlov knows if he earns a spot on 1994&rsquo;s version of the KLM line, he&rsquo;ll have some big skates to fill. And some big pants, big jersey&hellip;</p><p>The 19-year-old left winger has the opportunity to play alongside countrymen Igor Larionov and Sergei Makarov on a line with the San Jose Sharks. The two veterans teamed with hefty Vladimir Krutov to form a powerful unit with the former Soviet national team.</p><p>&ldquo;Of course, I would like to play with Igor and Sergei,&rdquo; Kozlov said. &ldquo;They are big stars.&rdquo;</p><p>Many are projecting stardom will be Kozlov&rsquo;s destiny, too. The Sharks believe the sixth overall pick in the 1993 NHL entry draft-who at 6-feet-5 and 225 pounds would actually tower over Krutov-can develop into the gamebreaker they need.</p><p>&ldquo;People have said he does the same kinds of things as Mario Lemieux,&rdquo; said Sharks&rsquo; coach Kevin Constantine said. &ldquo;He has flash.&rdquo;</p><p>Kozlov displayed some of that flash early in training camp, when he made a remarkable series of stops, starts and changes of direction before putting a shot just under the crossbar from the top of the right-wing faceoff circle during a scrimmage.</p><p>&ldquo;He made a lot of moves that I don&rsquo;t see from many people in the NHL,&rdquo; Constantine said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a complete package of size, speed and skill.&rdquo;</p><p>The Sharks are in need of all of those components up front. San Jose&rsquo;s smallish forwards got pushed around too easily last season while the power play ranked 25th out of 26 teams.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011161/6392113-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="580" height="858"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Viktor Kozlov believes he can challenge for the Calder Trophy.</b></figcaption></div><p>That the Sharks gave Kozlov a one-way contract worth about $3.45 million over four seasons (including a signing bonus of $800,000), indicates they feel he can step in. Kozlov certainly thinks so.</p><p>&ldquo;I am ready right now to play,&rdquo; Kozlov said. &ldquo;I want the season to start as soon as possible.&rdquo;</p><p>Kozlov, who remained in Russia last season because the Sharks were unable to sign him, reported in midsummer to the Minnesota hockey camp operated by Sharks&rsquo; director of player personnel Chuck Grillo and has been taking English classes to help him adjust to North America life.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s getting a little better every day,&rdquo; said Kozlov, whose parents work at an automobile factory in Togliatti, Russia. &ldquo;I have no time to be homesick. There is time only for work, work, work.&rdquo;</p><p>If things work out this season, Kozlov will challenge for the Calder Trophy as NHL rookie of the year. He expects Paul Kariya of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, the fourth pick in the 1993 draft, to be the player to beat.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very good player,&rdquo; said Kozlov, who has played against Kariya in international junior competitions.</p><p>Still, the quietly confident Kozlov gives you the feeling that he likes his own chances of winning the award.</p><p>&ldquo;That would be good,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>And after the Sharks&rsquo; great playoff run last year, it would give the fans at San Jose Arena one more reason to be excited.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0017-01

Flashy Kozlov ready to add dash to Sharks

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div><p>It&rsquo;s fitting a team shaping up as the youngest in the NHL has the league&rsquo;s youngest head coach.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to have a young, talented team and this is a young, talented man,&rdquo; said general manager Glen Sather of 32-year-old George Burnett.</p><p>Get past the youth, however, and there is much more to the man.</p><p>He has been a winner at every level of coaching. He led the Canadian Interuniversity Athletic Union in scoring for McGill University and was named an all-Canadian, but was never drafted and never played an NHL game.</p><p>He twice was named Ontario League coach of the year and his Cape Breton Oilers won the Calder Cup in his first of two seasons at the helm of the American League team.</p><p>Just because he&rsquo;s young and has no NHL experience, he won&rsquo;t be changing his style. At least not completely.</p><p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t neglect your gut feeling and the decisions you&rsquo;ve made to help you get to this level,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m going to rely heavily on (assistants) Kevin (Primeau) and Ron (Low).&rdquo;</p><p>Burnett, who is married and has two children, is an intense man with a great hockey mind. He&rsquo;s known for being a gruelling taskmaster, a rap he says isn&rsquo;t entirely accurate.</p><p>&ldquo;I have this reputation that there will be curfew calls every night and that I&rsquo;m not going to give them any rope,&rdquo; Burnett said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not the case at all.&rdquo;</p><p>Burnett will give the players some slack and if they don&rsquo;t hang themselves with it, it won&rsquo;t get any shorter.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011199/6392144-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="576" height="810"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>George Burnett says he&rsquo;s not as tough as his reputation.</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I love a disciplinarian,&rdquo; said center Doug Weight. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you should be out until four in the morning or that you should be able to not backcheck and not sit for it. But he&rsquo;s not going to scream, throw chairs or go nuts. He&rsquo;s going to talk to you.&rdquo;</p><p>Burnett is a firm believer in strong and open communication. He made that clear by wiping the slate clean with players such as Roman Oksiuta and Vladimir Vujtek who went AW-OL on him in Cape Breton. He spoke to both players before training camp began.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not holding any grudges. Everyone will get an opportunity to make the hockey club,&rdquo; Burnett said.</p><p>When Ted Green was fired early last season, Burnett was the media&rsquo;s odds-on favorite to get the Edmonton job. As it turned out, the position was first offered to ex-Oiler Craig Mac-Tavish, but he turned it down to sign as a free agent with the Philadelphia Flyers.</p><p>Burnett has no problems being second choice. The former high school teacher, is confident in his ability, but knows he has a lot left to learn.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to stop learning the game, whether it&rsquo;s our own personnel or the other teams,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Gaining information has been and will be the key for me. It&rsquo;s a baptism by fire.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0018-01

Boy George has come long way in short time

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><p>Of this, Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; coach Barry Melrose can be sure.</p><p>It will be a snowy day in Hollywood before his general manager yanks him from the bench and stands in his stead.</p><p>Sam McMaster, the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; rookie general manager, is many things, but a coach is not one of them.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a hockey player. I&rsquo;m a manager.&rdquo; McMaster said. &ldquo;Coaches should be able to relate to their players in game situations. I&rsquo;m a person who builds. I&rsquo;m not a coach.&rdquo;</p><p>McMaster, 50, succeeded Nick Beverley as the Kings&rsquo; GM May 24 and has busied himself since. Unlike many of the league&rsquo;s GMs, McMaster handles all contract matters. His decision to swap proven left winger Luc Robitaille to the Pittsburgh Penguins for Rick Tocchet-a gritty player with a history of back trouble, has been panned-but McMaster is unconcerned.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011116/6392175-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="576" height="770"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Sam McMaster won&rsquo;t apologize for how he got Kings&rsquo; GM job.</b></figcaption></div><p>&ldquo;I look at it that we went for a home run in our first turn at bat,&rdquo; McMaster said. &ldquo;In a few years, people will say that it was either a really good or a really bad deal, but we never set out with the intention of trading Luc Robitaille. We set out with the intention of acquiring Rick Tocchet.&rdquo;</p><p>He also raised some eyebrows around the league when he signed the likes of minor pro scoring stars Yanic Perreault and Rob Brown, the enigmatic Dan Quinn and tough guy Troy Crowder, who hasn&rsquo;t played a game in almost three seasons.</p><p>McMaster began his managing career in the Toronto Marlies&rsquo; minor hockey system and made his first real impact as the GM of the then-struggling Soo Greyhounds. He arrived in 1980 and the Greyhounds won 70 per cent of their games during his five-year tenure.</p><p>Steve Larmer, John Vanbies-brouck, Ron Francis and Tocchet were some of the high-profile Ontario Leaguers who played under McMaster, but his earliest recruiting coup came in Toronto, where he lured Wayne Gretzky to play Jr. B and formed a bond with the budding star.</p><p>McMaster left the Soo in 1985 to become the Washington Capitals&rsquo; assistant director of player personnel, but lasted just three years there before returning to the OHL and the Sudbury Wolves.</p><p>It was the McMaster-Gretzky connection that paved McMaster&rsquo;s return to the NHL. McMaster&rsquo;s name was on the top of a list submitted by Gretzky to the team&rsquo;s management as the best possible GM.</p><p>McMaster is unapologetic about Gretzky&rsquo;s influence on his hiring.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s definitely a Wayne influence on me being hired and I&rsquo;m proud of it. I don&rsquo;t think anyone gets anywhere in life without someone who knows them recommending them.</p><p>&ldquo;I often talk to players and get their advice on players, but (Gretzky) is the hockey player and I&rsquo;m the manager.&rdquo;<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0019-01

McMaster builder faces task of building Kings

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><p class="dropcap"><span>E</span>ntering the 1994-95 NHL season, Terry Crisp of the Tampa Bay Lightning stands as the Atlantic Division&rsquo;s senior head coach in terms of continuous service. For those keeping score at home, he has been at the helm of the Lightning for two whole seasons.</p><p>Three coaches-Colin Campbell of the New York Rangers, Terry Murray of the Philadelphia Flyers and Lome Henning of the New York Islanders-are starting their first campaigns with their teams.</p><p>But the turnover, which includes Jim Schoenfeld joining the Washington Capitals last Jan. 27, is not likely to dramatically change the balance of power in the division. The Stanley Cup champion Rangers are still the class of the division and may actually be stronger with the off-season addition of center Petr Nedved.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the coaching change will effect the Rangers,&rdquo; said New Jersey Devils&rsquo; coach Jacques Lemaire. &ldquo;When you&rsquo;ve won, you know what it takes to win. Their coach went through it with those players. To me, he has an edge.&rdquo;</p><p>If the Rangers do not stumble and are able to adapt to Campbell, they may be a better team than the one which captured the Cup. They lost gritty veteran Esa Tikkanen and dependable defenseman Doug Lidster in the forced trade with the St. Louis Blues, but Nedved gives them a sensational second-line center. Veteran winger Mark Osborne returned to the Rangers, primarily as a defensive replacement for Tikkanen.</p><p>After coming within a game of the Stanley Cup final, the Devils spent the off-season finding a way to resign captain Scott Stevens. It took $17.1 million over four years to match the Blues&rsquo; offer sheet, but Stevens is back after finishing runner-up to Ray Bourque in the closest Norris Trophy voting in history.</p><p>It was Bob Clarke, along with Bill Torrey, who built the Florida Panthers into instant contenders. After returning to Philadelphia, Clarke began to rebuild the Flyers by obtaining some much-needed defensive help.</p><p>With $21 million tied up for Eric Lindros, Clarke was unable to make a bid for Stevens. So he traded offensive defenseman Yves Racine to the Montreal Canadiens for defensive defenseman Kevin Haller. Up front, the Flyers signed free-agent center Craig MacTavish, whose faceoff skills will improve the team.</p><p>The Capitals made Joe Juneau happy with $8.2 million, but that may be peanuts considering he is likely to provide most of the team&rsquo;s offense. The Caps actually lost some offense when they dealt 26-goal center Mike Ridley to the Toronto Maple Leafs for 12-goal right winger Rob Pearson on draft day.</p><p>The Islanders looked like a team that needed considerable help in their four-game playoff loss to the Rangers and they have added both youth and experience. The youth came in the draft when the Isles picked 6-foot-4, 215-pound Brett Lindros, Eric&rsquo;s younger brother, ninth overall.</p><p>Injuries took center stage during Tampa Bay&rsquo;s off-season. The good news was the recovery of Roman Hamrlik from right knee surgery. The bad news was a right knee injury that sidelined Petr Klima early in training camp.</p><p>Florida will find it difficult to repeat its successful first season. Goalie Danny Lorenz and defenseman Randy Moller were acquired in the offseason, but a weak defense and lack of scoring punch will put too much responsibility on the goaltenders and ultimately result in a step backward.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

Rangers may be better than last year’s Cup champs

<div class="byline">By Jeff Jacobs</div><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>n the rush to anoint the Quebec Nordiques as the NHL&rsquo;s next dynasty, perhaps those with one eye on today&rsquo;s chic should keep another eye on tradition.</p><p>What we&rsquo;re trying to say is the Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins aren&rsquo;t exactly chopped liver in the Northeast Division.</p><p>In other words, look for a crush of teams to again finish somewhere between 95 and 101 points and fail to produce a Stanley Cup champion.</p><p>Obviously, the No. 1 story in the Northeast is Mario Lemieux who has elected to sit out the entire season. It certainly affects the balance of power in the division, but the Penguins remain a force.</p><p>The Penguins finished first in the division with 101 points last season, but they looked like dogs in falling to the Washington Capitals in the playoffs.</p><p>It wasn&rsquo;t surprising to see Rick Tocchet say after he was traded to the Los Angeles Kings for Luc Robitaille that somebody should have cracked the whip last season and nobody did. Just how long will coach Ed Johnston last without his No. 1 backer Lemieux in the dressing room?</p><p>What the Penguins need is a rushing defenseman to help reduce Larry Murphy&rsquo;s workload and more storm troopers to battle up front for all the fancy dancers.</p><p>The Nordiques may still need a proven quarterback to run the point, something they&rsquo;ve lacked since moving Steve Duchesne. They have top young talent in goal. Now they must prove it at the top level. Rookie coach Marc Crawford must blend all the new talent in a fine brew.</p><p>If he does, he wins the Adams Award as coach of the year hands down.</p><p>The Sabres-New Jersey Devils quarterfinal series was last spring&rsquo;s All-Underrated Matchup. Despite being hit hard by injuries, the Sabres had the best defensive record in the NHL last season. Pat LaFontaine has a huge new contract and is healthy. The acrobatic Dominik Hasek is a wall in goal.</p><p>Under coach-general manager John Muckier, they played with lot of tempo. If LaFontaine and Alexander Mogilny can fire up the jets like two years ago and the Sabres can continue to be excellent defensively, Buffalo could be one scary outfit this season.</p><p>It sure sounds as if trading Guy Carbonneau to the St. Louis Blues for Jim Montgomery has sparked off something just short of another Rocket Richard riot. Trading the team captain and a fan favorite for an unproven player has been a public relations nightmare for Canadiens&rsquo; GM Serge Savard.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01767/6392230-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="580" height="898"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Montreal will continue to rely on the heroics of Patrick Roy.</b></figcaption></div><p>The Canadiens aren&rsquo;t good enough to win the Stanley Cup, but are good enough to wait for the best teams to self destruct as they did in 1986 and 1993.</p><p>The Canadiens rely too heavily on goalie Patrick Roy, so Jacques Demers&rsquo; most daunting task is to get the offense going.</p><p>The Bruins lost Glen Wesley, but still have Ray Bourque and Al lafrate on defense. They won&rsquo;t miss Wesley, but they don&rsquo;t have anything resembling a proven No. 1. goalie and Cam Neely&rsquo;s lousy knee is a daily headache.</p><p>The Hartford Whalers have changed everything. Again. New owner. New GM. New coach. They&rsquo;ve added Wesley, Steven Rice and Jimmy Carson and lost rearguard Bryan Marchment as the Rice compensation to the Edmonton Oilers. That leaves them short a physical force on the blueline.</p><p>But with Sean Burke in goal, Geoff Sanderson ready to score 50 goals and a renewed dedication to attack hockey under coach Paul Holmgren, they&rsquo;re capable of jumping 15 points.</p><p>With Alexei Yashin now wanting to be traded from the Ottawa Senators, it&rsquo;s too bad the NHL doesn&rsquo;t work like European sports leagues. The Senators should be bumped to the International League and the Turner Cup champion should be recalled to replace them in the NHL for a year.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0021-01

Nordiques will be great, but don’t dismiss others

<div class="byline">By Jeff Gordon</div><p>It seems like just yesterday the old Chuck Norris Division was the NHL&rsquo;s laughingstock.</p><p>Oh the memories. John Brophy behind the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; bench dressed in gangster black, his lid pulled down ominously over his brow. Lou Nanne goobering up another draft day. Beet-red St. Louis Blues&rsquo; general manager Ron Caron raving at Miroslav Frycer from afar. Quilt-faced Borje Salming, a gruesome cover boy for The Hockey News.</p><p>But the new Central Division was a power in its inaugural year, with its top five teams going 141-95-34 against the rest of the league.</p><p>And it should be even stronger this season, since five of its six teams made substantial improvements.</p><p>The Detroit Red Wings needed to shore up their goaltending, so they landed Stanley Cup winner Mike Vernon. The Maple Leafs needed a new set of forwards, so they acquired Mats Sundin, Mike Ridley and Mike Craig.</p><p>The erratic Blues needed leadership and direction, so they poached Mike Keenan from the Cup champion New York Rangers.</p><p>The lumbering Chicago Blackhawks needed more talent to play in the bigger United Center, so they added center Bemie Nicholls to 1993-94 arrivals Eric Weinrich, Gary Suter, Paul Ysebaert and Tony Amonte</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01890/6392261-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="580" height="899"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Teemu Selanne&rsquo;s Winnipeg Jets are due for improvement.</b></figcaption></div><p>And then there is dangerous Bob Probert, who hopes to spend his ninth life cracking heads and opening nose faucets in Chicago.</p><p>The Winnipeg Jets keep adding size and aggression-with the likes of Neil Wilkinson and Brent Thompson-and subtracting Europeans. John Paddock&rsquo;s ongoing foreign export trade is designed to drive the figure skaters out of Manitoba.</p><p>Only the Stars, coming off a remarkable 97-point season, avoided major changes. GM-coach Bob Gainey has his system in place and a monstrous defense corps to make it work.</p><p>Of course, serious questions remain. Is Vemon really a savior for Detroit? He hasn&rsquo;t taken a team anywhere since 1989. And baby-faced Chris Osgood wasn&rsquo;t that bad in last spring&rsquo;s playoff, going 3-2 with a 2.35 goals-against average.</p><p>Had the talent-rich Wings gotten Bill Ranford instead, the NHL would have just mailed them the Cup so they could get a jump on their celebration.</p><p>Vemon is, at best, the division&rsquo;s fourth-best goaltender. And a bigger Wings&rsquo; problem last season was coach Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s inability to motivate his players. How could they let the San Jose Sharks outplay them so thoroughly in some post-season games?</p><p>Leaf fans are lamenting the departure of blessed son Wendel Clark, a devastating force in last spring&rsquo;s playoffs. Will this team still have its fire? With the brilliant Pat Bums and the relentless Doug Gilmour leading the way, the answer is yes.</p><p>Blues&rsquo; fans rightfully see their team contending for the Cup, since champions such as Al MacInnis, Esa Tikkanen and Guy Carbonneau replace some of the ice dancers responsible for their winless post-seasons. But even Keenan won&rsquo;t elevate the Blues unless they find a sturdy stayat-home defenseman or two to complete their puzzle.</p><p>Chicago went through its painful rebuilding year last season and still earned 87 points. But will this new mix of players put out for acerbic coach Darryl Sutter? We&rsquo;ll see.</p><p>The Stars took advantage of the wheel-spinning in St. Louis and Chicago last season (plus the Jets&rsquo; crash) to finish third with 97 points. With those three teams theoretically improved, Dallas could take a big step back with the same effort.</p><p>For all their changes, the Jets have the same nucleus of players as last season. Can they get Alexei Zhamnov and Teemu Selanne moving again? The Jets play well every other year, so maybe they will find another one-season intensity burst.</p><p>If they do, this Central Division could put all six teams in the playoffs. Times change. Where have you gone, Larry DePalma?<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0022-01

All six in playoffs? Don’t be surprised

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><p>Awash in uncertainty, the Pacific Division is shaping up as the NHL&rsquo;s sad-sack sister for the second straight season.</p><p>The division was a combined 14 games above.500 a year ago and the Calgary Flames, who romped to first place, accounted for 13 of them.</p><p>So who has done what to get better?</p><p>The Flames unloaded long-time No. 1 goaltender Mike Vernon to the Detroit Red Wings and traded master-blaster defenseman Al Mac-Innis to the free-spending St. Louis Blues.</p><p>Sophomore Trevor Kidd, Russian Andrei Trefilov and college grad Jason Muzzatti will compete for Vernon&rsquo;s ice time and may very well get the job done. Then again, look at what happened to the Philadelphia Flyers last season when inexperienced goaltenders Dominic Roussel and Tommy Soderstrom fell on their duffs.</p><p>Significant additions on de-fense-Steve Chiasson and Phil Housley-bring with them the baggage of numerous first-round playoff failures and captain Joe Nieuwendyk&rsquo;s wonky knees can give out at any time.</p><p>Is this the stuff of a powerhouse? No. Is it the stuff to compete with the Vancouver Canucks in a two-horse race? Probably.</p><p>The Canucks have done nothing to improve over the summer, although a case could be made that last season&rsquo;s many changes resulted in their tremendous playoff run.</p><p>New head coach Rick Ley won&rsquo;t have a six-month Petr Nedved fiasco hanging over the team and he will have Jeff Brown for a whole season on his power play.</p><p>Trevor Linden&rsquo;s conversion to center strengthens the position considerably, but Ley is still concerned about his depth after Linden and Cliff Ronning.</p><p>Goaltender Kirk McLean and super scorer Pavel Bure (80 goals this year?) will ensure Ley a successful first season.</p><p>The only concern is whether the team will be ripped apart by contract squabbles. Eleven veterans went to training camp entering their option &#2404; seasons, most notable among them Linden and Brown.</p><p>While the Canucks and Flames duel atop the division, three California teams will be dreaming about third place.</p><p>The San Jose Sharks finally signed Viktor Kozlov, but goaltender Arturs Irbe&rsquo;s dog-bite injury and the aging of key offensive forwards Sergei Makarov, 36, and Igor Larionov, 33, don&rsquo;t hold much promise for improvement.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01792/6392292-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="574" height="946"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Pavel Bure&rsquo;s presence ensures a decent Canucks&rsquo; season.</b></figcaption></div><p>If the Sharks can tread water at 82 points, they&rsquo;ll again be fishing for a playoff spot.</p><p>The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim will be mighty improved on offense with gifted playmaker Paul Kariya in the flock.</p><p>But will coach Ron Wilson&rsquo;s style stifle Kariya? Or will the kid be allowed to go for broke while everyone else backchecks?</p><p>In any case, the NHL&rsquo;s last overall power play in 1993-94 can&rsquo;t get any worse. With Kariya engineering a few more goals, the defensively sound Ducks deserve billing as a playoff hopeful.</p><p>Few have fallen as far and fast as the Los Angeles Kings did last season.</p><p>The defense looks more than respectable with Rob Blake, Marty Mc-Sorley, Alexei Zhitnik and Darryl Sydor, but the Kings are still small up front, despite the additions of Rick Tocchet and pugilist Troy Crowder.</p><p>Wayne Gretzky, 33, and Jari Kurri, 34, remain their top forwards. How long can they keep this up? Can Tony Granato stay healthy? Is Barry Melrose a misunderstood coaching genius or a one-year wonder?</p><p>Did the Kings really reach the Stanley Cup final just 15 months ago?</p><p>Pity the hockey fan in Edmonton. After those fabulous teams of the 1980s, the only major Oilers&rsquo; talent worth watching is sophomore center Jason Arnott and goaltender Bill Ranford. Even classy captain Craig MacTavish is gone.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0023-01

Flames, Canucks vie for Pacific heights

<h2><b>FINAL 1993-94 NHL STANDINGS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01866/6392344-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="999" height="1119"></div><h2><b>LEADING SCORERS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02579/6392337-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="999" height="330"></div><h2><b>PLAYOFFS</b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03374/6392330-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="469" height="120"></div><p class="dropcap"><b><span>R</span>esults</b>: <b>May 31</b>-Van 3 at NYR 2 (OT); <b>June 2</b>-Van 1 at NYR 3; <b>June 4</b>-NYR 5 at Van 1; <b>June 7</b>-NYR 4 at Van 2: <b>June 9</b>-Van 6 at NYR 3; <b>June 11</b>-NYR 1 at Van 4 <b>June 14</b>-Van 2 at NYR 3.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04234/6392323-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="758" height="1776"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Wayne Gretzky is looking to win his 11th Art Ross Trophy as NHL scoring champion.</b></figcaption></div><h2><i><b>GLOSSARY</b></i></h2><p>Here&rsquo;s a key to abbreviations, short forms and statistial designations that appear in the Season Preview.</p><h2><i><b>STATISTICS</b></i></h2><p>GP-games played, G-goals, A-assists, P-points; W-L-T-wins, losses, ties; SP-save percentage, GAA-goals-against average.</p><h2><i><b>LEAGUES & COUNTRIES</b></i></h2><p>American Hockey League (AHL); Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA);Czech Republic (Cze.); East Coast Hockey League (ECHL); Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC); Finland (Fin.); Hockey East (HE); International Hockey League (IHL); Ontario Hockey League (OHL); Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL); Russia (Rus.); Slovakia (Slo.); Sweden (Swe.); Switzerland (Switz.); Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA); Western Hockey League (WHL).<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0024-01

1993-94 FLASHBACK

<div class="byline">By Robyn Norwood</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0025-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02496/6392403-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY STEVE REYES/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01776/6392410-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="189" height="192"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>B</span>ob Corkum isn&rsquo;t likely to be picked very early in many fantasy league drafts. In fact, The Hockey News didn&rsquo;t put him among the projected top 250 scorers in its 1994-95 Yearbook.</p><p>But he did collect 51 points last season, coming within a severed tendon of leading the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in scoring.</p><p>&ldquo;Does Bob Corkum get the respect he deserves from other teams?&rdquo; asked Anaheim coach Ron Wilson. &ldquo;More than likely not.&rdquo;</p><p>No problem, Corkum says.</p><p>&ldquo;If I&rsquo;m not getting respect,&rdquo; Corkum replied,&rdquo;I might be open more.&rdquo;</p><p>Corkum, a hard-working New Englander with a big shot, isn&rsquo;t even the main man from Maine on his own team anymore, though he gladly grants that Paul Kariya is,&rdquo;definitely the best player ever to come out of the University of Maine.&rdquo;</p><p>The respect Corkum gets is in the Ducks&rsquo; dressing room and the team&rsquo;s front office. A fringe NHL player a year ago, Corkum, 26, is now the team&rsquo;s assistant captain.</p><p>&ldquo;You lead by example, and the best leaders lead not just by what they say, but by what they do,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;I think Bob was the epitome of a Mighty Duck player last season, someone who came in and overachieved by working hard every day to improve as a player.&rdquo;</p><p>But did he overachieve?</p><p>Corkum had never scored more than 10 points in an NHL season before he became a Duck after being taken from the Buffalo Sabres in the expansion draft. Penciled in as a checking center last year, he became the No. 1 pivot leading the team in goals with 23.</p><p>He also posted a career-high 28 assists to finish second in team scoring, one point behind Terry Yake, and registered a plus-4 ranking, fifth best on the team.</p><p>Is that going to end up being the best year of his career? The Ducks don&rsquo;t particularly think so.</p><p>Ducks&rsquo; director of player personnel, David McNab, said Corkum is easily capable of putting together 60- to 70-point seasons the next couple of years.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s such a great athlete and such a big guy and over the course of his life he has always produced pretty well until he got to pro hockey,&rdquo; McNab said. &ldquo;But certainly he has been in a certain role because of his size. Last year was sort of the first year he has gotten a chance to play in more than a defensive or fourth-line role.</p><p>&ldquo;Now he&rsquo;s a guy who&rsquo;s so full of confidence and works so hard.&rdquo;</p><p>Wilson definitely appreciates that character trait.</p><p>&ldquo;I think he could take off from here,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;Bob&rsquo;s a hard enough worker, but he has got to work just as hard this year.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s at a turning point in his career. He could make the step up and show he deserves to be earning the kind of money he possibly could earn in the next couple of seasons.</p><p>Corkum was one of the NHL&rsquo;s best bargains last year at a salary of $260,000. Management offered to renegotiate after his breakthrough season, but so far, no deal has been struck.</p><p>Corkum put in the same off-season hours he always does.</p><p>&ldquo;I always put a mattress up with a piece of plywood behind it and shoot off a piece of sheet metal and let it rip,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;When I was growing up, I used to put holes in the side of my house and my Dad used to give me hell for it.&rdquo;</p><p>The severed tendon he suffered against the Philadelphia Flyers in late March put an early end to his season.</p><p>&ldquo;I was hoping for 30 goals,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think a lot of that will depend on my ice time, but 30 is still my goal. It&rsquo;s more important to make the playoffs though, than to reach any individual goal.&rdquo;</p><p>Ice time will probably be a factor. It&rsquo;s almost certain to go down and Corkum is looking at being the third or fourth center-though it could be to his advantage.</p><p>&ldquo;He was a primary focus for other teams last year, but with Anatoli Semenov and Stephan Lebeau playing all season this year, the focus will be a little bit more on those guys,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;He might have a little more room out there instead of less because teams won&rsquo;t be looking to shut down Bob Corkum.&rdquo;</p><p>Corkum said the desire to prove himself hasn&rsquo;t diminished just because he had one good season.</p><p>&ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s stronger, I really do,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I came in last year without a preconceived notion. After last year, and now being an assistant captain, it&rsquo;s my job to show leadership and work even harder.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03316/6392396-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="673" height="330"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo;SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Anaheim&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-04199/6392389-1-eng-US/f0025-042.jpg" title="f0025-04" width="669" height="1002"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-05156/6392382-1-eng-US/f0025-052.jpg" title="f0025-05" width="667" height="133"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-06129/6392375-1-eng-US/f0025-062.jpg" title="f0025-06" width="664" height="396"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0025-02

More than just a big shot

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0026-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02552/6392469-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01845/6392476-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="190" height="190"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>t was 1988-89 and the Boston Bruin defense was a mess. Four defenseman who took regular shifts and played on one specialty unit or another were hurt at the same time and the Bruins were forced to dig deep into their American League farm club at Portland, Me., for reinforcements.</p><p>Four defensemen were called in and three had a chance of sticking. Don Sweeney, at 5-foot-10 and 188 pounds, was the fourth. With little offensive potential, Sweeney was considered too small to play defense in the NHL, especially in a tiny rink such as Boston Garden.</p><p>The future was bright for prospects Alain Cote (6-feet, 200 pounds) and Stephane Quintal (6-foot-3, 220), because they had size. Things even looked pretty good for 5-foot-10, 190-pound Greg Hawgood, because he had some offensive potential.</p><p>As 1994-95 begins, Cote, Hawgood and Quintal have all left the Boston organization for not-so-greener pastures.</p><p>Sweeney, on the other hand, has become about as reliable a defenseman as there is in the league-despite his size, and despite the fact he&rsquo;s not much of a scorer.</p><p>Sweeney isn&rsquo;t the NHL&rsquo;s only smallish defenseman. Alexei Zhitnik, Norm Maciver, Sylvain Cote and Phil Housley are all within an inch or a couple of pounds of Sweeney&rsquo;s listed dimensions, but those defenders are known more for their offensive talents.</p><p>Sweeney compares more closely with defensemen such as New York Islander Darius Kasparaitis (5-foot-11, 190) and Montreal Canadien Jean-Jacques Daigneault (5-foot-11, 185). He is a defensive defenseman first and foremost.</p><p>He&rsquo;ll probably never play a featured role in Boston, but being seen as the most reliable defenseman in town behind certain Hall of Famer Ray Bourque is a pretty good consolation prize.</p><p>Sweeney never planned it this way.</p><p>&ldquo;I came into this (pro) game thinking I could be a good offensive player from the get-go, because I was one in college,&rdquo; said Sweeney, who scored 37 points in 30 games as a Harvard University senior in 1987-88.</p><p>&ldquo;Mike Milbury (then coaching at Maine) really got it into my mind early that I needed to learn the defensive aspect of this game and when Mike O&rsquo;Connell came here as an assistant coach (1991-92) he said the same thing: If I could learn the defensive aspect of this game, then the offense would come bit by bit.&rdquo;</p><p>The Bruins don&rsquo;t need much offense from Sweeney, however. Bourque provides the most from the blueline, and Glen Wesley did-in spurts-until the August trade that sent him to the Hartford Whalers. Once Al lafrate returns from off-season knee surgery, he is expected to more than make up for Wesley&rsquo;s production.</p><p>That&rsquo;s fine for Sweeney, a 28-year-old native of St. Stephen, N.B. Using a combination of speed, intelligence and deceptive strength, he&rsquo;s content to make a name for himself as one of the NHL&rsquo;s best defensive defensemen, regardless of size.</p><p>Milbury once called him &ldquo;our best defenseman, one-on-one,&rdquo; and there might not be anyone better at stepping up quickly in the neutral zone to break up opponents&rsquo; rushes.</p><p>Sweeney slipped from a career-high 34 points in 1992-93 to 21 last season, but nobody seemed to notice. He did, after all, win the team&rsquo;s plus-minus title at plus-29. In the past two seasons, in fact, only Bourque&rsquo;s mark of plus-64 is better than Sweeney&rsquo;s plus-63.</p><p>&ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want Donnie to change his game at all now that Wes is gone,&rdquo; said Bruins&rsquo; coach Brian Sutter. &ldquo;His value to us is in the defensive area, in breaking plays up and moving the puck quickly in the other direction. If he comes up with any offense, it&rsquo;s a bonus. We always know exactly what we&rsquo;re going to get from him.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;It all comes from experience,&rdquo; said Sweeney, who has missed only 17 games to injury in the last four seasons. &ldquo;The opportunity to be relied on, to play night after night even if I make a mistake, breeds confidence.&rdquo;</p><p>The Bruins might need Sweeney a bit more than usual this year. With Wesley, Glen Featherstone and Gord Roberts gone, Boston has a few minutes to fill. Alexei Kasatonov will get some, but Sweeney is bound to be relied upon more-especially if rookie goalies Blaine Lacher or Evgeny Ryabchikov play a prominent role in 1994-95.</p><p>It won&rsquo;t change Sweeney&rsquo;s game, though.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think Wes leaving will affect my role at all,&rdquo; Sweeney said. &ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m going to be facing a Pat LaFontaine or a Steve Yzerman a lot on any given night, so I focus on the defensive aspect of my game. I take pride in that.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03438/6392462-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="671" height="333"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Boston&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04317/6392455-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="665" height="992"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05242/6392448-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="667" height="128"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06201/6392441-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="665" height="395"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0026-02

Defense in short supply

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0027-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02488/6392535-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY SPORTS ACTION BABINEAUCALKINS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01794/6392542-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="189" height="192"></div><p>For Brad May, the time for promise and potential has given way to expectations of performance.</p><p>Three seasons in the NHL and a $5-million contract are a pretty good recipe for get-it-done-now pressure.</p><p>&ldquo;I know there&rsquo;s pressure, but I like to think I thrive on pressure,&rdquo; said the 22-year-old left winger. &ldquo;A little pressure is a good thing for a player.&rdquo;</p><p>One would think $5 million for a player who scored 18 goals and was minus-6 last season adds up to a lot of pressure, but May is matter-of-fact about the money. He believes he paid his dues and was in a good bargaining position because he was a Group I free agent.</p><p>&ldquo;The biggest thing people should realize is that I get paid in the system that we have,&rdquo; May said. &ldquo;I played by the rules and I was rewarded for that, but I also play tough and I believe I can score goals.</p><p>&ldquo;Some of (the money) is for potential, for what I&rsquo;m going to do and I know that. What I have to do now is try and turn the volume up on my game. Maybe be a little more physical when it&rsquo;s called for. Be more opportunistic (around the net) when there&rsquo;s that opportunity.</p><p>&ldquo;A good game will be when I can do one or the other. A great game is when I can do both.&rdquo;</p><p>Everyone is looking for great games from May and lots of them.</p><p>A first-round draft pick (14th overall) from the Niagara Falls Thunder of the Ontario League in 1990. May has been praised for parts of his game.</p><p>At times, the Toronto native is a tremendous physical force, a feared hitter and a respected fighter who can protect teammates, dig for loose pucks and create open ice for his linemates.</p><p>He has flashes of offensive flair, but it would be a mistake to think he can blossom into a scoring machine. His 18 goals last season were a career high and he never reached the 40-goal mark as a junior.</p><p>Still, May has exhibited the ability to score the big goal. The biggest came two playoffs ago when he netted the series winner in overtime to help sweep the Boston Bruins out of the post-season. It was Buffalo&rsquo;s first playoff round win in a decade and May&rsquo;s goal was one of the most famous in team history.</p><p>But the fans, local media and team expect more from May now. They expect him to be the kind of power forward who does all of the above and on a regular basis.</p><p>The money only adds to the lofty expectations.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked to him,&rdquo; said Sabres coach and general manager John Muckier. &ldquo;He knows what we expect of him in this camp and for the season.</p><p>&ldquo;For him to play well for this team he has to be a power forward. Brad knows he&rsquo;s not a finesse hockey player and that&rsquo;s good. I think we both think the same way regarding his role on the team.&rdquo;</p><p>Muckier has been both cross and nurturing with May. There were times last season where he sat him down for long stretches of a game and times when he openly criticized his effort or lack of same.</p><p>But Muckier has also given him a taste of the good life, placing him on a line with center Pat LaFontaine and right winger Alexander Mogilny.</p><p>Muckier has given him ice time in a less stressful role with young forwards Derek Plante and Donald Audette.</p><p>May filled in on defensive lines, did some penalty killing and played in situations when the game was on the line.</p><p>He was not always good or even consistent in all of those situations, but he now realizes he was involved in a learning process and just how things unfold in the NHL.</p><p>&ldquo;When I was playing with Patty and Alex I loved it and with Derek and Donald we were a pretty good line too, but I started to realize that Muck was showing me all sides of the game and what I had to do in all situations,&rdquo; May said. &ldquo;I think it has prepared me to be a better player.&rdquo;</p><p>Muckler is again toying with the notion of playing May with Mogilny and LaFontaine. It&rsquo;s a training-camp experiment, but it&rsquo;s also an opportunity for May to show he belongs there.</p><p>&ldquo;For me to play with those guys I have to fulfill my role,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;ll get opportunities to score with players like that, but you also have to do your part to help them. I have to play the role of a power forward and I feel I can do that.&rdquo;</p><p>As of now, he has to.</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03310/6392528-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="666" height="334"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Buffalo&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-04212/6392521-1-eng-US/f0027-042.jpg" title="f0027-04" width="662" height="997"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-05149/6392514-1-eng-US/f0027-052.jpg" title="f0027-05" width="661" height="133"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-06116/6392507-1-eng-US/f0027-062.jpg" title="f0027-06" width="656" height="401"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0027-02

Every day a May day

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0028-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02552/6392601-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY DAN HAMILTON)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01829/6392608-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="190" height="189"></div><p>The last time Phil Housley played a full NHL season-two years ago-he led defensemen in scoring with 97 points.</p><p>Next highest was Paul Coffey, 10 points back. That year, Housley&rsquo;s uncanny passing skills helped his Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; teammate Teemu Selanne establish an NHL record for rookies with 76 goals. Maybe it just looked that way on the highlights, but every time Selanne took a breakaway pass, Housley was the player giving him the puck.</p><p>The Calgary Flames, Housley&rsquo;s new employers, are counting on those passing skills.</p><p>The fact is, the Flames traded away two of the NHL&rsquo;s best puckhandling defenseman in a four-month span. First, Gary Suter went and then Al MacInnis in exchange for Housley. In order to replace them, they needed players with comparable skills.</p><p>Housley originally balked at the idea of reporting to Calgary for tax and family reasons. Without him, the Flames would have had a solid, experienced NHL defense. There&rsquo;s Zarley Zalapski and James Patrick, acquired in the Suter deal. There&rsquo;s Steve Chiasson, acquired in the Mike Vemon deal. There&rsquo;s Trent Yawney and Frank Musil, a couple of holdovers, plus Roger Johansson-a star in the Olympics and World Champion-ships-back for his third tour of duty with the Flames.</p><p>Without Housley, they would have been more than adequate. With him, they are arguably as deep on defense as any team in the league. The starting six boast more than 50 years of NHL experience combined. They are not an especially physical group, but as a unit, they may be the most mobile sextet ever to play for Calgary.</p><p>This defensive experience is absolutely essential when you consider their youth in goal.</p><p>The four goalies in the system start the year with a total of 46 games of NHL experience. Accordingly, they can use all the help they can get from the group of defensemen in front of them.</p><p>Housley also gives the Flames someone to play the right side of the power play. For years, Maclnnis and Suter quarterbacked one of the NHL&rsquo;s most effective power plays. Zarley Zalapski stepped in to Suter&rsquo;s left-side spot, but had the Flames acquired an offensive defenseman other than Housley in a trade, they likely would have been left with a hole on the right side.</p><p>Moreover, coach Dave King wants to play more of a transition style this year and he thinks Housley&rsquo;s skills are perfectly suited to that.</p><p>&ldquo;If the other team is attacking, their greatest moment of weakness is two to three seconds after the turnover,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;So that&rsquo;s your opportunity. You have two to five seconds to make something happen.&rdquo;</p><p>There&rsquo;s a risk attached to Housley&rsquo;s gambling style, but King said he&rsquo;s prepared to accept it. Housley is like a lot of skilled players; they give you some things, but they take some things away. By always being up in the play, it&rsquo;s inevitable he will be trapped up the ice occasionally.</p><p>Said King: &ldquo;With all good offensive players you accept that at times there&rsquo;s going to be a missed judgment in joining the rush when they shouldn&rsquo;t. That happens all the time. For the most part, I like his judgment. He&rsquo;s like McInnis in that way. McInnis had great judgment about when to join the rush. We don&rsquo;t want to take away from what (Housley) does well-and he does that well.&rdquo;</p><p>The real concern surrounding Housley is his health. He was limited to 26 games last season as a result of major back surgery. He did return to the Blues&rsquo; lineup well ahead of schedule and played in all four of their playoff games. However, back injuries have a way of flaring up and it&rsquo;s something Housley must try to guard against.</p><p>&ldquo;When I had my surgery Jan. 4, they didn&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;d start skating until April,&rdquo; Housley said. &ldquo;I was skating on Feb. 22. I started out slow. Eventually, I developed into pushing heavy people around the ice, moving into contact, then scrimmaging with the team.</p><p>&ldquo;I played the last 13 games and my back felt good. I thought I had a pretty good playoff. I was happy to come back that fast from major surgery.&rdquo;</p><p>His off-season conditioning program revolved around back strengthening exercises. He did not get on the ice until the week before he moved to Calgary from St. Louis. &ldquo;You have to look after yourself,&rdquo; Housley said,&rdquo;because you don&rsquo;t want any recurrences. I worked hard this summer on my trunk stabilization. I feel really good. You&rsquo;re going to have days when you wake up and it&rsquo;s stiff, but if you get some heat going there and a good stretch, it feels good.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03391/6392594-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="677" height="330"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Calgary&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 199495 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04274/6392587-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="668" height="994"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05217/6392580-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="671" height="163"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-06187/6392573-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="676" height="396"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0028-02

Passing on success

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0029-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02467/6392667-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY BRUCE BENNETT/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01725/6392674-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="189" height="192"></div><p>It has almost been a curse for some to be the No. 1 pick overall in the NHL entry draft.</p><p>Do the names Brian Lawton and Doug Wick-enheiser ring a bell?</p><p>There are those who want to lump Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; right winger Joe Murphy into that group of busts, although it hardly seems fair.</p><p>Granted Murphy, selected first overall by the Detroit Red Wings in 1986, hasn&rsquo;t turned out to be a Mario Lemieux, Eric Lindros or Dale Hawer-chuk. But he&rsquo;s not a Lawton or Wickenheiser, either.</p><p>Lawton, picked first overall by the Minnesota North Stars in 1983, bounced from team to team, never collecting more than 21 goals or 44 points in a season. Wickenheiser, picked first overall by the Montreal Canadiens in 1980, played for five NHL teams in 10 years and had 111 goals in 556 games. He spent last season with the Fort Wayne Komets of the International League.</p><p>Murphy, on the other hand, has scored 27 or more goals in three of the last four seasons, twice topping 30. He was also a key contributor for the Edmonton Oilers when the won the Stanley Cup in 1990.</p><p>And he&rsquo;s still just 26 years old.</p><p>&ldquo;I still think Joe Murphy is a commodity,&rdquo; said Blackhawks&rsquo; coach Darryl Sutter. &ldquo;How many 30-goal scorers are there in the league? Well, he&rsquo;s one of them and as long as he does that he&rsquo;ll be around in this league a long time.&rdquo;</p><p>Hawks&rsquo; player development coach Phil Myre was a coach in the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; organization when Murphy was coming up and sees a totally different player today in Chicago. Myre calls Murphy a star player with the potential to become an even bigger star.</p><p>&ldquo;When Joe first came into the league he was like a lot of young players who didn&rsquo;t know what it takes to play in the NHL,&rdquo; Myre said. &ldquo;The player I see now has learned what it takes. He has grown up. His work habits are 100 percent better than they were in Detroit in terms of conditioning, focus in practice and consistency in games.</p><p>&ldquo;I think he can still improve and be a consistent 45-goal scorer, but he has to learn how to get to that next level.&rdquo;</p><p>The best thing that ever happened to Murphy was getting out of Detroit, where the pressure and expectations that went with being the top pick were too much to handle.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not criticizing the Red Wings,&rdquo; Myre said,&rdquo;but Joe was expected to come in right away and be an instant superstar.&rdquo;</p><p>Murphy also had to deal with the second-guessers. Detroit-area native Jimmy Carson was taken second by the Los Angeles Kings behind Murphy in 1986. Carson scored 141 goals in his first three seasons compared to Murphy&rsquo;s 11.</p><p>&ldquo;Carson was from Detroit and the fans and even the owner wanted to draft him,&rdquo; Myre said. &ldquo;That put even more pressure on Joe.&rdquo;</p><p>Murphy admits there was pressure on him in Detroit, but says he has no regrets.</p><p>&ldquo;Sure, I went through a lot,&rdquo; he said,&rdquo;but I wouldn&rsquo;t change anything for the world. I think everything that happened has been good for me-even playing in the minors. I learned that nothing is given to you. It has made me a better player and a better person.&rdquo;</p><p>There&rsquo;s a belief in Chicago this could be Murphy&rsquo;s finest season and he should top the 35 goals and 82 points he posted as career highs with the Oilers in 1991-92. Murphy is being reunited with Bernie Nicholls, who was his center for most of that season.</p><p>Murphy had 31 goals and 70 points playing with Jeremy Roenick last season, but the two never really clicked.</p><p>&ldquo;Maybe Joe is the type of guy who should be playing (out of the spotlight),&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;If you play with Jeremy, you&rsquo;re going to get the attention from the other team.&rdquo;</p><p>Nicholls came to town claiming he could get the best out of Murphy and Sutter is hoping that is the case.</p><p>&ldquo;Murph is excited to have his old center back,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;But the thing with him is he can&rsquo;t be satisfied with career averages. That&rsquo;s how you get better and he can get better. With a little more consistency in his game he could score 10 more goals, which might be the difference in three or four more wins for us.&rdquo;</p><p>Murphy came to training camp in better shape than at any time in his career and determined to move to the elusive next level.</p><p>&ldquo;The guys who are the most focused are the guys who are most successful,&rdquo; Murphy said. &ldquo;If you can model yourself after those types of players, you can be successful. I want that.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a really exciting time to be in Chicago and I want to top it off by having my best year.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03295/6392660-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="675" height="334"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Chicago&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04208/6392653-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="668" height="1001"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-05182/6392646-1-eng-US/f0029-052.jpg" title="f0029-05" width="666" height="129"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-06149/6392639-1-eng-US/f0029-062.jpg" title="f0029-06" width="666" height="400"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0029-02

Murphy’s flaw not tragic

<div class="byline">By Steve Huber</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02551/6392733-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY SCOTT LEVY/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01823/6392740-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="190" height="190"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>M</span>ark Tinordi can remember the exact moment his hockey career began to slide. Rarely do you stand in front of a Al MacInnis shot and not carry a souvenir of the experience.</p><p>Tinordi&rsquo;s came in the form of foot palsv. a numbing of the nerves in his foot that kept him out of 17 games in 1991-92. It happened on a fluke injury that occurred when McInnis sent a clearing shot around the boards that hit Tinordi behind the left knee.</p><p>The injury came just four months after Tinordi helped lead the Minnesota North Stars on a glorious run to the Stanley Cup final in 1991. Much was expected of both Tinordi and the North Stars.</p><p>&ldquo;To be honest I&rsquo;ve probably gone down from there,&rdquo; Tinordi said candidly. &ldquo;I think back on that (playoff) year and there were two things: I played more aggressively and the defense was able to play more offensively that year. We were able to pinch all over the ice, move up and make the checks. That fit into my game real well. And then I went to Team Canada (for the Canada Cup). I made the team. I didn&rsquo;t play a lot, but I started the season and I thought I was playing real well and then I got hit in the knee.&rdquo;</p><p>Tinordi, who enters his sixth full NHL season, has never hit the 70-game mark. Last season was cut short by a broken leg that he suffered trying to beat out an icing call. The Dallas Stars&rsquo; defenseman claims the injury is completely healed, but the barrage of maladies has left some people doubting whether he can ever regain his peak form.</p><p>&ldquo;Everyone has the impression I keep getting hurt, that I won&rsquo;t be the player I can be.&rdquo; Tinordi said. &ldquo;The biggest thing is to prove to myself and teammates that I can still play. I&rsquo;m not worried. I don&rsquo;t want everyone to say all of these injuries have stopped me. I&rsquo;ve kind of had it with all these injuries. Just for myself, it&rsquo;s important to play well this year.&rdquo;</p><p>That&rsquo;s especially true since Tinordi is entering the option year of his contract.</p><p>Tinordi longs to return to his form as a punishing checker on defense and an offensive leader, a return to the time when he was among the most coveted players in the NHL.</p><p>The most recent injury, a broken left femur, is particularly galling to Tinordi. He said it was not a &ldquo;hockey injury&rdquo; because it happened on what should have been a routine play. Tinordi was chasing a potential icing when Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; right winger John Druce joined the play. With Druce&rsquo;s hand on the small of Tinordi&rsquo;s back-Druce later denied giving a push-Tinordi went crashing into the boards knee-first.</p><p>The thigh bone snapped, requiring a metal rod to be inserted into the bone and Tinordi was done for the rest of the regular season and playoffs.</p><p>The injury happened at the worst time for the Stars, who were in the midst of their best regular season in franchise history. It left Tinordi with his lowest totals in four seasons-61 games, six goals, 18 points and 147 penalty minutes.</p><p>The last three seasons have been marked by major injuries to the 28-year-old defenseman. In 1992-93. he broke his collarbome and missed 15 games.</p><p>&ldquo;Guys get hurt all the time,&rdquo; Tinordi said. &ldquo;It was just the way it happened. I kind of look back, the first one (knee) was really flukey, and so was this one. Only one injury out of seven years-a broken collar bone-was a hockey injury.</p><p>&ldquo;It always seems like I&rsquo;m fighting back from something. I&rsquo;m hoping that I can put these things behind me. I&rsquo;ve put a lot more work into this summer. It&rsquo;s a good challenge. It&rsquo;s coming at a time when I really need to play well. It&rsquo;s a motivating factor for me.&rdquo;</p><p>Tinordi said he worked hard during the off-season at his home in Red Deer. Alta., lifting weights, biking and rollerblading to strengthening his leg. He has vowed to get more involved in the play, be more aggressive and become the dominant player he was before the injuries.</p><p>&ldquo;(Stars&rsquo; management) wants to see if I can still play. It&rsquo;s a lot of money,&rdquo; Tinordi said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t blame them. They want to see if I&rsquo;m all right.&rdquo;</p><p>When he is healthy, Tinordi is one of the Stars&rsquo; most important players. A healthy Tinordi can contribute 30 minutes per game, 40 points per year and play in all situations.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s definitely one of our go-to guys,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; assistant general manager Les Jackson. &ldquo;What he has done for us is give our team an identity. Even when we get beat teams know they&rsquo;ve played against Tinordi and he has spread that feeling throughout the team.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03377/6392726-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="671" height="331"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Dallas&rsquo; top 24 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04266/6392719-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="669" height="995"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05191/6392712-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="670" height="130"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-06154/6392705-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="668" height="398"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0030-02

Tinordi: The big hurt

<div class="byline">By Cynthia Lambert</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0032-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02560/6392799-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY ION HAYI/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01817/6392806-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="191" height="191"></div><p>Vladimir Konstantinov has a way of, well, irking people. But more often than not, he ticks off the right people.</p><p>Case in point: Jeremy Roenick.</p><p>Konstantinov and Roenick tangled on a number of occasions in 1993-94. The last incident came at Chicago Stadium, when Roenick took at least five strides before slamming the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; defenseman into the boards.</p><p>The hit was so precise and forceful, a pane of plexiglass popped from its frame and landed on the fans in the first few rows. Konstantinov, laying on the ice, collected himself and skated briskly away, not looking back.</p><p>When asked afterward what his next move would be, he smiled.</p><p>&ldquo;Next time&hellip;I go to jail,&rdquo; Konstantinov said, laughing.</p><p>And so the story goes. Konstantinov goes about his job the only way he knows how. And because of that, stars and grinders alike pay the price.</p><p>&ldquo;Call it whatever you want, I call it playing hard,&rdquo; said Wings&rsquo; assistant general manager Ken Holland, who scouted Konstantinov when he played for the Central Red Army club.</p><p>&ldquo;He plays honest. By that I mean he&rsquo;ll hit hard and take a hit. He gives it and he stands there ready to take it. I think he&rsquo;s mentally very strong.&rdquo;</p><p>That mental strength sometimes borders on foolishness. Konstantinov, 27, does not discriminate with the shots he gives. Often times, his forcefulness results in a penalty. It&rsquo;s something he has attempted to curb over the past few seasons.</p><p>&ldquo;We worked with him on that,&rdquo; said Red Wings&rsquo; head coach Scotty Bowman. &ldquo;He has been better with that the past couple of seasons. I think what happened the first couple of years was the language problem. He&rsquo;s okay now. He&rsquo;ll take some penalties, but that&rsquo;s his game.&rdquo;</p><p>Said Konstantinov: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just doing my job. I do what I can. If somebody scores a goal for them, then I&rsquo;m not doing my job. I have to stop that player any way I can.&rdquo;</p><p>When Konstantinov arrived in the NHL in 1991, he was viewed as anything but a driving force. But the stability the Wings hoped he would bring has also carried with it the ability to drive opponents into tempered frenzies.</p><p>&ldquo;I make people mad?&rdquo; Konstantinov said, breaking into a grin. &ldquo;Jeremy Roenick, when he hit me, it was a penalty, no question. He skated in from the blueline. It was 30 yards, at least. It should have been a penalty, but it wasn&rsquo;t.&rdquo;</p><p>Live by the sword, say many opponents, and die by it. Konstantinov is artistic with his stick. Skate behind the net with him and you&rsquo;ll likely get the butt-end of his stick in your gut. Create an offensive chance in front of the Detroit net and you&rsquo;ll feel Konstantinov&rsquo;s stick on some chosen part of your anatomy.</p><p>&ldquo;I just do what I have to protect myself,&rdquo; Konstantinov said. &ldquo;Sometimes I hold my stick up to protect myself.&rdquo;</p><p>Former Chicago Blackhawk Jocelyn Lemieux learned that lesson when he took a run at the defenseman two seasons ago. As soon as Lemieux reached him, Konstantinov raised his stick, resulting in a number of gashes that required nearly 100 stitches to Lemieux&rsquo;s mouth.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the type of player you just hate as an opponent,&rdquo; said Mike Krushelnyski, obtained by Detroit from the Toronto Maple Leafs this summer. &ldquo;But what I hear from the guys here so far is that they love him.</p><p>&ldquo;This situation reminds me of some other players. I used to hate John Tonelli, until I got to know him. The same thing happened with Mike Foligno. Now it&rsquo;s Konstantinov.</p><p>&ldquo;Vladimir, he just does his job. He&rsquo;ll hack you, slash you. That&rsquo;s what you want on your team. A lot of guys try to do that, it&rsquo;s just some do it better than others.&rdquo;</p><p>Since arriving in the league, Konstantinov has attempted to improve his offensive statistics, while holding his penalty minutes down. Last season was his most successful at combining the two.</p><p>He finished with 12 goals and 33 points with 138 PIM. Regardless of what his point totals are, Konstantinov, it seems, will always be known for his aggressive demeanor.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the most competitive players I&rsquo;ve ever seen,&rdquo; said assistant coach Barry Smith. &ldquo;He never stops playing his game.</p><p>&ldquo;I probably give him the highest marks for the way he sticks to things. If someone threatens him in the first five minutes of the game, saying, &lsquo;I&rsquo;m going to take your head off,&rsquo; it doesn&rsquo;t bother him.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03386/6392792-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="667" height="330"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Detroit&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04261/6392785-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="670" height="999"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05190/6392778-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="671" height="163"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06157/6392771-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="667" height="397"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0032-02

Konstantly teed off

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02500/6392865-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY STEVE BABINEAU)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01734/6392872-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="191" height="192"></div><p>Doug Weight opened last season and more than a few eyes in Edmonton with four goals on his first four shots.</p><p>Seventy points and 82 games later he ended the campaign as the Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; leading scorer, but the eyes of the NHL weren&rsquo;t on him any longer. The Oilers were out of the playoffs and he was. after all, tied for 48th in league scoring.</p><p>His play raised as many questions as it answered. Just how good is he? How many points would he have racked up with wingers who could finish? Will he be a better two-way player in time?</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt in my mind I&rsquo;m going to get better,&rdquo; said the 23-year-old center. &ldquo;I find I&rsquo;m more in control of my game. I feel like I&rsquo;m young again, as far as playing in college where you can dominate a game from time to time. I&rsquo;m excited about that.&rdquo;</p><p>The Lake Superior State product knows if he is to be regarded as a player everywhere else in the NHL, the 100-point mark is key.</p><p>But it is not a burden, nor a weight, pardon the pun, on his shoulders.</p><p>&ldquo;Things have got to go well to get 100 points,&rdquo; Weight said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to make any predictions. I think I can do it, but I&rsquo;m not going to say it. In time I think I can be a player who could be No. 1 or No. 2 on any team.</p><p>&ldquo;I take it as a challenge when people say, &lsquo;Is he a player?&rsquo;&rdquo;</p><p>In Edmonton, that question is answered with a resounding yes from coaches, scouts and teammates.</p><p>&ldquo;There is nothing Dougie can&rsquo;t do,&rdquo; said hockey operations director Kevin Prendergast. &ldquo;He can play center and wing if we run into trouble. He&rsquo;s a leader by example. He never stops working. If you had 10 players like him on your team you wouldn&rsquo;t lose too many hockey games.&rdquo;</p><p>Last year there was only one of him and the Oilers lost plenty. But it was part of the growing process. He played most of the season with Steven Rice and Scott Pearson and both had trouble finishing the scoring chances he fed them.</p><p>&ldquo;Steven and Scott would admit they likely should have scored 10 to 15 more goals apiece,&rdquo; said assistant coach Ron Low. &ldquo;Even so, Dougie was close to a point-a-game player. I expect that to get better.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I expect Dougie to be that 84- to 100-point guy, but that depends a lot on who he plays with.&rdquo;</p><p>Teammate Jason Arnott doesn&rsquo;t think that really matters much. &ldquo;Pretty much anybody you put with Dougie is going to click because Dougie is such a total finesse player who can play mean as well,&rdquo; Arnott said.</p><p>Weight was not above reproach tor occasional lapses in his own zone. He finished the year at minus-22, second-worst on the team. That must improve.</p><p>&ldquo;I think Dougie wants to become more of a complete player,&rdquo; Low said. &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;d tell you his plus-minus wasn&rsquo;t what you&rsquo;d call acceptable.&rdquo;</p><p>It can be a misleading statistic, but there is no question Weight has to take the blame for much of it, just as he takes the bows for his offensive talents.</p><p>&ldquo;Last year was a feeling-out process,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Last year was good, but I&rsquo;ve got to build on it. I can&rsquo;t live off 75 points. That&rsquo;s not going to get you anywhere in my position.&rdquo;</p><p>Weight&rsquo;s position on the team will get more important this year. First-year coach George Burnett will count on him for leadership, despite the fact Weight is only 23. That&rsquo;s fine by him.</p><p>&ldquo;I want every bit of responsibility thrown at me. I&rsquo;ve got to be ready for it. I&rsquo;ve got to put up a lot bigger numbers and get the big goal when we need it.&rdquo;</p><p>There are a few players in that category, Arnott among them. Weight and Arnott are centers No. 1 and 1-A right now and like it or not, the debate will rage in the media and among fans as to which one of them deserves first-line ice time.</p><p>Burnett, Weight and Arnott tried to. steer clear of it as training camp began in Banff, Alta.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t believe in that,&rdquo; Burnett said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to look to people like Jason and Doug to lead our hockey club, but I don&rsquo;t want to get into putting numbers on people.&rdquo;</p><p>Weight doesn&rsquo;t want it to become an issue this year again.</p><p>&ldquo;Everyone wanted to label us last year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d carry the load for 15 games and he&rsquo;d do it for 20. It doesn&rsquo;t matter to me. If somebody wants to label him No. 1, that&rsquo;s fine. Let&rsquo;s just go out and work together. I want to do my job. If I&rsquo;m the leading scorer, fine. If not, fine. If Jason is or (Shayne Corson) is, good for them.&rdquo;</p><p>And for the Oilers.</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03366/6392858-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="676" height="332"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Edmonton&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list, their previous teams are listed in parentheses 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04289/6392851-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="665" height="999"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05238/6392844-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="673" height="134"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-06205/6392837-1-eng-US/f0033-062.jpg" title="f0033-06" width="668" height="398"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0033-02

Worth Weight in goals

<div class="byline">By Dave Joseph</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02583/6392931-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY BRUCE BENNETT/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01825/6392938-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="193" height="192"></div><p>Stu Barnes now spends his winters in Florida. It had nothing to do with the snow and ice in Winnipeg-more like a lack of ice.</p><p>Barnes came to the Winnipeg Jets with excellent credentials, but never established himself. For three years, it always seemed like his life was on hold.</p><p>&ldquo;Should I sign a lease for an apartment in Winnipeg, should I not sign a lease?&rdquo; Barnes would think to himself. &ldquo;Will I stay in Winnipeg, or be sent to Moncton? I just never knew.&rdquo;</p><p>All of the uncertainty changed last Nov. 26 when the the fourth overall pick in the 1989 draft was traded to the Florida Panthers for Randy Gilhen. Entering his first training camp with the Panthers, Barnes still remembers that day as &ldquo;a breath of fresh air.</p><p>&ldquo;I was fourth line, if that, no matter what I did,&rdquo; Barnes, 23, said. &ldquo;I could score a couple of goals in a game in Winnipeg. The next night, I&rsquo;d be right back on the fourth line. That&rsquo;s where they had me pegged. There was no chance to move up the ranks.&rdquo;</p><p>Barnes came to the Jets after an outstanding junior career during which he exhibited dazzling speed and skill. But the same moves that worked on defensemen in the Western League met with less success in the NHL. At 5-foot-10 and 180 pounds. Barnes wasn&rsquo;t about to power his way to the net and although his work habits were good, he wasn&rsquo;t considered a solid two-way player.</p><p>Barnes was also competing with centers Alexei Zhamnov and Thomas Steen for playing time.</p><p>For the first two seasons of his career, Barnes spent as much time with the Moncton Hawks, the Jets&rsquo; American League affiliate, as he did with the big team. But even after a strong playoff series with the Jets in 1993, Barnes was back on the bench at the beginning of the 1993-94 season.</p><p>He was not happy sitting in Winnipeg.</p><p>&ldquo;I figured it was going to stay that indefinitely,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>After 18 games, he was dealt to the Panthers and has counted his blessings ever since.</p><p>&ldquo;It made all the difference in the world,&rdquo; he said.</p><p>Barnes starts his first full season with the Panthers knowing he has a place in the lineup. He is one of the team&rsquo;s three young guns up the middle. Along with former Montreal Canadien Jesse Belanger and 1993 first-round choice Rob Niedermayer, Barnes is being counted on to supply the Panthers with much of their offensive power. He proved he could be a threat last year, scoring 18 goals and 20 assists in 59 games with Florida and posted 23-24-47 totals in 77 games overall.</p><p>&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question, Stu. Robbie and Jesse will have important roles this season,&rdquo; said Panthers&rsquo; coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re three young centers, probably as young as any team&rsquo;s in the league. As far as Stu goes, he was very valuable to us. We used him in every possible situation, whether it be killing penalties, on the power play, being used on the scoring line, or on our checking lines. I didn&rsquo;t know a lot about him in Winnipeg, but I knew he played well in the playoffs for them and I knew he was a quick, gutty player.&rdquo;</p><p>When former Panthers&rsquo; general manager Bob Clarke made the trade, he said he thought Barnes &ldquo;could be a pretty good player who can supply some offense.&rdquo;</p><p>Barnes did that when the Panthers needed it most. While his teammates were faltering badly and the Panthers&rsquo; were quickly losing their grasp on a playoff spot, Barnes turned it on. In the last 15 games, he had seven goals and 12 points and was the Panthers&rsquo; most dangerous offensive threat. By the end of the season, the crowd at the Miami Arena would let loose with chants of &ldquo;Stuuu,&rdquo; every time he touched the puck.</p><p>Barnes is hoping he can build on that success.</p><p>&ldquo;I think the difference here, with Roger, was everyone got a chance to play,&rdquo; Barnes said. &ldquo;Everyone has a role to play and everyone knows how important that role is if we&rsquo;re going to be successful. The difference for me in camp this year is I know I&rsquo;ll contribute. I didn&rsquo;t know that in Winnipeg. But here, I feel like I belong.&rdquo;</p><p>Now he wants to prove he belongs in the league and the Panthers belong in the playoffs. Both are big challenges.</p><p>&ldquo;I know there&rsquo;s a lot of expected of me this season, as well as some other guys on the team,&rdquo; Barnes said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to surprise anyone this year like we may have last year. Teams know what we&rsquo;re capable of and they&rsquo;re going to be ready. But I think if everyone steps it up a bit, including myself, we&rsquo;ll have a shot at making the playoffs.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03452/6392924-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="672" height="329"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Florida&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-04345/6392917-1-eng-US/f0034-042.jpg" title="f0034-04" width="674" height="995"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-05274/6392910-1-eng-US/f0034-052.jpg" title="f0034-05" width="675" height="132"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-06241/6392903-1-eng-US/f0034-062.jpg" title="f0034-06" width="671" height="399"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0034-02

Making it on Miami ice

<div class="byline">By Viv Bernstein</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02518/6392997-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01741/6393004-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="193" height="190"></div><p>In the post-mortem of the 1993-94 Hartford Whalers, it isn&rsquo;t hard to figure out their fatal flaw: A lack of offense.</p><p>Only two teams scored fewer goals than the Whalers&rsquo; total of 227 last season. Their power play ranked 23rd overall, clicking just 15 per cent of the time.</p><p>General manager Jim Rutherford, part of the new ownership group that has made a four-year commitment to keeping the Whalers in Hartford, made it his first priority to bolster the team&rsquo;s attack. His most notable move was sparing no expense to acquire a new point man to quarterback the power play this season.</p><p>But there are some who believe he paid too much in acquiring defenseman Glen Wesley from the Boston Bruins for first-round draft picks in 1995, 1996 and 1997.</p><p>Has Rutherford sold the future to win now?</p><p>&ldquo;I believe that three first-round picks is a steep price,&rdquo; Rutherford acknowledged. &ldquo;Only time will tell how steep a price it was.</p><p>&ldquo;But when you need a player like that, you have to pay the price,&rdquo; Rutherford said. &ldquo;It may turn out to be it wasn&rsquo;t a very good price. And it may turn out to be that it was a steep price.&rdquo;</p><p>The wild card, of course, is the draft lottery. If the Whalers die again in any of the next three seasons, the first overall pick could go to Boston.</p><p>The 22nd-through 26th-place teams can win the right to pick first under the new system. Hartford finished 24th in 1993-94.</p><p>&ldquo;Even if Boston picks in one of those lottery picks, we know we&rsquo;ve got Glen Wesley, a proven player for another seven, eight years,&rdquo; Rutherford said.</p><p>&ldquo;Now if (the Bruins) pick and they get three real good first-round picks on us, then that&rsquo;s when it turns out to be steep. But even if they got two, I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s too high at this point.&rdquo;</p><p>The price essentially is what the Whalers would have paid in compensation had they signed Wesley, a restricted free agent. He agreed to terms on a three-year, $4.7-million contract and signed with the Bruins prior to the trade.</p><p>The expired collective bargaining agreement requires three first-round picks as compensation for players signed for an average of between $1 million and 2 million per year.</p><p>&ldquo;Based on where the market is for a guy like him and especially with us needing that type of a player, I don&rsquo;t think we paid too much,&rdquo; Rutherford said.</p><p>The Whalers had targeted Wesley from the start of this summer. Now that they have him, it&rsquo;s up to Wesley-who has 77 goals and 307 points in 537 career games-to prove Rutherford was right in taking the gamble.</p><p>&ldquo;They gave up a tremendous amount up for me,&rdquo; said the 25-year-old who had a career high of 58 points last season. &ldquo;Hopefully, I can help lead this team in the playoffs. Obviously, I&rsquo;m not going to do it myself. But if we can get 10 or 15 wins more than they had last year, we&rsquo;re definitely going to make the playoffs.</p><p>&ldquo;We picked up some additions with (free agents) Jimmy Carson and Steven Rice. We&rsquo;ve made a lot of strides to improve the team. It&rsquo;s a matter of carrying that consistently, keeping the work ethic at a high level.&rdquo;</p><p>The third overall pick by the Bruins in 1987, Wesley entered the NHL with star potential. While he enjoyed some success on Boston&rsquo;s blueline, he wasn&rsquo;t able to enter the league&rsquo;s upper echelon of defenseman.</p><p>Playing second fiddle to five-time Norris Trophy winner Ray Bourque likely had something to do with that. Now Wesley has the chance to be the No. 1 man-at least until sophomore Chris Pronger is ready to take over as the leader of the Whalers&rsquo; blueline corps.</p><p>&ldquo;What we really expect him to do the most is quarterback our power play,&rdquo; Rutherford said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good defenseman on top of that. I don&rsquo;t want anyone to think he has come here to be a power-play specialist.</p><p>&ldquo;The other element he brings is (pressure relief) for Chris Pronger. We want to let (Pronger) take his natural progression to become the defenseman we know he can be.&rdquo;</p><p>Just as Bourque showed Wesley the way in the NHL, so Wesley will now show Pronger.</p><p>&ldquo;It was a great experience playing with (Bourque),&rdquo; Wesley said. &ldquo;He taught me a lot on and off the ice. We&rsquo;re great friends. Just the little things in practice, the little things he has done in the game. It has really helped myself.</p><p>&ldquo;Hopefully, I can help the other guys here.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03420/6392990-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="675" height="329"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Hartford&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 199495 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04322/6392983-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="665" height="993"></div><h2><b><i>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</i></b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05267/6392976-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg" title="f0036-05" width="667" height="158"></div><h2><b><i>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</i></b></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-06234/6392969-1-eng-US/f0036-062.jpg" title="f0036-06" width="667" height="397"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0036-02

Clear and future danger?

<div class="byline">By Rick Sadowski</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02469/6393063-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY JOHN GIAMUNDO/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01666/6393070-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg" title="f0037-01" width="192" height="192"></div><p>Rick Tocchet has a battle-scarred face that has been hammered by fists and carved by sticks.</p><p>The man he is being asked to replace on the Los Angeles Kings, Luc Robitaille, has the looks of a baby-faced matinee idol.</p><p>Tocchet readily admits he needs to be within two feet of the net before he is able to turn into an offensive weapon. Robitaille is a pure goal-scorer who can stroke a puck into the goal from far and wide.</p><p>Tocchet carries 205 pounds of raw muscle onto the ice, along with a mean streak that four times has earned him in excess of 250 penalty minutes. Robitaille is a slick 190-pounder with a million-dollar smile and charming French Canadian accent.</p><p>Tocchet has been a King since July 28, when he was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for the popular Robitaille.</p><p>He makes no apologies.</p><p>&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t replace Luc Robitaille and I&rsquo;m not going to try to,&rdquo; said Tocchet. &ldquo;We have totally different styles.</p><p>&ldquo;Luc&rsquo;s a pure sniper and my style is to go into traffic. People may try to match up our stats at the end of the season and say, &lsquo;This guy did better,&rsquo; but I don&rsquo;t think that would be fair. The important thing is which team does better.&rdquo;</p><p>If the Kings win, Tocchet figures all will be fine with the legion of Robitaille supporters who didn&rsquo;t take kindly to rookie general manager Sam McMaster&rsquo;s first major trade.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough any time you replace a fan favorite,&rdquo; Tocchet said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s amazing how people forget when the team wins. I mean, maybe I didn&rsquo;t realize how popular Luc was out here and certainly you like the people in the stands to appreciate your style. I don&rsquo;t want to sound arrogant, but I was pretty popular in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.&rdquo;</p><p>Tocchet, 30, spent his first 7 1/2 NHL seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers, where he twice scored 40-plus goals and in 1987-88 became the third player in NHL history to amass 30 goals and 300 penalty minutes in a single season.</p><p>He was traded to the Penguins in a 1992 multi-player exchange that included winger Mark Recchi and wound up with a Stanley Cup ring. Tocchet produced career highs in 1992-93 with 48 goals and 109 points.</p><p>But last year was a disappointment that was made worse when the Penguins were eliminated from the playoffs in the opening round. Tocchet performed admirably in the post-season, producing two goals and five points (along with 20 penalty minutes) in six games, despite playing with a painful back injury that ruined his regular season and required surgery in June.</p><p>A degenerative disc was repaired in the operation. The injury bothered him all season and forced him to miss 32 of the final 65 games. Tocchet was limited to 51 games overall and he had just 14 goals and 40 points.</p><p>&ldquo;Last year was basically a writeoff,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t play in some of the exhibitions and I was in and out of the lineup all year. I probably should have taken off two months. The pain gradually got worse and spread to below my knees.&rdquo;</p><p>Tocchet resumed skating in late July and said he is &ldquo;getting close&rdquo; to being 100 percent healthy. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no doubt in my mind I&rsquo;ll be where I was two years ago,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;This is the best I&rsquo;ve felt in two years. There&rsquo;s a little bit of strength missing, but I just got off the operating table (three) months ago.&rdquo;</p><p>Kings&rsquo; coach Barry Melrose isn&rsquo;t certain on which line Tocchet will play this season, but he is pleased to have him aboard.</p><p>&ldquo;Rick is a power forward in the lines of (Wendel) Clark and (Brendan) Shanahan,&rdquo; said Melrose, whose desire to build a big and physical team is hardly a secret. &ldquo;He can score and he&rsquo;s very nasty to play against. He&rsquo;s tough and he&rsquo;s mean and he&rsquo;ll score in traffic. He can beat you in so many ways.&rdquo;</p><p>But not necessarily beat you up all the time.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to drop your gloves, but it&rsquo;s the whole process of playing tough that&rsquo;s important,&rdquo; Tocchet said.</p><p>In Tocchet&rsquo;s eyes, the Kings weren&rsquo;t so tough to play against a year ago. And even though he&rsquo;s new, Tocchet won&rsquo;t be the least bit shy about dressing down any teammate he believes is taking shortcuts.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll put my two cents in,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Last year it was well publicized (the Kings) got pushed around a lot, didn&rsquo;t go to the net hard. And you can&rsquo;t expect to win giving up 40 shots a game. There has to be a commitment to team defense. There has to be a work ethic.</p><p>&ldquo;I guess you could say that last year was a writeoff for me and for L.A. It&rsquo;ll be nice for both of us to come back.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03359/6393056-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="674" height="329"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Los Angeles&rsquo; top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04296/6393049-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="672" height="997"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05264/6393042-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="673" height="125"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06231/6393035-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="672" height="396"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0037-02

Tocchet: Don’t Luc now

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02478/6393195-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY BRIAN WINKLER/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01701/6393202-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="191" height="191"></div><p>Like most of his teammates, Bill Guerin replayed the moment in his own mind for weeks.</p><p>When Stephane Matteau of the New York Rangers scored in the second overtime in Game 7 of the conference final last May 27, Guerin and the New Jersey Devils saw their hopes of reaching the Stanley Cup finals for the first time end in heartbreaking fashion.</p><p>What made it even worse for Guerin is he was on the ice at the time.</p><p>&ldquo;It was tough, especially the first couple of weeks,&rdquo; Guerin recalled. &ldquo;I can still see that goal going in. But we&rsquo;ve got to move on. We came up a little short last year.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to get to the same place we were last year and then take it one step further. Eventually, that experience might help us out more. We got a taste of being successful.&rdquo;</p><p>Guerin was talking about his team, but he just as easily could have been talking about himself.</p><p>At 23, Guerin was the Devils&rsquo; breakthrough player last season. Some evenings he was their best player. His speed and powerful shot made him a regular on television highlight packages.</p><p>&ldquo;People could say in the past that I dominated some games. In other games, I was an average player,&rdquo; Guerin said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the difference in being a great player. Guys like Scott Stevens and John MacLean, they&rsquo;re there every night. They play with a consistency that I&rsquo;m still looking for.&rdquo;</p><p>Guerin is developing into a promising power forward. Last season he scored a career-high 25 goals and 44 points and continued to establish himself as a physical right winger willing to stand up for his teammates.</p><p>Guerin has shown great offensive capabilities, but his scoring figures have never been padded with power play goals. In fact, 37 of his 39 career goals have come at even strength, primarily because MacLean and Claude Lemieux have played the right side on special teams.</p><p>&ldquo;This year I want to score more than 25 goals and get more than 44 points. Everybody wants that,&rdquo; Guerin said. &ldquo;I was happy with the way the year ended, but I want to take that next step.</p><p>&ldquo;Consistency would be the main thing. I think I have the tools. Now I have to work on the mental side. Not change my game, but think a little more. Mix things up, learn different moves. I also have to get more shots on net. I&rsquo;m always ready for the game, but I have to know my opponents better. I have to figure out the weaknesses of other teams.&rdquo;</p><p>The key to Guerin&rsquo;s development will be his performance in important games, most notably down the stretch and in the playoffs. The man known as the Springfield Rifle to his teammates fired blanks when the Devils needed his goals the most. Guerin scored only two goals on 49 shots in 17 playoff games last spring.</p><p>In his third full NHL season, Guerin hopes to use his mind almost as much as his speed and powerful shot.</p><p>The Devils believe Guerin, the team&rsquo;s first selection (fifth overall) in the 1989 entry draft, can approach the 35-40 goal plateau if he doesn&rsquo;t put pressure on himself during his scoring streaks. That is when Guerin typically falls into a slump.</p><p>Do people simply expect too much from him this early in his career?</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think so,&rdquo; said Devils&rsquo; coach Jacques Lemaire. &ldquo;As long as he doesn&rsquo;t look at it as too much pressure. As long as he doesn&rsquo;t feel he has to make those highlight film rushes every time he&rsquo;s on the ice. I think he&rsquo;s smart enough to avoid that. He doesn&rsquo;t have to change much. Little things, that&rsquo;s all. I think he will improve.&rdquo;</p><p>Guerin is the Devils&rsquo; No. I practical joker, always keeping the team loose in airports and on charter flights with his comic routines. Even though he is still a relatively young player, he has a firm sense of his role on the team both on and off the ice.</p><p>&ldquo;I personally want to do better, to be the best player I can be,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I would like to be a dominant player, but I want to help our team win most of all. The reason we did so well is we had 25 guys going in the same direction. This team can be very good. We have a lot of the same guys coming back. I think it&rsquo;s obvious how good we can be. I&rsquo;m very confident in our team.&rdquo;</p><p>Guerin picked up a few pointers from former teammate Bernie Nicholls. In his season and a half with the Devils, Nicholls made a big impression on Guerin.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to miss Bernie. He gave us a lot,&rdquo; Guerin said. &ldquo;He showed up big when we needed him. He&rsquo;s a big-game player.&rdquo;</p><p>Guerin would like the same to some day be said of himself.</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03364/6393188-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="672" height="332"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are New Jersey&rsquo;s top 23 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04295/6393181-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="670" height="921"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05243/6393174-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="672" height="131"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06208/6393167-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="669" height="397"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0039-02

Guerin no Bill of goods

<h2><i><b>ANAHEIM</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01409/6393408-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="461" height="358"></div><h2><i><b>BOSTON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02267/6393401-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="464" height="356"></div><h2><i><b>BUFFALO</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03192/6393394-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="463" height="354"></div><h2><i><b>CALGARY</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04156/6393387-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="464" height="357"></div><h2><i><b>CHICAGO</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-05133/6393380-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="465" height="354"></div><h2><i><b>DALLAS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-06116/6393373-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="470" height="352"></div><h2><i><b>DETROIT</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-07105/6393366-1-eng-US/f0040-072.jpg" title="f0040-07" width="462" height="355"></div><h2><i><b>EDMONTON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0895/6393359-1-eng-US/f0040-082.jpg" title="f0040-08" width="462" height="353"></div><h2><i><b>FLORIDA</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-0978/6393352-1-eng-US/f0040-092.jpg" title="f0040-09" width="459" height="354"></div><h2><i><b>HARTFORD</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1075/6393345-1-eng-US/f0040-102.jpg" title="f0040-10" width="466" height="357"></div><h2><i><b>LOS ANGELES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1171/6393338-1-eng-US/f0040-112.jpg" title="f0040-11" width="464" height="355"></div><h2><i><b>MONTREAL</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1267/6393331-1-eng-US/f0040-122.jpg" title="f0040-12" width="467" height="359"></div><h2><i><b>NEW JERSEY</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1364/6393324-1-eng-US/f0040-132.jpg" title="f0040-13" width="468" height="359"></div><h2><i><b>ISLANDERS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01347/6393317-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg" title="f0041-01" width="458" height="358"></div><h2><i><b>RANGERS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02217/6393310-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="457" height="357"></div><h2><i><b>OTTAWA</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-03159/6393303-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="458" height="354"></div><h2><i><b>PHILADELPHIA</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-04134/6393296-1-eng-US/f0041-042.jpg" title="f0041-04" width="456" height="356"></div><h2><i><b>PITTSBURGH</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-05121/6393289-1-eng-US/f0041-052.jpg" title="f0041-05" width="461" height="357"></div><h2><i><b>QUEBEC</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-06112/6393282-1-eng-US/f0041-062.jpg" title="f0041-06" width="458" height="355"></div><h2><i><b>ST. LOUIS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0799/6393275-1-eng-US/f0041-072.jpg" title="f0041-07" width="456" height="354"></div><h2><i><b>SAN JOSE</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0878/6393268-1-eng-US/f0041-082.jpg" title="f0041-08" width="463" height="356"></div><h2><i><b>TAMPA BAY</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-0959/6393261-1-eng-US/f0041-092.jpg" title="f0041-09" width="459" height="353"></div><h2><i><b>TORONTO</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1053/6393254-1-eng-US/f0041-102.jpg" title="f0041-10" width="456" height="357"></div><h2><i><b>VANCOUVER</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1148/6393247-1-eng-US/f0041-112.jpg" title="f0041-11" width="454" height="352"></div><h2><i><b>WASHINGTON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1240/6393240-1-eng-US/f0041-122.jpg" title="f0041-12" width="456" height="355"></div><h2><i><b>WINNIPEG</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-1333/6393233-1-eng-US/f0041-132.jpg" title="f0041-13" width="457" height="351"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0040-01

THE NEXT WAVE:

<div class="byline">By Jett Williams</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0042-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-02245/6393467-1-eng-US/f0042-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY MARCO CAMPANELLI/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-01356/6393474-1-eng-US/f0042-012.jpg" title="f0042-01" width="190" height="192"></div><p>About two weeks after his New York Islanders were swept from the playoffs by the New York Rangers, Darius Kasparaitis came to a realization.</p><p>He had to make a change in his life. He had come just completed a season of sub-par play on the ice and turmoil off it, both of which went hand-in-hand.</p><p>Kasparaitis realized he had to stop drinking.</p><p>He joined Alcoholics Anonymous May 9 and spent the rest of the summer in a rigorous conditioning program.</p><p>&ldquo;I had tried to stop drinking on my own, but it didn&rsquo;t work,&rdquo; said Kasparaitis, who turns 22 on Oct. 16. &ldquo;I almost lost my wife last spring. I had to do something, so I join A. A.&rdquo;</p><p>Kasparaitis&rsquo; troubles began shortly after a triumphant 1992-93 rookie season when he took the league by storm with boyish enthusiasm and fearless play. During the off-season, he was charged with drunk driving after sending police on a 100 mph chase. (The case is still in the courts.) He spent most of his $425,000 salary and showed up to training camp 10 pounds overweight and at least a month under prepared.</p><p>But this summer, a new, sober Kasparaitis spent countless yawny, bleary mornings this summer at a Long Island rink with an old friend who was helping him set a new agenda.</p><p>At 5:30 a.m., Kasparaitis and Alexei Nikiforov, his longtime coach from Lithuania, would take to the ice for long sessions of power skating and power shooting. The purpose of the sessions was as much an atonement for last season as a preparation for this one.</p><p>It was a fit and rock-hard Kasparaitis who took the ice for the Islanders&rsquo; training camp on Sept. 5.</p><p>&ldquo;His whole attitude was different this summer,&rdquo; said Islanders&rsquo; coach Lome Henning. &ldquo;He worked hard. You&rsquo;ve got to give him his marks. He did what he had to do.&rdquo;</p><p>Pride is the ultimate motivator for Kasparaitis.</p><p>He hates to lose. As a junior player he once punched his own goaltender for giving up what he considered to be soft goals. When the Islanders were in the process of upsetting the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1993 playoffs, Kasparaitis, during a quiet moment away from the ice, had no difficulty in saying,&rdquo;I want to be a hero.&rdquo;</p><p>Last season, he was more of a zero. He didn&rsquo;t score a point until his 25th game and wasn&rsquo;t nearly the pest or physical presence he was during his rookie season. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have good season and team didn&rsquo;t have good season,&rdquo; Kasparaitis said. &ldquo;We were lucky to make playoffs. We lost respect of ourselves.&rdquo;</p><p>Nikiforov coached Kasparaitis from the time he was six years old.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s my son, really,&rdquo; said Nikiforov, who speaks with the pride of a father when he talks about Kasparaitis. &ldquo;All his life he wants to be a No. 1 person as player and as person. He has very strong spirit, strong character.&rdquo;</p><p>They agreed Kasparaitis needed a strong conditioning regimen this summer, though just getting in shape wasn&rsquo;t enough. They worked on his skating ability and worked to improve his slapshot. Shooting, Nikiforov said, has always been Kasparaitis&rsquo; weak point.</p><p>And to improve his agility, Kasparaitis often skated with youth hockey players, some as young as 10 years old. &ldquo;He&rsquo;d skate against five, six of them at a time,&rdquo; said Nikiforov. &ldquo;He&rsquo;d try to skate through them to score. He had a great time and the kids had a great time. They love him. They really love him.&rdquo;</p><p>Not only did Kasparaitis work on his hockey skills in the early morning hours, he also returned to the facility in the afternoon to spend and hour or more in the training room, riding the exercise bicycle, pedaling his way toward improvement this season.</p><p>If anything, the Islanders&rsquo; expectations are higher for Kasparaitis this season than they were last year. With defensemen Uwe Krupp and Tom Kurvers traded away, there are positions available on the power play and Kasparaitis might be able to fill one of them. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a good skater, he has worked on his shot and he has the head for it,&rdquo; Henning said.</p><p>That first season Kasparaitis made an impact by delivering big hit after big hit, especially on star players such as Brett Hull and Mario Lemieux. He especially irritated Mark Messier of the Rangers and their hate affair carried over into last season. But the big hits were fewer and farther between.</p><p>The new and improved Kasparaitis has vowed that won&rsquo;t be the case in 1994-95. Bet that opening night he&rsquo;ll be where he should be, too, which is in the rib cages of his opponents, and in their faces as well.</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-03187/6393460-1-eng-US/f0042-032.jpg" title="f0042-03" width="678" height="331"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are the Islanders&rsquo; top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-04145/6393453-1-eng-US/f0042-042.jpg" title="f0042-04" width="670" height="995"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-05128/6393446-1-eng-US/f0042-052.jpg" title="f0042-05" width="674" height="167"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0042-06116/6393439-1-eng-US/f0042-062.jpg" title="f0042-06" width="674" height="398"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0042-02

Kaspar’s redemption

<div class="byline">By Kick Carpiniello</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0043-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-02261/6393533-1-eng-US/f0043-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY CLAUS ANDERSON/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-01370/6393540-1-eng-US/f0043-012.jpg" title="f0043-01" width="191" height="191"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>W</span>hen the New York Rangers acquired Steve Larmer last season, they obtained the NHL&rsquo;s former Ironman. When they got Petr Nedved during the summer, they secured the league&rsquo;s Ironic Man.</p><p>In an unlikely twist of fate, Nedved had the chance to play for either one of the Stanley Cup finalists in 1994. The Rangers almost completed a mid-season deal for the young center who couldn&rsquo;t come to contract terms with the Vancouver Canucks, the team which held his playing rights.</p><p>Instead, Nedved came to terms with a first-round playoff exit after signing as a free agent with the St. Louis Blues.</p><p>Now that he has been given a chance with the defending Cup champs, he&rsquo;s taking it seriously.</p><p>How seriously? Nedved hired a personal trainer, with whom he worked four times a week in the summer in hopes of attaining and maintaining a weight of about 200 pounds.</p><p>&ldquo;Nedved is a talented guy,&rdquo; said Rangers&rsquo; coach Colin Campbell. &ldquo;We did a lot of research on him because he was available last season. We lost a lot of guys (over the summer), guys with rings, and we&rsquo;ve got to find a way to replace those guys.&rdquo;</p><p>That&rsquo;s where Nedved comes in. Acquired from the Blues in the Keenangate trade in which former Rangers&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan, forward Esa Tikkanen and defenseman Doug Lidster went to St. Louis, Nedved is a player the Rangers believe they can mold into a winner.</p><p>&ldquo;(Nedved is) a guy whose one flaw is supposed to be his character.&rdquo; Campbell said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the one thing we hope we can instill in him, through the guys we still have here, guys who&rsquo;ve won it.&rdquo;</p><p>The off-season training indicates a change in attitude and direction for Nedved, who has had to live with the usual knocks hung on gifted scorers-lazy, soft, poor defensively, one-dimensional.</p><p>It is that one dimension, however, that makes Nedved a 22-year-old bundle of potential for the Rangers.</p><p>The Rangers, seemingly forever, have lacked depth at center. Now they have Mark Messier and Nedved in the middle of their top two offensive lines and the strength of two-way center Sergei Nemchinov on line No. 3. With wingers such as Adam Graves, Alexei Kovalev, Larmer and Stephane Matteau at Campbell&rsquo;s disposal, the Rangers&rsquo; arsenal is imposing. Nedved is focusing on making a solid contribution.</p><p>&ldquo;All through my career I&rsquo;ve been an offensive forward, so hopefully I can put some numbers up and help the team offensively,&rdquo; Nedved said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a little bit of pressure and hopefully I can live up to those expectations.&rdquo;</p><p>Nedved expected to be in St. Louis a long time when he signed with the Blues in March. So long, in fact, he was in the midst of building a house when he became a Ranger.</p><p>&ldquo;Of course I was a little surprised at first,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But definitely I&rsquo;m happy. I&rsquo;m going to the hottest team in the NHL and a great City, so I&rsquo;m excited about that.&rdquo;</p><p>Nedved hopes New York is the last stop on an emotional roller coaster that began with his Vancouver holdout. When he couldn&rsquo;t hook up with another NHL team, the Czech-born Canadian citizen joined the Canadian Olympic team and helped lead Canada to a silver medal.</p><p>Once the Olympics were over, Nedved signed with St. Louis, where he was thrown into the center of another storm. Craig Janney, the player awarded to the Canucks as arbitration, refused to report to Vancouver. Eventually the Blues and Canucks worked out a deal in which Jeff Brown, Nathan LaFayette and Bret Hedican went to Vancouver for Janney.</p><p>The Rangers were in the bidding for Nedved before he wound up in St. Louis. Members of the Canucks&rsquo; organization said a Nedved-for-Kovalev deal fell through because the Rangers couldn&rsquo;t agree on contract terms. Ned-ved&rsquo;s agent, Tony Kondel, reportedly wanted $900,000 for the second half of last season, plus a series of ridiculous bonus clauses.</p><p>The Rangers argue they never had a deal worked out. In fact, Keenan became angered several times during the playoffs when asked about it, while Kovalev was flourishing as the No. 2 center.</p><p>&ldquo;We never came down to a 1-for-l trade,&rdquo; said Rangers&rsquo; general manager Neil Smith.</p><p>That doesn&rsquo;t mean that Smith feels any less strongly about what Nedved can do.</p><p>&ldquo;Goal scoring has always been his forte,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;I think down the road, he could be a 120-130-point guy.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-03218/6393526-1-eng-US/f0043-032.jpg" title="f0043-03" width="673" height="333"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are the Rangers&rsquo; top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-04147/6393519-1-eng-US/f0043-042.jpg" title="f0043-04" width="666" height="1003"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-05128/6393512-1-eng-US/f0043-052.jpg" title="f0043-05" width="670" height="133"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0043-06104/6393505-1-eng-US/f0043-062.jpg" title="f0043-06" width="676" height="404"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0043-02

Have Gun, will travel

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0044-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-02170/6393599-1-eng-US/f0044-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-01279/6393606-1-eng-US/f0044-012.jpg" title="f0044-01" width="188" height="190"></div><p>Alexandre Daigle.</p><p>It was hard not to mention the name of the first overall pick overall in 1993 without also mentioning the $12.25-million, five-year contract he signed with the Ottawa Senators.</p><p>Through all of his rookie season last year, that monster contract, which sparked huge expectations and screams of protest from rival clubs, hung like a millstone around Daigle&rsquo;s neck.</p><p>&ldquo;He handled it as well as could be expected for an 18-year-old,&rdquo; said Senators&rsquo; coach Rick Bowness. &ldquo;With the contract and being No. 1 overall, he really had some unreal expectations placed on him.</p><p>&ldquo;Playing three or four nights a week was a real eye opener for him. He could have a bad night in junior and score one or two goals. Have a bad night in the pros and everyone notices.&rdquo;</p><p>Daigle, never one to make excuses, said the tremendous hype generated by his being picked first overall and his stunning deal did not create pressure for him, though it may have led to unrealistically high expectations on the part of the media and fans.</p><p>&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t feel pressure,&rdquo; said the 19-year-old center. &ldquo;I was on another level and just happy to make the team and play in the NHL. I got a big chance. (The pressure) was not that bad.&rdquo;</p><p>But Bowness said he thinks the expectations which came with being hockey&rsquo;s crown prince for a year hung heavily on Daigle, much more than the teenager lets on.</p><p>&ldquo;Externally, he said the right things, he acted the right way. But inside, I think it ate away at him,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure it bothered him a lot more than people realized. The whole year was a huge eye opener for him.&rdquo;</p><p>On the ice, Daigle started with a flourish with five goals and 13 points in his first seven games. He wound up the league&rsquo;s rookie of the month for October and was the club&rsquo;s player of the month.</p><p>But his production ebbed as the grind of his first NHL season took effect and the moves that dazzled in junior were not as impressive in the NHL. Daigle quickly became predictable and met with predictable results.</p><p>A typical Daigle shift would see him carry the puck over the opponent&rsquo;s blueline and curl to the right wing. Opposing defensemen, anticipating the move, no longer had to respect his outstanding speed by retreating deep into their zone. His foot speed, his greatest asset, was neutralized.</p><p>Opponents played Daigle closely when he entered their zone and rushed him when he began to make his curl.</p><p>At six feet and 170 pounds, he was often easily ridden off the puck and wound up turning it over or being rushed into making an inaccurate pass.</p><p>&ldquo;The rest of the NHL studied film and prepared for him,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;The challenge for him now is to find new ways to beat them.</p><p>He has never had to do that before.</p><p>&ldquo;We tried to get him to use more ice, to go the other way. But you need confidence to try new things and that only comes with experience.&rdquo;</p><p>The Senators made a commitment to play Daigle and fellow rookie Alexei Yashin often. Daigle played on the power play and even began killing penalties during the second half of the season.</p><p>&ldquo;We knew he probably wouldn&rsquo;t handle it well, but it would help his game in the future,&rdquo; Bowness said. &ldquo;The end result won&rsquo;t be seen for a couple of years down the road.&rdquo;</p><p>Daigle enters this season bigger and stronger after regular workouts with Senators&rsquo; assistant coach Alain Vigneault during the summer.</p><p>He moved out of the basement apartment he lived in last year in the Ottawa suburbs, opting for a 22nd floor condominium with a commanding view of the city&rsquo;s skyline.</p><p>He&rsquo;s looking to move his game up a few notches as well.</p><p>&ldquo;I want more goals and more assists like every offensive player,&rdquo; Daigle said. &ldquo;Nobody would say they would be happy with the same.&rdquo;</p><p>Last season, he wound up with 20 goals and 51 points playing for the worst team in the league. He was also minus-45, fourth worst on the team and in the NHL.</p><p>&ldquo;I have to learn to play every night,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In junior, you play two games a week. You&rsquo;d watch television and see the NHL and say, &lsquo;Oh, they&rsquo;re playing a game.&rsquo; What you didn&rsquo;t know was that they had played the night before and had traveled to get to that game. When you play in the NHL, you quickly find out how hard it is.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-03118/6393592-1-eng-US/f0044-032.jpg" title="f0044-03" width="674" height="329"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Ottawa&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0487/6393585-1-eng-US/f0044-042.jpg" title="f0044-04" width="667" height="993"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0574/6393578-1-eng-US/f0044-052.jpg" title="f0044-05" width="670" height="128"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0044-0665/6393571-1-eng-US/f0044-062.jpg" title="f0044-06" width="664" height="396"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0044-02

Great expectations, 101

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0047-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02178/6393731-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY BRUCE BENNETT/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01255/6393738-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="192" height="191"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>I</span>t was clear the Pittsburgh Penguins figured Jaromir Jagr would be a big part of their future when they used the fifth overall choice on him at the 1990 entry draft.</p><p>Their faith has been validated as Jagr&rsquo;s production has risen during each of his four seasons in the NHL. He has gone from 57 to 69 to 94 to a team-high 99 points last season.</p><p>But probably the most accurate measure of his importance to the franchise is the contract he signed during the offseason. Jagr inked a five-year deal worth about $19.5 million.</p><p>The Penguins have developed a reputation for negotiating generous contracts with their stars during the past few years, but no team would hand over that kind of cash to a player without expecting a big-time return.</p><p>And Pittsburgh officials seem convinced Jagr is a major asset, on and off the ice. It shouldn&rsquo;t take long for them to find out whether their confidence in him was justified.</p><p>With superstar center Mario Lemieux planning to sit out the entire 1994-95 season because of various health problems, Jagr&rsquo;s box-office appeal will be tested in the coming weeks and months.</p><p>He has been immensely popular with young fans, especially females, since his arrival in Pittsburgh, but this fall will show whether he can attract a broader section of the paying public.</p><p>Although some fans are sure to turn their back on the team because Lemieux isn&rsquo;t playing, the Penguins will be counting on other high-profile players-par-ticularly Jagr-to shore up ticket sales.</p><p>&ldquo;We certainly hope so,&rdquo; said Penguins&rsquo; general manager Craig Patrick. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s not my primary focus, but it is certainly a focus of the organization. Certainly, in time, he&rsquo;ll have an impact.&rdquo;</p><p>Patrick&rsquo;s priority, of course, is on-ice performance and he&rsquo;s satisfied with the progress Jagr his career-has made during his first four seasons in North America.</p><p>The 22-year-old native of Kladno in the Czech Republic still hasn&rsquo;t shown he can hit the net with the consistency required to become a 50-goal man-Jagr has a proclivity for scoring spectacular goals, but failing to convert some high-percentage chances-but the Penguins continue to hope he will develop more of a touch around the net.</p><p>&ldquo;The important part, from our standpoint, is he is a young superstar,&rdquo; Patrick said. &ldquo;We feel he&rsquo;ll continue to climb that stardom ladder and be an integral part of our team and the community.&rdquo;</p><p>While Lemieux&rsquo;s absence is likely to have a serious impact on ticket sales, it might be felt even more on the ice. There is no single player in Pittsburgh-or maybe in the league-who can ease all the sting caused by Lemieux&rsquo;s decision to sit out the season.</p><p>Jagr, who never has tried to hide his admiration of Lemieux-he was once nicknamed Mario Jr.-recognizes he cannot hope to singlehandedly offset the problems that will result from No. 66 being gone.</p><p>&ldquo;If Mario isn&rsquo;t playing, everyone has to play harder,&rdquo; Jagr said.</p><p>True enough, but only a handful of players have the abilities needed to help carry the offensive burden normally shouldered by Lemieux.</p><p>The Penguins have no shortage of proven scorers up front-newcomer Luc Robitaille along with Kevin Stevens, Ron Francis and Joe Mullen, for starters-but still will be counting on a very big year from Jagr.</p><p>Lemieux&rsquo;s departure could be one of several factors that translates to more ice time and responsibilities for Jagr. Without Lemieux around to dominate, there will be more minutes available on the power-play and penalty-killing units, and Jagr is positioned to get some of those.</p><p>Jagr also figures to benefit from the trade that sent right winger Rick Tocchet to the Los Angeles Kings during the off-season for Robitaille. Tocchet&rsquo;s departure enabled Jagr to climb to the top of the Penguins&rsquo; depth chart at right wing.</p><p>Jagr&rsquo;s workload has increased since he arrived in Pittsburgh in 1990-not as dramatically as his salary, of course-and the Penguins are hoping he will continue to upgrade his game for several more seasons.</p><p>He won&rsquo;t turn 23 until Feb. 15, so there is ample reason to believe it will be quite a few years before Jagr reaches his professional peak.</p><p>&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen him improve every year,&rdquo; Patrick said. &ldquo;And I hope there&rsquo;s no end to that.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-03141/6393724-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg" title="f0047-03" width="676" height="331"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Pittsburgh&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 199495 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0496/6393717-1-eng-US/f0047-042.jpg" title="f0047-04" width="666" height="994"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0570/6393710-1-eng-US/f0047-052.jpg" title="f0047-05" width="672" height="130"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0655/6393703-1-eng-US/f0047-062.jpg" title="f0047-06" width="671" height="393"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0047-02

Mario Jr. gets his chance

<div class="byline">By Kevin Johnston</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0048-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-02113/6393797-1-eng-US/f0048-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-01173/6393804-1-eng-US/f0048-012.jpg" title="f0048-01" width="193" height="192"></div><p class="dropcap"><span>T</span>he name on the back of his jersey, as always, will say Nolan. But this season, the lettering on his sweater may just as well spell &ldquo;Beware.&rdquo;</p><p>Ornery right winger Owen Nolan showed up to Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; training camp with a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eye. Never has the plucky Irishman been so talkative, so happy and so willing to wreak havoc on the opposition.</p><p>It&rsquo;s a complete reversal from last season when everything that could go wrong did.</p><p>The first overall pick in the 1990 entry draft in Vancouver, Nolan entered 1993-94 with grand expectations. The power forward was coming off seasons of 42 and 36 goals and the Nordiques were a team on the rise, finishing fourth overall in 1992-93.</p><p>Then the roof caved in.</p><p>The 22-year-old Ontario League graduate managed only two goals and four points in six games before recurring shoulder problems forced him out of the lineup and onto the operating table. The Nordiques plummeted 28 points in the standings and right out of the playoffs.</p><p>But it&rsquo;s what happened off the ice that captured the most attention.</p><p>Unhappy with the way his injury was handled, Nolan blasted the Nordiques&rsquo; medical staff, which is considered by many to be one of the most competent in the NHL.</p><p>Feuding between Nolan and then general manager and head coach Pierre Page escalated. The bad blood translated into negative press.</p><p>The men intensely disliked each other. On one occasion. Page described Nolan as a space cadet.</p><p>When Nolan returned to Quebec toward the end of last season for rehabilitation, the feud continued. Nolan was refused permission to accompany the team on the final road trip of the regular season to Florida, so he reportedly packed his bags and headed back to his Ontario home.</p><p>Nolan&rsquo;s shoulder and pride both healed over the summer. Nordiques&rsquo; roster changes and Page&rsquo;s departure has him raring to go.</p><p>&ldquo;Last season is way behind me now and I just want to forget about it,&rdquo; Nolan said. &ldquo;My shoulder is in top shape. I tested it during my first scrimmage and it did just fine.&rdquo;</p><p>And he&rsquo;s not holding anything back. Some athletes favor the injured part of their bodies when they resume playing. Nolan refuses to take it easy.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s when you&rsquo;re careful that it hurts,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I certainly won&rsquo;t change my style. When I see someone in front of me, I&rsquo;ll just keep going right over him.&rdquo;</p><p>Contributing to Nolan&rsquo;s new and improved attitude is what he feels is a new and improved Quebec lineup.</p><p>He&rsquo;s confident the talent and chemistry new GM Pierre Lacroix has assembled is capable of reaching greater heights than the team that amassed 104 points in 1992-93.</p><p>The biggest changes were the transactions that brought left winger Wendel Clark, defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre and forward prospect Landon Wilson from the Toronto Maple Leafs; defenseman Uwe Krupp from the New York Islanders; and coach Marc Crawford from the American League&rsquo;s St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs.</p><p>&ldquo;True, we lost a tremendous hockey player in Mats Sundin,&rdquo; Nolan said. &ldquo;But we picked up someone very special in Wendel Clark. Here&rsquo;s the kind of guy we were looking for, a leader, a good scorer, an aggressive guy.</p><p>&ldquo;And on top of that we get Sylvain Lefebvre. We also can&rsquo;t forget Uwe Krupp. So everything seems very positive to me. How can&rsquo;t I be so positive?&rdquo;</p><p>The addition of Crawford is of special interest to Nolan. The two formed a good player-coach relationship with the Cornwall Royals of the OHL.</p><p>&ldquo;All of a sudden. I feel a lot more respected,&rdquo; Nolan said. &ldquo;And respect is very important in my book. I&rsquo;m not saying Pierre Page was a bad person, far from it. But it was nearly impossible to have a civilized discussion with him. He had his views on things and that was it.</p><p>&ldquo;On the other hand, Marc will be very good for us young guys. He has played the game so he knows what we players are all about. He&rsquo;s a tough guy, but he&rsquo;s also very fair. He listens to what we have to say. Being young, he&rsquo;ll be a lot closer to us than Pierre ever was.&rdquo;</p><p>That Nolan enters the season on a high bodes well for his teammates, who know how sour he was last year.</p><p>&ldquo;If Owen is happy,&rdquo; said captain Joe Sakic,&rdquo;then everyone has to be.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-0375/6393790-1-eng-US/f0048-032.jpg" title="f0048-03" width="675" height="333"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Quebec&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-0458/6393783-1-eng-US/f0048-042.jpg" title="f0048-04" width="669" height="997"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-0542/6393776-1-eng-US/f0048-052.jpg" title="f0048-05" width="672" height="159"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0048-0631/6393769-1-eng-US/f0048-062.jpg" title="f0048-06" width="673" height="399"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0048-02

Irish eyes are smiling

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0050-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-02103/6393863-1-eng-US/f0050-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY SPORTS ACTION BABINEAU)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-01150/6393870-1-eng-US/f0050-012.jpg" title="f0050-01" width="191" height="189"></div><p>St. Louis Blues&rsquo; vice-president Ron Caron pondered the question.</p><p>Is Steve Duchesne underrated or overrated?</p><p>&ldquo;This is the major question in sports,&rdquo; Caron said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a subjective approach to an athlete&rsquo;s achievement.&rdquo;</p><p>Which answers the question of why the question would be asked, but it doesn&rsquo;t provide the Professor&rsquo;s subjective response to the question, which is?</p><p>&ldquo;Steve Duchesne comes to play,&rdquo; Caron said. &ldquo;He brings his assets to the game. He could be on the all-star team of guys who were never drafted.&rdquo;</p><p>Sure enough, Duchesne, 29, was signed as a free agent by the Los Angeles Kings on Oct. 1, 1984. He has come a long way, entering the ninth season of an NHL career that has produced three appearances in NHL All-Star Games.</p><p>The all-star appearances, as well as his new four-year, $7.5-million contract, suggest he isn&rsquo;t underrated.</p><p>Duchesne has detractors who would suggest the opposite.</p><p>The rap on the 5-foot-11, 195-pound defenseman is that he doesn&rsquo;t bring enough defense to the position. Duchesne is an offensive defenseman, whose main goal is to produce goals and assists.</p><p>&ldquo;You can&rsquo;t please everyone,&rdquo; Duchesne said. &ldquo;Everybody has got a job to do. If they ask me to stay back instead of going up. I couldn&rsquo;t do that job. It&rsquo;s like telling an offensive-minded forward to stay back and check a man.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a matter of thinking little more offensively than defensively. Sometimes you get caught up on the play and everybody sees it. They don&rsquo;t really see you as doing a good job in your zone.</p><p>&ldquo;I think I can improve. To say I&rsquo;m awful defensively is unfair.&rdquo;</p><p>And to compare Duchesne to defensemen such as Scott Stevens and Ray Bourque is unfair. They&rsquo;re different kinds of players, bringing power as well as finesse. It&rsquo;d be like comparing Wayne Gretzky with Doug Gilmour.</p><p>&ldquo;Most guys like Steve Duchesne don&rsquo;t get the credit they deserve,&rdquo; said new Blue Guy Car-bonneau, who is from Duchesne&rsquo;s hometown of Sept-Iles, Que. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re not as physical as a Scott Stevens, who&rsquo;s strong, fast, can hit and put points on the board, but you should look at what they do instead of what they don&rsquo;t do.</p><p>&ldquo;You have to look at what team they&rsquo;re playing for and what that team is looking for. They may not be physical, but if they get their points that doesn&rsquo;t mean anything. They&rsquo;re doing their job.&rdquo;</p><p>Duchesne has done his job over the years, but has experienced his share ups and downs. In his third season with the Kings, Duchesne had 25 goals and 75 points, then slipped to 62 points in each of the next two seasons.</p><p>The Kings traded him to the Philadelphia Flyers, where his production plummeted to 56 points in 1991-92. He was subsequently sent to the Quebec Nordiques as part of the Eric Lindros deal and blossomed with a career-high 82 points.</p><p>Duchesne seemed to be set for life as a star in his home province, but a contract squabble with the Nordiques led to a holdout last season and ultimately to a trade to the Blues. St. Louis sent Garth Butcher, Bob Bassen and Ron Sutter to I Quebec for Duchesne and Denis Chasse Jan. 22.</p><p>Although Duchesne had 31 points in 36 games, the trade was panned in St. Louis because it robbed the Blues of their spine and gave them three offensive defensemen-Duchesne, Phil Housley and Jeff Brown. But Duchesne is the only one of the trio left on the team and was rewarded with a big contract.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy,&rdquo; Duchesne said. &ldquo;At last, I&rsquo;ll be somewhere for a while.&rdquo;</p><p>After spending his first five seasons with the Kings, Duchesne became something of a nomad. The Blues were his fourth team in four seasons, lending credence to the suggestion he&rsquo;s overrated. Overrated players tend to move from team to team as their new team learns the truth about them.</p><p>But the Blues felt Duchesne was an undervalued asset and the defenseman appreciates the respect he has received from the organization.</p><p>&ldquo;The difference was like night and day,&rdquo; said Duchesne, comparing the Blues to the Nordiques. &ldquo;The Blues knew my value. They made an offer and that was it. There was a little negotiating, but we weren&rsquo;t off by a lot. They knew exactly what I was worth and I knew finally there was a team that wanted to have me.&rdquo;</p><p>Regardless of the rap against him.</p><p>&ldquo;He may lack some defensive abilities,&rdquo; Caron said,&rdquo;but that type of defenseman is just as important because of the the points he puts on the board. This is where he excels.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-0354/6393856-1-eng-US/f0050-032.jpg" title="f0050-03" width="670" height="328"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are St. Louis&rsquo; top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-0443/6393849-1-eng-US/f0050-042.jpg" title="f0050-04" width="668" height="990"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-0526/6393842-1-eng-US/f0050-052.jpg" title="f0050-05" width="665" height="130"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0050-0619/6393835-1-eng-US/f0050-062.jpg" title="f0050-06" width="663" height="390"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0050-02

Points in his favor

<div class="byline">By Mike Weaver</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0051-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-02104/6393929-1-eng-US/f0051-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-01143/6393936-1-eng-US/f0051-012.jpg" title="f0051-01" width="189" height="192"></div><p>Sandis Ozolinsh has accomplished more in two NHL seasons than many players at his position do in a career.</p><p>As he enters his third season. Ozolinsh. 22, already has played in an All-Star Game, posted a 26-goal season and established himself as one of the top defensemen in the league. His 26 goals last season ranked him second among all NHL rearguards in goal-scoring.</p><p>The Sharks see enormous potential.</p><p>Dean Lombardi, the team&rsquo;s director of hockey operations, envisions Ozolinsh developing into a player the caliber of five-time Norris Trophy winner Ray Bourque of the Boston Bruins.</p><p>In fact, Lombardi said he sometimes presents Ozolinsh with Bourque T-shirts or videos to keep the superstar&rsquo;s image fresh in Ozolinsh&rsquo;s mind.</p><p>&ldquo;I think Ray Bourque is the best player in all of hockey,&rdquo; Lombardi said. &ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s what Sandis should strive for. Bourque accomplished a lot at a young age and Sandis has some Bourque in him. Bourque hits people and I don&rsquo;t think Sandis is afraid of contact either. I think he wants to be as good as Bourque.&rdquo;</p><p>Ozolinsh said Bourque is a player he admires and respects.</p><p>&ldquo;I like his style of play,&rdquo; Ozolinsh said. &ldquo;He is a player I look up to. Dean knows that, so he pushes me to try to be like him.&rdquo;</p><p>To accomplish that, Ozolinsh must become a better player in the defensive zone. Sharks&rsquo; coach Kevin Constantine believes Ozolinsh can do that without sacrificing any offense.</p><p>&ldquo;I think you can have both if you&rsquo;re willing to work on both parts of your game,&rdquo; Constantine said. &ldquo;Doug Gilmour (of Toronto) is a great player at both ends of the rink. It can be done.&rdquo;</p><p>The Sharks also would like for Ozolinsh to take more control when the team is on the power play, Lombardi said.</p><p>&ldquo;Once he starts getting into that role, that will be another step for him. To score 26 goals without running the power play was pretty amazing.&rdquo;</p><p>Ozolinsh was a bit hesitant when asked whether he would like to take charge of the power play this season.</p><p>&ldquo;You need a lot of confidence to play the point on the power play,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That makes it hard for me. It&rsquo;s a lot of responsibility to be the last guy back there to make a play. If you make a mistake, it&rsquo;s a breakaway the other way.&rdquo;</p><p>Confidence is something Ozolinsh has struggled with at times. It happened during the Stanley Cup playoffs last season when he said he needed five or six games to get over the fear of making a mistake.</p><p>It also happened when he elected to pass instead of taking an open shot from close range in overtime of Game 6 against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Had Ozolinsh shot and scored, the Sharks would have won the series and advanced to the semifinals.</p><p>Because Ozolinsh is a perfectionist, there were concerns among Shark management the play might have a negative long-term effect on him. But Ozolinsh says he didn&rsquo;t spend any of his off-season beating himself up mentally over it and doesn&rsquo;t plan to start doing it now.</p><p>&ldquo;When I looked at the video, I thought &lsquo;Gee, what did I do?&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But (Leafs&rsquo; goalie Felix) Potvin was still in the net and he could have made that save.&rdquo;</p><p>Rather than take the shot, Ozolinsh tried to pass to Igor Larionov, who was too deep in the comer to get off a shot. A similar play by Ozolinsh produced a goal in a first-round playoff upset of the Detroit Red Wings.</p><p>Lombardi said he was concerned about Ozolinsh&rsquo;s confidence level during the summer because Ozolinsh was hard on himself for not scoring any goals in 14 post-season games. He did finish with 13 playoff assists, however.</p><p>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll take 13 points anytime,&rdquo; Lombardi said. &ldquo;But I know it bothered him. Great players get down on themselves when they don&rsquo;t play a great game. That&rsquo;s why they&rsquo;re great.</p><p>&ldquo;He put the weight of the world on his shoulders and I think he put too much pressure on himself. He hadn&rsquo;t been scoring and maybe he lost some confidence.&rdquo;</p><p>Ozolinsh, who came to North America from Latvia during the 1991-92 season, said he believes confidence is something that will increase with age.</p><p>&ldquo;It comes with experience,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m more comfortable now and I don&rsquo;t think confidence will be a problem when we make the playoffs again.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-0369/6393922-1-eng-US/f0051-032.jpg" title="f0051-03" width="667" height="330"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are San Jose&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 199495 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-0450/6393915-1-eng-US/f0051-042.jpg" title="f0051-04" width="663" height="1002"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-0532/6393908-1-eng-US/f0051-052.jpg" title="f0051-05" width="665" height="125"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-0626/6393901-1-eng-US/f0051-062.jpg" title="f0051-06" width="663" height="401"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0051-02

Looking out for Norris

<div class="byline">By Roy Cummings</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0053-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-0288/6393995-1-eng-US/f0053-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY SCOTT LEVY/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-01138/6394002-1-eng-US/f0053-012.jpg" title="f0053-01" width="191" height="189"></div><p>The turn of the decade was at hand and in the NHL&rsquo;s galaxy of goaltenders, Daren Puppa stood out like a beacon in a blackened sky.</p><p>He was all-star material back then-a league leader in goals-against average, a Vezina Trophy finalist, a team MVP.</p><p>But then, just as quickly as it emerged, Puppa&rsquo;s brilliance faded.</p><p>A near career-ending arm injury was the reason. Having been pushed backward against a goal post in a collision with Mike McPhee, Puppa&rsquo;s right arm, his catching arm, snapped at the elbow.</p><p>An operation left the arm permanently deformed and for a while it appeared as though it had ruined his career.</p><p>Forced to learn all over again the art of catching a puck, Puppa became ordinary. During his comeback 1991-92 season, he won just 11 games while losing 14 and compiling a 3.89 GAA for the Buffalo Sabres.</p><p>By the middle of the following season, the Sabres had lost confidence in the belief that Puppa could lead them to the playoffs, so they shipped him and Dave Andreychuk to the Toronto Maple Leafs for Grant Fuhr, the playoff-proven goalie they thought could win them the Stanley Cup or at least one playoff round.</p><p>So far, that trade has proven to be beneficial for two teams-neither of which, however, is the Sabres.</p><p>The Leafs are a vastly better team with Andreychuk and the Tampa Bay Lightning has benefitted greatly from its 1993 expansion draft acquisition of Puppa. a fallen star who is on the rise again in the Sunshine State.</p><p>After playing backup to Felix Potvin in Toronto during the remainder of 1992-93 and joining the Lightning in the summer prior to 1993-94, Puppa has re-established himself as one of hockey&rsquo;s elite goaltenders. He has also re-established himself as a team MVP.</p><p>&ldquo;There is no doubt whatsoever Daren Puppa was our most valuable player last year,&rdquo; said Lightning general manager Phil Esposito. &ldquo;He carried us.&rdquo;</p><p>No one who saw the Lightning during its initial season will argue that point. With steady, but unspectacular Pat Jablonski and Wendell Young handling the goaltending chores, the Lightning put together a respectable 23-victory, 53-point season during its inaugural run.</p><p>But the big saves, the game-savers, were always missing. Puppa provided that in Year II and with his return to form came a vast improvement for the Lightning as well.</p><p>Despite jumping to the Eastern Conference&rsquo;s Atlantic Division, arguably the toughest in the NHL, the Lightning improved by seven victories and 18 points.</p><p>It was the second-best points increase ever for an expansion team-only the New York Islanders, who improved by 26 points, did better. For a team that averaged fewer than three goals a game, it wasn&rsquo;t difficult to find a place to aim the credit.</p><p>&ldquo;Puppa stabilized our goaltending situation last year and, in turn, stabilized the entire team,&rdquo; said Lightning coach Terry Crisp. &ldquo;He was the one constant, the one guy we knew we could count on every night. He kept us in games and with our offense, that was tough sometimes.</p><p>&ldquo;He knew he wasn&rsquo;t going to get a lot of offensive support and he dealt with that, night in and night out. That can be very tough. It can be draining. But Puppa never weakened. He was a rock all season long.&rdquo;</p><p>As rock-solid as Puppa was, though, he refused to take all the credit for his stunning comeback season, one in which he finished among the top 10 in GAA (2.71) save percentage (.899) and shutouts (four).</p><p>&ldquo;I had a lot of help from my teammates,&rdquo; said Puppa, whose club finished 10th in goals allowed last season. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t have put up those kinds of numbers without their help. It was a team effort.&rdquo;</p><p>In any event, the Lightning believes its success hinges on Puppa. With four key players-Puppa, Roman Hamrlik, Shawn Chambers and Danton Cole-entering their option years, Puppa&rsquo;s deal is being given priority status.</p><p>&ldquo;Puppa comes first,&rdquo; said one team executive. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the top dog here and he&rsquo;s going to get what he deserves. The others fall in line after him and they&rsquo;ll get what&rsquo;s left. But Puppa&rsquo;s going to get his money.&rdquo;</p><p>When it&rsquo;s all said and done, that will probably amount to a deal worth about $1.2 million a year for Puppa, which would make him the team&rsquo;s highest-paid player.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s the best we&rsquo;ve got so he should be the highest paid,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the guy. Without him, the playoffs aren&rsquo;t really a possibility. They&rsquo;re just a dream. With him, they can be a reality.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-0354/6393988-1-eng-US/f0053-032.jpg" title="f0053-03" width="674" height="331"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Tampa Bay&rsquo;s top 23 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-0445/6393981-1-eng-US/f0053-042.jpg" title="f0053-04" width="671" height="918"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-0530/6393974-1-eng-US/f0053-052.jpg" title="f0053-05" width="668" height="163"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0053-0624/6393967-1-eng-US/f0053-062.jpg" title="f0053-06" width="666" height="395"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0053-02

A star is born, Part II

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0054-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-0274/6394061-1-eng-US/f0054-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY DAN HAMILTON)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-01139/6394068-1-eng-US/f0054-012.jpg" title="f0054-01" width="189" height="189"></div><p>Panic, it would seem, occasionally breeds brilliance.</p><p>Floyd Smith, after all, was in a state of desperation in 1990 when he traded two-thirds of his top line-center Ed Olczyk and winger Mark Osbome-to the Winnipeg Jets.</p><p>In return, the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; general manager received classy blueliner Dave Ellett-then becoming increasingly overshadowed by Fredrik Olausson and Teppo Numminen-and journeyman winger Paul Fenton.</p><p>Four years later, Olczyk and Osborne are part-timers with the New York Rangers and Fenton is a scout with the San Jose Sharks.</p><p>Ellett, meanwhile, has battled injuries, adversity and a near total change in his style to become the cornerstone of the Maple Leaf defense.</p><p>His finest moments as a Maple Leaf came during last spring&rsquo;s playoffs when he produced smart, dynamic hockey through three rounds against the Chicago Blackhawks, Sharks and Vancouver Canucks.</p><p>A new multi-year contract signed near the end of the year may have helped, but Ellett was the Leaf defenseman who was most able to elevate his game for the post-season. Brian Leetch and Sergei Zubov of the Stanley Cup winning New York Rangers were the only defenseman with more playoff points than Ellett&rsquo;s 18.</p><p>This year, the dean of the Leaf blueline is expected to shoulder an even bigger role. Off-season transactions saw efficient Sylvain Lefebvre shipped to the Quebec Nordiques and rugged Bob Rouse sign with the Detroit Red Wings as a free agent. That means Ellett&rsquo;s consistency and competitiveness will become even more important as coach Pat Bums restructures his defense.</p><p>&ldquo;Yes, we&rsquo;ll miss those guys,&rdquo; Ellett said. &ldquo;But it&rsquo;s not like the Boston Bruins who rely so heavily on one guy like Ray Bourque. It won&rsquo;t hurt us. We&rsquo;ve still got a good group.&rdquo;</p><p>The Leafs still have Ellett and his partner Todd Gill left, along with Jamie Macoun and Dmitri Mironov, from last year&rsquo;s top six on defense. Garth Butcher, acquired in the deal that sent Lefebvre and Wendel Clark to Quebec and brought Mats Sundin to Toronto, is a natural fill for Rouse.</p><p>In line for work, meanwhile, are several highly touted youngsters. Drake Berehowsky is as ready as he&rsquo;s ever going to be for prime time, while Swedish import Kenny Jonsson is armed with the largest contract and signing bonus ever assigned to a Leaf rookie. Matt Martin, David Harlock and Finnish defender Janne Gronvall will also be vying for positions.</p><p>Ellett remains hopeful the youngsters will help, but he isn&rsquo;t exactly looking for kids to answer the Leafs&rsquo; blueline puzzle. The 30-year-old, 10-season NHL veteran believes much of the team&rsquo;s success hinges on the play of the experienced defenders.</p><p>&ldquo;We will need a contribution from one or two of the young guys,&rdquo; Ellett said. &ldquo;You need six or seven good defenseman these days in the NHL and we have that.</p><p>&ldquo;But I think what&rsquo;s going to have to happen is all of the veterans are going to have to work together to carry more of the load.&rdquo;</p><p>Ellett, who knows from experience, said it&rsquo;s only reasonable to expect more from the veterans instead of leaning heavily on the kids.</p><p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy for a young guy to come in and try to do too much, because all he really wants to do is contribute,&rdquo; Ellett said. &ldquo;The nice thing about our team is that it&rsquo;s team defense, so you just have to concentrate on going out and taking a regular shift.&rdquo;</p><p>Ellett wouldn&rsquo;t mind if his regular shift this season included a bigger role in the offense, but don&rsquo;t expect a dramatic increase in points. In Winnipeg, he was a rushing blueliner who scored 22 goals in 1988-89. He scored 18 in his first year in Toronto under Tom Watt, but since the arrival of Bums in 1992, he has seen the green light turn red more often. Last season, Ellett collected seven goals and 43 points in 68 games.</p><p>Some have suggested Ellett&rsquo;s skills have deteriorated and clearly he doesn&rsquo;t give the Leafs a dominant force on the blueline. But his competitiveness and personality fit the Leaf scheme perfectly and make him essential to the Bums&rsquo; way of doing things.</p><p>To his credit, Ellett has never complained that his offensive forays are now limited to power plays and certain even-strength situations.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think that will change,&rdquo; he said with a smile. &ldquo;But by adding guys like Sundin and (Mike) Ridley, we&rsquo;re going to have three lines scoring goals, so just being on the ice should mean more points.&rdquo;</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-0347/6394054-1-eng-US/f0054-032.jpg" title="f0054-03" width="675" height="330"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Toronto&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-0431/6394047-1-eng-US/f0054-042.jpg" title="f0054-04" width="668" height="990"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-0522/6394040-1-eng-US/f0054-052.jpg" title="f0054-05" width="667" height="162"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0054-0617/6394033-1-eng-US/f0054-062.jpg" title="f0054-06" width="667" height="396"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0054-02

Main man on blueline

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0056-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-0281/6394127-1-eng-US/f0056-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY BRUCE BENNET/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-01119/6394134-1-eng-US/f0056-012.jpg" title="f0056-01" width="190" height="188"></div><p>You can call him much-travelled and, from time to time, a coaching headache, but don&rsquo;t ever call Geoff Courtnall a loser.</p><p>The Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; veteran left winger has been on one winning team after another since becoming a NHLer 10 years ago.</p><p>Five first place finishes. Two Stanley Cup finals. One Stanley Cup ring. Plus.500 teams every year with the exception of the 1990-91 Canucks, whom he joined with just 11 games remaining that regular season. He promptly scored two overtime winners in those 11 games, the second one clinching a playoff spot.</p><p>The man is obviously a good-luck charm.</p><p>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a money player,&rdquo; said teammate, roommate and sometimes linemate Cliff Ronning. &ldquo;He scores the big goals. That&rsquo;s what he&rsquo;s known for.&rdquo;</p><p>Courtnall has six overtime winners as a Canuck, including playoffs. His most memorable was a rocket that beat Mike Vernon in Game 5 of last spring&rsquo;s playoff series against the Calgary Flames. The goal launched Vancouver&rsquo;s remarkable run to the Stanley Cup final.</p><p>A native of British Columbia and year-round resident of White Rock, a bedroom community 30 minutes from the Pacific Coliseum, Courtnall has become one of the team&rsquo;s highest profile players. He says it has been both exhilarating and exhausting.</p><p>&ldquo;With the success of the team, the people in B.C. are just crazy about the Canucks,&rdquo; said Courtnall, 32. &ldquo;It seems like I&rsquo;ve been constantly entertaining at my house.&rdquo;</p><p>The Canucks are Courtnall&rsquo;s fifth team and his longest stop since a career-opening four-year stint with the Boston Bruins.</p><p>Never drafted, he signed with the Bruins as a free agent in the summer of 1983. He spent most of that first season with the Hershey Bears of the American League and nearly left the organization when he was returned to Hershey the following season.</p><p>&ldquo;Boston and Washington shared the Hershey team and they had a lot of left wingers,&rdquo; Courtnall said. &ldquo;I wanted to go to another American League team where I could get more ice time.&rdquo;</p><p>He was finally coaxed into reporting to the Bears, scored eight goals in nine games and was summoned to the big club where he dressed for 64 games scoring 12 goals. He was on his way. He became a 20-goal scorer in 1985-86, slumped to 13 the following season and then exploded into 30-eoal territory in 1987-88.</p><p>&ldquo;That was the year I really became a regular, Courtnall said. &ldquo;I played on a line with Kenny Linseman and Cam Neely. I think Kenny helped Cam and me both become better players.&rdquo;</p><p>The giddy ride crashed on March 8 when Courtnall and a promising young goalie named Bill Ranford were dealt to the Edmonton Oilers for Andy Moog.</p><p>&ldquo;At first, it was devastating,&rdquo; Courtnall said. &ldquo;But it turned out to be a great experience to play with Wayne (Gretzky), Mark Messier and Kevin Lowe. The team had unbelievable leadership and I really got an understanding of what winning was all about.&rdquo;</p><p>The Oilers won their fourth Stanley Cup that spring, but Courtnall didn&rsquo;t contribute as a regular. He became a free agent that summer and signed with the New York Rangers. The Oilers matched the offer and dealt him to the Washington Capitals. The 6-foot-1, 195-pounder enjoyed his finest offensive seasons as a Capital, scoring 42 and 35 goals playing on a line with Dale Hunter.</p><p>An incident following the 1989-90 season where four Capitals were accused of, but not charged with, sexually assaulting a woman led to Courtnall&rsquo;s departure for the St. Louis Blues. He started strongly on a strong Blues&rsquo; team before running afoul of coach Brian Sutter.</p><p>On March 5, he came home in the blockbuster trade along with Ronning, Sergio Momesso, Robert Dirk and a fifth-round pick. Garth Butcher and Dan Quinn went the other way.</p><p>&ldquo;I was getting away from the defensive part of my game in St. Louis,&rdquo; Courtnall said. &ldquo;When I&rsquo;m not scoring, it seems to hurt my all-around game.&rdquo;</p><p>For all the knocks his defense may receive, Courtnall is rarely a minus player. In fact he led the Canucks at plus-15 last season and was plus-27 in 1992-93.</p><p>&ldquo;Courtnall has been a pretty damn consistent scorer and he can be a game-breaker,&rdquo; said Canucks&rsquo; coach Rick Ley. &ldquo;Where he does have problems is when the puck doesn&rsquo;t seem to be coming to him, he tends to take those long shifts and tends to get caught.&rdquo;</p><p>The Canucks can live with that occasionally as long as Courtnall continues to bring good luck.</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-0342/6394120-1-eng-US/f0056-032.jpg" title="f0056-03" width="669" height="327"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Vancouver&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-0434/6394113-1-eng-US/f0056-042.jpg" title="f0056-04" width="662" height="987"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-0523/6394106-1-eng-US/f0056-052.jpg" title="f0056-05" width="663" height="131"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0056-0618/6394099-1-eng-US/f0056-062.jpg" title="f0056-06" width="665" height="392"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0056-02

A unique Court-ship

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0058-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-0273/6394193-1-eng-US/f0058-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY BRUCE BENNETT STUDIOS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-01118/6394200-1-eng-US/f0058-012.jpg" title="f0058-01" width="191" height="191"></div><p>Hunched over a little bit, Dale Hunter was making his rounds of the Washington Capitals&rsquo; dressing room.</p><p>There was nothing really unusual about the scene; he was wearing normal hockey underwear (dark blue bottoms, light blue tops), white socks and that slightly off-kilter smirk that has infuriated opponents since&hellip;well, since Mark and Dave found out they had a brother.</p><p>Zap. Hunter reached out with a right hand and knocked a rookie off his training-camp skates.</p><p>&ldquo;Nice job out there today,&rdquo; the veteran offered. The kid&rsquo;s eyes lit up-that&rsquo;s Dale Hunter telling me I did a good job today. Wow!</p><p>Chances are Hunter never saw the kid go through whatever procedure the drill masters had rookies performing. But Hunter knew a word of encouragement was vitally important.</p><p>He stopped in his tracks then turned around. Defenseman Sylvain Cote had left his skates on the carpet in front of his stall.</p><p>Bad move. Hunter promptly slipped the laces from left to right and tied the ends in a knot. Cote should have known better.</p><p>More than anything, it was a sign of respect and the feeling of brotherhood that Hunter, 34, has brought to dressing rooms from the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario League to the Quebec Nordiques and Washington in the NHL. If Hunter messes with you, you&rsquo;ve made the grade.</p><p>This is not a feeling shared universally around the league. Hunter, who is entering his 15th season, is despised in 25 of 26 NHL rinks. It took Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; faithful several years to get into the flow after the 1987 trade, but fans in Le Colisee now boo him like fans do everywhere else.</p><p>Hunter is a pest. He&rsquo;ll do whatever it takes to knock a top forward off his game-sometimes legal, often not. And not only that, Hunter is a pretty decent hockey player.</p><p>He is hated in Boston for doing things against the Bruins that only Bruins were supposed to to against others. He is liked even less in Montreal, where for years he displayed a temperament that fuelled the rivalry between the Nordiques and Canadiens.</p><p>And there is not a general manager in the NHL who would not sign him in a minute, for the leadership he brings to a team and the disruption he causes others.</p><p>&ldquo;I believe Dale has the label around the league among other players and other fans as the player you hate the most, but would love to have on your team the most,&rdquo; said Washington general manager David Poile.</p><p>Poile should know. He engineered the draft-day trade in 1987 to land the center.</p><p>Unfortunately, Hunter may be best known for a terrible cheap shot against New York Islander Pierre Turgeon in the final game of an Islanders&rsquo; playoff victory in 1993. Turgeon scored the clinching goal and Hunter, from whom the puck was stolen, nailed Turgeon from the blind side several seconds after the goal was scored.</p><p>Newly named commissioner Gary Bettman acted swiftly and harshly.</p><p>The result was historic: Hunter was suspended without pay for all pre-season games, the first 21 regular-season games and fined $500. The loss in salary translated into more than $160,000.</p><p>There are those who believe Hunter&rsquo;s reaction to giving up the puck and the goal was simply frustration, the frustration from being let down by other team-mates-he and defenseman Al lafrate had scored 13 of the Caps&rsquo; 22 playoff goals. Hunter doesn&rsquo;t buy that and he certainly holds no malice toward the player he hit.</p><p>&ldquo;I have nothing against Pierre, he&rsquo;s a good hockey player,&rdquo; Hunter said. &ldquo;It was nothing personal, nothing like him and me had run-ins through the years. It was far, far from that.&rdquo;</p><p>In fact, in an interview at Nassau Coliseum a year ago, Turgeon said it might be nice to have Hunter playing on his team. &ldquo;It would be interesting,&rdquo; Turgeon allowed.</p><p>Last season was a difficult one for Hunter on and off the ice. He lost his mother to cancer in August and lost the first third of his season through suspension and injury. Hunter finished with career lows in goals (nine) and points (38) in 52 games, then was injured again in the playoffs.</p><p>But Hunter&rsquo;s fighting spirit hasn&rsquo;t waned at all.</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t quit,&rdquo; Hunter said. &ldquo;I like playing the game and you can&rsquo;t be a quitter. You have to go out and show them you can do it again.&rdquo;</p><p>&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know of anybody who has questioned his character,&rdquo; Poile said.</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-0338/6394186-1-eng-US/f0058-032.jpg" title="f0058-03" width="668" height="327"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Washington&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-0429/6394179-1-eng-US/f0058-042.jpg" title="f0058-04" width="661" height="992"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-0522/6394172-1-eng-US/f0058-052.jpg" title="f0058-05" width="667" height="160"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0058-0615/6394165-1-eng-US/f0058-062.jpg" title="f0058-06" width="663" height="394"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0058-02

Sane as he ever was

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0059-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-0262/6394259-1-eng-US/f0059-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY JOHN GIAMUNDO/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-0198/6394266-1-eng-US/f0059-012.jpg" title="f0059-01" width="189" height="192"></div><p>In the case of Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; center Alexei Zhamnov, patience is indeed a virtue.</p><p>The virtuous in Winnipeg, however, are soon expecting some rewards.</p><p>They know what the 24-year-old redhead is capable of doing. They&rsquo;ve seen how he can dazzle and dangle and do incredible things with the puck.</p><p>But in the NHL, once you show it, people start looking for it. And with Zhamnov, anticipation often leads to frustration.</p><p>The former Moscow Dynamo player is entering his third season in the NHL and in so many ways, is the perfect example of what the Jets are all about. All that potential can make you giddy with excitement, but potential hasn&rsquo;t won many hockey games.</p><p>Zhamnov will be a key figure in whatever turn the Jets take in 1994-95. The team is frighteningly thin at center, something nobody will notice if he translates potential into performance. But if his wonky back acts up again, there&rsquo;s going to be turbulence.</p><p>He missed 23 games last season, mostly because of disc problems that are related to an old hip flexor injury. He finished his jinxed sophomore season with 71 points.</p><p>In itself, the total doesn&rsquo;t look so bad. But when you consider he went through a stretch of 17 games to the end of the December in which he had 33 points and was tied for third in the NHL scoring race with 51 points, you start to discover the enigma.</p><p>Jets&rsquo; coach-general manager John Paddock respects Zhamnov&rsquo;s talent, but sometimes feels like he has spent two full years just prodding his gifted pivot.</p><p>&ldquo;Alex is tough to get a read on,&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;There are good and bad points to that. We question his work (ethic). His conditioning has never been top-level, but it has been solid. It could be higher if he pushed himself.</p><p>&ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t believe he has ever worked on faceoffs in two years, unless he has been asked to. That shows the lack of work (ethic) we&rsquo;re talking about.&rdquo;</p><p>On the other hand&hellip;</p><p>&ldquo;I think all of us in hockey get sometimes too uptight about players that don&rsquo;t look like they work as hard as Mike Eagles or whoever,&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;In a lot of ways, they don&rsquo;t have to because the game&rsquo;s a lot easier for them and the game is really easy for Alex because he has tremendous skills.&rdquo;</p><p>Paddock said he acquired a greater appreciation for Zhamnov&rsquo;s skills after watching some game film. In it; Zhamnov picked up a loose puck with a player from the other team 15 feet behind in hot pursuit.</p><p>&ldquo;The video camera happens to focus on this guy going all the way back up the ice,&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;He has his head down and he&rsquo;s going as hard as he possibly can, legs churning, and he doesn&rsquo;t gain a single step. Alex is ahead of him, looking like he&rsquo;s out there for a skate with his wife.</p><p>&ldquo;Somebody who has that style and has the ability to make the game look easy, people say he&rsquo;s not working, he can&rsquo;t be working. Well, three-quarters of the time that&rsquo;s a bunch of crap.&rdquo;</p><p>Paddock likes what he has seen so far this season of his enigmatic center and is prepared to give him more time to blossom.</p><p>&ldquo;He came to camp in a little better condition and he has taken care of his back,&rdquo; Paddock said. &ldquo;Some of these other high-level Russian players have taken two or three years to rise to prominence. It&rsquo;s easy to think of Sergei Fedorov from last year. How many years was Alexander Mogilny in the league before he scored 76 goals?</p><p>&ldquo;There are things pointing to the fact that he should be able to rise up.&rdquo;</p><p>Zhamnov shares that opinion. He&rsquo;s enthused right away because the Jets have granted him a raise to $1.2 million on a new contract.</p><p>He also feels better about his back after visiting expert Dr. Robert Watkins in Los Angeles. He now has an extensive and stretching program by which he swears.</p><p>&ldquo;Before, waking up, my back was a little stiff,&rdquo; Zhamnov said. &ldquo;Now when I wake up in the morning, I feel nothing. Now I only feel it sometimes after practice, but only a little.&rdquo;</p><p>That lack of pain, combined with the I wish to create some more offensive magic, sent him excitedly out onto a limb during the first week of camp.</p><p>He boldly stated his goal is to score 130 points this season.</p><p>That concept isn&rsquo;t much of a reach. But Jets&rsquo; fans hope upon hope that this season, Zhamnov won&rsquo;t get sidetracked somewhere during delivery.</p><h2><i><b>TEAM COMPARISON</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-0344/6394252-1-eng-US/f0059-032.jpg" title="f0059-03" width="663" height="328"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 VETERANS&rsquo; SCORING</b></i></h2><p>Here are Winnipeg&rsquo;s top 25 NHL veterans, listed in order of 1993-94 regular-season scoring. Veteran newcomers are included on the list; their previous teams are listed in parentheses. 1993-94 rookies are included where appropriate and may be listed among 1994-95 rookie candidates.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-0435/6394245-1-eng-US/f0059-042.jpg" title="f0059-04" width="655" height="1006"></div><h2><i><b>1993-94 GOALIE RECORDS</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-0525/6394238-1-eng-US/f0059-052.jpg" title="f0059-05" width="672" height="166"></div><h2><i><b>1994-95 ROOKIE CANDIDATES</b></i></h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0059-0618/6394231-1-eng-US/f0059-062.jpg" title="f0059-06" width="659" height="397"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

f0059-02

Exponential potential

f0060-01

CLASSIFIED

<div class="byline">By Murray Townsend</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-0197/6394335-1-eng-US/f0062-012.jpg" title="f0062-01" width="461" height="591"></div><p>I don&rsquo;t go in hockey pools to win. Mind you, I don&rsquo;t go in them to lose either.</p><p>It&rsquo;s just that the pleasure comes well before point totals are finalized.</p><p>I like the idea of sitting in the general manager&rsquo;s chair, sorting through players and picking the one I want when it&rsquo;s my turn.</p><p>&ldquo;Hey you, you&rsquo;re on my team. Like it or not. And I don&rsquo;t have to pay you a cent.&rdquo;</p><p>When you pick the right players, it gives you a sense of satisfaction. Okay, you feel downright smart. And when you select the wrong ones, it&rsquo;s the fault of injury or coaches who misuse them. See how close it is to being a real general manager?</p><p>Here are some tips on how to be a good one.</p><p><b>Preparation:</b> Put together a shopping list.</p><p>There will be people at your draft just using the final stats from last year. That&rsquo;s ill-advised because it doesn&rsquo;t put a high enough value on players who missed considerable time due to investments with good retums-especially in the late rounds.</p><p>Don&rsquo;t forget the rookies. They&rsquo;re high-risk, high-return picks. The most obvious: Peter Forsberg. Quebec Nordiques (projected point injury; rookies; and traded players who take on different roles with new teams.</p><p>Remember a lot of good scorers were injured last season. Among them: Pat LaFontaine, Phil Housley, Petr Nedved, Teemu Selanne, Steve Yzerman, Steve Duchesne and Owen Nolan.</p><p>Also on your list should be sleepers such as Darren Turcotte and Tony Granato. It&rsquo;s a good idea to consider choosing players who had off-years in 1993-94. They may be cheap total. 80); Radek Bonk. Ottawa Senators (70); Paul Kariya, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (70); and Oleg Tverdovsky. Anaheim (50).</p><p><b>Check out the opposition:</b> Let&rsquo;s say you&rsquo;re in a 10-person draft and picking eighth. It helps to know how-well prepared the ninth and tenth poolsters are if you&rsquo;re using the inverse-order selection process.</p><p>If you know they&rsquo;re not ready, it could help you decide between a more obvious pick and sleeper. You take the obvious one and then get your sleeper on the way back down. Two quality picks.</p><p>You can&rsquo;t sneak your picks by everyone so be wary of those who make their own lists or are checking through the stats carefully. And forget about trying to fool them if they have a copy of this article in their hands.</p><p><b>Selecting Players:</b> 1. Let the Wendel Clarks and Cam Neelys of the world go by unless they drop to later rounds. Don&rsquo;t gamble on the injury-prone players.</p><p>2. You&rsquo;re better off with a scorer on a weak team than someone with the same stats on a strong team. Players on inferior teams don&rsquo;t have somebody to replace them if they slump.</p><p>3. Defensemen are only valuable if they&rsquo;re on the power play.</p><p><b>After the draft:</b> Most pools have a re-draft provision.</p><p>Usually it&rsquo;s just a matter of looking for those players with the most points who weren&rsquo;t drafted, but pay special attention to teams where a key performer is going to be out for an extended period. Take his replacement.</p><p>In the meantime, take time to prepare.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

f0062-01

Our top tip: Pool your resources

<div class="byline">By Murray Townsend</div><p>There will be more than 700 players in the NHL this year-all eligible for selection in your hockey pool.</p><p>How do you choose between them?</p><p>That&rsquo;s the $50 question-your entry fee.</p><p>There are obvious, safe choices to make and we have faith you will make the right decision when faced with the choice of Mark Recchi and Joe Reekie.</p><p>But you probably need help passing judgement on players who have <i>more</i> or <i>less</i> value than 1993-94 production would suggest-on the surface.</p><p>What follows is team-by-team insight into players expected to exceed last year&rsquo;s performance (What goes up) and those who aren&rsquo;t (Must come down):</p><p><b>ANAHEIM</b> What goes up: Look for rookie Paul Kariya to lead the team in scoring. Fellow rookie Oleg Tverdovsky and veteran Tom Kurvers are candidates to man the power-play points. Another rookie, Valeri Karpov, could earn power-play time. Joe Sacco came on well in the second half last year. Playmaker Stephane Lebeau should benefit from the newcomers.</p><p>Must come down: Even though Bob Corkum was second in 199394 team scoring, his offensive role will be decreased with the addition of legitimate scorers. Ditto for Garry Valk and Tim Sweeney.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-0248/6394380-1-eng-US/f0062-022.jpg" title="f0062-02" width="582" height="762"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Cam Neely is a great player, but a high-risk hockey pool choice.</b></figcaption></div><p><b>BOSTON</b> What goes up: Mariusz Czerkawski will be a regular after joining the team late last season from Sweden. A full season beside Ray Bourque on the power play will help Al lafrate-if he&rsquo;s healthy. It could be time for Glen Murray to take a leap in the point parade. Bryan Smolinski is an excellent young prospect. Stephen Leach, injured last year, should come back to the 50-60 point range. Jozef Stumpel is worth the risk after a decent playoff.</p><p>Must come down: Once you get past Adam Oates, Bourque and lafrate, everyone has a question mark behind their name when it comes to offense. Oft-injured Cam Neely is not worth a high pick.</p><p><b>BUFFALO</b> What goes up: Pat LaFontaine will rejoin the league leaders, as will Alexander Mogilny now that his center has returned. Brad May is being paid to move up to sniper territory. Jason Dawe made an impression late last season and could be a factor. Craig Simpson is making a comeback after back problems.</p><p>Must come down: Derek Plante is a fine talent, but don&rsquo;t expect too much with the return of LaFontaine. How much longer can Dale Hawerchuk be a top producer?</p><p><b>CALGARY</b> What goes up: Phil Housley will replace the point production of Al McInnis. Watch preseason game stats to see who&rsquo;s manning the other point on the power play. It could be Zarley Zalapski, James Patrick or Steve Chiasson. Joe Nieuwendyk missed 20 games; he was on a 98-point pace last year. Wes Walz scored 27 of 38 points in the second half.</p><p>Must come down: German Titov ail but disappeared in the second half. Michael Nylander sat out the playoffs.</p><p><b>CHICAGO</b> What goes up: Jeremy Roenick is a dependable pick; he scores points and doesn&rsquo;t get hurt. Look for Tony Amonte to return to the 70-point range. Paul Ysebaert can score more than 35 points. Bigger things are expected of Patrick Poulin, who had just 28 points in his sophomore year. Gary Suter will spend a lot of time on the power-play point.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>Injured Stevie Y worth picking</b></blockquote><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0062-0324/6394373-1-eng-US/f0062-032.jpg" title="f0062-03" width="1207" height="2140"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Don&rsquo;t forget Pat LaFontaine was second in NHL scoring two years ago.</b> <span class="photo-credit">(PHOTO BY BRUCE BENNETT/BBS)</span></figcaption></div><p>Must come down: Don&rsquo;t hold your breath for Benie Nicholls returning to the halcyon days; he&rsquo;s been an inconsistent scorer since he shot the lights out with 70 goals in 1988-89. Don&rsquo;t even think about taking Bob Probert.</p><p><b>DALLAS</b> What goes up: Mike Modano will be in the 100-point range and Russ Courtnall somewhere in the 70s. Todd Harvey could make the team and make a solid contribution. Trent Klatt might be ready to step up.</p><p>Must come down: Neal Broten is coming off an outstanding 52-point season as a 34-year-old. Can he do it again? Don&rsquo;t think so. Dave Gagner dropped a notch after a number of successful seasons and is turning 30.</p><p><b>DETROIT</b> What goes up: Steve Yzerman won&rsquo;t start the season, but he&rsquo;s still a good pick. Yzerman outscored league MVP Sergei Fedorov 58-46 on his return. Keith Primeau and Slava Kozlov are about to peak. Mike Sillinger and Greg Johnson should improve.</p><p>Must come down: Fedorov won&rsquo;t score as many points this year if Yzerman is available. Dino Ciccarelli, 34, is slowing down and Paul Coffey, 33, has to start slowing down, too. Doesn&rsquo;t he?</p><p><b>EDMONTON</b> What goes up; The Oilers will battle Ottawa for the worst record in the league. Doug Weight and Jason Arnott will carry the scoring load. Zdeno Ciger and Shayne Corson are the only others likely to surpass the 40-point plateau. First-round draft picks Jason Bonsignore and Ryan Smyth will get an opportunity to start the season in Edmonton, and David Oliver, The Hockey News U.S. college player of the year, had an impressive training camp.</p><p>Must come down: Virtually everybody demands careful consideration before choosing.</p><p><b>FLORIDA</b> What goes up: Stu Barnes led the team with 29 second-half points. Jesse Belanger emerged as a playmaker, leading the team in assists despite missing 14 games. 1993 first-round pick Rob Nieder-mayer had 26 points in 65 games and is bound to improve. Ed Jovanovski, this year&rsquo;s fust overall pick, could man a power-play point. Scott Mellanby would be a solid choice.</p><p>Must go down: The Panthers are not a high-scoring team and that&rsquo;s not going to change. Bob Kudelski&rsquo;s goals plummeted after he was obtained from Ottawa. That could have something to do with coach Roger Neilson&rsquo;s defensive style.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>Isles&rsquo; Ferraro slated to be on fire this year</b></blockquote><p><b>HARTFORD</b> What goes up: Geoff Sanderson is a prime candidate for a return to form after a 22-point fall-off. With a regular spot on the power play, Chris Pronger could double his points from 30 to 60. Glen Wesley will man a power-play point. Much is expected of him. Paul Ran-heim can score a lot more than 27 points. Darren Turcotte, returning from an injury-plagued season, is a good sleeper pick. Jeff O&rsquo;Neill, selected fifth in the 1994 draft, has a chance to stick.</p><p>Must come down: Jimmy Carson gets yet another opportunity. Don&rsquo;t waste a pick on him until the later rounds.</p><p><b>LOS ANGELES</b> What goes up: Wayne Gretzky is a lock for 100-plus points and could be headed for his 11 th scoring championship. Rob Blake and Alexei Zhitnik are good scoring defensemen. Look for Darryl Sydor to join them. Former 115-point NHLer Rob Brown piled up 152 points in the International League last season. Dan Quinn had seven goals in 13 games with Ottawa. Rick Tocchet is certain to exceed last year&rsquo;s 40-point total. Tony Granato had a number of good seasons before faltering big time last year.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0064-0187/6394366-1-eng-US/f0064-012.jpg" title="f0064-01" width="570" height="765"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Scott Stevens could drop after a career-high 72 points.</b></figcaption></div><p>Must come down: Gretzky scored 130 points last season, the second-lowest full-season total of his career. Jari Kurri had 77 points, 10 fewer than the previous year.</p><p><b>MONTREAL</b> What goes up: Kirk Muller is coming off an injury-plagued season when he scored only 57 points. He should be in the 80-90 range. This could be a breakthrough season for John LeClair. Patrice Brisebois has the talent to improve as an offensive force on the blueline, but there are too many ahead of him.</p><p>Brian Savage got the call late in the season and played well in the playoffs. Valeri Bure could get an opportunity.</p><p>Must come down: Defenseman Lyle Odelein piled up an amazing 40 points after earning just 28 in his previous 214 games. He&rsquo;ll be hard-pressed to repeat.</p><p><b>NEW JERSEY</b> What goes up: A return to form is in the cards for Claude Lemieux, who had personal problems and slumped from 81 to 44 points. Jim Dowd had 15 points in 15 games at the end of the season. Brian Rolston has a good chance to score a lot of points. Bill Guerin is expected to contribute more and this could be a big season for defenseman Scott Niedermayer.</p><p>Must come down: Scott Stevens had a career year, leading the team with 72 points, but don&rsquo;t expect him to duplicate those numbers. Stephane Richer is inconsistent and not one of Lemaire&rsquo;s favorite players.</p><p><b>ISLANDERS</b> What goes up: Ray Ferraro is the ultimate yo-yo player. He always comes up after being down, which makes him a good sleeper selection this year. Move Pierre Turgeon up a notch on your list; he earned 94 points in just 69 games. Yan Kamensky might start producing if given the opportunity to play more. Keep any eye on Vladimir Malakhov.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>Naslund candidate for most improved player</b></blockquote><p>Must go down: Nobody in particular.</p><p><b>RANGERS</b> What goes up: It will be awfully hard for regulars to improve on last season; Mike Keenan gets the most from his players. Newcomer Petr Nedved had 20 points in 19 games with St. Louis; his career high is 71. Bigger things are expected of Alexei Kovalev. Brian Leetch could one day challenge Bobby Orr&rsquo;s single-season record for points by a defenseman (139).</p><p>Must come down: Veterans Mark Messier and Steve Larmer. both 33, will be hard-pressed to duplicate their 1993-94 achievements. So will Sergei Zubov, who had 89 points; 49 were scored on the league&rsquo;s No. 1-ranked power play.</p><p><b>OTTAWA</b> What goes up: The Senators began training camp battling contractually with two of their top three young centers-Alexei Yashin and Radek Bonk. Alexandre Daigle should improve after disappearing in the second half last season. Pat Elynuik will benefit from playing with a talented center. Norm Maclver had injury problems last year; he&rsquo;ll man the powerplay point when healthy.</p><p>Must come down: The fourth-leading scorer on the team had 26 points last year. &lsquo;Nuff said.</p><p><b>PHILADELPHIA</b> What goes up: Eric Lindros should be the first pick in your draft this year. He may be the first person other than Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux to win the scoring title since 1980. The Flyers need someone else to man the powerplay point with Garry Galley. Kevin Haller or Dimitri Yushkevich could be the man. The Flyers will have three 100-point men-Lindros, Mark Recchi and Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour.</p><p>Must come down: Josef Beranek got off to a quick start, but disappeared in the second half. Don&rsquo;t give up on him, though. Mikael Renberg could suffer from the sophomore jinx after setting a record for points by a Swedish rookie (82). Garry Galley has had his two best seasons after age 30. Very unusual.</p><p><b>PITTSBURGH</b> What goes up: Markus Naslund will score a lot more than 11 points and could be this year&rsquo;s most improved player. John Cullen, back to where he started, could excel with the right linemates and an injury-free season. Will Jaromir Jagr fulfill his superstar potential?</p><p>Must go down: Ron Francis is 31, Larry Murphy, 33, and Joe Mullen, 37. Doug Brown had a nice year with 55 points, but his previous high was 34.</p><p><b>QUEBEC</b> What goes up: Rookie Peter Forsberg should make an immediate impact and is a leading candidate for rookie of the year. Owen Nolan played only six games after seasons of 77 and 73 points. Valeri Kamensky was supposed to score more than 65 points last year. He could do it this season, although Wendel Clark is ahead of him at left wing-as long as Clark remains healthy.</p><p>Must go down: Clark is a huge question mark because of injuries. Can he stay healthy long enough to equal last season&rsquo;s NHL career-high 46 goals and 76 points with Toronto?</p><p><b>ST. LOUIS</b> What goes up: It&rsquo;s hard to say because by the trading deadline St. Louis will probably be full of ex-Keenan players from New York and Chicago. A full season for Steve Duchesne will increase his point total from 31. So will playing with Al McInnis.</p><p>Must go down: Brett Hull&rsquo;s point total decreased for the third straight year and, at 30, it&rsquo;s a trend likely to continue. If, however, he goes to Los Angeles, he and Gretzky would be awesome.</p><blockquote class="pullQuote"><b>Jet stars will take off after troubled 1992-93</b></blockquote><p><b>SAN JOSE</b> What goes up: Big Viktor Kozlov should make a contribution, but it&rsquo;s difficult to project how much because it takes some Europeans longer than others to adapt to the North American game. It&rsquo;s time for Pat Falloon to step up and become a scorer. When a defenseman can score a pile of goals besides setting them up, they&rsquo;re reliable picks because success isn&rsquo;t dependent on teammates; Sandis Ozolinsh fits the bill nicely.</p><p>Must come down: Don&rsquo;t be blinded by the Sharks&rsquo; playoff success; they&rsquo;re not a great team. They don&rsquo;t have much scoring power outside of older players who won&rsquo;t match last year&rsquo;s success. Todd Elik&rsquo;s role will be reduced with Kozlov on the scene. Sergei Makarov and Igor Larionov are playing on borrowed time.</p><p><b>TAMPA BAY</b> What goes up: Chris Gratton will show improvement. Chris Joseph did a nice job on the power-play point after being obtained from Edmonton; a full season in Tampa Bay should up his point total. Brian Bradley and Petr Klima would help out by returning to higher point levels.</p><p>Must go down: Nobody scored enough points to be worried about losing them.</p><p><b>TORONTO</b> What goes up: Newcomer Kenny Jonsson has offensive potential, but will have trouble replacing Dmitri Mironov as Dave Ellett&rsquo;s sidekick on the power-play blueline. Mironov had an excellent playoff campaign. A change of scenery should help free agent Mike Craig live up to expectations. Kent Manderville could break out.</p><p>Must come down: Mike Gartner just signed a three-year contract, a surprising show of faith by the Leafs in a player whose production is bound to decline. Mike Ridley will have trouble duplicating his Washington totals. The same amount of quality ice time won&rsquo;t be available in Toronto.</p><p><b>VANCOUVER</b> What goes up: Even though the Canucks made it to the finals last year, they were just a.500 regular-season club. Most of their veterans have maxed out. Trevor Linden doesn&rsquo;t have natural offensive instincts, but could take a step up on the strength of hard work and Pavel Bure. Nathan LaFayette demonstrated some scoring ability during the playoffs. A healthy Greg Adams will score more than 37 points.</p><p>Must come down: The Canucks seem convinced they need more size at center, which could cut into Cliff Ronning&rsquo;s ice time. Geoff Courtnall is 32 and free agent Murray Craven, 30.</p><p><b>WASHINGTON</b> What goes up: Toronto won&rsquo;t like it, but Rob Pearson could end up being a serious sniper for the Caps. Jason Allison, a 142-point man and Canadian Hockey League player of the year in 199394, could make an impact. Pat Peake is ready to break out. Peter Bondra and Michal Pivonka are coming back from off years. Dale Hunter is better than 38 points and Kevin Hatcher better than 40 points.</p><p>Must come down: So many players had off-years in 1993-94 point decreases would be hard to register.</p><p><b>WINNIPEG</b> What goes up: Seventy-six goals and 132 points by Teemu Selanne during his rookie season were no fluke. He&rsquo;ll be back after a problem-filled second year. The same is true of Alexei Zhamnov. Dallas Drake and Sheldon Kennedy have scoring potential. Darrin Shannon was the team&rsquo;s top scorer in the second half. Dave Manson has enjoyed some success on the power play in the past.</p><p>Must go down: Thomas Steen is 34, the only graybeard on the team. The rest of the Jets are primarily up-and-comers.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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Here’s the skinny on 26 NHL teams

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0069-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0069-0159/6394439-1-eng-US/f0069-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body"><b>Ray Ferraro of the Islanders (middle) earned 53 points, good for an average of 0.65 points per game.</b></figcaption></div><p class="dropcap"><span>C</span>am Neely barely made the top 50 in 1993-94 NHL scoring, but if you&rsquo;re entering a hockey pool this fall and believe in the powers of modem medicine, there&rsquo;s something else you need to know: Neely was second only to scoring champion Wayne Gretzky in average points per game.</p><p>Neely scored 74 points in 49 games, an average of 1.51 points per game-marginally behind Gretzky&rsquo;s league-leading 1.60 mark. Mario Lemieux was at 1.68. but played only 22 games and isn&rsquo;t first on our top 300 because he&rsquo;s not playing this season.</p><p>Listed are the top 300 scorers who appeared in at least 21 games last season. Included are the player&rsquo;s rank, games (GP), goals, points and points-per game average.</p><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0069-0231/6394432-1-eng-US/f0069-022.jpg" title="f0069-02" width="590" height="2110"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0069-0314/6394425-1-eng-US/f0069-032.jpg" title="f0069-03" width="590" height="1386"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0069-0410/6394418-1-eng-US/f0069-042.jpg" title="f0069-04" width="586" height="1387"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0069-056/6394411-1-eng-US/f0069-052.jpg" title="f0069-05" width="588" height="1387"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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THN’S 300 TOP GUNS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0071-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0071-0158/6394508-1-eng-US/f0071-012.jpg"></div><p><b>The NHL schedule listed here includes official NHL game numbers and starting times.</b></p><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0072-0150/6394501-1-eng-US/f0072-012.jpg" title="f0072-01" width="3089" height="3638"></div><span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span>

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1994-95 NHL SCHEDULE

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1994-95 MINOR PRO SCHEDULES

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INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

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WESTERN LEAGUE

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ONTARIO LEAGUE

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QUEBEC LEAGUE

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HOCKEY EAST

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CENTRAL COLLEGIATE

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WESTERN COLLEGIATE

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EASTERN COLLEGES

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div><p>A Hockey Hall of Fame first was recorded on the eve of the NHL season when the door was shut on six potential inductees.</p><p>For the first time in history, the Hall will have no inductees in the players&rsquo; category at its ceremony Nov. 15 in Toronto. The Hall has been voting on inductees for 38 years.</p><p>Harry Watson and the late Lionel Conacher were selected in the veteran players&rsquo; category, however.</p><p>Six former players were nominated for induction, but none received the required 75 percent approval from a 15-member selection committee Sept. 12 in Toronto.</p><p>Players considered were Dick Duff, Claude Provost, Bernie Federko, Rick Middleton, Clark Gillies and Dean Prentice. All are eligible for future nomination.</p><p>&ldquo;The committee felt no one really jumped out at them,&rdquo; said Scotty Morrison, chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame. &ldquo;You have to be careful about how you put it because they were all outstanding, good players, but were they great? That&rsquo;s what the committee had to decide.&rdquo;</p><p>Conacher was the first of seven Conachers to play in the NHL. He had a 12-year NHL career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Americans, Montreal Maroons and Chicago Blackhawks from 1925 to 1937. The 6-foot-1, 195-pound defenseman had 80 goals and 185 points in 498 games.</p><p>Bom in 1901, Conacher helped Chicago win its first Stanley Cup in 1933-34 and the next season helped the Maroons capture the Cup. He was runner-up to Aurel Joliat for the Hart Trophy in 1934. Conacher, who died in 1954, was named Canada&rsquo;s athlete of the half century for the period of 1900 to 1950.</p><p>Watson, 71, began his 14-year NHL career with the Americans and also played for Detroit, Toronto and Chicago from 1941 to 1957. He had 236 goals and 443 points in 809 games and was on five Stanley Cupwinning teams.</p><p>Former NHL executive vice-president Brian O&rsquo;Neill, 65, was inducted in the builders&rsquo; category.</p><p>Receiving the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award for excellence in hockey broadcasting is Ted Darling, the original voice of the Buffalo Sabres.<span class="end-marker"> &#9632;</span></p>

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September 1, 1994

Is Schneider among best?

Renberg back to basics

PAT HANDS ARE GOOD

EAST COACH LEAGUE