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January 27, 1995
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.
Free at last… at 32 Unrestricted free agency main issue owners refused to slip through hands
NEW YORK-The year 2001 promis-es to be an odyssey for Jeremy Roenick. That’s when the Chicago Blackhawks’ superstar will be eligible for Group III unrestricted free agency for the first time. Roenick, 25, has to play six more seasons before reaching age 31 and qualifying for complete freedom-something he covets so much it strongly colors his view of the new collective bargaining agreement. “I don’t like the deal very much,” he said. “We gave up way too much. We pretty much limited free agency to almost nobody.” Roenick is the Blackhawks’ player rep and wouldn’t say how he voted on ratification, but his team endorsed the new contract. “I think the free agency is a killer,” Roenick said. “When you have virtually no free agency in the sport, to limit where you can go, where…
Messier will be there: GM
The end to the lockout meant a lot of things to a lot of teams and players. For the New York Rangers, one thing it meant was the return to the renegotiation of captain Mark Messier’s contract. Messier held out of the first training camp, demanding renegotiation of the remaining two years on his contract. The sides were close to agreement just before the start of the regular season was squashed by the lockout. Minutes after the lockout ended Rangers’ general manager Neil Smith was thinking about Messier again. “We were close at the time and I expect the progress to continue,” Smith said. “He’s going to be out there opening night.” The other major happening during the lockout was Adam Graves’ back surgery and rehabilitation. The team, and Graves, believe he is all the…
Forecasts for ’94-95 don’t apply in ’95-95
Back in September, we told you the Detroit Red Wings would defeat the New Jersey Devils to win the Stanley Cup this season. Back then, we at THN were full of bold predictions. (See accompanying table). In our annual pre-season guessfest, our correspondents came to a consensus that: Sergei Fedorov would win his second straight Hart Trophy. Scott Stevens would finally claim his first Norris Trophy. Patrick Roy would re-emerge as the NHL’s top goalie. Peter Forsberg of the Quebec Nordiques would tie Paul Kariya of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in voting for top rookie. However, we failed to predict that: The NHL would lop 36 games off the regular-season schedule. A number of players would head to Europe to stay in shape while many others would lose their conditioning. Teams…
Playing for playoff spot
A shortened, more intense regular season may magnify both the main strength (scoring) and weakness (defense) of the Philadelphia Flyers. The Flyers were the only team to have three 90-plus point scorers (Mark Recchi, Eric Lindros, Rod Brind’Amour) in the NHL last year. Unfortunately, they also gave up 314 goals, 20 more than they scored. Flyers’ general manager Bob Clarke did make a few personnel moves to cut down on the goals allowed. He picked up defense-minded Kevin Haller from Montreal in exchange for Yves Racine and brought back goaltender Ron Hextail, who had much success with the Flyers in the late 1980s. Clarke acknowledges there won’t be time to audition prospects. “I would like to have seem them play,” Clarke said, “but that suggests we would have taken 10 to 20 games to see what…
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