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.

February 17, 1995

The Hockey News February 17, 1995

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><h2>Watch out for young Sharks</h2>1. Shark attack After opening night loss, San Jose Sharks peel of five straight wins.2. J.R.&rsquo;s milestone Blackhawk center Jeremy Roenick register 500th NHL point in 430th game.3. Who needs stars? No Mario no Barrasso. Who saves Penguins day? Goalie Ken Wregget. as usual.4. Go for it Brandon GM Kelly McCrimmon loads up with stars fo shot at Memorial Cup.5. THN top player Christian Du I be sets Sherbrooke Faucons&rsquo; marl I with five goals in QMJHL game.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021355/7915314-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="569" height="749"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeremy Roenick</figcaption></div><h2>Losses mount again for Sens</h2>1. Here we go again Hapless Ottawa Senators winless in first seven games.2. Nice start Andrei Nazarov recalled from minors by Sharks, booted from first game on first shift.3. Ed Belfour Looked like baseball replacement player swinging stick at Dean McAmmond.4. NHL tightwads Give the retired players their pension money and put issue to bed.5. Slow pokes NHL drags its heels on deciding whether Murray Craven is Group II or V free agent. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Richard Beales</div>He may not have been the king of hockey&rsquo;s first 48-game era, but he was at least the Earl.Earl Seibert, a big defenseman from Kitchener, Ont., was a first- or second-team all-star in 10 straight NHL seasons, 1934-35 to 1943-44. Eight of those selections were made in the 48-game days. In all, Seibert played 15 seasons with the New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings.In 1963, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, two years after his father, Oliver.Yet in May of 1990, at the age of 79, Seibert died in the Springfield suburb of Agawam, Mass., virtually forgotten by the hockey world. The NHL sent no one to his funeral, not even a telegram, a fact that still bothers his family.Some probably think Seibert would have wanted it that way. Since parting ways with the Springfield Indians in 1951 after five years as part-owner and coach of the American League team, Earl Seibert had learned to avoid hockey. He even stayed home instead of attending his own Hall-of-Fame induction.Seibert would not even attend his grandson&rsquo;s games. He had soured on hockey because he felt he never got the recognition he deserved.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s what he always said,&rdquo; Seibert&rsquo;s daughter Marilyn Fenton recalled. &ldquo;It was always Eddie Shore.&rdquo;It was always Eddie Shore, indeed. Shore&rsquo;s career, bright and colorful in his playing days with the Boston Bruins, overpowering later as the despotic co-owner (with Seibert) of the Indians, intertwined with Seibert&rsquo;s like two vines, one choking the other&rsquo;s efforts to reach the sun.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011675/7915469-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="734" height="885"><figcaption class="caption-body">Earl Seibert was one of the all-time NHL greats, but faded into obscurity.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve heard a lot of people say (Seibert) was the best player of his era, but Eddie Shore stole the spotlight with his color,&rdquo; said Sam Pompei, a former sports writer for the Springfield Daily News and stick boy for the Indians.Seibert&rsquo;s dimensions were given as 6-foot-2, 198 pounds, though reports have him playing at as much as 220. He was highly skilled and a premier shot blocker. His size, speed and anticipation made him, as today&rsquo;s scouts would say, &ldquo;the complete package.&rdquo;&ldquo;The only thing about Earl was that he decided when he wanted to play and when he didn&rsquo;t,&rdquo; said fellow Hall-of-Famer Clint Smith, a teammate with the Rangers and Blackhawks. &ldquo;His attitude was his worst enemy. He decided if they were only going to pay him $7,500, that&rsquo;s all the going to get out of him. If he had played like Eddie Shore, 100 per cent every night, he could have been one of the greats.&rdquo;Shore was hockey&rsquo;s first superstar defenseman. While Seibert was gamering mostly second-team all-star nominations in the 1930s, Shore was a perennial first-teamer. Always outspoken, always tough, the Bruin blueliner loved the spotlight and played to it.Meanwhile, Seibert played in Shore&rsquo;s shadow. And though he was a gentle man, Seibert&rsquo;s stubbornness and perceived mercenary attitude rubbed a few people the wrong way.After winding down his career with the Red Wings in 1945-46, Seibert renewed acquaintances with Shore as the two men purchased the Indians.There was no doubt about who was boss. Shore&rsquo;s iron-fist tactics were legendary and they visited themselves many times on Seibert. &ldquo;Eddie didn&rsquo;t show Earl the respect that a Hall-of-Famer deserved,&rdquo; Pompei said. &ldquo;Sometimes if he didn&rsquo;t like the way the game was going he&rsquo;d just come out of his box seat and take over the coaching job behind the bench.&rdquo;Finally, enough was enough. Whether Seibert jumped or was pushed, nobody seems to know. But after he left the Indians, that was it for hockey as far as Seibert was concerned.Seibert&rsquo;s accomplishments were also sullied by the events of March 28, 1937.The legendary Howie Morenz had just returned to the Montreal Canadiens that season after two years in exile with the Blackhawks and Rangers. That night at the Montreal Forum, Morenz raced Seibert for a puck in the Blackhawks&rsquo; zone. Reports differ as to whether Seibert hit Morenz or fell on him, but the result was a broken leg and the end of Morenz&rsquo;s illustrious career.Morenz died shortly after-some say from alcohol abuse, some say from a broken heart.Seibert remained emotional about the incident until the day he died, feeling personally responsible for ending Morenz&rsquo;s life.A young Toronto sportswriter once naively asked if Seibert had ever played against Howie Morenz. &ldquo;Yeah,&rdquo; came the reply. &ldquo;I killed him.&rdquo;With the cloud of Morenz&rsquo;s death still over his head, Seibert still played the 1937-38 season well enough to secure a second team all-star berth, even though the Blackhawks finished 14-25-9, a distant third in the four-team American Division, just two points ahead of non-qualifier Detroit.He then led the Blackhawks to the most shocking Stanley Cup victory in NHL history over the Toronto Maple Leafs. &ldquo;The biggest reason we won,&rdquo; Blackhawk coach Bill Stewart later recalled, &ldquo;was that we had Earl Seibert on our defense. The big guy played about 55 minutes of every game.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Earl Seibert: Hockey’s forgotten superstar

<div class="byline">By Kevin Allen</div>Will card sales go south because east never meets west in the NHL&rsquo;s abbreviated 48-game schedule?There is some concern in the hobby that interest in rookies, usually a driving force in collecting, might be tempered by the intra-conference schedule.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough to say for sure,&rdquo; said Pinnacle hockey director Jon Kramer. &ldquo;But maybe Paul Kariya won&rsquo;t be as popular in the east because we don&rsquo;t get to see him play.&rdquo;Upper Deck&rsquo;s Rich Bradley believes hockey&rsquo;s popularity has grown to the point where younger players have reputations with fans even before arriving in the NHL.&ldquo;The true collector will dig up the top rookies,&rdquo; Bradley said, &ldquo;whether they play in their city or not.&rdquo;With that in mind, card companies have been scrambling to bring out updated and traded series over the next couple of months.Here&rsquo;s what the companies are planning for the rest of the season:<h2>PINNACLE</h2>Game plan: Score II has been scrapped, replaced by Select Brand. Pinnacle II will be issued.Schedule: Pinnacle II is scheduled to come out in mid-February, Select in March.Roster size: 270 cards for Pinnacle II, 200 for SelectScouting report: Pinnacle II has numerous chase sets, including International Edition, which high-lights the top players from around the world. The Select set will include 20 players from the Mexico Cup, a tournament that features the best 17-year-old players from Canada, Russia and the United States. Included in the list will be Wade Redden, Brian Berard, Alexei Morozov and Dimitri Nabokov, all of whom could be first-round picks.Rising stars: Pinnacle officials hope a special card with Paul Kariya on the front and Peter Forsberg on the back will be white-hot.<h2>TOPPS/O-PEE-CHEE</h2>Game plan: Topps and O-Pee-Chee Premier have already been released.Schedule: By working through the lockout, Topps was able to release its Series II Jan. 20, the day the season opened. O-Pee-Chee, which is leaving the hockey card business at the end of the season, shipped a few days before.Roster size: 290 cards, including 198 regular player cards, 75 subset cards, two checklists and 15 chase cards.Scouting report: Subsets include Power at the Point (top 10 offensive defenseman), The Trade (top four acquisitions in the off-season) and The Go-To Guy (top players on each team). Each regular card also has a scouting report on each team.Rising stars: Team of the Future subset, a continuation from Series I, will feature Peter Forsberg and Brett Lindros.<h2>LEAF-DONRUSS</h2>Game plan: Leaf &#8851; has been shipped. Donruss II will presumably be scrapped for Leaf Limited, although it hasn&rsquo;t been announced by the company.Schedule: Leaf II came out in early January.Roster size: 220 cards.Scouting report: There are assorted subsets, including Gold Leaf inserts, double-sided cards featuring such tandems as Mario Lemieux/Eric Lindros and Scott Stevens/Rob Blake.Rising stars: The Phenoms subset contains Jamie Storr, Brett Lindros, Peter Forsberg, Jason Wiemer, Paul Kariya, Oleg Tverdovsky, Eric Fichaud and Viktor Kozlov.<h2>UPPER DECK</h2>Game plan: The company is still resolving the issue of whether it will release a Parkhurst or Upper Deck second series. But the company will release 1995 Upper Deck Super Premium.Schedule: Mid-to-late May.Roster size: 135 regular cards and 40 World Junior cards.Scouting report: This will be a high-end set, retailing for $3.99 per pack. That&rsquo;s 50 cents per card in an eight-card set.Rising stars: The World Junior Championship subset will include some of the hottest young players in the game.<h2>FLEER</h2>Fleer&rsquo;s plans are incomplete. Fleer Ultra II will be out in late March, but there will be no Series II in Flair. Instead, Fleer will produce a base brand set, which will be out at the end of May.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-011042/7916276-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="567" height="798"><figcaption class="caption-body">Leaf Series II shipped in earl) January and has 220 cards.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Plans for update sets back on rails after lockout

&ldquo;Now we&rsquo;ve got a young team, a realty young team. Were thinking about entering it in a midget tournament one of these weekends.&rdquo;&mdash;Swift Current general manager Doug Mosher after his team acquired youth in a Western League trade. Page 34. &#9632;

QUOTABLE

<div class="image-hero"><img title="Cover" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/cover44/7918673-1-eng-US/cover2.jpg"></div>Wendel Clark gives Quebec heart and soulBRUINS JUST WILD ABOUT SUPER CENTER OATES &#9632;

Cover

BLUE GRIT

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011599/7914984-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="375" height="507"></div>The offside rule will probably change next year, but the biggest rule change in the NHL should come off the ice.It&rsquo;s time the league copied the National Football League and assembled its most forward-thinking people on a rules committee. The NFL calls it the Competition Committee, an eight-man group of head coaches and team executives. It monitors the game, recommends rule changes and is one of the league&rsquo;s most powerful committees.Last year, several rule changes were introduced to encourage more offense in the NFL; the cumulative effect played a big part in a record year of scoring. The NHL might have to consider doing the same thing if current trends continue. It&rsquo;s much too early to panic over low-scoring games, but don&rsquo;t forget this isn&rsquo;t a new development. Last year&rsquo;s average of 6.5 goals per game was the lowest in 20 years. This year&rsquo;s early-season rate (which is generally higher than the full-season rate) was at 5.6.Regardless of this latest trend-and whether it proves to be a long-term one-the league needs a rules committee. This isn&rsquo;t a new idea. Former Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; general manager Mike Smith has talked about it in the past and still believes it&rsquo;s needed.The NHL has gone from too many committees to too few. Only one is still in place, an executive committee of team governors established by commissioner Gary Bettman, who quickly dismantled the NHL committee system. At least one, a rules group that works in concert with director of hockey operations Brian Burke, should be formed to ensure the task of product quality control is a shared responsibility. It shouldn&rsquo;t be left to Burke alone; it&rsquo;s too big and too important a job.The NHL virtually needed a committee to keep track of all the committees in the past, but a select number of them would be valuable and were before Bettman centralized the decision-making process. Smith&rsquo;s arbitration committee had a huge impact on how teams approach arbitration. &ldquo;He almost singlehandedly changed the way teams approached arbitration,&rdquo; Burke said, &ldquo;and we started to win some.&rdquo;A hockey rules committee could be an improvement on the football model. Here&rsquo;s how: It would be comprised of seven voting members, two non-voting advisors and a non-voting chairman, the director of hockey operations. Voting members would be five GMs and two coaches. The advisors would be one current player and one recently retired NHL executive. Obvious candidates are GMs Harry Sinden, Cliff Fletcher, coaches Roger Neilson and Dave King, current player Dave Poulin and recently retired executive Max McNab.Adding a player and veteran executive would give the NHL the best of the past and present. The league could learn from both. (Player representation is being welcomed at the February rules meeting in an unprecedented move.) For a starting point on committee procedures, the NHL would simply have to contact Miami Dolphins&rsquo; head coach Don Shula and New York Giants&rsquo; GM George Young, the NFL committee&rsquo;s cochairmen.Rule changes are currently proposed, debated and, ultimately, turned aside or recommended by GMs for endorsement by the NHL board of governors. Burke receives rule proposals in advance of the meeting, collates them and conducts the meeting.The winter rules meeting is in Laguna Niguel, Calif., Feb. 20-23. Likely to pass is an offside rule that discourages the practice of dumping the puck into the offensive zone when offside players are on their way out to clear themselves for re-entry. The new rule forces players to make at least one pass before shooting the puck back in. Failure to do so, with teammates offside, results in a faceoff in the offending team&rsquo;s zone. The NHL likes what it has seen of the experiment in the East Coast League.It&rsquo;s time the league considered a bolder rule experiment-establishment of a group charged with caring for the game&rsquo;s present and planning for its future.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021347/7914977-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="501" height="869"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Burke</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NHL can learn from NFL rules committee

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy and Steve Dryden</div>Don&rsquo;t look now, but the neutral-zone trap is back. Popularized last season, hockey&rsquo;s ball and chain does more to slow down a good game than the four television time-outs each period. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re all using it,&rdquo; says Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman of his peers behind NHL benches. &ldquo;They just sit back and wait.&rdquo; Teams using the trap send one attacker into the offensive zone, forcing the puck carrier to make a quick pass or skate into a zone flooded with opponents. Most agree it makes for boring games, but not Florida Panthers&rsquo; coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;The trap has nothing to do with the game being boring,&rdquo; Neilson says. &ldquo;People say low-scoring games are boring, but the beauty of hockey is watching a high-powered offense going against a good defensive team or a high-scoring line working against a good checking line.&rdquo; Bowman&rsquo;s Red Wings have enough speed and scoring prowess to make using the trap less of a necessity for them and less effective against them. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really see any reason why most teams would be using it this season,&rdquo; says Calgary Flames&rsquo; coach Dave King. &ldquo;To me it&rsquo;s more appropriate to use in an 84-game schedule because it&rsquo;s a way to conserve energy. When fatigue sets in, you use the trap.&rdquo;&hellip;Best headline of the early season comes from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch-&ldquo;Janney: From Pine Time to Prime Time&rdquo;. The center ice red line migrated in Fort Worth, Texas, and caused cancellation of a Central League game in late January. Arena officials placed the red line two-and-a-half feet from the middle of the ice surface; as a consequence all other on-ice markings were laid down incorrectly. It&rsquo;s considered the worst line change since the Boston Bruins&rsquo; infamous playoff snafu in 1979 when a penalty for too many men on the ice cost Boston a berth in the Stanley Cup final&hellip;Expect more holdouts in the future. That will be one result of the collective bargaining transition rule that transforms option years into fixed years, past contracts, particularly those of younger players, were often negotiated with the expectation agents would get in the faces of general managers before and during option years. Young players-such as Jason Arnott of the Edmonton Oilers-face a double-whammy under the new rules: they no longer have Group I free agency (as leverage) or the option year&hellip;Ex-minor league goalie Jim Ralph, engaged four times (married twice), recommends against diamonds as an investment. Larry Kelly, Ralph&rsquo;s agent and usual choice for best man, invited friends of the former goalie to the Second Annual Jim Ralph Stag prior to nuptials the second time around&hellip;GMs want rule 66 (u) changed: It stipulates coaches be suspended five games if one of their players is first off the bench to enter an altercation. Look for GMs to recommend the penalty be reduced at their meeting in February&hellip; Top 10 reasons why scoring is down in the NHL: 10.Mario Lemieux isn&rsquo;t playing. 9. Blaine Lacher is playing. 8. Teams are filling up with size rather than scoring power on the third and fourth lines. 7. Pavel Bure is on a work-to-rule campaign over his contract dispute. 6. &rsquo;Red-Light&rsquo; Racicot is out of the league. 5. The neutralzone trap is working to maximum effect because it takes offensive players longer to tune up their games. 4. The shortened season puts a higher premium on each game and results in playoff-style intensity during the regular season. 3. The 105-day lockout destroyed the natural rhythm of a hockey year and players can&rsquo;t turn it on and off at will. 2. Using two Zambonis has sped up ice resurfacing and slowed down scoring. 1. Scoring, like everything else in the league this season, has been reduced on a prorated basis&hellip;There will never be another Wayne Gretzky or Paul Coffey-let alone on the same team-but there will be Paul Kariya and Oleg Tverdovsky for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim&hellip;Bob Clarke scored 358 goals during his NHL career, but he may have picked up more stitches on his face. The Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; GM estimates he received 300-400 stitches and wonders how he avoided serious injury. He believes it&rsquo;s time the league enacted legislation to force the players to protect themselves. &ldquo;I think the league should pass a rule that says all players wear masks,&rdquo; he says. Clarke admits if he played today and had a choice, he probably wouldn&rsquo;t wear a face shield. That&rsquo;s why he thinks they should be mandatory. Two Flyers-Mark Recchi and Rob Zettler-have suffered injuries to the eye area this season. He says such a move makes sense from personal and professional perspectives. It&rsquo;s frightening, he says, to see players suffer facial cuts and impractical in a business sense considering the amount of money invested in them. Clarke says Boston defenseman Ray Bourque proves wearing a shield doesn&rsquo;t diminish performance. Clarke is flying in the face of conventional wisdom on this one. Bully for him.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03958/7915029-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="353" height="353"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011871/7915022-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="377" height="576"><figcaption class="caption-body">Oleg Tverdovsky</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021497/7915015-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1123" height="1634"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s absence is one reason for reduced scoring.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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NHL has fallen into trap again

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>It&rsquo;s a sunny afternoon in Medicine Hat, Alta., and Murray Craven is sitting on pins and needles.He doesn&rsquo;t know where he&rsquo;ll play hockey this season and his wife, Sheri, is six days overdue with their first child. Craven remains locked out; his child locked in.Living with in-laws because he rented the family home to Medicine Hat Tigers&rsquo; coach Perry Pearn, Craven is in limbo. He doesn&rsquo;t know if he is an unrestricted Group V free agent or a restricted Group II.The 12-year NHL veteran played for the Stanley Cup-finalist Vancouver Canucks last season and earned $57O,(XX) (U.S.). The league contends the average salary last season was $557,000 (U.S.) which means Craven would be a Group II free agent.The NHL Players&rsquo; Association says the 1993-94 average salary was $578,000 (U.S.) which would make Craven a Group V free agent-unrestricted and free to sign with the highest bidder because he has played 10 years in the NHL and earned less than the average league salary.Vancouver didn&rsquo;t offer Craven a 15 percent raise so it doesn&rsquo;t have the right to match an offer made by another team. It will be entitled to compensation if he is found to be a Group II free agent. Arbitrator George Ntcolau was expected to hear the case Feb. 7 in New York City.&ldquo;It has been frustrating,&rdquo; Craven said. &ldquo;It isn&rsquo;t that big a decision. It shouldn&rsquo;t have taken this long.&rdquo;Canucks&rsquo; spokesman Steve Tambellini said the team wants to sign Craven. &ldquo;He was a great contributor for us in last season&rsquo;s playoffs,&rdquo; Tambellini said.Agent Steve Mountain said Craven. 30, will not return to the Canucks. Mountain said the market value for a player such as Craven is between $900,000 (U.S.) and $1.5 million (U.S.). The Canucks last offered $675,000 (U.S.), according to Mountain.Craven is a versatile forward who can play all three positions. He had 15 goals and 55 points in 78 games last season and had four goals and 13 points in 22 playoff games.Craven said the New York Rangers and St. Louis Blues are interested in him. He anxiously awaits a decision on his status.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve practised more than any player in North America,&rdquo; said Craven, who has been working out with the Tigers. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m in the super-overaged division of the Western League. I&rsquo;m ready to play.&rdquo; &#9632;

CRAVEN ON WAIT WATCH

<div class="byline">-Mike Brophy</div>Ed Johnston believes a goalie could easily play all 48 games this year.Johnston should know; he was the last NHL goalie to play every game in a season. The coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins played 70 games-all 4,200 minutes-of the 1963-64 season for the Boston Bruins, who finished last with an 18-40-12 record. The fifth-place New York Rangers allowed 30 more goals.Johnston&rsquo;s goals-against average, 3.01, and six shutouts remain the best-ever for a goalie on a last place club. Teams didn&rsquo;t dress a backup goalie in those days.&ldquo;The travel wasn&rsquo;t as bad back then,&rdquo; said Johnston, whose goalie Ken Wregget played all of Pittsburgh&rsquo;s first six games.Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; coach Pat Bums agrees with Johnston. His goalie, Felix Potvin, was one of six-Patrick Roy of the Montreal Canadiens, Arturs Irbe of the San Jose Sharks, Ed Belfour of the Chicago Blackhawks, Stephane Fiset of the Quebec Nordiques and Wregget are the others-who played all his team&rsquo;s games in the first two weeks this season.&ldquo;A No. 1 goalie usually plays 60 games anyway,&rdquo; Bums said. &ldquo;If we&rsquo;re losing 6-1 after two periods I&rsquo;ll take him out and say, &lsquo;That&rsquo;s your rest.&rsquo;&rdquo; &#9632;

One goalie could go the distance in 48-game season

Editor-in-ChiefSteve DrydenSenior Editors:Dave Bean, Ken Campbell, Jason KaySenior Writer:Mike BrophyEditorial Staff:Mark Brender, Brian CostelloContributors:Eric Duhatschek, Stan Fischler, Jay Greenberg, Al Morganti, Michael Ulmer, Trevor de BoerPhotographers:Bruce Bennett and Tim ParkerProduction Manager:Luis CardosoPublisherEd PearceController: Wendy Currie-MillsMarketing Manager: Esther SumkaMerchandising Manager: Joe DiLosaCirculation Supervisor: Birute Marcinkevicius.Advertising Manager: Randy GreenSales: David Burgess, Marilyn Patterson. 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills, ON M3B 2R2. (416) 445-5702 FAX (416) 445-0753.National Sales: Doug Hammond, TransMedia Marketing, 185 Robinson St., Suite 415, Oakville, ON L6J 7P6 (905) 845-4333 FAX: (905) 845-2746.U.S. Representative: Shawn Meehan 577 Campgaw Rd., Mahwah, NJ 07430 (201) 8251840.Classified Advertising: David Burgess (416)445-5702.The Hockey News: Co-founded by Ken McKenzie and W.V. Cote in 1947.Cover Photo: Wendel Clark by Dan Hamilton/VPS. Zarley Zalapski, Joe Murphy by Tony Biegun/BBS.President: Alain GuilbertDirector of Administration: Ginette Roy &#9632;

The Hockey News

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>The NHL is not on the verge of financial collapse, nor was it before the 105-day lockout that produced a new collective bargaining agreement, according to Financial World magazine.Rather, the magazine says the league is on track for a revenue explosion driven by bulging revenue streams from new arenas, television contracts and merchandising. The story, entitled Hypocrisy on Ice, appears in the Feb. 14 issue.Assistant managing editor Stephen Taub writes the NHL wasn&rsquo;t saving itself from financial collapse by locking out the players; it was masking a far different reality by putting on hold unprecedented revenue growth.Financial World says the NHL&rsquo;s earning potential would be even brighter were it not for loyalty to low-revenue markets such as Edmonton, Hartford, Quebec and Winnipeg.&ldquo;If the league had just made the emotionally difficult decision to permit the weakest links to move their franchises,&rdquo; Taub says, &ldquo;the sport would have been in very solid shape to make serious money and build its value as we head into the next century&rdquo;Contrary to what Taub says, New Jersey Devils&rsquo; owner John McMullen was quoted, during collective bargaining talks, as saying, &ldquo;To hell with small-market teams. That&rsquo;s not what this is about.&rdquo;Financial World says NHL concern over rising salaries is overblown. (The NHL says it lost $37.6 million U.S. in 1993-94, principally because of rising salaries.)The average player salary has gone from $369,000 (U.S.) in 1991-92 to a projected $650,000 (U.S.) in 1994-95. The magazine points out, however, the annual rate of increase has fallen from 40 to 19 per cent over that time.NHL spokesman Arthur Pincus says increases in real dollars are a more important measure than percentage increases when evaluating contracts of such magnitude. Pincus said the Financial World story doesn&rsquo;t acknowledge revenues have not been keeping pace with salaries. He added the NHL has no intention of turning its back on small markets, most of which are located in Canada where the majority of players are produced.Financial World says salary de-escalation will continue and predicted a boom on the revenue side-largely because as many as nine teams will be in new buildings by 1997. The magazine says new arenas are nothing less than a &ldquo;license to print money.&rdquo; &#9632;

NHL not in dire straits?

<div class="byline">By Alan Adams</div>When International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel announced in September that NHL players would be playing in the 1998 Olympics, he forgot to do one thing-ask the players.The dentist from Switzerland received a stem reminder of that during a late-January visit to NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director Bob Goodenow.&ldquo;I thought if I signed an agreement with the NHL it was quite clear, but we forgot how strong the NHLPA is,&rdquo; Fasel said. &ldquo;That was a mistake, but I accept it.&rdquo;Fasel&rsquo;s attempt at diplomacy was aimed at getting Goodenow and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to negotiate the terms for a Dream Tournament at the Nagano Games. His first stop was Toronto, where he met with Goodenow and apologized for not involving the NHLPA in discussions.Goodenow would not disclose what he said to Fasel during their two-hour meeting, but suffice it to say he gave Fasel an earful.&ldquo;These are open issues to be discussed and, if possible, to be decided,&rdquo; Goodenow said. &ldquo;The previous announcement (of NHLers playing in the Olympics) was premature.&rdquo;Fasel then headed to Naples, Fla., for a meeting of an NHL-&Pi;HF working committee, where he was met with a chilly reception from Bettman. Executives emerged from the five-hour meeting with a reaffirmation of a commitment to the tournament.&ldquo;We will continue to work towards it,&rdquo; said Fasel, who made it clear his job is to deliver the support of the IIHF while Bettman&rsquo;s task is to deliver the NHLPA. &ldquo;I will talk to my different federations and Gary has to deal with the players.&rdquo;Bettman and Fasel also announced plans for a Pan-European &lsquo;Super League&rsquo; that would begin play no later than September, 1996.The league would counter plans by the International League to set up a European Division in 1996-97 with teams in seven European countries-Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. &#9632;

IIHF head gets chilly reception

<div class="byline">By Mary Ormsby</div>The NHL has finally registered a victory in court over the retired players.Master R.B. Linton of the Ontario Court of Justice ruled in favor of the league in the amount of money in misappropriated pension funds it owes the retired players. The NHL maintained it owed the former players $33.3 million (Cdn.) as of June 30, 1993. The more than 700 retirees maintained they were owed $35.7 million as of that date.But just where all the money will come from still must be determined.The league wants $24.7 million to come from the clubs and the rest to be diverted from funds in the existing pension fund. The NHL Players&rsquo; Association argues that existing pension fund money should not be used.The hearing will resume in March.Meanwhile, a group representing the retired players, the league, its pension society and the NHLPA received approval in an Ontario court Jan. 27 to boost the monthly stipends for retirees currently receiving pensions.The increase per player has not been finalized. Revenue Canada must authorize the measure, but lawyer Mark Zigler hopes it will be a formality.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011821/7915180-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="576" height="702"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alan Eagleson&rsquo;s disciplinary case will continue in March.</figcaption></div>&ldquo;That point was raised (in court) that some people might not live long enough to see the benefit if we keep fighting in the courts about it,&rdquo; said Zigler, who is handling the retired players&rsquo; successful lawsuit concerning pension funds misused by the NHL and its pension society.The NHL, meanwhile, has filed a lawsuit against the Chicago law firm of Baker and McKenzie. The suit charges the firm with negligence, breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty while advising the NHL on how it could handle about $25 million in pension surpluses accrued in 1982 and 1985.&#9633; In a separate matter, the Law Society of Upper Canada&rsquo;s disciplinary case against former NHLPA executive director Alan Eagleson was delayed by the society&rsquo;s late delivery of disclosure information to Eagle-son&rsquo;s defense team.A commencement date was set for Jan. 31, but proceedings were adjourned until March 29.Eagleson, 61, is accused by the law society of professional misconduct and conduct unbecoming a barrister and solicitor while head of the NHLPA from 1975 to 1993.The law society alleges Eagleson mishandled players&rsquo; money, improperly billed players while representing them, misled a client and misused $94,000 worth of airline tickets issued in exchange for advertising at Canada Cup tournaments. &#9632;

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Pensioners net increase, but less than they’d like

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>Up to 300 NHL regular-season games were added to the U.S. television schedule this season on two direct broadcast satellite systems.DIRECTV and PrimeStar will make available a package featuring local cable telecasts of 11 teams-the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals. More teams are anticipated over the course of the season.The deal was reached Feb. 2 between the NHL and ESPN, rights holders for U.S. network television distribution of NHL games.RUSSIANS ROMP: The Central Army junior team provided Ontario Jr. A teams a good lesson in international hockey.The Russians, comprised mainly of 16-year-olds. completed their 30-game, 47-day International Jr. A Hockey Challenge Jan. 20 with an impressive 22-3-5 record.Competition came from three Ontario Jr. A leagues. The only three teams to beat the Russians were the Aurora Eagles, St. Michael&rsquo;s Buzzers and Newmarket 87&rsquo;s.Andrei Petrunin led the touring team with 70 points in 29 games, while linemate Sergei Samsonov, projected as a top prospect for the 1997 draft, had 60 points in 23 games, including 22 points in his last four. &#9632;

Satellite means more games

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div>KITCHENER-Terry Ryan didn&rsquo;t travel all the way to the Canadian Hockey League All-Star Game just to display his scoring punch.If you&rsquo;re going to impress the plethora of NHL scouts and general managers, you might as well show them all the punch you&rsquo;ve got.The 18-year-old center for the Tri-City Americans of the Western League scored a pair of goals and exchanged spirited blows with Bryan Berard of the Ontario League&rsquo;s Detroit Jr. Red Wings in the major-junior showcase game.The WHL/Quebec League beat the OHL 8-3 Jan. 31 in Kitchener.&ldquo;I guess I picked a good game to play well,&rdquo; said Ryan, one of 15 draft eligible players in the game. &ldquo;We know the scouts are out there. I was so nervous I couldn&rsquo;t see straight.&rdquo;Ryan was rated 19th overall among North American skaters in the Central Scouting Bureau&rsquo;s mid-season ranking. His stock is sure to rise.The Mount Pearl. Nfld., native had 36 goals, 74 points and 122 penalty minutes in 42 games this season.Berard certainly played well enough to maintain his status as the top draft-eligible prospect. The U.S.-born defenseman played with a lot of poise and often joined the attack.Defenseman Wade Redden of the WHL&rsquo;s Brandon Wheat Kings. No. 2 on the CSB list, also played well. Daymond Langkow of Tri-City, the No. 6-rated prospect, had three points.Eric Daze with a pair. Sebastien Bordeleau, Darcy Tucker and Curtis Brown also scored for the WHL/- QMJHL Selects. Vitali Yachmenev, Jeff O&rsquo;Neill and Todd Bertuzzi scored for the OHL Selects. &#9632;

Ryan top Jr. all-star

I really hope the recent lockout and the lack of income that came with it gave both the owners and the players a better perspective on life.Maybe the owners now understand they don&rsquo;t need to squeeze every final penny of profit from tickets and merchandise to obtain a high standard of living.Perhaps the players realize they, for the most part, are overpaid. Maybe they saw how the rest of the world lives and realized that even a player with mediocre skills earns more in a few years than most workers earn in a lifetime.Maybe both groups now understand their financial future is already more secure than that of most of the population.Then again, maybe not.Rob Cicchini,Woodlawn, Md.<h2>All-mouth team</h2>Before and during the lockout, several wrongful and poor-taste comments were made by certain players that really made me lose respect for them as players and people.I decided to put together an all-star team of players who made these comments.The three forwards are Brett Hull, Jeremy Roenick and Bemie Nicholls. The defense is made up of Chris Chelios and Marty McSorley and the goaltender is Glenn Healy.These guys would be coached by NHL Players&rsquo; Association executive director Bob Goodenow, who leads the parade in not knowing what he is talking about.Brent Ward,Thunder Bay, Ont.<h2>Miller a yeoman</h2>I can&rsquo;t believe that throughout the NHL lockout, some so-called hockey fans had the nerve to insult Kelly Miller&rsquo;s part in the negotiation process.Miller was one of the ones on the negotiation team who was trying to get the season under way.If the fans want to insult someone, they should look at NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. As long as Bettman is commissioner of the league, the player-owner relationship will be very strained.Thanks to Kelly Miller and Bob Goodenow for getting the season under way.Kristen Passeno.Warren Mich.<h2>Dynasty II</h2>I am an objective hockey fan, but 1 want to tell you one thing: Watch out for Don Maloney. The general man ager of the New York Islanders is slowly but surely building a new Islander dynasty team.Pierre Turgeon is a star player and defensemen Vladimir Malakhov, Darius Kasparaitis and Scott Lachance are on the cusp of reaching stardom in the NHL.Jamie McLennan is emerging as a top goalie and the offense is in good hands with Benoit Hogue, Zigmund Palffy, Steve Thomas, Derek King, Marty McInnis, Travis Green and others.Maloney was not responsible for bringing many of those guys to Long Island, but the Islanders also have loads of toughness and muscle in three Maloney draft picks: Todd Bertuzzi, Brett Lindros and Bryan McCabe. Lindros is already there and the other two will join him in the near future.Very good job, Mr. Maloney.Andre Legault,L&rsquo;Assomption, Que.<h2>Deja vu&hellip;oh no!</h2>After watching four New York Ranger games, it is obvious that head coach Colin Campbell is Roger Neilson all over again.I am completely bored with his noforecheck system and I fear it will be a long season. Neil Smith without Mike Keenan will be like Dallas Cowboys&rsquo; owner Jerry Jones without Jimmy Johnson.Bruce Fox,New York, N. Y.<h2>TV nation</h2>I wish to thank The Hockey News and Brian Costello for the Radio-TV Directory which appeared in the Feb. 3 issue.It is a fantastic innovation and worth the price of a year&rsquo;s subscription.My wife and I have a satellite dish to watch our son Daren play for the Tampa Bay Lightning. We used to spend a lot of time searching all the satellites to try to find possible Tampa Bay games. Now with this directory, we know when and where all the games will be televised.Kirkland Lake, Ont., is quite a distance from Florida and this is the only way we can see our son play. We can also watch way two or three games every night. We don&rsquo;t always have the sound, but we can at least see and get to know the teams and players Daren has to play against.Leo Puppa,Kirkland Lake, Ont.Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 445-2501&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News. 85 Scarsdale Rd., Suite 100, Don Mills. Ont., M3B 2R2&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y. 14240-9947.&nbsp;Include home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

Maybe they learned, but don’t be so sure

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012030/7915283-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0006-01

ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011839/7915345-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wendel Clark hasn&rsquo;t gotten out of bed without pain since his third season in the NHL.</figcaption></div>Wendel Clark pokes at his oatmeal, as if looking for words.It&rsquo;s 9 a.m. in a Buffalo coffee shop and even at this hour Clark looks menacing in dark slacks and a black pullover. The Fu Manchu is in full flower, a two-inch shiner rims the underside of his right eye.&ldquo;You play with your brain more than with your ego,&rdquo; Clark says. &ldquo;You always play with your heart, you always play hard. But when you use your brain, you do what&rsquo;s right for the long term. With your heart, you do what&rsquo;s right for now.&rdquo;The battle between instinct and intellect, about ruling your heart with your head, is not an academic argument to Clark.It is the essence of what has kept him in the NHL for 10 seasons and chiselled his reputation as one of the league&rsquo;s foremost leaders. It is what sustained him through long injury layoffs and what keeps a body battered long beyond its 28 years in working order.Clark&rsquo;s image, one that played marvelously in Toronto, is that of quiet Western Canadian wheat farmer. He wears a belt buckle that bears the words, &lsquo;Just A Farmer.&rsquo; Generally, he is not expansive in interviews and his game, straightforward, powerful and, until recent years, unimaginative, is a study in simplicity.But the man at breakfast was an A student through his high school years. His favorite subject: Algebra. 17C equalled captain and Clark in Toronto. He is an alternate captain in Quebec.Leadership, of course, is something the talent-rich Nordiques have been missing. Joe Sakic, a marvelous player, is the team&rsquo;s captain and his leadership has flowered with Clark&rsquo;s arrival.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t go out and try to lead,&rdquo; Clark says as a waitress clears the table. &ldquo;I deal with situations the best way I know how. And that&rsquo;s to keep it simple. The more simple I can keep things, the easier it is to make decisions.&rdquo;If knowing yourself is the surest measure of a person&rsquo;s intelligence, Wendel Clark may be the smartest player in the NHL.&ldquo;What Wendel has a lot of,&rdquo; says Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; coach Marc Crawford, &ldquo;is common sense. When you have a common-sense approach to your life and your game, it makes you a good player.&rdquo;Clark&rsquo;s on-ice job is to instill fear, score goals; and influence games with as little toll on his body i as possible. It&rsquo;s a delicate balancing act.When he reached the NHL in the fall of 1985, 5 Clark fought 15 times before the new year. He &raquo; levelled a large number of defenseman, scored 5 34 goals and finished as runner-up to Gary Suter in rookie-of-the-year voting.He attacked every game as if it were his last and worked himself into such a frenzy he threw up before virtually every contest.Clark&rsquo;s promise was one of the few things to break the darkness of the Harold Ballard era with the Toronto Maple Leafs, but his was a style impossible to sustain.&ldquo;If he keeps running into guys who are 210 and 215,&rdquo; Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; coach Glen Sather said at the time, &ldquo;he&rsquo;s going to get hurt.&rdquo;Sather was dead right. At five-foot-10 and 200 pounds, Clark is a cruiserweight among NHL forwards.Clark missed 265 games to injuries while with the Maple Leafs. Most of those were attributed to his back, but more precisely they were the result of earlier injuries through which Clark played.He compensated for a spate of injuries-both in major junior and the NHL-by straining other body parts. Leg injuries altered his stride, shoulder injuries changed his carriage. Inevitably, the injury would settle in his back.Throughout Clark&rsquo;s last five years in Toronto, Maple Leafs&rsquo; athletic therapist Chris Broadhurst used Clark&rsquo;s back pain as a roadmap to find and rehabilitate injuries past and present.Clark&rsquo;s treatment and stretching sessions last from 15 minutes to 2-1/2 hours and include acupuncture almost every day. Every morning, he wakes up and takes inventory.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t had a day since my third year when I haven&rsquo;t been sore and I will be for the rest of my life,&rdquo; Clark says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s every day. It&rsquo;s a constant running battle.&rdquo;Small wonder, then, that to survive, Clark learned to listen to his body objectively and pummel opponents judiciously.&ldquo;People keep saying, &lsquo;How come you&rsquo;re not hitting as many guys as when you were new in the league?&rsquo;&rdquo; Clark says between bites of an English muffin. &ldquo;But when I started, nobody knew who I was. Now they know I&rsquo;m going to hit them. If a guy is 205, 210 and he&rsquo;s ready for me and I keep hitting him anyway, I&rsquo;m just hurting myself.&rdquo;Listening to his body, understanding his game and maximizing what he could give-those are the hallmarks of the professional. When people talk about leadership, they are talking about those traits.&ldquo;You look at the guys who pay attention to detail, whether it be detail in their play, their practice, their medical treatment,&rdquo; Crawford says. &ldquo;They&rsquo;re the ones who have longevity and those are good lessons for young player to learn.&rdquo;Clark cultivates his persona as carefully as he does his mustache. He fights for maximum effect, but doesn&rsquo;t pick soft touches. Two years ago, he challenged Marty McSorley after the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; heavyweight-25 pounds heavier than Clark-ambushed Maple Leafs&rsquo; star Doug Gilmour with a devastating bodycheck.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re down 2-0 early, that&rsquo;s when you do something stupid, just to get the 20 guys on the bench to back you up and frustrate the other team,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;If you&rsquo;re up 2-0, you don&rsquo;t send your tough guy against the other team&rsquo;s tough guy. If their tough guy wins, it pumps the whole team up.&rdquo;Clark&rsquo;s discriminate use of force is effective.&ldquo;Basically, people are scared of him,&rdquo; says linemate Sakic.Clark&rsquo;s reaction to the trade to Quebec-after a career-high 46 goals with Toronto-was typically measured. It&rsquo;s a sad commentary, but Clark drew widespread praise in Quebec and English-speaking Canada by simply acting professionally.Instead of moaning about the language problems or demanding a renegotiation-at $1 million a season, he is receiving less than half his market worth-Clark got on a plane and studied French on the way to Quebec.&ldquo;I think he impressed a lot of people when he got traded,&rdquo; says defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre, who came to the Nordiques as part of the block buster draft-day deal that sent Mats Sundin to Toronto. &ldquo;He didn&rsquo;t complain, he just showed up and said &lsquo;I&rsquo;m going to be part of the Nordiques now.&rsquo;&rdquo;&ldquo;I had no reason to renegotiate,&rdquo; Clark says. &ldquo;Why be known as somebody who doesn&rsquo;t want to do this or doesn&rsquo;t want to do that? If you rock the boat up front, the owners have resentment for you. Make people comfortable early, if they&rsquo;re good people, they&rsquo;ll take care of you.&rdquo;Playing on a line with Sakic and Andrei Kovalenko, Clark had three goals and seven points in six games and while he had yet to regain top conditioning, the transition from Toronto to Quebec has been seamless.Almost as important as his on-ice feats, is the image Clark projects on the bus or in the hotel. In the middle of the swirl of fans and media, schedules and egos, Wendel Clark brushes aside distractions.He doesn&rsquo;t even throw up before regular-season games anymore. Wendel Clark now saves that for the playoffs.Michael Ulmer is writing a book on Toronto Maple Leaf captains. &#9632;

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CLARK A common man of uncommon skill

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div>In a perfect world, the Calgary Flames would protect rookie goalie Trevor Kidd with eight defenseman stingier than Scrooge, nastier than Rush Limbaugh and more offensive than Madonna.It&rsquo;s a seller&rsquo;s market for gifted two-way defenseman.&ldquo;Every team would love to have eight scott Stevens,&rdquo; said Flames&rsquo; rearguard Steve Chiasson, &ldquo;but they&rsquo;re just not out there.&rdquo;So the Flames, who dealt Al Maclnnis to the St. Louis Blues when it became clear he could not be re-signed, have opted for a defense coach Dave King hopes will leave forecheckers gasping in its vapor trail.No defense, not the heralded Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; blueline corps anchored by Matt Schneider and Eric Desjardins, nor the Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; young guns of Alexei Zhitnik, Rob Blake and Darryl Sydor, can match the Flames&rsquo; Big Four of Phil Housley, James Patrick, Zarley Zalapski and Chiasson. All four have been acquired by the Flames in the past year.The Flames reasoned the best crew to protect Trevor the Kidd would be a gifted offensive quartet. You have to admit, it&rsquo;s novel.&ldquo;We did it because we thought this was the way the game was going,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;If you can get on the attack with one quick pass, you trap people coming in and you discourage forechecking.&rdquo;The idea is a defense that prevents sustained pressure in the Flames end before it has a chance to develop. Not only can any of the four beat a forecheck before it develops, each is comfort-able joining the rush.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re pretty mobile in that we can get back to the puck before the forecheck begins and try to make that good first pass out of our zone,&rdquo; said Housley, a jackrabbit-quick rover now playing on his fourth NHL team. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care how good a defenseman you are, if there&rsquo;s somebody on you right away, you can&rsquo;t make a great play&rdquo;Housley had been paired with stay-at-home type Trent Yawney while Chiasson worked with Frank Musil and Zalapski operated with Patrick. But Yawney sustained a broken wrist Jan. 29 in a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs and King&rsquo;s initial response was to pair Chiasson more often with Housley.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011917/7915376-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg" title="f0008-01" width="951" height="1954"><figcaption class="caption-body">Defenseman Phil Housley leads Calgary in scoring this season.</figcaption></div>The early returns have been generally good. Only in a 5-1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings Jan. 26 did the Flames&rsquo; defense seem overmatched. Housley was leading the Flames in scoring after six games, Patrick has been his smooth self behind the blue-line and Chiasson has continued his progression into one of the league&rsquo;s best unheralded players.The one disappointment has been Zalapski, who followed up a heartening 1993-94 campaign with a poor start in 1995.The Flames&rsquo; Big Four had combined for three goals and 17 points, tied for fifth in the league in goals and tied for second in points among all teams&rsquo; top four defensemen. Conversely, the Flames had given up 16 goals, tied for 11th.The risk, of course, is that a light-hitting defense, even supplemented by the more combative Kevin Dahl and conservative Musil, will be often trapped up ice or overpowered for long stretches down low.&ldquo;It hasn&rsquo;t been a problem,&rdquo; Kidd said. &ldquo;They get the puck out, they box out pretty well. I mean, I do get second or third shots sometimes but what can you do? Maybe that&rsquo;s the price you pay when you&rsquo;ve got so many guys who are gifted offensively&rdquo;&ldquo;The one knock might be they&rsquo;ve got to be more physical,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;I think they move the puck pretty well, but they&rsquo;ve got to be, as a group, more physical. I don&rsquo;t think you can say to Phil, &lsquo;We need you to be more physical.&rsquo; You need five or six guys to get it, then you get it by synergy.&rdquo;Chiasson, the most versatile rearguard of the pack, feels a lighter defense can work because experience, as well as speed, has been added to the mix.&ldquo;Sometimes size can be a factor, but I think quickness and playing smart makes up for that,&rdquo; Chiasson said.At 26, Zalapski is a six-year veteran and the youngest member of the Big Four. Chiasson, who came over from the Detroit Red Wings in the Mike Vernon trade, is in his ninth NHL season while Patrick is entering his 11th year as a regular. Housley is in his 13th NHL season.King shrugs when asked if he thinks he has promoted the game&rsquo;s next trend.&ldquo;If it works, it&rsquo;s great,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;If it doesn&rsquo;t, well it was a poor theory&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-01

Rush hour in Calgary

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>Joe Murphy spent the off-season bulking up his body in an effort to bulk up his statistics.Murphy now believes bigger is better. The bigger he is. the better his offensive numbers are going to be. The veteran left winger went from 185 pounds to about 200 and the Chicago Blackhawks are reaping the benefits.While the 6-foot-1 Murphy counts calories, the Blackhawks are counting goals-he led the NHL in scoring with eight goals and 11 points in seven games. He aims to get three or four good scoring chances each game and said with a little luck, he could have scored a few more goals.The reason for his success, Murphy said, is that defenders can no longer count on him as an easy mark.&ldquo;Now when I go to the net I can hold checkers off,&rdquo; Murphy said. &ldquo;Before I was getting chances in front, but I wasn&rsquo;t able to finish because somebody would get a stick or an arm on me. Now I am able to fight through checks.&rdquo;Murphy has been fighting to break through since 1986. when the Detroit Red Wings made him the first collegiate player to be selected No. 1 overall in the NHL entry draft. He was little more than a bit player through parts of four seasons with the Red Wings and emerged as a regular with the Edmonton Oilers.Murphy, Adam Graves and Martin Gelinas formed the Oilers&rsquo; Kid Line in 1990, the last time Edmonton captured the Stanley Cup.Two years later Murphy had his best NHL season, scoring 35 goals and 82 points playing on a line centered by Bernie Nicholls. The two have been reunited this season and teamed with right winger Paul Ysebaert to form an effective offensive trio. Nicholls signed with Chicago in the off-season as a free agent after a year and a half with the New Jersey Devils.Nicholls is a far cry from the player who scored 70 goals and 150 points for the Los Angeles Kings in 198889, but it was felt he could bolster an offense that ranked fifth in the Central Division and was held off the board in three 1-0 shutout losses to the Toronto Maple Leafs in last year&rsquo;s playoffs.The Blackhawks averaged just three goals a game last season Through seven games this season they scored an average 3.9 goals per game-nearly a goal per game more.Murphy resents the notion he was unable to click with Jeremy Roenicl as his center, but admits he&rsquo;s comfort able flanking Nicholls. The two art also roommates on the road.&ldquo;Hey, I scored over 30 goals playing with J.R.; that&rsquo;s not what I&rsquo;d call bad season,&rdquo; Murphy said. &ldquo;I can&rsquo; put my finger on why Bernie and play so well together other than hi sees the ice so well and is an excellent passer. I know if I go to the net he&rsquo;ll get me the puck. We don&rsquo;t really talk much on the ice; it&rsquo;s more in the eyes. We read what each other is going to do.&rdquo;Nicholls said leaving the Devils, who made it to the semifinals last season only to lose tn overtime in Game 7 to the Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers, was an easy decision.&ldquo;They had no interest in signing me,&rdquo; Nicholls said.So, too, was the decision to join the Blackhawks.&ldquo;I wanted to go to a team that still believed in me as a scorer,&rdquo; Nicholls said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bonus that Joe and I get to play together again. We seem to bring out the best in each other.&rdquo;Nicholls notices a big change in Murphy since they last played together.Joe is so much more focused now,&rdquo; Nicholls said. &ldquo;Part of my job is to make sure he remains focused. The team needs him to play well and other players on the team expect him to play well. It&rsquo;s a big responsibility, but one he has to accept.&rdquo; &#9632;

Murphy no ordinary Joe playing with Nicholls

<div class="byline">By Jay Greenberg</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011886/7915438-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="380" height="532"></div>Considering the alternative, we were delighted to see the Game On, even if the New Jersey Devils and Buffalo Sabres were going on and on and on in a painful attempt to break a 1-1 tie. The play suggested these guys had not only been locked out, but manacled for three months, too.Granted, this was hardly atypical of scenes from around the jump-started NHL. Horrendous screeching and grinding noises have been emanating from the league&rsquo;s larger bodies and even little pips are squeaking, too.In desperation, trainers have shelved the ethyl chloride in favor of the WD-40. Nevertheless, in the Devils&rsquo; home opener, they looked as rusted as owner John McMullen&rsquo;s vault.Squeaked out of a berth in the final by a double overtime goal, rattled throughout the long summer with thoughts of what might have been, the Devils had failed to sign Hakan Loob or any other free agent who could make a difference. Instead, they girded them-selves for another season of bumping, grinding and listening to Claude Lemieux running his I nails along a black-board.A maxim of the sports business is if you don&rsquo;t get better, you&rsquo;re getting worse. While it&rsquo;s early, it does not appear even an elongated off-season put incites on Corey Millen or unlocked the goal-scoring potential of Randy McKay.A franchise that logically figures to use last season&rsquo;s 106 points and semifinal martyrdom as a springboard to success had started the season almost like it was walking a long plank over an empty p&infin;l. But then Bill Guerin blew in like a breath of fresh air, flew across the blueline and went top shelf, befitting his level of talent. The tie was broken and so was the tension, once New Jersey, behind two goals by Guerin, recorded its first victory of the season.General manager Lou Lamoriello, seated with New Jersey Governor Christie Todd Whitman (his kind of woman, she was elected on a pledge to cut spending), broke into a grin as wide as when he ponders the cost effectiveness of $l40,000-a-year-goaltender Martin Brodeur. Coach Jacques Lemaire almost fainted from relief, too. The Stanley Cup parade through the bedrooms of New Jersey will not proceed unless the alarm clook of a kid like Guerin has gone off for good.Certainly it appeared to last year, when the fifth pick in the 1989 draft scored 25 goals and was a much bigger factor against the New York Rangers than his modest two-goal playoff total made it appear. Guerin has terrific speed, a great shot and might be just a touch of confidence away from becoming a consistently big scorer.We originally suggested to Lemaire Guerin might be a 50-goal guy, but the coach wouldn&rsquo;t hear of such a thing. &ldquo;I hate to put the pressure on a player like that,&rdquo; Lemaire said, &ldquo;I played with one that had that kind of pressure and when Guy Lafleur didn&rsquo;t score for tow or three games, he had a hard time sleeping.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021378/7915431-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="505" height="877"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Guerin</figcaption></div>Okay, then how about 40? &ldquo;Billy&rsquo;s probably a guy who will score 30 goals,&rdquo; Lemaire finally allowed, &ldquo;and he&rsquo;ll be very happy with that.&rdquo; So probably, will be McMullen because then Guerin could be retained under budget. The Devils pass around nickels like manhole covers and accordingly, passed on retaining Nicholls, who figures to be happier being Bernie in Chicago.If Alexander Semak, who should have stayed in bed last year, doesn&rsquo;t bounce back, or Brian Rolston, still on the farm, doesn&rsquo;t step up, or if Jim Dowd doesn&rsquo;t turn out to be New Jersey&rsquo;s proudest native son since Sinatra, then center ice at the Meadowlands will not only be where Jimmy Hoffa is buried, but the 1995 Devils, too.Lemaire is an excellent teacher with a wonderful intuitive feel for his players, but many a coach who made a whole greater than the sum of its parts became a lot less brilliant when he couldn&rsquo;t brainstorm his team enough goals. The Devils are big and tough, but so becomes the sledding when you can&rsquo;t score. Either Stephane Richer or Lemieux may have to be made available for a g&infin;d center or the Devils, as strong as anybody along the wall, will hit the wall. &#9632;

f0010-01

Devils can’t do it without offense

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011839/7915500-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nobody has more points over the past three years than Adam Oates.</figcaption></div>The best game the NHL&rsquo;s best play-maker ever played didn&rsquo;t come in the world&rsquo;s best hockey league.It was a summer night in 1981 when Boston Bruins&rsquo; center Adam Oates, then a scrappy teen playing Jr. A box lacrosse for a team in Etobicoke, Ont., scored 10 goals and 19 assists in a game. His 29 points is still the Ontario Lacrosse Association Jr. A single-game standard.&ldquo;No question, it was my greatest game ever,&rdquo; Oates said.Oates won the scoring title that season, was judged the premier player in the league and presented the most valuable player award.The accolades haven&rsquo;t come as easy in his NHL career, even though Oates ranks fourth all-time in assists per game average-behind only Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Bobby Orr-and has collected more points in the past three seasons combined than any other player. He has played in All-Star Games, but so did Hector Marini.&ldquo;In this league the goal-scorers get the attention, not the guys who make the passes,&rdquo; Oates said, &ldquo;and that&rsquo;s just fine by me.&ldquo;Steve Yzerman got all the attention in Detroit and I played in Brett Hull&rsquo;s shadow in St. Louis. Here I&rsquo;m behind Ray (Bourque) and Cam (Neely). The fans in Boston appreciate what I do; that&rsquo;s all that matters to me.&rdquo;What matters to Bruin management is the 32-year-old Oates continues to develop as a player and shows no signs of slowing down. He works out harder than ever in the off-season to stay in shape, &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to let Father Time catch up to me,&rdquo; he said.Having already carved his niche as one of the league&rsquo;s top playmakers, Oates took his game to the another level two years ago when he became a scoring threat. After averaging 19 goals a season in his first six full NHL campaigns, Oates has put together back-to-back seasons of 45 and 32 goals.&ldquo;Before I came to Boston, I generally played the point on the power play and I was usually on the off side so I didn&rsquo;t take many shots,&rdquo; Oates said. &ldquo;With Boston I&rsquo;m as much a trigger-man on the power play as a set-up man.&ldquo;Once you start scoring, you get to like the feel of it and you start looking for more opportunities.&rdquo;His annual penalty-minute totals put him in the running for the Lady Byng Trophy and his skills are good enough to earn him the scoring championship, a first-team all-star berth or the Hart Trophy.While his assists bring him the most attention, there are a couple of misconceptions about Oates. For starters, the duo of Hull and Oates gained a lot of notoriety when they played for the St. Louis Blues, but the fact they only played together half a season is often overlooked.&ldquo;My first season in St. Louis, Brett and I only played together on power plays,&rdquo; Oates said. &ldquo;We asked (coach) Brian Sutter to play us together on a line. We played together for three games and were just awful so they broke us up. Something happened about five games later that brought us together again and this time it clicked.&rdquo;The duo was broken up permanently when Oates was traded to Boston Feb. 7, 1992 for Craig Janney after a contract dispute with the Blues. The Blues have never been shy about paying big money to star players, but they took a stand with Oates.Then there is the notion he gets many of his assists playing with super-sniper Neely. Two years ago, Oates led the NHL in assists with 97. Neely played just 13 games. Oates was third in assists last season with 80 and Neely was limited to 49 games.&ldquo;Adam&rsquo;s skills are so fantastic, it doesn&rsquo;t matter who he plays with, he&rsquo;ll earn points,&rdquo; said Sutter, who played against Oates and has coached him in St. Louis and Boston. &ldquo;Every year, we have given him added responsibility and every year he has reacted positively to it.&rdquo;Playing on a line with Neely and a variety of left wingers, Oates is off to another fine start with two goals and eight points in six games.Despite having so many assists to his credit-570 entering this season-it doesn&rsquo;t take Oates long to identify his most memorable one.&ldquo;Two years ago in Philadelphia I stepped in over their blueline and pulled up,&rdquo; Oates said. &ldquo;Steve Leach went wide right and cut to the net. I floated a pass about 10 feet in the air, past two defenders, and it landed perfectly so all Steve had to do was one-time it in. I remember thinking &lsquo;Yes!&rsquo; when I saw the puck go in.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

Passing on stardom: Oates getting better

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div>The greying of the NHL transpired in stages, as all important trends do.In the year of his 39th birthday, Kent Nilsson turned up in an Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; uniform, almost eight years after his last NHL game.In the year of his 38th birthday, Joe Mullen was poised to become the first American-born player to reach 1,000 points. Peter Stastny, 39, signed for a seven-figure contract last season. Craig MacTavish? Tim Hunter? Mike Ramsey? Mike Krushelnyski? All were thought to be in their final seasons last year. All coaxed new contracts out of somebody in the summer.What&rsquo;s happening? There was a time when your 30th birthday meant the end was near. Youth was in. Teams were building for some mythical future. Five-year plans were all the rage.Now age and experience are in. Instead of turning a cold shoulder towards veterans, teams are lining up to give Mark Howe or Kevin Lowe or Brad McCrimmon an extra year or more on their contracts.Part of the reason is the sheer number of players required to nil out NHL rosters. The dilution of talent means players who may have lost half a step can still compete against less-skilled opponents.The copycat syndrome is also a factor. First, the Pittsburgh Penguins and then the New York Rangers discovered employing the old George Allen theory-the future is now-made a lot of sense. When the Penguins were winning their two championships, Mullen and Brvan Trottier. Larry Murohy and Ron Francis all played prominent roles.In the Rangers&rsquo; win, Mark Messier, Lowe and MacTavish all made significant contributions.Even the expansion teams reversed the common practice of trying to build through the entry draft. It&rsquo;s impossible to build solely through the draft anymore. As the Florida Panthers aptly demonstrated last season, you&rsquo;re better off acquiring serviceable, experienced NHLers and counting on them to play hard every night.The one expansion team that went the old-fashioned way-with raw, callow youth-was the Ottawa Senators. Belatedly, even the Senators saw the light and surrounded their talented kids with a Troy Murray here and a Chris Dahlquist there.Naturally, there&rsquo;s also a financial consideration. With salaries escalating, the incentive for players to stay in top physical condition increases, so they can hang on for as long as a team is willing to wave a new contract in front of their faces. Some-MacTavish, Mullen, Hunter-are able to earn as much in two years as they earned in the first 10 seasons.The aging population also helps explain why free agency at age 32 ultimately became the make-it-or-break-it issue in the collective bargaining negotiations.More than 150 of the players listed in the NHL&rsquo;s 1994-95 guide will have turned 30 by July 1,1995. Now some are minor-leaguers, but the vast majority play in the NHL and many are high-profile types-Wayne Gretzky, Adam Oates, Ray Bourque, Phil Housley, Steve Yzerman, Al Maclnnis, etc.If the league had lowered the age for unrestricted free agency to 30, the market could have been flooded with quality players, able to change teams without worrying about compensation.As it is, with a 32-team league possible by the turn of the century, the NHL&rsquo;s demographics will mirror the general North American population-older, but still active.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021456/7915531-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="378" height="500"></div> &#9632;

f0012-02

We’re in midst of NHL golden age

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011684/7915569-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="377" height="533"></div>Terry Crisp gazed at the hill of anti-Tampa Bay Lightning propaganda placed on the table before him and didn&rsquo;t know whether to laugh or cry.The Hockey News had picked his team to finish sub-subterranean. An NHL annual criticized Crisp for &ldquo;always screaming at the officials,&rdquo; and added, &ldquo;he sometimes berates his players in the press, which is wrong.&rdquo;In the end, the 51-year-old, who owns one more Stanley Cup ring as a coach than most of his peers, laughed. After 30 seasons farming hockey soil as a player and coach, Crisp has finally figured how to filter the wheat from the chaff.&ldquo;That stuff is false,&rdquo; said Crisp with galvanic tones that suggest that his batteries have been re-energized. &ldquo;No. 1. nobody influences officials by yelling at them. Three years ago, I might have but now when I yell, it better be from Crispy in a positive way and it better be supporting be from Crispy in a positive way and it better be supporting his players.&rdquo;But it says here that you berate your players.&ldquo;I do not berate my players in the press ever,&rdquo; he replied with force, but without rancor. &ldquo;I have a job to do and sometimes I hurt feelings when I do it, but a coach never has a right to demean an athlete in any circumstances.&rdquo;On this night Crisp&rsquo;s Lightning was to play the New York Islanders. After five games, it was 1-3-1-then the team consecutively beat the Isles and Montreal Canadiens to even its record, not bad considering that Tampa Bay was selected by some to finish 26th out of 26.&ldquo;Being picked dead last doesn&rsquo;t bother me,&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been through too many years of hockey to worry about that. I&rsquo;ll go in my dressing room and say, &lsquo;Boys, guess where we&rsquo;ve been picked? Twenty-sixth. Now we can either make it a truthful statement or we can work away and take it as it is. But don&rsquo;t get all unglued about this.&rsquo;&rdquo;Ungluing Crisp, which may have been easy five years ago, is a challenge for any journalist. Gray-flecked hair and wrinkles have accompanied a maturity that, fortunately, has not dulled his sense of humor. He tells a listener that his supernatural powers enabled him to predict the lookout&rsquo;s end.&ldquo;(Lightning general manager) Phil (Esposito) had put us on a golf course-therapeutic, of course-to keep us mentally sharp. And for the first time in my life, I broke 90.1 shot 89 and I knew right then it was Murphy&rsquo;s Law. Crispy was getting too sharp in golf; he&rsquo;s going back to work.&rdquo;What he has to work with is not exactly God&rsquo;s gift to hookey coaching. His most prominent player, Denis Savard, is way over the hill and his best defenseman, Marc Bergevin, has been discarded by the Chicago Blackhawks, Islanders and Hartford Whalers.Top draft picks Chris Gratton and Roman Hamrlik have too little experience. When you ask Crisp what kind of club he has, he employs a word he hates-transitional.&ldquo;When I was hired,&rdquo; Crisp said, &ldquo;Phil put a seven-year plan on the board for us. I studied it and agreed upon it. Our third year was when we decided to bring in some youth. We had &#316; to get fresh legs I after three years of I drafting.&ldquo;Management, I coaches and fans all I have to be patient I because kids will make mistakes that are going to cost the team. But these kids are the nucleus of our future.&rdquo;You&rsquo;ll notice that he suggests that at some point he might not be there, although one doubts if the best coach in history-whomever he might be-could have done more with the Lightning&rsquo;s motley crew than Crisp.&ldquo;Coaches are always the first victim,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I knew that when I become a coach. I accepted that as part of my regimen. I mean, I got fired after I won a Stanley Cup. If you can win a Cup and get fired, you surely can get fired for any number of reasons.&ldquo;I work with what I have. You put Terry Crisp on top of Secretariat and you&rsquo;ll have a good showing. Put me on a Mennonite plow horse and we&rsquo;re going to be hard-pressed to stay with the boys in the pack. But the nicest thing about my job is that I only answer to Phil Esposito.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021176/7915562-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="507" height="878"><figcaption class="caption-body">Terry Crisp</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0013-01

Crisp forges on despite detractors

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>John Cullen is no literary critic, but he knows irony when he sees it.The one-time 94-point scorer returned this summer to Pittsburgh-the scene of his greatest successes-to play for coach Ed Johnston. Johnston was the man who, as general manager of the Hartford Whalers, traded for Cullen and subsequently lost his job.The Penguins still employ all three players from the trade-Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings-and won two Stanley Cups.The only winner in Hartford was Brian Burke. He took Johnston&rsquo;s job.It&rsquo;s a very ironic thing going on here,&rdquo; said Cullen, who signed as a free agent. &ldquo;E.J. took a lot of heat for that trade. Of all the things that have happened in my career, that&rsquo;s one thing that doesn&rsquo;t sit well with me.&rdquo;He insists redemption is not a factor in his triumphant return. In his first six games he had two goals and seven points. Both goals were one-man highlight shows.Here&rsquo;s more irony. Cullen put his Pittsburgh home up for sale after the trade to Hartford. He talked to Jennings, then a homeless man. as their paths crossed. Cullen rented him the house.This summer the two talked again.Cullen: &ldquo;You&rsquo;re going to have to get out of my house.&rdquo;Jennings: &ldquo;Why. did you sell it?&rdquo;Cullen: &ldquo;No, I&rsquo;m coming back to live in it.&rdquo;And hopefully, to revive his hockey life-preferably without injuries. Nothing else is more responsible for Cullen&rsquo;s fall from a first-line replacement for Mario Lemieux in Pittsburgh to a stand-in for Mike Eastwood with the Toronto Maple Leafs.First the back went out in Hartford. He had surgery. Then it was a trade to Toronto, a neck injury, a sprained ankle, shattered confidence and a permanent spot in the Maple Leaf Gardens press box.Cullen knows he wasn&rsquo;t himself. The visible pressure was on to be Leafs&rsquo; second-line scoring center behind Doug Gilmour, but the out-of-step disc in an his neck was applying a more painful, inescapable heat.So he started getting away from his game. Out with the feistiness, in with finesse. Wrong decision.&ldquo;I was probably trying to do all the wrong things. I&rsquo;m a scorer and I&rsquo;ve got to create points. When you get two or three shifts a game it&rsquo;s tough to score.&rdquo;He had turned into a $950,000 fourth-liner. It&rsquo;s a price the Leafs weren&rsquo;t willing to pay last season, so they bought him out of his contract.&ldquo;Of course you doubt yourself,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In the papers in Toronto all I heard was they need a second-line center, they&rsquo;ve got to trade for a second-line center and that&rsquo;s supposed to be me.&ldquo;Did I think I was finished?&rdquo; Cullen paused. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think so.&rdquo;But in Pittsburgh, he&rsquo;s healthy for the first time in nearly four years, which he attributes partly to extra rest from the lockout. The local rave is a hit Cullen took to set up linemate and best friend Kevin Stevens for a goal against the New York Islanders Jan. 29.&ldquo;Joe Reekie came across and almost decapitated him,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;But John just bounced back up. I think he has got revived a bit here.&rdquo;It helps to be in good company. In Toronto his linemates included the likes of Rob Pearson, Bill Berg, Mark Osborne and anyone else who has touch as the fifth sense.Stevens and Joey Mullen they are not. In six games, Stevens had four goals and Mullen five. The line is a big reason the Penguins started the season with six consecutive wins.&ldquo;Everybody, including myself, is fortunate to be on a team where five or six guys can score 40 or 50 goals,&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a team that has other guys who can take a little bit of the pressure off him.&rdquo;In Pittsburgh, no one forgets Cullen had 94 points in 65 games while Lemieux sat out most of the season in 1990-91.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s no quitting in him,&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what makes him a great player.&rdquo; &#9632;

Prodigal son Cullen back

<div class="byline">-Robyn Norwood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011664/7915631-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="567" height="963"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bobby Doi las</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021180/7915624-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="162" height="158"></div>Those defense-minded Mighty Ducks of Anaheim from last season are missing in action.Anaheim won 33 games in its first season with disciplined defense, but allowed a combined 16 goals on back-to-back nights against the St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars.The 7-2 loss to St. Louis on Jan. 31 marked the first time since the first game in franchise history that the Ducks have allowed that many goals.The next night in Dallas, the Ducks were beaten 9-2 by the Stars, allowing the most goals and most shots (51) in franchise history.After seven games last season, the Ducks were 2-3-2 with 23 goals against. This season they were 3-4-0 with 31 against.This is not a goaltending collapse or even rookie jitters. It&rsquo;s a faltering veteran defense. Shots against have soared from 31 to 39 a game.&ldquo;We talk about bumps in the road, this is our biggest one yet,&rdquo; said Ducks&rsquo; coach Ron Wilson. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not just how the young guys are responding. Where the hell are the rest of the guys? You don&rsquo;t see Oleg Tverdovsky out there on the ice for all the goals. Where the hell are the people who played last year?&rdquo;Defenseman Bobby Dollas is one of them. He finished last season at plus-20, but was at minus-1 this season.&ldquo;I think we forget sometimes last year we had to take a punch in the head to hold up somebody,&rdquo; Dollas said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not doing the little things we did last year.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Ducks picked up left winger Todd Krygier from the Washington Capitals Feb. 2 for a fourth-round pick in 1996. Krygier, 29, has 67 goals and 143 points in a 340-game NHL career, but hadn&rsquo;t played with the Capitals this season. &#9632;

f0015-01

Where’s the defense?

<div class="byline">-Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03823/7915662-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="160" height="160"></div>Half the battle is over. Al Iafrate still hasn&rsquo;t put on a pair of skates since May 11, and isn&rsquo;t sure when he will, but the Bruins&rsquo; defenseman is back in Boston again.Iafrate, who had surgery on his left knee after last season&rsquo;s playoffs, left the club during training camp over a misunderstanding involving the condition of his knee. He said he felt pressured to skate before he was ready and was handed a team suspension. The suspension was lifted after he arrived at Boston Garden Jan. 31 to continue his rehabilitation.The rehab consists mainly of running and work on exercise machines. Iafrate won&rsquo;t even guess when he might get back on the ice.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s too frustrating to set a date.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My knee&rsquo;s healing and making progress. That&rsquo;s the important thing. 1 think my leg is getting stronger, but I haven&rsquo;t set a day.&rdquo;The Bruins, who traded Glen Wesley to the Hartford Whalers in part because of Iafrate&rsquo;s offensive potential, would love to see him back.Then again, they&rsquo;re used to waiting and recently found their patience rewarded. It paid when, after two seasons of frustration, Cam Neely returned last year to score 50 goals.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to lose sleep over this,&rdquo; said coach Brian Sutter. &ldquo;When Al&rsquo;s ready to play, he&rsquo;ll play. For now, it&rsquo;s good to see him back.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Bruins, who had scored just five goals in four previous games, stopped a two-game losing streak with a 6-4 win over the Ottawa Senators Feb. 2. Bryan Smolinski scored his first two goals, while Brian Sutter collected his 250th coaching victory.Cam Neely, who played in the first six games and had five goals and eight points, signed a two-year contract with Nike to help launch a new street hockey shoe&hellip;It was a busy week for team dentists. Both Neely and Smolinski lost teeth during games. Ironically, both players scored goals after being tagged in the mouth-Neely at Philadelphia Jan. 28, and Smolinski against Ottawa. &#9632;

f0015-03

lafrate’s back in town, but no return date set

<div class="byline">-Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-05418/7915693-1-eng-US/f0015-052.jpg" title="f0015-05" width="567" height="980"><figcaption class="caption-body">Doug Houda</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04601/7915700-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="161" height="162"></div>The acquisition of defenseman Doug Houda in the off-season hardly was a blockbuster. But Doug Who has become a good fit.&ldquo;I thought he could bring elements to our team that we needed,&rdquo; said coach-general manager John Muckler. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a gritty player. He can fit into any system, especially a defensive one like we have here.&rdquo;Muckler had to make a move because he lost a gritty player in Randy Moller as a free agent to the Florida Panthers. He was one of the few hitters the Sabres had on defense.Houda liked the fit as well. After stops in Detroit, Hartford and Los Angeles, he thought Buffalo might give him that real chance.&ldquo;I watched the team in the playoffs last year,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They wanted to win. When you don&rsquo;t it&rsquo;s not fun.&rdquo;Houda won&rsquo;t be more than a fifth or sixth defenseman, but he plays a strong stay-at-home game whenever he&rsquo;s on the ice.Throughout his career, Houda has not played on a .500 or better team. He thinks this one is a winner and wants to be a part of it. Muckler said that&rsquo;s an attitude that can help.&ldquo;If you have a good nucleus, you can fit those types of players into your concept,&rdquo; Muckler said. &ldquo;Edmonton did that for years, filling in the third and fourth line, or the sixth or seventh defenseman.&rdquo;&ldquo;My job is to clear my zone and take the body,&rdquo; Houda said. &ldquo;Other things will take care of themselves.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Alex Mogilny had just one goal in seven games, but the chances are still there. &ldquo;The timing seems off for a lot of guys,&rdquo; said assistant coach John Tortorella&hellip; Dominik Hasek picked up his ninth career shutout and eighth as a Sabre in Washington Feb. 2.There is still no explanation as to what&rsquo;s wrong with Pat LaFontaine&rsquo;s knee. He has been receiving therapy in New York. The Sabres said Jan. 23 that LaFontaine would be skating in ten days to two weeks, but there has been no evidence of that. &#9632;

f0015-05

Houda fills support role

<div class="byline">-Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011618/7915731-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="159" height="161"></div>Trevor Kidd played exhibition games without ever getting comfortable in the Calgary Flames&rsquo; goal.Thirty minutes here. Sixty minutes there. It ended with a 4.66 goals-against average-nothing special.In the new season, however, Kidd provided answers to the most-asked question surrounding the Flames: How will their goaltending be in the absence of Mike Vernon?The answer has been very good. He has started the first six games and provided a chance to win in every one.&ldquo;I knew I could get the job done,&rdquo; Kidd said, &ldquo;but the players? They&rsquo;d never really seen me do it.&ldquo;The first game against Mike (Jan. 22), if things hadn&rsquo;t gone well, they might have thought, &lsquo;it&rsquo;s too bad we traded Vernie.&rsquo; No one would have said it or anything, but it might have been in the back of their minds.&rdquo;Kidd did little goaltending during the lockout, but honed his eye-to-hand coordination by playing badminton.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Gary Roberts had a scare during a Jan. 30 practice. He was leaning over to pick up a copper rivet that had fallen off a skate when defenseman Zarley Zalapski-skating backwards-ran into him. Roberts sustained a &ldquo;burner&rdquo; in his neck and it was feared the progress he made recovering from nerve damage to his neck, had been undone. Following acupuncture treatment the next day, he returned to the lineup.Defenseman Trent Yawney damaged ligaments in his right thumb in a fight with Toronto&rsquo;s Dixon Ward Jan. 28. He won&rsquo;t play until late February. &#9632;

f0016-01

Kidd top man for new era

<div class="byline">-Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021255/7915762-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="160" height="160"></div>Count Joe Murphy among those who love the offensive look of the Chir&iacute;&#322;&sigma;n RlarLhawLQMurphy showed just how much he likes it by scoring eight goals in seven games. Murphy had at least one goal in six straight games after being blanked on opening night.&ldquo;Our style is more free flowing, which is the way I like to play,&rdquo; Murphy said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a lot more speed than we&rsquo;ve had, and it&rsquo;s a speed game. Speed kills.&rdquo;The Hawks made a move to upgrade their skill late last season by acquiring Tony Amonte, Gary Suter and Paul Ysebaert, sacrificing much of their grit (Stephane Matteau and Jocelyn Lemieux).It didn&rsquo;t pay dividends in the playoffs, when the Hawks lost three 1-0 games to the Toronto Maple Leafs en route to a first-round exit, but the moves are paying off now.After losing their first two games, the Hawks won four of their next five, scoring 22 goals in those wins.&ldquo;I think 22 goals in four games speaks for itself,&rdquo; Jeremy Roenick said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a different team. We&rsquo;ve got a lot of offense-minded people.&rdquo;Signing veteran center Bernie Nicholls as a free agent hasn&rsquo;t hurt. Murphy and Nicholls were linemates in Edmonton when Murphy had his best season. Nicholls had a goal and six assists in seven games.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s great playing with Bernie again,&rdquo; Murphy said. &ldquo;He sees the ice so well. If you can find the holes, you know he&rsquo;ll get you the puck.&rdquo;Coach Darryl Sutter predicted the offense will get better when players learn to use their speed as a group.More goals and fewer tighter games also allowed Sutter to reduce the ice time for Chris Chelios, Suter, Brent Sutter and Dirk Graham.NOTEBOOK: Jeremy Roenick notched his 500th career point Jan. 29 against the Los Angeles Kings. He did it in 430 games&hellip;Roger Johansson, acquired from the Calgary Flames in the waiver draft, is on the top six on defense ahead of Keith Carney and Greg Smyth.Darryl Sutter hoped to keep eight defenseman as long as possible. &ldquo;I think you need eight,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We proved that in the playoffs last year when we had injuries.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-02

Speed aids new attack

<div class="byline">-Mike Helka</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011444/7915793-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="161" height="160"></div>Out with the old and in with the&hellip;old.In a decision that took nearly two weeks to make, Dallas Stars&rsquo; coach-general manager Bob Gainey named Neal Broten the team&rsquo;s new captain, replacing the traded Mark Tinordi.Broten&rsquo;s resume is impeccable. In fact, no player better represents the franchise&rsquo;s history better than the 35-year-old who is in his 15th season with the team. There was still a lot of thought given to 24-year-old Mike Modano taking the reigns.&ldquo;There seems to have been a shift away from a guy who gets it done in the trenches to the young guy who is your best player,&rdquo; Gainey said of captaincies granted to Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; Trevor Linden, Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; Eric Lindros and Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; Keith Tkachuk. &ldquo;And there was a lot of thought given to that. But the players who fall into that category for us could do it in two, three, four years and still do it for another 8-10 years after.&rdquo;&ldquo;(Broten) has been through everything and won at every level,&rdquo; said left winger Dave Gagner. &ldquo;He has respect around the league.&rdquo;Modano, Gagner and Shane Churla will continue to rotate as alternate captains and are joined by 22-year-old defenseman Derian Hatcher.NOTEBOOK: Add two more players to the Stars&rsquo; list of unfinished business-Mighty Ducks of Anaheim&rsquo;s Stu Crimson and San Jose Sharks&rsquo; Andrei Nazarov. Grimson late-hit Paul Broten Feb. 1 in Dallas and Nazarov illegally checked Brent Gilchrist from behind Feb. 2, knocking three of Gilchrist&rsquo;s teeth out. Both hits were called &ldquo;cheap shots&rdquo; by the Stars and Bob Gainey was particularly upset with Anaheim&rsquo;s overall play. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m mad about it. It&rsquo;s marked down. We won&rsquo;t forget it&rdquo;&hellip;The Stars acquired center/left winger Iain Fraser from the Quebec Nordiques for added depth up front. &#9632;

f0017-01

Captaincy a tribute to old warrior

<div class="byline">-Cynthia Lambert</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-021117/7915824-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="159" height="158"></div>Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman seldom cares what people think of his decisions. So it wasn&rsquo;t surprising when he took regulars Dino Ciccarelli and Shawn Burr out of the lineup Jan. 30 in Edmonton.&ldquo;Feathers will be ruffled,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s part of the game.&rdquo;Bowman sat the pair to get forwards Mike Sillinger and Greg Johnson into his lineup. Sillinger had not played because of an eye injury; Johnson had played only once. Those circumstances didn&rsquo;t help diffuse the situation for the veterans.&ldquo;Don&rsquo;t even talk to me about it,&rdquo; Burr said.Ciccarelli was more confused after having scored the winning goal the day before. That evening he signed a $1.75-million, two-year contract.&ldquo;I play my (bleep) off for him and I pay the price for the team,&rdquo; Ciccarelli said. &ldquo;There must be something he doesn&rsquo;t like. Still, it&rsquo;s tough to complain since the team is playing so well. I don&rsquo;t want to read into it too much unless it goes on.&rdquo;It didn&rsquo;t. Both Burr and Ciccarelli were in the lineup Feb. 1 in Calgary.NOTEBOOK:New York Rangers&rsquo; president-general manager Neil Smith had a good laugh when rumors surfaced he was headed back to Detroit as team president. He was previously the Wings&rsquo; chief scout. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s hilarious,&rdquo; Smith said. &ldquo;No, it&rsquo;s not true.&rdquo; Smith has this year and two more left on his $500,000 per season deal with the Rangers.Wings&rsquo; defenseman Paul Coffey underwent two acupuncture treatments in Calgary to alleviate back pain that kept him out of two games. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll try anything,&rdquo; said Coffey, who used a doctor recommended by Flames&rsquo; left winger Gary Roberts&hellip;Goaltender Mike Vernon, who stands to become an unrestricted free agent at season&rsquo;s end, reportedly rejected a three-year, $6-million deal from the Wings. &#9632;

f0017-02

Rankled regulars doubt Bowman

<div class="byline">-Dan Barnes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011498/7915855-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="159" height="158"></div>Dean McAmmond&rsquo;s sophomore season was cut horribly short by a skate blade.In a 7-0 loss to the Chicago Blackhawks Feb. 1, McAmmond was involved in a collision along the boards. As McAmmond fell to the ice, Hawk defenseman Eric Weinrich&rsquo;s skate blade sliced through the Achilles tendon in McAmmond&rsquo;s left leg, cutting all the way to the bone.Team physician, Dr. David Reid, repaired the severed tendon in an operation at the University of Alberta Hospital in the early morning hours of Feb. 2. McAmmond is expected to miss the rest of the season.&ldquo;When Dr. Reid fixes my Achilles I&rsquo;m going to get him to work on my hands too,&rdquo; McAmmond joked. He had played in six of the Oilers&rsquo; seven games and didn&rsquo;t register a point. In 45 games last season he scored six goals and 27 points and was a team-high plus-12. Speed had been his biggest asset and the injury may have placed his budding career in jeopardy.McAmmond felt no initial pain, but when he tried to get up and skate to the bench, he knew something was terribly wrong. He was helped to the bench.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a big loss,&rdquo; said coach George Burnett. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very unfortunate for Dean.&rdquo;Earlier in the game, McAmmond was the victim of a slash from goalie Ed Belfour, who received a major for high-sticking, but was not ejected by referee Andy Van Hellemond.Teemu Selanne of the Winnipeg Jets suffered a similar injury last year, though his Achilles had not been totally severed as McAmmond&rsquo;s was.NOTEBOOK: The smallest crowd in franchise history, 10,492, saw the Oilers&rsquo; suffer their worst home shutout defeat on Feb. 1 as they fell 70 to Chicago. &ldquo;It is impossible to support an NHL franchise on crowds of 10,000 or 11,000,&rdquo; said general manager Glen Sather&hellip;Kent Nilsson went minus-1 on his first NHL shift in almost eight years and saw little more ice time in his debut, a 4-2 loss to the Detroit Red Wings Jan. 30. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard, but that&rsquo;s part of the game,&rdquo; Nilsson said. &ldquo;If I get ready to play, I know I can help this team.&rdquo;Vladimir Vujtek wonders about his future with the Oilers. They cut him from the second training camp and sent him to the Las Vegas Thunder of the International League. The Thunder and Oilers got into a dispute after Vujtek had played one game. The Oilers tried to send him to another independent team, but settled on having him with their own affiliate, the Cape Breton Oilers of the American League. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s time to make a decision about my future,&rdquo; Vujtek said. &lsquo;It&rsquo;s time to make the final decision. If you don&rsquo;t have any future in me, trade me. If you do. play me.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0018-01

McAmmond gone for season after slicing Achilles tendon

<div class="byline">-Dave Joseph</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021140/7915893-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="577" height="911"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Cirella</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04537/7915900-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="157" height="155"></div>The Florida Panthers started the season with two major needs: a proven sniper and a physically dominating defenseman.One out of two isn&rsquo;t bad.Paul Laus, the Panthers&rsquo; tough, rugged defenseman who played only 39 games last season as a rookie, had dressed in seven of the first eight and was giving the Panthers the toughness they need.In a game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Laus, 25, fought Rudy Poeschek. Against the New York Islanders, Laus took on Brett Lindros. The pair had previously fought in a pre-season game.Along with his ability to hit bodies and throw punches, Laus was showing the Panthers how much he had improved.Known his whole career as a heavy hitter-he had 427 penalty minutes in 1992-93 in Cleveland of the Intemational League-Laus was showing more confidence with the puck and smoother playmaking abilities, though he was still looking for his first point I after seven games.On a team that sports a slow, old defense led by Keith Brown, 35, Joe Cirella, 32, and Randy Moller, 32, Laus gives the Panthers some hope before No. 1 draft pick Ed Jovanovski I develops into a bon afide player.&ldquo;Paul is a big guy, someone who I hits and we need him back there,&rdquo; said coach Roger Neilson, who dressed Laus over Cirella in three games. &ldquo;When he&rsquo;s out there guys know they have to keep their head up.&rdquo;Laus, 6-foot-1 and 212 pounds, realizes that, while he has improved his skills, he&rsquo;s on the ice for his toughness.&ldquo;I know what my role is,&rdquo; Laus said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m here to intimidate, get physical and hit and bang. I&rsquo;m not going to score five or six goals, or get a lot of assists. That&rsquo;s okay.&ldquo;I think last year they tried to ease me in because it was my first year. Now, I&rsquo;m just happy to be getting the opportunity.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Veteran defenseman Keith Brown underwent arthroscopic surgery Feb. 1 on a sprained left knee. He was expected to be out two-to-three weeks&hellip; Right winger Jody Hull missed the 1-1 tie with the Montreal Canadiens Feb. 2 because of a viral illness.Captain Brian Skrudland&rsquo;s wife Lana gave birth Jan. 29 to a healthy girl, Carly Rae. The baby is the couple&rsquo;s third child&hellip;Center Stu Barnes scored the Panthers&rsquo; only goal in the 1-1 tie with Montreal to maintain a point-a-game average. Barnes had eight points (three goals, five assists) in eight games.The tie with Montreal kept the Canadiens winless (0-3-2) against the Panthers and 0-4-3 in Florida since expansion came to the Sunshine State.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03816/7915886-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="569" height="905"><figcaption class="caption-body">Keith Brown</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-02

Aggressive Laus surprises with all-around Performance

<div class="byline">-Jeff Jacobs</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-021033/7915931-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="581" height="1568"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat Verbeek</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011379/7915938-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="162" height="159"></div>Do the Hartford Whalers need a No. 1 center? Is Pat Verbeek going to be traded to Toronto? These matters are weighing heavy on the Whalers&rsquo; minds after scoring 12 goals in six games.Their 2-2-2 record masks the fact both wins were against the winless Ottawa Senators and the goaltending has been terrific.&ldquo;In the sense we don&rsquo;t have a Messier, a Gretzky or a Lemieux, no we do not have a No. 1 center,&rdquo; coach Paul Holmgren said. &ldquo;Do we need one? I thought by committee our group was strong.&rdquo;But through the early going, the Whalers&rsquo; center by committee has not been strong. It is not surprising the name of St. Louis Blues&rsquo; center Craig Janney, from Enfield. Conn., has surfaced in trade rumors.Andrew Cassels has struggled on the No. 1 line with Verbeek and Geoff Sanderson.&ldquo;After scoring 85 points two years ago, Andrew had a bad last year (58 points) for whatever reason,&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;I thought he&rsquo;d bounce back and have a good year. One thing Andrew did two years ago was compete. He played hard, worked hard. 1 don&rsquo;t see him doing it right now.&rdquo;Verbeek Was down with all the rumors of him going to Toronto.&ldquo;It is out of my control,&rdquo; Verbeek said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s really nothing to talk about unless it happens.&rdquo;Verbeek, who is making $1.15 million in the final year of a three-year deal, would like in the area of $2 million a year. The Whalers have balked.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult for Pat,&rdquo; Holmgren said. &ldquo;I know Pat wants to be here. He wants to be part of what we all think will be good times down the road. He has been through the tough times.&ldquo;He has a brand new home. His wife is expecting. I know he doesn&rsquo;t want to go anywhere. He can only control his preparation and his play.&rdquo;Said Verbeek: &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve said it before to you. I want to stay. You don&rsquo;t have to spell it out. We&rsquo;ll play better.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Brad McCrimmon became the 47th NHLer to play 1,100 games, reaching that mark in Ottawa Feb. 2&hellip;With a 2-1-1 start, Sean Burke has a puny goals-against average of 1.48. &ldquo;To the opposition he looks bigger than the net. They can&rsquo;t see anything,&rdquo; Paul Holmgren said. &#9632;

f0019-02

Lack of production, rumors at center of sluggish start

<div class="byline">-Rick Sadowski</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03706/7915969-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="158" height="158"></div>The days of the explosive, high-scoring Los Angeles Kings appear to be over.While the, Kings showed great defensive improvement in their first half-dozen games, an anemic offense accounted for 16 goals-seven on power plays-in that stretch.It was little wonder, then, the Kings opened with a 1-4-1 record even though five of the games were played at home. The three points in six games were the fewest for a Kings&rsquo; team from the start of a season since they began 1-5-0 in 1987-88.They scored as many as four goals only once and that came in their only win, a 4-2 decision over the Winnipeg Jets Jan. 28.The offense was so poor John Druce was the leading goal-scorer with three and he didn&rsquo;t even dress for the first two games.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got to be a little more creative offensively,&rdquo; said left winger Mike Donnelly, who had no goals on 16 shots. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not playing a real wide-open style where we&rsquo;re losing 65 and 7-6 and that&rsquo;s good. We&rsquo;re in just about every game. But a goal here or there would have made a difference in the outcomes.&rdquo;Except tor a 6-3 loss to me Chicago Blackhawks Jan. 29, the Kings either were tied or led in every game in the third period.It didn&rsquo;t help Wayne Gretzky, who had two goals, played three consecutive games while suffering from flu.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t feel very good at all,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But with 48 games I can&rsquo;t afford to miss games. I&rsquo;ll just drink a lot of water and try and stay in the lineup.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Right winger Tony Granato, a healthy scratch for the first time in his career Jan. 28 against Winnipeg, wasn&rsquo;t happy but said he understood where coach Barry Melrose &ldquo;was coming from&rdquo; after they met the next day. Granato was in the lineup Jan. 29 against Chicago and scored a goal in a 6-3 loss&hellip;Rookie Jamie Storr made 22 saves and picked up his first NHL win over Winnipeg, then was yanked in the Chicago game after yielding four first-period goals. Rookie Pauli Jaks finished up in his NHL debut, but was sent back to Phoenix of the International League Feb. 1 when Kelly Hrudey returned from a bruised kneecap injury. &#9632;

f0019-03

All the Kings’ men mired in early-season drought

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011276/7916000-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="159" height="163"></div>Donald Brashear&rsquo;s NHL career, at least with the Montreal Canadiens, could be over-almost before it began.The rookie left winger was demoted to Montreal&rsquo;s American League affiliate in Fredericton after missing a flight to Tampa Bay Jan. 30.The incident came three days after he was kicked out of practice by coach Jacques Demers and benched for a game after slashing the back of Brian Bellows&rsquo; knees.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say if he&rsquo;ll ever be back,&rdquo; Demers said. &ldquo;I mean, who knows what position we&rsquo;ll be in down the road. I&rsquo;ve been very patient, but the trouble seems to be coming from the same people. Enough&rsquo;s enough.&ldquo;If he had been involved in a traffic accident on the way to the airport, that would have been all right. He wasn&rsquo;t. He slept in. That&rsquo;s unacceptable.&rdquo;Brashear said he understood the coach&rsquo;s decision.&ldquo;I know how it works. I&rsquo;m not stupid,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I would have done the same thing. That&rsquo;s life. But it has happened to me too often. That&rsquo;s why I&rsquo;m (in Fredericton). It was a mistake&rsquo; and I&rsquo;ve got to pay for it.&rdquo;This isn&rsquo;t the first time Brashear has landed in hot water with Demers or his teammates.Once last year during a 14-game stint with Montreal, he was late to board the bus following practice. Another time, he refused to give up his seat on a team flight so several veterans could play cards.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty serious,&rdquo; said Brashear, 23, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t always pay attention. I&rsquo;ve got to learn. You always have things to learn in life.&ldquo;Did I blow it? Yeah, a bit. I have to start thinking about my career. This can&rsquo;t happen all the time. I&rsquo;ve got to wake up, look in the mirror and figure out what&rsquo;s going on.&rdquo;Brashear was expected to play an enforcer&rsquo;s role with the Canadiens this season. He has had seasons of 261 and 250 penalty minutes in the AHL and had one fighting major in three games with the Canadiens this season.NOTEBOOK: Following a two-game respite, Gilbert Dionne returned to the Canadiens&rsquo; lineup, coincidentally after he stood up in front of his teammates in the dressing room and apologized to goaltender Patrick Roy for disrupting the team with a series of ill-advised remarks.Diminutive center Paul DiPietro, who was in and out of the lineup in the early portion of the season, said he expects to be traded although he hopes to remain in Montreal. If he&rsquo;s moved, DiPietro said he hopes it&rsquo;s to a team where he&rsquo;ll play regularly.Backup goalie Ron Tugnutt sustained a strained left knee in practice. Martin Brochu was recalled from Fredericton to back up Roy. &#9632;

f0020-01

Brashear wears out welcome

<div class="byline">-Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02911/7916031-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="159" height="157"></div>There was never any debate the New Jersey Devils had to re-sign John MacLean and make him the team&rsquo;s second millionaire in the process.Eleven years after he was drafted in the first round from his hometown Oshawa Generals, the 30-year-old right winger ranked as the franchise&rsquo;s all-time leader in games played (712), goals (280) and points (561). He had come to signify everything positive in an organization which experienced its ups and downs.Facing a list of 12 players in the final year of their contracts, general manager Lou Lamoriello made MacLean his top priority. On Jan. 31, MacLean became one of four Devils to re-sign when he agreed to a four-year deal worth almost $7 million. His annual salary rose to $1.5 million, second on the team behind Scott Stevens at $2.8 million.Others to sign were right winger Randy McKay ($2.1 million, three years), left winger Tom Chorske ($1.2 million, three years) and defenseman Viacheslav Fetisov, who was officially brought back for the remainder of the season for $300,000. Fetisov&rsquo;s deal was comparable to his 1993-94 salary of $600,000 for a full season.&ldquo;Signing John MacLean is very important,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;He has been with the franchise a number of years and he has given us everything over the last couple of years. It was important to make him a Devil for the rest of his career.&rdquo;Part of the Devils&rsquo; 0-3-1 start, which improved to 2-3-1 with back-to-back home victories, was blamed on contract distractions. Lamoriello still had eight players to re-sign, including Martin Brodeur, Claude Lemieux, Scott Niedermayer, Bruce Driver, Bill Guerin, Mike Peluso, Jaroslav Modry and Bobby Carpenter.&ldquo;Claude is quite anxious about this,&rdquo; said agent Steve Freyer. &ldquo;I talk to him a couple of times a day and it&rsquo;s absolutely bothering him. If the situation isn&rsquo;t addressed, it&rsquo;s not going to be pretty.&rdquo;Lamoriello was reportedly close to re-signing Brodeur after meeting recently with agent Gilles Lupien.Coach Jacques Lemaire couldn&rsquo;t understand all the fuss.&ldquo;I played in the last year of my contract,&rdquo; Lemaire said. &ldquo;What&rsquo;s the big deal? If you can&rsquo;t play with pressure, you&rsquo;re in the wrong business.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Valeri Zelepukin was still hospitalized nine days after he was hit in the right eye by Bruce Driver&rsquo;s stick during practice. A broken bone above the eye and bleeding were the primary concerns&hellip;Ken Daneyko said he did not know whether his aggravated sexual contact case would be decided by a grand jury or municipal court, but vowed he would not settle out of court with a waitress involved in the Dec. 7 charge. &#9632;

f0020-02

MacLean signed; eight left

<div class="byline">-Jeff Williams</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-011029/7916069-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="558" height="964"><figcaption class="caption-body">Derek King</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02642/7916062-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="157" height="157"></div>Demotion wasn&rsquo;t the word, but it had the same effect. Derek King, who had played on the New York Islanders&rsquo; top line with Pierre Turgeon for three seasons, started the season on Ron Sutter&rsquo;s line.Then he was benched for the third period in a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning Jan. 28. It looked as though coach Lorne Henning was about to banish him to the press box.But in the next game, the left winger was back on Turgeon&rsquo;s line. So where exactly does King fit in?Henning wanted to take advantage of left winger Marty McInnis&rsquo; speed. So he elevated McInnis to play with Turgeon and King found himself without his playmaking center.&ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to think I can play without Pierre,&rdquo; King said, &ldquo;but I like playing with him. You get used to where your regular linemates will be (Steve Thomas plays right wing).&rdquo;King scored 108 goals in three seasons playing with Turgeon. When McInnis didn&rsquo;t play well with Turgeon, King was back on the top line.&ldquo;Stupid me, I could have had these guys together from the start,&rdquo; said Henning in deadpan.NOTEBOOK: General manager Don Maloney doesn&rsquo;t want to trade Steve Thomas, but a financial numbers crunch may force him to do something before Thomas becomes an unrestricted Group III free agent this summer. Paying $7.5 million over five years to Brett Lindros, along with $2.4 million to Benoit Hogue over two years means the till may be dry. Thomas is looking for close to $6 million over three years. The Islanders have offered more like $4 million with substantial deferral.Defenseman Darius Kasparaitis, center Travis Green and winger Zigmund Palffy were benched Jan. 30 against the Florida Panthers. &#9632;

f0021-01

King back on top line

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03398/7916100-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="158" height="159"></div>The defending Stanley Cup champion New York Rangers were 2-5-1 after eight games, and the city was on the verge of panic.Could this be 1992-93 all over again? That season the Rangers fell from the Presidents&rsquo; Trophy winners to cellar-dwellers in their division.Probably not. But the Rangers stumbled out of the starting blocks. It resembled last season&rsquo;s 4-5-0 start, when the team was quaking in its skates from the fear of then-coach Mike Keenan. They went 18-1-3 in their next 22 games, ran away with the regular-season title and won their first Cup since 1940.This team doesn&rsquo;t appear to be on the verge of any 18-1-3 tear. The Rangers make mammoth mistakes, can&rsquo;t score and aren&rsquo;t physical.&ldquo;It seems to be more mental than physical,&rdquo; said defenseman Brian Leetch. &ldquo;The guys are putting in the effort, but our heads don&rsquo;t seem to be following our feet.&rdquo;The most obvious fall guy, Alexei Kovalev, continued to be an enigma of unlimited ability and incredible blunders.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s cut the kid some slack,&rdquo; said Mark Messier, noting that Kovalev is still just 21. Sergei Zubov, who last year at this time was struggling mightily, was off to another horrific start.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re finding ourselves in a position where we basically have to play playoff hockey,&rdquo; Messier said. &ldquo;We can&rsquo;t afford the little giveaways.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: General manager Neil Smith denied a rumor out of Toronto he was headed for Detroit to become Red Wings&rsquo; president. However, reports indicated Smith is trying to renegotiate his contract with the Rangers&hellip;Smith said he is exploring trade possibilities and has inquired about potential unrestricted free agent Murray Craven. Smith was also still talking to Glenn Anderson&hellip;Director of communications Barry Watkins, 30, was elevated to vice-president of marketing and public relations for MSG Network. Watkins worked for the Rangers for 12 years. &#9632;

f0021-03

From champs to chumps, Rangers under gun early

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Chris Stevenson</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-05201/7916131-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="555" height="979"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexandre Daigle</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04292/7916138-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="157" height="157"></div>Alexandre Daigle moved into position and struck with his trademark speed.While Michel Picard was being interviewed on television in the Ottawa Senators&rsquo; dressing room, Daigle took up a position beside the camerman and dropped his longjohns, pulling what is commonly referred to as &lsquo;a moon.&rsquo;Picard had trouble keeping a straight face.Daigle is a cheeky free spirit; an NHL star in the making and rising comedian. He can turn a pre-game skate into an Evening at the Improv.With a year under his belt, his carefree personality is coming through.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a happy person,&rdquo; said Daigle, who turned 20 Feb. 7. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very rarely ticked off about anything. I forgive and forget.&rdquo;Daigle was the Senators&rsquo; most consistent player, with two goals and five points, through their first seven games, building on the momentum he created with his strong showing at the World Junior Championship.He has been getting more involved physically.&ldquo;I want to create that more consistently this year,&rdquo; Daigle said. &ldquo;Not knocking guys down, just taking the body. It got my legs going early instead of waiting around until the second or third period.&rdquo;&ldquo;Alex is coming out of his shell,&rdquo; said left winger Bill Huard. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think he&rsquo;s as much in awe of every-thing and everybody.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Senators lost goaltender Craig Billington for up to a month after he injured his knee in a 5-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins Jan. 27. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s unbelievable&hellip;it&rsquo;s extremely frustrating,&rdquo; said Billing-ton, who is playing out his option and will be a free agent without compensation after the season&hellip;The logjam for playing time-Ottawa had 28 players in camp at the time-led to some frustration at practice Jan. 31 when winger Troy Mallette went after defenceman Jim Paek&hellip;Goaltender Darrin Madeley was sent to the P.E.I. farm club Jan. 25 to get in some playing time. &#9632;

f0021-05

Daigle over the moon

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011158/7916169-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="157" height="158"></div>Many people thought Garry Galley wanted out of Philadelphia last spring as the Flyers&rsquo; season crumbled around them.He expressed dissatisfaction about the way the team was run. The conflict was alleviated during the off-season when coach Terry Simpson and GM Russ Farwell were tired.Galley never asked for a trade and the Flyers, short on experienced defensemen, weren&rsquo;t about to make one. Instead, president-GM Bob Clarke continued contract negotiations with Galley, who was headed for unrestricted free agency.The 31-year-old Galley agreed to a three-year contract Jan. 28. The deal, according to agent Ron Salcer, is for slightly more than $1 million per year.&ldquo;I always wanted to be here,&rdquo; Galley said. &ldquo;It was never an issue. Sometimes, you do things and you make mistakes, but it doesn&rsquo;t mean you don&rsquo;t want to be here.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an organization that has treated me well. They gave me an opportunity to be a real good player, gave me the ice time, the responsibility and the chance to excel.&ldquo;That wouldn&rsquo;t have happened in Boston (his last team). When an organization does those kinds of things for you, you want to play hard for them.&rdquo;Coach Terry Murray has been impressed with Galley&rsquo;s play.&ldquo;He has been vocal, he has done good stuff in the dressing room and that&rsquo;s all I expect,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know any other Garry Galley.&rdquo;Galley made $484,000 per year on his old pact. He was able to file for arbitration because he was a 10-year vet making under the league average.NOTEBOOK: Scott LaGrand, considered the No. 3 goalie in the organization, was traded Feb. 2 to the Tampa Bay Lightning for goalie Mike Greenlay. Bob Clarke said LaGrand did not play with consistency during two-plus seasons in Hershey&hellip;Eric Lindros missed the Jan. 29 game at Montreal with the flu. The Flyers tied 2-2. Lindros lost five pounds during the week-long bout and it showed during two losses upon his return. &#9632;

f0022-01

Galley regains happiness after signing new contract

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Dave Molinari</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03623/7916200-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="560" height="981"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Wregget</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02840/7916207-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="159" height="157"></div>The Pittsburgh Penguins never doubted Ken Wregget would play well filling in for Tom Barrasso, who win miss most of the season recovering from wrist surgery.But they didn&rsquo;t realize Wregget would lead them on one of the finest runs in franchise history.With Wregget in goal for every minute, the Penguins won their first six games to move within one victory of matching their best start. Wregget stopped 183 of 201 shots in those games for a .910 save percentage.Teammates praised Wregget&rsquo;s work so often it almost became part of the Penguins&rsquo; post-game routine.Wregget preferred to share the glory and point out how well the team has done not just in Barrasso&rsquo;s absence, but in Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s, too.&ldquo;We understand what they mean to this team,&rdquo; Wregget said. &ldquo;And when we know they&rsquo;re not going to be there, we understand what we have to do to fill the void.&rdquo;The Penguins, meanwhile, switched Wregget&rsquo;s backup Jan. 30. Philippe DeRouville, recalled from the Cleveland Lumbeijacks of the International League, assumed Olie Sundstrom&rsquo;s spot on the bench, while Sundstrom went down to the IHL.NOTEBOOK: Coach Ed Johnston has been using three or four pairs of penalty killers in every game, instead of one or two, and the results have been good. The Penguins killed 29 of 32 penalties in their first six games, a success rate of 90.6 per cent. Last season, they killed 82 per cent. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s really beneficial for us,&rdquo; Johnston said. &ldquo;We have fresh legs and can put the pressure on them right away.&rdquo;The Penguins attracted a sellout of 17,181 to their home opener against the Ottawa Senators Jan. 27, but drew only 15,383 for their second home game against the New York Rangers Feb. l&hellip; The Civic Arena&rsquo;s new scoreboard comes with impressive statistics. It cost $3 million, weighs 35,000 pounds and features four 8-by-10-foot video screens. &#9632;

f0022-03

Wregget to the rescue

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Kevin Johnston</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04442/7916245-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="561" height="959"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Sakic</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-05326/7916238-1-eng-US/f0022-052.jpg" title="f0022-05" width="159" height="159"></div>Joe Sakic is playing the best hockey of his career and he&rsquo;s showing more leadership than ever before.Sakic has several reasons for his team&rsquo;s improvement and his self-improvement. But one stands out.&ldquo;1 think the most important reason is the presence of Marc Crawford behind the bench.&rdquo; Sakic said. &ldquo;The guys all want to play for him. He understands each and every one of us and we&rsquo;re all willing to follow him as far as he wants to go.&rdquo;Sakic never mentioned former general manager-coach Pierre Page&rsquo;s name, but it was easy to read between the lines.&ldquo;Five minutes into a game a year ago, we were already half asleep.&rdquo; Sakic said. &ldquo;There was no enthusiasm. But Marc Crawford is different. He doesn&rsquo;t waste words. He doesn&rsquo;t dwell on insignificant details. It&rsquo;s simple and it works. That&rsquo;s why the guys appreciate his work.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: There wasn&rsquo;t any room on the Nordiques&rsquo; roster for Iain Fraser, so he was traded to the Dallas Stars for future considerations Jan. 31. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s never easy to have to give up a player who wants to play here,&rdquo; Marc Crawford said. &ldquo;But we didn&rsquo;t have any choice. This should be a good move for Iain. He&rsquo;ll get to play in Dallas.&rdquo; Fraser scored 17 goals and totaled 37 points in 60 games last seasonRumors persist that Landon Wilson will leave the University of North Dakota to sign with the Nordiques. GM Pierre Lacroix said nothing is going on, but he would like to get Wilson under contract by the end of the season&hellip;Steven Finn picked up his 100th career point when he assisted on Peter Forsberg&rsquo;s first NHL goal, Jan. 27 against the Buffalo Sabres. &#9632;

f0022-04

Sakic points to Crawford

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>Donruss is quickly establishing itself as a major player in the hockey card industry, but it certainly hasn&rsquo;t made a name for itself with its Series I effort this season.It&rsquo;s not that the set isn&rsquo;t good. Quite to the contrary, in fact. The photography is excellent, the collation as outstanding as you&rsquo;re going to see and the design, while simple, is extremely effective.There&rsquo;s only one problem. It has an identity crisis.That&rsquo;s because the player names are only in one spot on the card and they are part of a gold-foil stamp on the bottom right side of the card. They&rsquo;re difficult to see under the best circumstances and impossible to make out when the light hits them the wrong way.All of which is all right when you&rsquo;re looking at Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier cards, but it can be a little trying when you&rsquo;re attempting to identify Steve Dubinsky and Kirk Maltby.It will be a great day for collectors when this gold and silver foil craze finally wears off. For some reason, people in marketing at card companies think huge self-serving logos in foil on the front of cards is appealing. Collectors can only wait it out and hope they come to their senses some time soon.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011115/7916307-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="562" height="795"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nobody in the hobby does collation better than Donruss.</figcaption></div>Aside from the logo on the front there is nothing complex about the front of the card and there is some beauty in the simplicity. The photographs are generally crisp and their content is good, so it was a good idea to go with a full-bleed look with no borders. The front of the card does little to distinguish itself from its competitors, but Donruss is hardly alone Nobody is showing much imagination in card designs these days.The card backs are unique and appealing. The background is black with an action photo of the player and a spotlight with his team&rsquo;s logo at the player&rsquo;s feet. There is also a headshot of each player.While the set is big on aesthetics, it has serious shortcomings on the information front. The only statistics on the card are from last season and career totals. It does contain the prerequisite biographical information, but does not give collectors any insight on any other characteristics concerning the player.In terms of collation, Donruss has surpassed the high standards it set for itself as a first-year player last season. One box of cards produced all but one of the 330 cards in the set-an almost unheard of ratio for a set of that size. It also sprinkled in a liberal six chase cards.Because it shipped in November, Donruss was too early to capitalize on the NHL Players&rsquo; Association ruling that some rookies could be included in sets even though they hadn&rsquo;t yet played a regular-season game. For that reason, the rookie content in the set comes up a little flat.There are a total of 38 insert cards in the set: 10 each in the Elite Series, Masked Marvels and Ice Masters and eight Donruss Dominators.The set is generally a strong set, with its strengths overcoming its flaws. And if you happen to have an intimate knowledge of 330 NHL players, you won&rsquo;t have to do contortions with your head to read their names. &#9632;

f0024-01

Donruss foils collectors with set’s identity crisis

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>The folks at Upper Deck can take comfort in the fact that Ted Drury is not the kind of person who holds grudges.Drury took it in stride when he discovered that Mark Greig&rsquo;s picture was on the front of his Upper Deck card this year. He didn&rsquo;t even seem to mind that the card back said he spent last season with the Canadian Olympic team. Maybe that&rsquo;s because his American team finished a dismal eighth.&ldquo;Honest mistake,&rdquo; Drury said of his card. &ldquo;I guess maybe somebody had a bad day at the office.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-011000/7916338-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="573" height="799"><figcaption class="caption-body">Upper Deck has an excellent crop of NHL rookies in its set.</figcaption></div>That kind of mistake is nothing that other card companies haven&rsquo;t made numerous times, but since Upper Deck began producing hockey cards, it has never had a bad day at the office. Upper Deck gained a reputation as the industry leader on the strength of appearance and meticulous attention to accuracy and detail.Once again, Upper Deck has come up with a top-notch set, but it has shown some cracks in the foundation. Frankly, there are some things in this set that are very unlike the Upper Deck collectors have come to know.For example, Damian Rhodes&rsquo; card has Felix Potvin&rsquo;s biographical information on the back. There are also a number of cards-Joe Juneau&rsquo;s the most notable-which contain uncharacteristically soft photographs. Again, nothing outrageous, but nothing we&rsquo;ve ever seen from this company before.Upper Deck waited out the NHL lockout and was seriously considering not distributing the set if the season had been cancelled. Collectors can be thankful the season was restored because despite the flaws, this is still a strong set.The biggest strength of the 267-card set is the player selection. There&rsquo;s great star quality in the set mixed with a great collection of rookies. It&rsquo;s refreshing to see at least one company get all of the traded players in their new uniforms in Series.Another interesting and innovative aspect of the set is the Predictor&rsquo;s Series where cards are made of the top prospects for goals leader, assists leader, Art Ross Trophy, Hart Trophy and Calder Trophv.Upper Decks choices for the award winners in the Predictors&rsquo; Series are well, predictable, with one notable exception. Among the Hart Trophy contenders is Peter Forsberg of the Quebec Nordiques. Now Forsberg is an excellent prospect, but is he as good as Wayne Gretzky was in 1979-80 or Herb Gardiner in 1926-27 or Nels Stewart in 1925-26, the only others to win the Hart Trophy in their first NHL seasons?The photography on the cards is not up to Upper Deck&rsquo;s usual lofty standards, but it is still outstanding. Shots are cropped tightly and there is a good degree of animation and artinn.Once the Super Bowl got out of hand, Al Michaels said the San Francisco 49ers were playing against the 49ers&rsquo; teams of the past. Upper Deck must know the feeling. Unfortunately, on many fronts, it comes out on the short end of the score this time. &#9632;

f0025-01

Upper Deck makes uncharacteristic errors in set

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>It&rsquo;s back to business as usual for the NHL and dealers are confident the same will happen in the hobby.There&rsquo;s no question collectors stayed away during the 105-day lockout, especially from new products. But dealers are noticing more interest now that players are back to negotiating cross-ice passes instead of rookie salary caps.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s still not as strong as I would like to see,&rdquo; said Ann Arbour, Mich.-based dealer Jeff Marl, &ldquo;but it&rsquo;s picking up. I think when people start seeing stats and seeing who&rsquo;s doing well, things will take off.&rdquo;Marl said many people who were baseball collectors left that hobby even before the player strike and started collecting hockey and basketball. &ldquo;The attitude about hockey was nothing like the attitude about baseball,&rdquo; Marl said. &ldquo;There was much more sympathy for the hockey players.&rdquo;Toronto-based dealer Daniel Naiman said he noticed people buying football cards instead of hockey and that trend has continued since the NHL season was restored.&ldquo;I think it will happen, but it&rsquo;s going to take a while for collectors to retain that momentum for hockey,&rdquo; he said.Card show promoter Al Sinclair said at this year&rsquo;s Expo show in Toronto-the largest annual show in Canada-he noticed a large drop in young collectors. &ldquo;I think a lot of them gave up on the season,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;and I think a lot of people were just really disgusted with the whole process.&rdquo;JUNIORS COVERED: After getting stiffed by Classic, the Canadian Hockey League is once again without a league-wide set.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011123/7916369-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="562" height="793"><figcaption class="caption-body">For the second year, Slapshot has produced junior team sets.</figcaption></div>But at least in Ontario, some fans haven&rsquo;t had to go without cards of their favorite young players. Slapshot Images of Kitchener, Ont., has produced sets for the Sarnia Sting, Kitchener Rangers, Sudbury Wolves and Guelph Storm and team sets of the Windsor Spitfires, North Bay Centennials, Detroit Jr. Red Wings, Niagara Falls Thunder, London Knights and Oshawa Generals are on the way.The team has also produced a set for the Brantford Smoke of the Colonial League and more teams have committed.&ldquo;We seem to have found our niche,&rdquo; said Slapshot president Dan Graham. &ldquo;Our main market is the fan of the team we&rsquo;re producing. They&rsquo;re the people who want a card of the fourth-line left winger just as much as the first-round pick.&rdquo;The cards don&rsquo;t have the stock quality, reproduction or graphics of NHL cards, but they are a far cry from the Mom-and-Pop efforts junior teams have produced in the past. &#9632;

f0026-01

Collectors coming back after lockout

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Jeff Gordon</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011108/7916400-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="159" height="157"></div>St. Louis Blues&rsquo; coach Mike Keenan banished No. 1 center Craig Janney to the Dress box for two games and challenged him to pick up his pace.So he did. The finesse-minded Janney redeemed himself by setting up two goals in a 7-2 victory over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Jan. 31 and Brett Hull&rsquo;s game-winning goal in a 5-4 overtime victory at Winnipeg against the Jets Feb. 2.&ldquo;I get paid to play,&rdquo; Janney said. &ldquo;He gets paid to decide who plays. This is something I never went through before. I tried to go hard in practice and get back in the lineup.&rdquo;&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pleased with him and pleased for him,&rdquo; Keenan said. &ldquo;He worked hard and waited for the opportunity.&rdquo;Janney&rsquo;s mini outburst gave him six points (one goal, five assists) in five games.NOTEBOOK: The already-thin Blues&rsquo; defense is taking a pounding. Rick Zombo aggravated his ankle injury in the win over Anaheim and Al Maclnnis sustained a partially dislocated shoulder in the win at Winnipeg. There were early reports Maclnnis may miss the rest of the regular season, but he&rsquo;s projecting a much earlier return. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s bad at all,&rdquo; Maclnnis said before going for tests Feb. 3. Zombo is listed as day-to-day. Rookie Jeff Batters was recalled from Peoria and figured to see plenty of ice time.Goaltender Jon Casey was yanked during a 3-1 loss to the Vancouver Canucks Jan. 28, then sat on the bench while rookie Geoff Sarjeant started two games. Casey got back in the good books with a victory in relief of Sarjeant in Winnipeg. The two were sharing the duties while Curtis Joseph sat out with a minor groin pull&hellip;The Blues bought out the remaining year on left winger Philippe Bozon&rsquo;s contract and released him. Bozon was hoping to catch on with an IHL team.Rookie center Ian Laperriere had a goal and three assists in his first two games&hellip;Left winger Denny Felsner was recalled from Peoria after collecting eight points in seven IHL games. &#9632;

f0028-01

Janney doesn’t play dead after mini doghouse stint

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Mike Weaver</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03555/7916431-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="557" height="977"><figcaption class="caption-body">Johan Garpenlov</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02764/7916438-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="158" height="157"></div>Add San Jose Sharks&rsquo; center Jeff Friesen to the NHL rookie-of-the-year race.The 11th overall pick in last June&rsquo;s draft, Friesen has been a clutch performer for the Sharks, seeing regular duty on both special teams and at the end of close games.&ldquo;He has been playing with a lot of poise,&rdquo; coach Kevin Constantine said of Friesen who, at 19, is the youngest player in the NHL. &ldquo;He makes smart plays and he isn&rsquo;t afraid to skate against some the best players in the league.&rdquo;Mighty Ducks of Anaheim Paul Kariya and Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; Peter Forsberg were the Calder Trophy favorites entering the season. Kariya led rookie scorers with seven points after seven games and Forsberg had four points in five games. Friesen had two points after six games, but had narrowly missed scoring on several other opportunities.&ldquo;Once he gets completely comfortable, those will start going in,&rdquo; said Friesen&rsquo;s linemate Ray Whitney. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a real creative player.&rdquo;Despite his reputation, he hasn&rsquo;t been bad defensively, either.&ldquo;I was rated by far one of the worst defensive players in juniors,&rdquo; Friesen said. &ldquo;Now, here I am killing penalties and playing a lot against the other team&rsquo;s best line. It&rsquo;s really kind of amazing.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Johan Garpenlov pulled a groin muscle in a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks Jan. 30, so the team recalled Andrei Nazarov from Kansas City of the International League to take Garpenlov&rsquo;s place. Nazarov&rsquo;s season debut was short-lived, however, because he was ejected from a Feb. 2 game against the Dallas Stars on his first shift. Nazarov was whistled for checking Brent Gilchrist from behind&hellip;The Sharks were 4-0 in games decided by one goal.The Sharks killed 30 of 32 penalties in their first six games to rank first in the league&hellip;Right winger Ulf Dahlen had at least one point in each of the team&rsquo;s first six games. &#9632;

f0028-03

Friesen off to pleasin’ start

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Roy Cummings</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011105/7916469-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="161" height="158"></div>Gerard Gallant&rsquo;s trying tenure with the Tampa Bay Lightning appears to be coming to an end.Gallant, who did not dress for any of Tampa Bay&rsquo;s first seven games this season, has been been offered a demotion to the minor leagues or a buyout by the club.&ldquo;Staying in Tampa was not one of the options they offered me,&rdquo; Gallant said after he was left in Tampa while the team embarked on a three-game road trip Feb. 1. &ldquo;They told me I wasn&rsquo;t going to play here and it wasn&rsquo;t fair, but they really had no choice.&rdquo;The 31-year-old left winger said he would likely accept the buyout if the terms were acceptable. He has two years left on his contract. The deal calls for Gallant to receive a prorated $525,000 this year (approximately $325,000) and $525,000 next year. Gallant would receive his entire pro-rated salary for this season, and two-thirds of next year&rsquo;s salary.Gallant said his agent, Larry Kelly, has found a couple of teams that may be interested in signing him. It is believed the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders, New York Rangers and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim are interested.&ldquo;I want to stay in the NHL,&rdquo; Gallant said.Gallant signed as a free agent prior to last season, and netted four goals and nine assists in 51 games.Tony Esposito, the Lightning&rsquo;s director of hockey operations, said Gallant could return to the team if he accepts the demotion to the minors.&ldquo;You never know what part injuries might play,&rdquo; Esposito said. &ldquo;But we have (Jim) Cummins who&rsquo;s already sitting up here now. And if we bring somebody up, it&rsquo;s probably going to be one of the kids.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Tom Tilley was left behind in Tampa and was expected to be sent to the Lightning&rsquo;s International League affiliate in Atlanta&hellip;The Lightning completed a minor-league trade Feb. 2, sending goalie Mike Greenlay to the Hershey Bears of the American League for goaltender Scott LaGrand. &#9632;

f0030-01

Gallant’s days numbered in sunny South Florida

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03526/7916500-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="558" height="976"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kenny Jonsson</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02744/7916507-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="160" height="155"></div>Drake Berehowsky and Kenny Jonsson are young defenseman moving through the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; organization at an anxious pace.While Jonsson, the fair-haired prospect, is moving upwards, the 23-year-old Berehowsky is clearly plummeting in the estimation of Leaf management.Not that the 20-year-old Jonsson particularly outplayed Berehowsky in the early part of the Leaf schedule. It&rsquo;s that while this is Jonsson&rsquo;s first attempt to land an NHL job, Bere-howsky has been on the Leaf scene since being drafted 10th overall in the 1990 NHL entry draft and has yet to nail down permanent work.They are polar opposites. Jonsson, a quiet-spoken native of Sweden, is schooled in the art of finesse European hockey, and brings quickness and creativity to the table. Bere-howsky graduated from the Ontario League with the size and skills to make it big, but two major knee operations have left him with somewhat limited speed and maneuverability.Going into this season, Bere-howsky had 99 games to his credit, while Jonsson had none. Still, Jonsson started ahead of Berehowsky, and even after he made several glaring errors in the first two games, the coaching staff went to his defense en masse. After a two-game rest, he was back in the lineup, and by the Leafs&rsquo; seventh game he was playing in key third period and overtime situations.&ldquo;I watched those games and I&rsquo;m learning to read the play better,&rdquo; Jonsson said. &ldquo;In this league things happen so fast. I realize I have to be faster and quicker, too.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: After starting as the No. 1 right winger alongside Doug Gilmour and Dave Andreychuk, a goal-less Nikolai Borschevsky was dropped to the fourth line&hellip;In the first seven games, Gilmour and Andrey-chuk managed two goals between them&hellip;The Leafs expressed interest in Hartford Whalers&rsquo; right winger Pat Verbeek. but were unwilling to pull the trigger. &#9632;

f0030-03

A tale of two sitties

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011020/7916545-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="553" height="957"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff Brown</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02674/7916538-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="157" height="158"></div>Gary Leeman&rsquo;s fading career is close to ending in Vancouver.The one-time 50 eoal-scorer-1989-90 in Toronto-has been given another chance by Canuck management, but coach Rick Ley saw enough after four games and parked Leeman in the press box.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know whether four games was fair the way we were playing but it remains to be seen if Gary gets another opportunity,&rdquo; Ley said. &ldquo;I thought he would have more jump. He will have to bide his time.&rdquo;An unrestricted free agent after being released by the Montreal Canadiens, the 30-year-old Leeman was signed to a tryout contract in September. He broke a bone in his foot before the first practice but was invited back after the lockout ended. He then signed a one-year, two-way deal for $300,000.The minor-league clause may not be necessary, however, as Leeman hinted he wouldn&rsquo;t report to the Canucks&rsquo; American League farm team in Syracuse if re-assigned.&ldquo;My plans aren&rsquo;t to play in that league,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If they ask me to go down, I&rsquo;ll react to it then.&rdquo;Leeman had no points and was a minus-4 in four games.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Jeff Brown and the Canucks have been unable to close out his deal even though there was an agreement in principle reached last September. The hang up is the &lsquo;Canuck buck,&rsquo; better known as the exchange rate the team wants to pay Brown on his U.S. dollar contract&hellip; Brown&rsquo;s defense partner, Bret Hedican, will receive $1.95 million (U.S.) on his new three-year deal, minus the lockout&rsquo;s lost wages.The team&rsquo;s 1-3-2 start was one of the worst in team history, ranking with a 1-5-0 beginning in 1976-77. &#9632;

f0031-01

Leeman on way out?

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03499/7916576-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="157" height="158"></div>The Washington Capitals are going through a scoring drought that is unusual in its severity even tor this franchise.Through the first six games the Caps had scored just eight goals, half coming on the power play. They scored more than one goal in just one game and were shut out twice.It&rsquo;s not for lack of trying although the results are certainly open to question. The club averaged 32.8 shots per game, but many, according to one scout, were poorly selected or hurried shots and easy to thwart.It is a somewhat embarrassing situation for the team that thought it had a good young stable of forwards who could produce this season.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s why you need mental toughness, why you have to be emotionally resilient in a situation like this,&rdquo; said coach Jim Schoenfeld. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s very easy to abandon our style of play, but no other style is going to generate as much offense. We&rsquo;re generating a lot of offense, we just aren&rsquo;t generating any goals.&rdquo;Strong defensive play kept the Caps in every game but one, but goalies realized they needed a shutout to guarantee even a tie. The opposition averaged less than 21 shots a game.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll come,&rdquo; Schoenfeld said. &ldquo;Things always balance out.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Defensive forward Todd Krygier, who was told he didn&rsquo;t fit into the Caps&rsquo; plans, was traded Feb. 2 to the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim for a fourth-round pick in 1996. While disappointed he was leaving, Krygier said he appreciated the club&rsquo;s honesty in assessing the situation.Center Joe Juneau, who did not spend a great deal of time working out with teammates during the lockout, missed one full game and parts of two others with a hip flexor-groin pull. There are those with the club who question his conditioning&hellip;When the battery in broadcaster Ron Weber&rsquo;s car went dead at practice, the Zamboni was put to a use for which it was not intended. &#9632;

f0031-03

Feeble offensive output a Capital embarrassment

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Tim Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-05297/7916607-1-eng-US/f0031-052.jpg" title="f0031-05" width="551" height="973"><figcaption class="caption-body">Teemu Selanne</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04372/7916614-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="158" height="157"></div>One major roadblock has been knocked down on the way to a new sports and entertainment facility for the city of Winnipeg.Now the Winnipeg Jets can concentrate on hockey, not politics and the world of high finance, for the rest of the NHL season.Winnipeg&rsquo;s city council voted 106 Feb. 1 in favor of a list of 19 guidelines for the Manitoba Entertainment Complex Inc. to use in formulating its detailed business plan for the new building. The list included approval to give MEC its desired site, at the end of Portage Ave. East, not far from the Westin Hotel and just north of The Forks. The serviced site on the banks of the Red River is valued at roughly $13 million and is currently occupied by a condemned hydro station.MEC can now get its architects and engineers busy with specific plans for a new 16,000-seat facility said to cost about $110 million. It says it needs construction to start this summer in order to have the building finished by 1997.The group, made up of 70 local business leaders, still must bring its final business plan back to city council for formal approval. That will happen before May 1, the deadline for MEC to exercise its option to purchase the private shares of the Jets (64 per cent) for $32 million.NOTEBOOK: A sluggish start to the season, including a zero-for-three trip to California, sent the Jets to work early on the mornings of Jan. 30 and 31. Coach-general manager John Paddock called practices for 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. both days. The work seemed to agree with the Jets, who played a strong game in their next outing Feb. 2 but lost a bizarre 5-4 overtime decision to the St. Louis Blues before a season-high crowd of 13,611. The loss dropped Winnipeg to 1-5-1., Teemu Selanne&rsquo;s Achilles tendon injury was clearly a thing of the past. The Finnish Flash was skating like the wind and began the season with five goals and 11 points in his first seven games. &#9632;

f0031-05

Rink plans in Place

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01989/7916645-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Bowler&rsquo;s vital statistics aren&rsquo;t that impressive, but his OHL statistics are something to behold.</figcaption></div>KITCHENER-There was 1:30 left on the clock and Bill Bowler was chasing Mario Lemieux and Doug Gilmour.For the previous 41 games, Bowler had posted a goal or assist and was closing in on Canadian and Ontario League record scoring streaks.Coach Mike Kelly called goalie Travis Scott to the Windsor Spitfires&rsquo; bench in the dying minutes of a 4-2 deficit to the Detroit Jr. Red Wings Jan. 26. The OHL teams were one point apart in the West Division standings and the hometown Spitfires needed a tie to keep pace.Bowler jumped on the ice to boost the Windsor attack and help his own cause in Game No. 42 of his streak. He won a key faceoff in the Detroit zone and skated to the high slot, dragging along a pair of checkers.Seconds later, Windsor right winger Rob Shearer grabbed the puck in the comer and passed it to defenseman Mike Martin. The Spitfires&rsquo; rearguard blasted a drive past Detroit goalie Jason Saal to close the gap to 4-3.As Windsor players gathered in front of Kelly at the Spitfires&rsquo; bench, referee Dave Lynch skated up and asked Kelly: &ldquo;That goal was No. 2 from 18 and who?&rdquo;&ldquo;He left it wide open for us,&rdquo; Kelly recalled. &ldquo;Obviously he was aware of Billy&rsquo;s streak. All we had to do was say his number. No one had to know.&rdquo;Without a second&rsquo;s hesitation, Shearer piped in: &ldquo;Billy got the other assist, didn&rsquo;t he coach?&rdquo;&ldquo;Nope,&rdquo; Bowler said before Kelly could respond, &ldquo;ft wasn&rsquo;t me.&rdquo;There isn&rsquo;t a happy ending to this tale. A second assist wasn&rsquo;t given. A Windsor comeback came up a goal short. And a Bill Bowler scoring streak ended at 41 games.&ldquo;It would have been very difficult to live with myself,&rdquo; the 20-year-old center said of the freebie assist. &ldquo;And that&rsquo;s not the type of person I am. I&rsquo;d rather keep my dignity.&rdquo;The streak ended 14 games short of Gilmour&rsquo;s OHL record and 20 shy of Lemieux&rsquo;s CHL standard of 61 games. However, Bowler is sure to eclipse Brett Seguin&rsquo;s OHL career record of 302 assists and has a shot at breaking Stan Drulia&rsquo;s OHL career record of 479 points.&ldquo;People ask me if I&rsquo;m relieved the streak is over or how much I&rsquo;m thinking about the points record,&rdquo; Bowler said. &ldquo;I tell them I need that pressure. I would rather have that pressure. I&rsquo;m disappointed it&rsquo;s over.&rdquo;Mayne Bowler appreciates mat pressure because he hasn&rsquo;t had to deal with the traditional kind of stress players of his ilk have to live with-to impress scouts, to get drafted high, to meet expectations.You see, Bowler is just 5-foot-8 and 170 pounds. No one expected him to become dominant at the bantam or Jr. B levels in his hometown of Toronto let alone major junior hockey.He was drafted in the 13th round, 199th overall by Windsor in 1991. He led OHL rookies in scoring the next season with 88 points and has followed that up with years of 121 and 123 points.He is quick, imaginative and above all else, intelligent. One scout called Bowler a thinking-man&rsquo;s player, then corrected himself and said he can be an entire team&rsquo;s thought process. However, it&rsquo;s impossible to overlook the fact he&rsquo;s a non-factor in the physical department and he has defensive shortcomings.NHL scouts have crowded the Windsor Arena the past few seasons to monitor such NHL prospects as Ed Jovanovski, Kevin Paden, Dave Roach, David Geris, Vladimir Krechin, Mike Loach and Joel Poirier. They see Bowler dominate games. They admire his ability, but his points don&rsquo;t register on their scales.That&rsquo;s because the undrafted Bowler doesn&rsquo;t register anything close to six-feet.&ldquo;He understands the game better than most guys who are drafted,&rdquo; said New Jersey Devils&rsquo; director of scouting David Conte, &ldquo;but most guys who get a chance have what he doesn&rsquo;t-and that&rsquo;s genetics. It&rsquo;s not a stigma, it&rsquo;s just reality.&rdquo;The Devils offered Bowler a free-agent tryout prior to the 1993-94 season, but he returned for his final year of junior in Windsor. While he continued to display the intelligence and creativity with the Spitfires, teammate Jovanovski showed off his promise as a strapping future NHL rearguard.The Florida Panthers drafted Jovanovski first overall in the 1994 entry draft. Bowler came along on a free-agent tryout and was among the leading scorers in intrasquad games.&ldquo;Bill taught me is to play relaxed,&rdquo; Jovanovski said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s calm, cool, all the time. Nothing bothers him.&rdquo;&ldquo;Bowler impressed a lot of people,&rdquo; said Panthers&rsquo; assistant general manager Chuck Fletcher. &ldquo;He was passing the puck, making plays and scoring with our NHL players. We would have liked to see him to continue his development and work on his defensive game with (Panther affiliate) Cincinnati in the International League. That would have been a good test for him.&ldquo;At the junior level, he just does what he pleases. He&rsquo;s out of this world.&rdquo;Bowler was offered an IHL contract, but he and agent Richard Cooper wouldn&rsquo;t accept anything less than a two-way deal. Cooper said five or six NHL teams have expressed an interest in signing Bowler in the off-season. As an overage, Bowler was second in scoring at the all-star break with 23 goals and 100 points in 42 games.In 231 career OHL games over four seasons, Bowler has 139 goals and 297 assists for 436 points. To break Drulia&rsquo;s points record, Bowler needed 44 points in 19 games, a pace he was slightly ahead of this season.&ldquo;Some people say I would have been better off playing minor pro this season, but I&rsquo;m in no rash,&rdquo; Bowler said. &ldquo;I still consider myself to be young. I have a lot to prove. I look at the points record as another challenge. I try to keep it out of my mind as much as possible, but I know it&rsquo;s there. I know I have a chance of getting it.&rdquo;Before the season began, coach Kelly sat Bowler down in his office and told him to expect a series of challenges as a way of building his character. He has met all challenges.&ldquo;Forget the scoring streak and the points record for a second,&rdquo; Kelly said. &ldquo;Any success that the Windsor Spitfires have had as a team this year is more a direct reflection of Bill Bowler than it is of me.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0033-01

BOWLED OVER

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>If Wally Berard hadn&rsquo;t bought a pair of skates to play oldtimers&rsquo; hockey 13 years ago, his son would have taken up baseball or football or basketball.Instead, Bryan Berard&rsquo;s fascination for hockey grew to the point where he wanted to be just like his dad, playing on the rink at Mount St. Charles Academy in Woonsocket, R.I.Berard turned out to be just a little better than Dad and is the top-rated player for the NHL entry draft, scheduled for July 8 in Winnipeg.Berard, who turns 18 in March, will opt into this draft. He&rsquo;s a rookie defenseman with the Ontario League&rsquo;s Detroit Jr. Red Wings after three years at Mount St. Charles, a perennial state champion in Rhode Island.If Berard is chosen first overall, it will mark the second time in history that defensemen have gone first overall in back-to-back years. Denis Potvin and Greg Joly were selected in 1973 and 1974, respectively.Last year the Florida Panthers picked Ed Jovanovski first overall. Three of the top 10 picks and seven of the 26 first-rounders in 1994 were defensemen. Seven defensemen went in the first round in 1993 and in 1992, Czech blueliner Roman Hamrlik went No. 1. That year, eight of the 24 first-rounders were defensemen.Brandon Wheat Kings&rsquo; defenseman Wade Redden is rated second by NHL central scouting, and 12 of the top-rated 26 North Americans play the Position.Berards coach, Paul Maurice, feels expansion has led to a shift in priorities.&ldquo;You can dilute a team up front more than you can on defense,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You have 12 forwards and you want five of them to be strong while the rest can be mediocre. But with the defense, you&rsquo;re running with six guys and you can&rsquo;t afford to have too many holes back there.&rdquo;Berard was second among defensemen and third among rookies with 11 goals and 5 1 points in 40 games. But Maurice said there&rsquo;s much more to his game.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s more subtle than, say, Eddie Jovanovski, who can kill you in one shift with a big hit. Bryan works on you the whole game. Considering he&rsquo;s fresh out of high school and has played in this league only four months, he&rsquo;s playing great defensively.&rdquo;Berard, 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, is combining hockey with studies at the University of Michigan.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011116/7916676-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="691" height="233"></div>MOE THE MAN: Selecting OHL coach of the year won&rsquo;t be easy, but Paul Maurice is a strong early candidate as the Jr. Wings were on an 11-game winning streak, the longest this season.Maurice, 28, is the youngest active coach and in his second season already has a 73-34-7 career record, a .702 winning percentage.Maurice, who captained the Windsor Spitfires, was an assistant coach there before joining Detroit as an assistant.&ldquo;Like every other coach, I want to coach pro some day. But I still have a lot to learn here,&rdquo; he said.50-50 PROPOSITION: Darryl Lafrance of the Oshawa Generals was on pace for 50 goals in his first 50 games. He had 39 goals in 39 games and was tied for ninth in the league with 80 points. The Generals had played 48 games.Lafrance, who attended the Dallas Stars&rsquo; training camp last fall, was also chasing Tony Tanti, the Generals&rsquo; career points leader. Tanti had 338 points in Oshawa. Lafrance, in his fourth season, was at 303 with 18 games remaining.&ldquo;It would be nice to score 50, but I can&rsquo;t worry about how many games I do it in,&rdquo; he said.HOT STUFF: The Ottawa 67&rsquo;s are taking a run at one of two wild-card playoff spots with an impressive second half.The 67&rsquo;s went 9-4-1 after sitting at 8-19-4 on Dec. 30 to climb to 10th overall. The 67&rsquo;s were actually 9-1-1 before a three-game losing streak. &#9632;

f0034-01

Young American Berard climbs charts to No. 1

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>The expansion Halifax Mooseheads became the first Quebec League team in nine years to pass the 100,000 mark in home attendance.The Mooseheads attracted 103,038 fans to their first 28 games at the Metro Centre, an average of 3,680 per game. The last team to pass the 100,000 mark was the Hull Olympiques, who attracted 113,999 fans in 1985-86 with players such as Luc Robitaille, Stephane Matteau, Benoit Brunet. Stephane Richer and coach Pat Burns.The Mooseheads had a respectable 14-12-2 record at home, but were 6-18-3 on the road.&ldquo;The players play well at home and I believe a major fact in this is fan support,&rdquo; said coach-general manager Clement Jodoin. &ldquo;We have the highest attendance in the league and it is an excellent motivational tool for the team.Mooseheads&rsquo; right winger Stephane Larocque. a 20-year-old who was picked up from the Drummondville Voltigeurs in the expansion draft, said it&rsquo;s a thrill to play in front of so many fans.&ldquo;It gives you a great feeling when the fans cheer,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;There are so many of them it&rsquo;s unbelievable.&rdquo;Larocque, who was the New York Islanders&rsquo; 10th round pick in 1993, had 24 goals, 58 points and 244 penalty minutes in 55 games.Brant Blackned, another 20-year-old who was picked up in the expansion draft from the Laval Titan, led the Mooseheads in scoring with 37 goals and 78 points in 55 games.TOP-RANKED BIRON: The top three goalies in Central Scouting Bureau mid-season rankings are all from the QMJHL.Martin Biron of the Beauport Harfangs was No. 1, followed by Jean-Sebastien Aubin of the Sherbrooke Faucons and Halifax&rsquo;s Jean-Sebastien Giguere.Biron, who was Beauport&rsquo;s first-round pick (ninth overall) at last year&rsquo;s midget draft, wasn&rsquo;t supposed to be the Harfangs&rsquo; top goalie this sea-son, but stole the job from Steve Vezina, who was traded to Drummondville. Vezina was a sixth-round pick of the Winnipeg Jets last year.&ldquo;We were expecting Biron to play a backup role, but things didn&rsquo;t work out (with Vezina),&rdquo; said Harfangs&rsquo; coach Joe Canale. &ldquo;(Biron) played well every time he got in and he gave the performance of a starting goalie.&rdquo;Biron led the league with a 2.48 goals-against average in 39 games. He had a 22-10-6 record and two shutouts. Despite being only 155 pounds, the 6-foot-2 Biron has had no problem handling the physical demands of the No. 1 job.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a solid 155 and he&rsquo;s young,&rdquo; Canale said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s aggressive. He wants to challenge the shooter and if you stand in front of his net he&rsquo;ll chop you. He&rsquo;s a bit like Ron Hextall. He likes to play the puck and he&rsquo;s a competitor.&rdquo;FIVE-GOAL GAME: Sherbrooke Faucons&rsquo; center Christian Dube set a team record with five goals in a 7-2 win over the St-Jean Lynx Jan. 27.Dube, who had 28 goals and 78 points in 51 games, is ranked 13th by CSB. He is 5-foot-11 and 168 pounds.The QMJHL record for goals in a game is eight, shared by Normand Aubin (Sorel Eperviers, 1979) and Stephan Lebeau (Shawinigan Cataractes, 1986).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02767/7916707-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="569" height="283"></div>LOT OF LOJKIN: Chicoutimi Sagueneens&rsquo; left winger Alexei Lojkin extended his scoring streak to 25 games with three goals in a 6-5 win over the St-Hyacinthe Laser Feb. 1.Lojkin had 35 goals and 68 points in 37 games this season. His streak is the longest this season. Drummondville rookie Daniel Briere had a 24-game streak to start the season.TWO GAMES CUT: The QMJHL schedule will be cut from 72 games to 70 for next season and will run from Sept. 8 to March 15.The addition of Moncton as an expansion franchise will result in two seven-team divisions. Moncton will join the Dilio Division and Sherbrooke will be moved to the Lebel. Teams will play intra-division teams seven times each, four each against teams in the other division. &#9632;

f0034-02

Fans earn helpful assist in Mooseheads’ success

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>Having won the Bryan McCabe derby, the Brandon Wheat Kings hope to claim an even greater prize-the Memorial Cup.Brandon general manager Kelly McCrimmon outbid the Kamloops Blazers and Prince Albert Raiders to acquire the 19-year-old defenseman from the Spokane Chiefs at the Western League&rsquo;s Feb. 2 trading deadline.&ldquo;Everyone wants to win the Memorial Cup,&rdquo; said McCabe, who has earned two gold medals with Canada&rsquo;s World Junior team.&ldquo;I have been honored to play for Canada and lucky to win two gold medals. I&rsquo;d like to finish my career in the WHL with a Memorial Cup.&rdquo;Brandon gave up defenseman Adam Magarrell, 18, center Trevor Chemecki 16, and first- and second-round picks in the 1995 bantam draft.McCabe&rsquo;s NHL rights belong to the New York Islanders, who selected him in the second round of the 1993 entry draft. He signed a fourvear deal with the IslandersBRENDAN TO BRANDON: The Wheat Kings also acquired the playing rights to holdout defenseman Brendan Witt from the Seattle Thunderbirds at the trading deadline.Brandon gave up future considerations, contingent upon Witt reporting to the Wheat Kings.Witt, 19, has been unable to agree to contract terms with the NHL&rsquo;s Washington Capitals, who drafted him 11th overall in 1993.On the advice of his agent. Mark Hall, Witt has refused to return to the WHL. He was the league&rsquo;s top defenseman last season.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had a number of discussions with his agent,&rdquo; Kelly McCrimmon told the Brandon Sun. &ldquo;This is a longshot from our perspective. If it falls into place, we&rsquo;ll add a great player.&rdquo;Neither Witt nor Hall are commenting.McCrimmon also added two excellent forwards Jan. 26. He acquired left winger Mike Leclerc, 18, and right winger Alexander Vasilevskii, 19, from the Prince George Cougars.In that deal, McCrimmon gave up center Chris Low. 18, defenseman Ian Walterson, 16, defenseman Jeff Church, 15, and futures.Brandon had a 31-16-4 record and 66 points-one fewer than the first-place Prince Albert (33-16-1) in the East Division.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-03606/7916738-1-eng-US/f0034-032.jpg" title="f0034-03" width="354" height="355"></div>BLAZING A TRAIL: Ashley Buckberger was elated after a Feb. 1 deal which sent him from the Swift Current Broncos to Kamloops.The Blazers will play host to the 1995 Memorial Cup. Buckberger competed in the 1993 Memorial Cup with Swift Current.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m pretty excited because I&rsquo;ve got a shot at the Cup,&rdquo; said Buckberger, 19. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s what a junior hockey player&rsquo;s life is all about. I&rsquo;m looking forward to it.&rdquo;The Quebec Nordiques selected Buckberger in the second round of the 1993 draft.Swirt Current sent Bucxoerger and defenseman Keith McCambridge. 20, to Kamloops. The Broncos received defenseman Jeff Henkleman. 17, center Cam Severson, 16, and left winger Jeremy Rondeau, 16.Swift Current also relinquished a fourth-round bantam pick.&ldquo;We gave up two great players, but they have very little time left in the league,&rsquo; said Swift Current GM Doug Mosher.&ldquo;Now we&rsquo;ve got a young team, a really young team. We&rsquo;re thinking about entering it in a midget tournament one of these weekends.&rdquo;BLADES BOLSTERED: The Saskatoon Blades pulled off a blockbuster with the Leth-bridge Hurricanes Jan. 30.Saskatoon obtained defenseman Lee Sorochan, 19, left winger Mark Szoke, 20, and right winger Dmitri Markovsky, 19.Sorochan and Szoke are the principals from a short-term perspective. The New York Rangers picked Sorochan in the second round of the 1993 draft. Szoke had 35 goals in 42 games. He already boasts seasons of 42 and 55 goals.The Blades gave up three 17-year-olds-right-winger Kirby Law, defenseman Mike O&rsquo;Grady and left winger Doyle McMorris-plus right winger Steve Roberts, 20, and two players to be named later. &#9632;

f0034-03

Kings stock up for drive with potent acquisitions

<div class="byline">By Dave Eminian</div>Jan Caloun is making a name for himself in the International League, even though his opponents aren&rsquo;t always sure how to say it.&ldquo;Everywhere I go they say my name differently,&rdquo; said the Kansas City Blades&rsquo; prized rookie right winger. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been called Jan (like the abbreviated form for Janice) Calhoon, Kallon&hellip;&rdquo;For the record, his name is pronounced Yon SHA-loon. And make that Sha-looooooon, with emphasis, in Kansas City&rsquo;s Kemper Arena every time he is announced for a goal.The San Jose Sharks&rsquo; prospect has led IHL rookies in scoring most of the season. He had 26 goals and 51 points in 46 games, a total that led the Blades.Not only is the 22-year-old Calou well on his way to rookie-of-the-year honors, he&rsquo;s on the fast track to the NHL as well. He surely would have earned a look by the parent Sharks if not for an NHL season shortened by a lockoutCaloun, San Jose&rsquo;s fourth-round draft pick in 1992, spent the previous four seasons with Litvinov in the Czech Elite League, where he averaged 34 goals a season.&ldquo;He is a proven goal-scorer,&rdquo; said Kansas City coach Jim Wiley. &ldquo;His goal-scoring and playmaking are a plus, but his ability to adjust to the bump-and-grind has been important.&ldquo;I hate to liken him to anybody, but he has a deceptive release and he reminds me of Wayne Gretzky in his instincts.&rdquo;Caloun arrived in Kansas City unheralded, but he immediately impressed the organization with his quick grasp of the English language.&ldquo;I knew very little,&rdquo; said Caloun, who answered most of the questions for this interview, but had some help from teammate Vlastimil Kroupa. &ldquo;I knew only, &lsquo;I am Jan.&rsquo;&ldquo;The Sharks told me I would probably be here all year because they want me to learn English and then the North American game.&rdquo;Caloun works on his English once a week with a tutor. His on-ice lessons have progressed just as rapidly.&ldquo;I read about the IHL in newspapers before I came over,&rdquo; Caloun said. &ldquo;I knew this league would be very difficult and very physical. The (physical) game hasn&rsquo;t bothered me. The Czech game, by comparison, is more technical.&ldquo;I thought maybe playing an 80-game schedule would make me tired, but I&rsquo;m all right. I would like to play a couple of games with the Sharks before the NHL season is over.&rdquo;PASSING FANCY: The Atlanta Knights started an unusual, but innovative promotion in honor of the IHL&rsquo;s 50th anniversary season.How&rsquo;s this for a commitment: The Knights are awarding every baby born in metro Atlanta in 1995 a pass good for one Knights&rsquo; home game a season for the next 50 Years.&ldquo;We are hopeful that the children of 1995 grow up with the Knights and make hockey a part of their lives,&rdquo; said Knights&rsquo; president Richard Adler.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-011043/7916769-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg" title="f0035-01" width="343" height="385"></div>I-OPENERS: Cleveland Lumber-jacks&rsquo; left winger Dave Michayluk scored his 552nd career IHL goal Jan. 26 to break a tie for second on the all-time list with former Fort Wayne Komet Joe Kastelic&hellip;Cincinnati Cyclones&rsquo; public address announcer Dennis (Wildman) Walker had his head shaved at center ice in mid-January to pay off a bet with Cyclones&rsquo; defenseman Dallas Eakins. Walker bet Eakins he would not score five goals this season. Eakins, who had not scored more than four goals in any of his previous six professional seasons, already has six in 199495.The Kalamazoo Wings, one of the league&rsquo;s top clubs all season, are warriors on the road with a 17-3-5 record, but at home have limped through with a 10-8-5 mark. &#9632;

f0035-01

Adjustment period short for smooth Blade Caloun

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>The American League continues to operate without a collective bargaining agreement with its players and now there are whispers that a playoff boycott could be considered if owners don&rsquo;t budge on key issues.&ldquo;When you get to the tactics they have used, then you pull out all your cards,&rdquo; said Larry Landon, director of the Professional Hockey Players&rsquo; Association. &ldquo;Someone would be foolish not to look at that.&rdquo;AHL president Dave Andrews can&rsquo;t even envision such a break-down.&ldquo;There are not enough items mat are important enough to me owners or the players to stop playing,&rdquo; Andrews said. &ldquo;It would be embarrassing to the league to not have our playoffs. But I don&rsquo;t see any Problems. I think we&rsquo;re fairly close.&rdquo;Still, Landon and the AHL negotiating team are at odds. They haven&rsquo;t had a bargaining session since Jan. 4. As of Feb. 1, no new talks were scheduled, in part because Landon was miffed by a mix-up over PHPA player apparel at the All-Star Game.The PHPA had hats and shirts made for the All-Star participants and shipped them by air freight to the Providence Bruins, hosts for the Jan. 17 game. The players never received the hats or shirts because they apparently were lost.&ldquo;A member of the Providence Bruins signed for them, but they came up missing,&rdquo; Landon said. &ldquo;We were then asked why we were giving hats and shirts to the players, so obviously they know what was in the boxes.&ldquo;Right now I have no desire to talk with people who show that kind of disrespect to the players and the association. Some people may say, &lsquo;They&rsquo;re missing hats, so what?&rsquo; Well, it&rsquo;s just another sign of disrespect.&rdquo;Ed Anderson, Providence president and chairman of the AHL&rsquo;s negotiating team, said that definitely isn&rsquo;t the case.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had merchandise from 18 different vendors, pennants and posters coming into the building. The building was a zoo for two months,&rdquo; Anderson said. &ldquo;If one box of hats got lost, I take responsibility, I&rsquo;m sorry.&rdquo;The major bargaining issue is player licensing. The PHPA wants compensation to the pension fund when players appear in giveaway promotions such as posters and calendars, or for wearing advertisements on uniforms.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s back to the days of Eddie Shore when he had the players walking around outside the arena wearing sandwich boards to sell tickets,&rdquo; Landon said.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02735/7916800-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="421" height="417"></div>CANCELED STAMP: Sweden&rsquo;s postal service wanted to include Corey Hirsch on a postage stamp commemorating the 1994 Olympic gold medal, but the Binghamton Rangers&rsquo; goalie didn&rsquo;t feel honored and nixed the plan.The stamp will feature Peter Forsberg&rsquo;s gold-medal clinching shootout goal, scored against Hirsch in Sweden&rsquo;s 3-2 win over Canada. Hirsch&rsquo;s likeness now apparently will be altered.A Swedish government official telephoned Hirsch for his permission to use his likeness and the goalie refused.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just that it wasn&rsquo;t the way I really wanted to be portrayed in the Olympics,&rdquo; Hirsch said.LAROUCHE ROLLS ON: PEL Senators&rsquo; center Steve Larouche remains the AHL&rsquo;s greatest offensive threat. He scored four goals and three assists in two games to earn player-of-the-week honors for the period ending Jan. 29.Larouche, 23, led the AHL in goals (40), power-play goals (14), game-winning goals (six) and was second to linemate Michel Picard in scoring with 72 points.Utica&rsquo;s Green goal-orientedMark Green is on pace to shatter the Colonial League single-season goals record and the folks in Utica aren&rsquo;t a bit surprised.&ldquo;(Green) is right where I expected him to be,&rdquo; said Utica Bulldogs&rsquo; general manager Jeff troop. &ldquo;All you have to do is look at our stats to realize he&rsquo;s the show here. Teams know that and still haven&rsquo;t been able to shut him down.&rdquo;With 16 games remaining. Green led the CoHL with 51 goals and 91 points. The record of 57 goals was set in 1992-92 by Darin Smith of the St Thomas (now London) Wildcats and tied by Kevin Kerr of the Flint Generals last season.Green is the Blizzard&rsquo;s top scorer. Defenseman Ray Gallagher was No. 2 on the list, more than 30 points behind.NOTEBOOK: The Brantford Smoke fired Ken Gratton as GM-coach Jan. 31 and replaced him with ex-NHLer Warren Young. Gratton led the Smoke to the 1993-94 CHL crown, but had a record of 12-26-10 this season&hellip;Flint&rsquo;s Brian Sakic was leading the CoHL in scoring when he was suspended for 10 games. Sakic drew a high-sticking match penalty for hitting Utica&rsquo;s Gary Miller in the face Jan. 20.&mdash;Brendan Savage &#9632;

f0035-02

Player union considers boycott of post-season

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>The East Coast League is once again an expanding universe.After a year of non-growth, the league announced it will add one franchise and likely relocate a dormant one, bringing the league to at least 20 teams for the 1995-96 season.At the all-star break, the board of governors awarded an expansion franchise to Mobile, Ala., for next season. Louisville IceHawks&rsquo; owner Horn Chen, whose team is sitting out this season, is close to moving his franchise to Jacksonville, Fla., for the 1995-96 season.That would give the league 20 teams, but commissioner Pat Kelly said there are people ready to put an expansion team in Louisville next season if the IceHawks leave.In addition, the league has received application fees from prospective owners in Pensacola, Fla., Evansville, Ind., and Columbia, S.C. Pensacola could be in the league next season, while Evansville and Columbia are more likely for 1996-97. The franchise fee is currently $1 million. but is expected to go up next year.&ldquo;Of the five working days in my office, any three of them I get three to five calls a day,&rdquo; Kelly said. &ldquo;They want to know, &lsquo;Where can I play? Find me a building. Are any teams tor sale! 1 he interest is just unbelievable. I&rsquo;ve never see it so high as the last six months.&rdquo;Kelly said the league probably wouldn&rsquo;t go higher than 28 teams. With the additional teams next season, there would likely be two conferences instead of three divisions.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03603/7916831-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg" title="f0035-03" width="487" height="321"></div>MAKING THE BIG TIME: Members of two ECHL teams will be able to talk about the night they wore NHL uniforms-and they&rsquo;ll nave me looiage to prove it.The Johnstown Chiefs and Wheeling Thunderbirds impersonated the Pittsburgh Penguins and Chicago Blackhawks as a film crew shot foot-age in Pittsburgh Jan. 16 for the movie Sudden Death, a film starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and climaxing with the seventh game of the Stanley Cup final.The movie is expected to be released next fall and the impersonators will be first in line to see it.&ldquo;It was great,&rdquo; said Johnstown&rsquo;s Dennis Purdie, who wore Joe Mullen&rsquo;s Penguin uniform. &ldquo;Everyone wanted to wear the NHL jersey and just pretend for one night. I imagine we&rsquo;ll have a big video session.&rdquo;HOT AT HOME: Wheeling won its 15th straight home game Jan. 25 at the Thunderdome, a.k.a. Wheeling Civic Center. The 5-1 win over the Erie Panthers set a league record for consecutive home triumphs, breaking the record set by the Knoxville Cherokees last season.COASTERS: Although the Dayton Bombers led the league in goals, assists and points, no Bomber player ranked in the top 20 in league scoring., .Trevor Jobe is making himself at home in Raleigh after being traded to the IceCaps from the Nashville Knights Dec. 30. He scored 24 points in 12 games. &#9632;

f0035-03

League could be as high as 22 teams in ’95-96

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01983/7917184-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg" title="f0038-01" width="488" height="442"></div><h2>STANDINGS</h2>NHL STATISTICS THROUGH GAMES OF FEB. 2/9548-GAME REGULAR SEASON(PCT) PERCENTAGE OF ACTUAL POINTS VERSUS POSSIBLE POINTSEASTERN CONFERENCENORTHEAST DIVISION<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02667/7917177-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="816" height="952"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03538/7917170-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="796" height="746"><figcaption class="caption-body">Buffalo&rsquo;s Dominik Hasek</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-04426/7917163-1-eng-US/f0038-042.jpg" title="f0038-04" width="1104" height="1925"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Kiell Samuelsson led the leaque with a plus-13 mark.</figcaption></div><h2>HOME AND ROAD RECORDS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-05336/7917156-1-eng-US/f0038-052.jpg" title="f0038-05" width="1013" height="845"></div><h2>OVERALL STANDINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06287/7917149-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg" title="f0038-06" width="469" height="771"></div><h2>STANDINGS BY CONFERENCE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-07261/7917142-1-eng-US/f0038-072.jpg" title="f0038-07" width="446" height="776"></div><h2>RESULTS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-08224/7917135-1-eng-US/f0038-082.jpg" title="f0038-08" width="517" height="1794"></div><h2>LEADERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-09200/7917128-1-eng-US/f0038-092.jpg" title="f0038-09" width="590" height="336"></div><h2>TOP SCORERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-10176/7917121-1-eng-US/f0038-102.jpg" title="f0038-10" width="608" height="684"></div><h2>TOP DEFENSEMEN</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-11159/7917114-1-eng-US/f0038-112.jpg" title="f0038-11" width="598" height="205"></div><h2>TOP ROOKIES</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-12147/7917107-1-eng-US/f0038-122.jpg" title="f0038-12" width="595" height="259"></div><h2>TEAM PENALTIES</h2>PIM-TOTAL PENALTY MINUTES INCLUDING (BMI) BENCH PENALTY MINUTES; AVG-AVERAGE PENALTY MINUTES PER GAME.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-13135/7917100-1-eng-US/f0038-132.jpg" title="f0038-13" width="350" height="741"></div><h2>POWER PLAY</h2>ADV-TOTAL ADVANTAGES; PPG-POWER-PLAY GOALS; PCT-POWER-PLAY GOALS DIVIDED BY TOTAL ADVANTAGES.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-14125/7917093-1-eng-US/f0038-142.jpg" title="f0038-14" width="382" height="756"></div><h2>PENALTY KILLING</h2>TSH-TOTAL TIMES SHORTHANDED; PPGA-POWER-PLAY GOALS ALLOWED; PCT-PENALTY-KILLING PERCENTAGE.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-15116/7917086-1-eng-US/f0038-152.jpg" title="f0038-15" width="382" height="762"></div>KEY TO ABBREVIATIONSStatistics provided by National Hockey League: No.&mdash; uniform number; GP-games played; G- goals; A- assists; P- points; +/- - plus/minus; PIM- penalties; PP- power-play goals; SH- short-handed goals; GW- game-winning goals; GT- game-tying goals; S- shots; Pct- shooting percentage. Players indicated by an asterisk (*) are eligible for the Calder Trophy.<h2>MIGHTY DUCKS OF ANAHEIM</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01925/7917079-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg" title="f0039-01" width="1010" height="627"></div><h2>BOSTON BRUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-02606/7917072-1-eng-US/f0039-022.jpg" title="f0039-02" width="1008" height="572"></div><h2>BUFFALO SABRES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-03466/7917065-1-eng-US/f0039-032.jpg" title="f0039-03" width="1003" height="601"></div><h2>CALGARY FLAMES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-04384/7917058-1-eng-US/f0039-042.jpg" title="f0039-04" width="1007" height="675"></div><h2>CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-05324/7917051-1-eng-US/f0039-052.jpg" title="f0039-05" width="988" height="311"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-06274/7917044-1-eng-US/f0039-062.jpg" title="f0039-06" width="993" height="307"></div><h2>DALLAS STARS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-07250/7917037-1-eng-US/f0039-072.jpg" title="f0039-07" width="994" height="575"></div><h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-08217/7917030-1-eng-US/f0039-082.jpg" title="f0039-08" width="995" height="669"></div><h2>EDMONTON OILERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-09183/7917023-1-eng-US/f0039-092.jpg" title="f0039-09" width="1018" height="691"></div><h2>FLORIDA PANTHERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-10157/7917016-1-eng-US/f0039-102.jpg" title="f0039-10" width="1016" height="611"></div><h2>HARTFORD WHALERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-11138/7917009-1-eng-US/f0039-112.jpg" title="f0039-11" width="999" height="629"></div><h2>LOS ANGELES KINGS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-12122/7917002-1-eng-US/f0039-122.jpg" title="f0039-12" width="1016" height="704"></div><h2>MONTREAL CANADIENS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-13110/7916995-1-eng-US/f0039-132.jpg" title="f0039-13" width="1008" height="605"></div><h2>NEW JERSEY DEVILS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-14101/7916988-1-eng-US/f0039-142.jpg" title="f0039-14" width="1016" height="530"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-1591/7916981-1-eng-US/f0039-152.jpg" title="f0039-15" width="941" height="911"><figcaption class="caption-body">Paul Kariya is making an early bid for the Calder trophy.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-01626/7916974-1-eng-US/f0040-012.jpg" title="f0040-01" width="1016" height="142"></div><h2>NEW YORK ISLANDERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-02387/7916967-1-eng-US/f0040-022.jpg" title="f0040-02" width="1030" height="633"></div><h2>NEW YORK RANGERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-03285/7916960-1-eng-US/f0040-032.jpg" title="f0040-03" width="1012" height="649"></div><h2>OTTAWA SENATORS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-04230/7916953-1-eng-US/f0040-042.jpg" title="f0040-04" width="1043" height="689"></div><h2>PHILADELPHIA FLYERS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-05200/7916946-1-eng-US/f0040-052.jpg" title="f0040-05" width="1019" height="613"></div><h2>PITTSBURGH PENGUINS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-06177/7916939-1-eng-US/f0040-062.jpg" title="f0040-06" width="1017" height="414"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-07162/7916932-1-eng-US/f0040-072.jpg" title="f0040-07" width="1028" height="189"></div><h2>QUEBEC NORDIQUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-08145/7916925-1-eng-US/f0040-082.jpg" title="f0040-08" width="1012" height="562"></div><h2>SAN JOSE SHARKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-10106/7916918-1-eng-US/f0040-102.jpg" title="f0040-10" width="1008" height="590"></div><h2>ST.LOUIS BLUES</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1194/7916911-1-eng-US/f0040-112.jpg" title="f0040-11" width="1028" height="706"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1286/7916904-1-eng-US/f0040-122.jpg" title="f0040-12" width="1016" height="121"></div><h2>TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1382/7916897-1-eng-US/f0040-132.jpg" title="f0040-13" width="1021" height="559"></div><h2>TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1470/7916890-1-eng-US/f0040-142.jpg" title="f0040-14" width="1038" height="593"></div><h2>VANCOUVER CANUCKS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1568/7916883-1-eng-US/f0040-152.jpg" title="f0040-15" width="1035" height="614"></div><h2>WASHINGTON CAPITALS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1661/7916876-1-eng-US/f0040-162.jpg" title="f0040-16" width="1012" height="617"></div><h2>WINNIPEG JETS</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-1755/7916869-1-eng-US/f0040-172.jpg" title="f0040-17" width="1005" height="642"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0040-09115/7916862-1-eng-US/f0040-092.jpg" title="f0040-09" width="983" height="1189"><figcaption class="caption-body">Alexei Yashin&rsquo;s seven points led the Senators in scoring.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0038-01

HOW WINNERS PLAY THE GAME.™

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0041-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01522/7917229-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg"></div><h2>KEY TO ABBREVIATIONS</h2>Statistics provided by National Hockey League; Rk-overall rank; No.-uniform number; GP-games played; MIN-minutes played; GAA-goals-against average; W-wins; L-losses; T-ties; ENG-emptynet goals; SO-shutouts; GA-goals against; SA-shots against; SV%-save percentage. Players indicated by an asterisk (*) are eligible for the Calder Trophy. Overall rank is based on goals-against average with ties broken using the following criteria: minutes played, save percentage and wins.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-02324/7917222-1-eng-US/f0041-022.jpg" title="f0041-02" width="1018" height="1399"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-03253/7917215-1-eng-US/f0041-032.jpg" title="f0041-03" width="1021" height="1390"></div> &#9632;

f0041-01

GOALTENDING

f0041-04

NHL SUMMARIES

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0045-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0045-01360/7917914-1-eng-US/f0045-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Kings&rsquo; goaltender Robb Stauber is sidelined with a broken finger.</figcaption></div><h2>ANAHEIM</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 30: Mark Ferner, D, recalled from San Diego (IHL). Feb. 2: Todd Krygier, LW, acquired from Washington for 1996 fourth-round draft pick.ROSTERC-Patrik Carnback, Anatoli Semenov. Bob Corkum, Shaun Van Allen. LW-Paul Kariya, Joe Sacco, Steve Rucchin, Stu Grimson, Tim Sweeney. RW-Valeri Karpov, Peter Douris, John Lilley, Todd Ewen, David Sacco. LD-Randy Ladouceur. Bobby Dollas, Robert Dirk, Myles O&rsquo;Connor. RD-Oleg Tverdovsky, Tom Kurvers, David Williams, Mark Ferner. G-Guy Hebert, Mikhail Shtaienkov.INJURIESSteven King. RW, right shoulder surgery, out for season. Stephan Lebeau, C, sore left ankle, day-to-day. Don McSween, D. lacerated wrist, out for season. Garry Valk, LW, sprained left knee, Feb. 10.<h2>BOSTON</h2>TRANSACTIONSNone.ROSTERC-Adam Oates, Jozef Stumpel, Bryan Smolinski, I Daniel Lacroix. LW-Ted Donato, Mariusz Czerkawski, Brent Hughes, Mikko Makela. RW-Cam Neely. I Glen Murray, Steve Leach, Marc Potvin, Steve I Heinze. LD-Don Sweeney, Alexei Kasatonov, Jamie I Huscroft. RD-Ray Bourque, John Gruden, David I Shaw. G-Blaine Lacher. Vincent Riendeau.INJURIESAl Iafrate, D, left knee rehabilitation, indefinite. Daniel Marois. RW, back surgery, indefinite. Jon I Rohloff, D, left groin strain, day-to-day.<h2>BUFFALO</h2>TRANSACTIONSNone.ROSTERC-Dale Hawerchuk. Dave Hannan, Derek Plante, I Bob Sweeney. LW-Yuri Khmylev, Craig Simpson, I Brad May, Viktor Gordiouk, Rob Ray. RW-Alexander I Mogilny, Donald Audette, Jason Dawe, Wayne Presley. LD-Petr Svoboda, Philippe Boucher, Ken Sutton, Doug Houda. RD-Doug Bodger, Craig Muni, I Richard Smehlik, Denis Tsygurov. G-Grant Fuhr, I Dominik Hasek.INJURIESPat LaFontaine, C, knee surgery, indefinite.<h2>CALGARY</h2>TRANSACTIONSNone.ROSTERC-Robert Reichel, Joe Nieuwendyk, Joel Otto. I LW-Gary Roberts, German Titov, Paul Kruse, Mike I Sullivan. RW-Theo Fleury, Ron Stem, Wes Walz, I Mark Greig. LD-Zariey Zalapski, Steve Chiasson, I Frank Musil, Dan Keczmer. RD-Phil Housley, James I Patrick, Kevin Dahl. G-Trevor Kidd, Jason Muzzatti.INJURIESSheldon Kennedy. RW, Charley horse, day-to-day. Kelly Kisio, C, broken ribs, indefinite. Sandy McCarthy, RW. sprained right knee ligament, day-to-day. Michael Nylander, C, broken left wrist, indefinite. Trent Yawney, D, sprained right thumb ligaments, indefinite.<h2>CHICAGO</h2>TRANSACTIONSNone.ROSTERC-Jeremy Roenick, Bernie Nicholls. Brent Sutter, Christian Ruuttu. LW-Patrick Poulin, Paul Ysebaert Sergei Krivokrasov, Brent Grieve. RW-Ton&gt; Amonte, Joe Murphy, Dirk Graham, Rich Sutter Darin Kimble. LD-Gary Suter, Steve Smith, Rogei Johansson, Keith Carney. RD-Chris Chelios, Eric Weinrich, Cam Russell, Greg Smyth. G-Ed Belfour Jeff Hackett.INJURIESJeff Shantz, LW, pulled left shoulder muscle, day-to-day.<h2>DALLAS</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 31: lain Fraser, LW, acquired from Quebec I for conditional 1996 draft pick.ROSTERC-Mike Modano, Neal Broten, Mike Kennedy I Dean Evason. LW-Trent Klatt, Brent Gilchrist, Dave I Gagner, Alan May, lain Fraser. RW-Paul Broten I Russ Courtnall, Todd Harvey, Shane Churla, Jarkkc I Varvio. LD-Grant Ledyard, Doug Zmolek, Craig Lud I wig. Mike Lalor. RD-Kevin Hatcher, Derian Hatcher I Paul Cavallini. G-Darcy Wakaluk, Andy Moog.<h2>INJURIES</h2>Gord Donnelly, D, bone chips in right elbow I indefinite. Richard Matvichuk, D, left knee surgery late March. Mike McPhee, LW, cartilage damage ir left knee, indefinite. Peter Zezel, C, cartilage damage in right knee, indefinite.<h2>I DETROIT</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 27: Bob Essensa, G, loaned to San Diego (IHL).<h2>ROSTER</h2>C-Sergei Fedorov, Steve Yzerman, Keith Primeau, Kris Draper. LW-Vyacheslav Kozlov, Mik (I Sillinger, Shawn Burr, Doug Brown, Greg Johnson Tim Taylor. RW-Martin Lapointe, Ray Sheppard Dino Ciccarelli, Darren McCarty. LD-Mark Howe Mike Ramsey, Terry Carkner. RD-Nicklas Lidstr&ouml;m Bob Rouse. Vladimir Konstantinov, Bob Halkidis G-Mike Vernon, Chris Osgood.INJURIESPaul Coffey, D, bruised lower back/spasms, indefinite. Mike Krushelnyski, LW, bruised left knee, indefinite.<h2>EDMONTON</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 26: Kent Nilsson. RW, signed one-year contract. Jan. 30: Boris Mironov, D, recalled from Cape Breton (AHL). Vladimir Vujtek, C, assigned to Cape Breton.ROSTERC-Jason Arnott, Doug Weight, Todd Marchant, Micah Aivazoff, Scott Thornton. LW-Shayne Corson, Kelly Buchberger, Scott Pearson, Louie DeBrusk, Mike Stapleton, Ryan Smyth. RW-Kent Nilsson, David Oliver, Kirk Maltby, Roman Oksiuta. LD-Luke Richardson, Bryan Marchment, Boris Mironov. Rt&gt;-Fredrik Olausson, Dean Kennedy, Gord Mark, Len Esau. G&mdash;Bill Ranford, Fred Brathwaite.INJURIESIgor Kravchuk, D, left knee strain, day-to-day. Dean McAmmond, LW, severed left Achilles tendon, out for season.<h2>FLORIDA</h2>TRANSACTIONSNone.ROSTERC-Rob Niedermayer, Stu Barnes, Brian Skrudland, Jesse Belanger. LW-Dave Lowry, Jeff Daniels, Mike Hough, Bill Lindsay. RW-Scott Mellanby, Bob Kudelski, Jody Hull, Andrei Lomakin. LD-Geoff Smith, Brent Severyn, Brian Benning. RD-Randy Moller, Joe Cirella, Gord Murphy. G-John Vanbies-brouck, Mark Fitzpatrick.INJURIESKeith Brown, D, left knee surgery. Feb. 24.<h2>HARTFORD</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 27: Marek Malik, D, assigned to Springfield. (AHL). Jan. 28: Ted Drury, C, assigned to Springfield. Jan. 30: Drury recalled from Springfield.ROSTERC-Andrew Cassels, Darren Turcotte, Jim Carson, Mark Janssens, Ted Drury. LW-Geoff Sanderson, Jocelyn Lemieux, Paul Ranheim, Andrei Nikolishin, Kelly Chase. RW-Pat Verbeek, Steven Rice, Robert Kron, Jim Sandlak. LD-Glen Wesley, Frantisek Kucera. Alexander Godynyuk. RD-Adam Burt, Brad McCrimmon, Brian Glynn. G-Sean Burke, Jeff Reese.INJURIESChris Pronger, D, sprained left shoulder, Feb. 10.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 27: Kevin Brown, RW, recalled from Phoenix (IHL). Feb. 1: Pauli Jaks, G, assigned to Phoenix. Feb. 2: Gary Shuchuk, C, assigned to Phoenix for conditioning.ROSTERC-Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, Kevin Todd, Robert Lang. LW-Warren Rychel, Pat Conacher, Eric Lacroix, Mike Donnelly, Dan Quinn, Mail Johnson. RW-Rick Tocchet, Tony Granato, John Druce, Kevin Brown. LD-Alex Zhitnik, Darryl Sydor, Charlie Huddy. RD-Marty McSorley. Michel Petit, Sean O&rsquo;Donnell. G-Kelly Hrudey, Jamie Storr.INJURIESRob Blake, D, groin strain, day-to-day. Troy Crowder, RW, sprained wrist, day-to-day. Robb Stauber, G, broken finger, indefinite.<h2>MONTREAL</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 27: Martin Brochu, G, recalled from Fredericton (AHL). Jan. 30: Donald Brashear, LW, assignee to Fredericton.ROSTERC-Kirk Muller, John LeClair, Paul DiPietro, Briar Savage, Jim Montgomery. LW-Vincent Damp housse, Gilbert Dionne, Benoit Brunet, Gerry Flem ing, Pierre Sevigny. RW-Tumer Stevenson, Briar Bellows, Mike Keane, Ed Ronan, Oleg Petrov LD-Mathieu Schneider, J.J. Daigneault, Yves Racine, Bryan Fogarty. RD-Lyle Odelein, Eric Des jardins, Patrice Brisebois, Peter Popovic. G-Patricl-Roy, Martin Brochu.INJURIESRon Tugnutt, G, strained left knee, indefinite NEW JERSEY TRANSACTIONSJan. 30: Chris McAlpine, D, recalled from Albany (AHL). Feb. 2: Peter Sidorkiewicz. G, assigned tc Fort Wayne (IHL).ROSTERC-Alexander Semak, Bobby Carpenter, Bobty Holik, Corey Millen. LW-Claude Lemieux, Ton Chorske, Mike Peluso, Ben Hankinson, Davie Emma. RW-John MacLean, Stephane Richer, Bil Guerin, Randy McKay. LD-Scott Stevens, Tom&pi;&eta; Albelin, Viacheslav Fetisov. RD-Bruce Driver, Ker Daneyko, Scott Niedermayer, Chris McAlpine G-Martin Brodeur, Chris Terreri.INJURIESJim Dowd, C, dislocated right shoulder, indefinite Jaroslav Modry, D, bruised ankle, day-to-day Jason Smith, D, reconstructive knee surgery, indefi nite. Valeri Zelepukin. LW, bruised right eye, indefi nite.<h2>N.Y. ISLANDERS</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 30: Chris Taylor, C, recalled from Denver (IHL).ROSTERC-Piene Turgeon, Ray Fenaro, Travis Green, Ron Sutter, Chris Taylor. LW-Marty McInnis, Troy Loney, Benoit Hogue, Derek King, Dave Chyzowski. RW-Steve Thomas, Pat Flatley, Brett Lindros, Mick Vukota, Zigmund Palffy. LD-Darius Kasparaitis, Scott Lachance, Rich Pilon, Dennis Vaske. RD-Dean Chynoweth, Vladimir Malakhov, Chris Luongo. G-Jamie McLennan, Tommy S&ouml;derstr&ouml;m.INJURIESBob Beers, D, multiple facial fractures, indefinite. Brad Dalgarno. RW, hernia operation, Feb. 4.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 29: Shawn McCosh, C, recalled from Binghamton (AHL).ROSTERC-Mark Messier, Petr Nedved, Sergei Nemchinov, Shawn McCosh. LW-Adam Graves, Stephane Matteau, Mark Osborne, Nick Kypreos, Mike Hartman, Jean-Yves Roy. RW-Steve Larmer, Alexei Kovalev, Brian Noonan, Joey Kocur. LD-Brian Leetch, Kevin Lowe, Jay Wells, Glen Featherstone. RD-Jeff Beukeboom, Sergei Zubov, Alexander Karpovtsev, Joby Messier. G-Mike Richter, Glenn Healy.INJURIESEd Olczyk, C, kidney stones, day-to-day.<h2>OTTAWA</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 25: Darrin Madeley, G, assigned to P.E.I. (AHL). Mike Bales, G, recalled from P.E.I.ROSTERC-Alexei Yashin, Alexandre Daigle, Radek Bonk, Troy Murray. LW-Dave McLIwain, Randy Cunneyworth, Sylvain Turgeon, Phil Bourque, Claude Boivin, Troy Mallette, Bill Huard. RW-Pavol Demitra, Pat Elynuik, Rob Gaudreau, Dave Archibald, Scott Levins. LD-Norm Maciver, Jim Paek, Stan Neckar, Dennis Vial. RD-Sean Hill, Chris Dahlquist, Radim Bicanek. G-Don Beaupre, Mike Bales.INJURIESCraig Billington, G, stretched left knee ligaments, indefinite. Kerry Huffman, D, groin pull, day-to-day. Brad Shaw, D, pulled stomach muscle, day-to-day.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 27: Stewart Malgunas, D, recalled from Hershey (AHL). Jan. 28: Garry Galley, D, signed three-year contract.ROSTERC-Eric Lindros, Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour. Craig MacTavish, Mark Lamb. LW-Josef Beranek, Shjon Podein, Brent Fedyk, Rob DiMaio. RW-Mikael Renberg, Mark Recchi, Patrik Juhlin. Phil Crowe, Dave Brown. LD-Garry Galley, Chris Therien, Stewart Malgunas, Rob Zettler. RD-Dimitri Yushkevich, Ryan McGill, Shawn Anderson. G-Dominic Roussel, Ron Hextali.INJURIESKevin Dineen. RW, strained left shoulder, day-to-day. Kevin Haller, D, pulled groin, day-to-day.<h2>PITTSBURGH</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 30: Philippe DeRouville, G, recalled from Cleveland (IHL). Olie Su&#8898;dstrom, G, assigned to Cleveland.ROSTERC-Ron Francis, John Cullen, Martin Straka, Mike Hudson, Len Barrie. LW-Luc Robitaille, Kevin Stevens, Shawn McEachern, Jim McKenzie. RW-Jaromir Jagr, Joe Mullen, Tomas Sandstrom, Markus Naslund. LO&mdash;Ulf Samuelsson, Francois Leroux, Greg Hawgood. RD-Larry Murphy, Kjell Samuelsson, Chris Joseph, Peter Taglianetti, Greg Brown. G-Ken Wregget, Philippe DeRouville.INJURIESTom Barrasso, G, wrist surgery, indefinite. Grant Jennings, D, pulled groin, day-to-day. Wayne McBean, D, wrist surgery, indefinite.<h2>QUEBEC</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 27: Jon Klemm, D, recalled from Cornwall (AHL). Jan. 31: lain Fraser, LW, traded to Dallas for Conditional 1996 draft pick. Feb. 1: Klemm assigned to Cornwall.ROSTERC-Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Mike Ricci, Bob Bassen. LW-Wendel Clark, Valeri Kamensky, Martin Rucinsky, Chris Simon. RW-Andrei Kovalenko, Owen Nolan, Scott Young, Adam Deadmarsh, Paul MacDermid. LD-Steven Finn, Curtis Leschyshyn, Janne Laukkanen. RD-Sylvain Lefebvre, Craig Wolanin, Uwe Krupp, Adam Foote. G-Stephane Fiset, Jocelyn Thibault.INJURIESAlexei Gusarov, D, cracked bone in foot, indefinite. Claude Lapointe, C, back problems, indefinite.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 28: Jeff Batters, D. recalled from Peoria (IHL). Jan. 30: Patrice Tardif, RW. assigned to Peoria. Jan. 31: Batters and Craig Johnson, LW, assigned to Peoria. Ian Laperriere, C, recalled from Peoria. Feb. 2: Batters and Denny Felsner, RW, recalled from Peoria. Philillpe Bozon, LW, released.ROSTERC-Craig Janney, Adam Creighton, Guy Carbonneau, Ian Laperriere, Peter Stastny. LW-Brendan Shanahan, Esa Tikkanen, Greg Gilbert, Tony Twist, Basil McRae, Vitali Prokhorov. RW-Brett Hull, Denis Chasse, Denny Felsner, Kevin Miller, Vitali Karamnov. LD-Steve Duchesne, Murray Baron, Bill Houlder. RD-Doug Lidster. Jeff Batters, Donald Dufresne. G-Jon Casey, Geoff Sarjeant.INJURIESCurtis Joseph, G, groin strain, day-to-day. Al Maclnnis, D, separated shoulder, indefinite. Rick Zombo. D, sprained ankle, day-to-day.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2>TRANSACTIONS Feb. 1: Andrei Nazarov, LW, recalled from Kansas City (IHL).ROSTERC-lgor Larionov, Todd Elik, Jeff Friesen, Jamie Baker, Slava Butsayev. LW-Andrei Nazarov, Bob Errey, Ray Whitney, Gaetan Duchesne. RW-Sergei Makarov. Ulf Dahlen, Pat Falloon, Jeff Odgers, Shean Donovan. LD-Jeff Norton, Mike Rathje, Michal Sykora, Shawn Cronin. RD-Sandis Ozolinsh, Tom Pederson, Jay More, Ilya Byakin. G-Arturs Irbe, Jimmy Waite, Wade Flaherty.INJURIESDale Craigwell, C, broken right ankle, indefinite. Johan Garpenlov, LW, pulled groin muscle, day-to-day. Viktor Kozlov. LW, fractured left ankle, indefinite. Fredrick Nilsson. C, separated shoulder, indefinite.<h2>TAMPA BAY</h2>TRANSACTIONSFeb. 3: Tom Tilley, D, assigned to Atlanta (IHL).ROSTERC-Brian Bradley, Chris Gratton, Marc Bureau, Denis Savard. LW-John Tucker, Petr Klima, Rob Zamuner, Jason Wiemer, Gerard Gallant. RW-Alexander Selivanov, Danton Cole, Rudy Poeschek, Mikael Andersson, Jim Cummins. LD-Roman Hamrlik. Shawn Chambers, Eric Charron. RD-Marc Bergevin, Enrico Ciccone, Cory Cross. G-Daren Puppa, J.C. Bergeron.INJURIESNone.<h2>TORONTO</h2>TRANSACTIONSNone.ROSTERC-Doug Gilmour, Mike Ridley, Mike Eastwood, Terry Yake. LW-Dave Andreychuk, Bill Berg, Randy Wood, Nikolai Borschevsky. RW-Mats Sundin, Mike Gartner, Mike Craig, Dixon Ward. LD-Dave Eliett, Jamie Macoun, Dmitri Mironov. RD-Todd Gill, Garth Butcher, Kenny Jonsson, Drake Berehowsky. G-Felix Potvin, Damian Rhodes, Pat Jablonski.INJURIESKen Baumgartner, LW, shoulder surgery, indefinite. Kent Manderville, C, ankle sprain, day-to-day.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 27: Bret Hedican, D, signed three-y&beta;ar contract. Jan. 31: Nathan LaFayette, RW, recalled from Syracuse (AHL).ROSTERC&mdash;Cliff Ronning, Trevor Linden, Mike Peca, John McIntyre. LW-Greg Adams, Sergio Momesso, Geoff Courtnall, Gino Odjick, Shawn Antoski. RW-Pavel Bure, Martin Gelinas, Nathan LaFayette, Tim Hunter, Gary Leeman, Joe Charbonneau. LD-Dave Babych, Bret Hedican, Adrien Plavsic, Dana Murzyn. RD-Jeff Brown, Jyrki Lumme, Jiri Slegr, Gerald Diduck. G-Kirk McLean, Kay Whitmore.INJURIESNone.<h2>WASHINGTON</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 30: Steve Konowalchuk, LW, signed threeyear contract. Jan. 31: Kevin Kaminski, C, assigned to Portland (AHL). Feb. 2: Todd Krygier, LW, traded to Anaheim for 1996 fourth-round draft pick.ROSTERC-Dale Hunter, Pat Peake, Dave Poulin, Jason Allison. LW-Dimitri Khristich, Michal Pivonka, Steve Konowalchuk, Craig Berube, Randy Burridge. RW-Kelly Miller, Peter Bondra, Keith Jones, Rob Pearson. LD-Joe Reekie, Calle Johansson, John Slaney. RD-Jim Johnson, Sylvain Cote, Mark Tinordi. G-Rick Tabaracci, Olie Kolzig.INJURIESJoe Juneau. C, hip flexor-groin pull, indefinite. Ken Klee, D, separated left shoulder, indefinite.<h2>WINNIPEG</h2>TRANSACTIONSJan. 31: Craig Martin, RW, assigned to Springfield (AHL) for conditioning.ROSTERC-Keith Tkachuk, Alexei Zhamnov, Thomas Steen, Randy Gilhen. Mike Eagles, Luciano Borsato. LW-Dallas Drake, Russ Romaniuk, Kris King. RW-Teemu Selanne, Nelson Emerson, Igor Korolev, Tie Domi, Michal Grosek. LD-Teppo Numminen, Dave Manson, Igor Ulanov, Darryl Shannon. RD-Neil Wilkinson, Stephane Quintal, Brent Thompson. G-Tim Cheveldae, Nikolai Khabibulin.INJURIESDarrin Shannon, LW, broken ribs, indefinite. &#9632;

f0045-01

NHL TRANSACTIONS

NHL affiliates are listed under AHL team names.Scorers must have appeared in seven games to be listed.<h2>ADIRONDACK RED WINGS</h2>(Detroit)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-01352/7918078-1-eng-US/f0046-012.jpg" title="f0046-01" width="611" height="797"></div><h2>ALBANY RIVER RATS</h2>(New Jersey)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-02212/7918071-1-eng-US/f0046-022.jpg" title="f0046-02" width="603" height="640"></div><h2>BINGHAMTON RANGERS</h2>(Rangers)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-03153/7918064-1-eng-US/f0046-032.jpg" title="f0046-03" width="606" height="775"></div><h2>CAPE BRETON OILERS</h2>(Edmonton)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-04128/7918057-1-eng-US/f0046-042.jpg" title="f0046-04" width="590" height="694"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-05102/7918050-1-eng-US/f0046-052.jpg" title="f0046-05" width="607" height="195"></div><h2>CORNWALL ACES</h2>(Quebec)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0693/7918043-1-eng-US/f0046-062.jpg" title="f0046-06" width="619" height="787"></div><h2>FREDERICTON CANADIENS</h2>(Montreal)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0776/7918036-1-eng-US/f0046-072.jpg" title="f0046-07" width="607" height="823"></div><h2>HERSHEY BEARS</h2>(Philadelphia)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0858/7918029-1-eng-US/f0046-082.jpg" title="f0046-08" width="618" height="853"></div><h2>P.E.I. SENATORS</h2>(Ottawa)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-0952/7918022-1-eng-US/f0046-092.jpg" title="f0046-09" width="615" height="315"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1041/7918015-1-eng-US/f0046-102.jpg" title="f0046-10" width="594" height="494"></div><h2>PORTLAND PIRATES</h2>(Washington)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1139/7918008-1-eng-US/f0046-112.jpg" title="f0046-11" width="627" height="890"></div><h2>PROVIDENCE BRUINS</h2>(Boston)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1232/7918001-1-eng-US/f0046-122.jpg" title="f0046-12" width="603" height="807"></div><h2>ROCHESTER AMERICANS</h2>(Buffalo)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1327/7917994-1-eng-US/f0046-132.jpg" title="f0046-13" width="621" height="915"></div><h2>SAINT JOHN FLAMES</h2>(Calgary)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1424/7917987-1-eng-US/f0046-142.jpg" title="f0046-14" width="615" height="674"></div><h2>ST. JOHN&rsquo;S MAPLE LEAFS</h2>(Toronto)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1523/7917980-1-eng-US/f0046-152.jpg" title="f0046-15" width="636" height="778"></div><h2>SPRINGFIELD FALCONS</h2>(Hartford/Winnipeg)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1623/7917973-1-eng-US/f0046-162.jpg" title="f0046-16" width="642" height="918"></div><h2>SYRACUSE CRUNCH</h2>(Vancouver)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1721/7917966-1-eng-US/f0046-172.jpg" title="f0046-17" width="606" height="640"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1820/7917959-1-eng-US/f0046-182.jpg" title="f0046-18" width="597" height="144"></div><h2>WORCESTER ICECATS</h2>(Independent)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-1920/7917952-1-eng-US/f0046-192.jpg" title="f0046-19" width="609" height="840"></div><h2>GOALTENDING</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0046-2019/7917945-1-eng-US/f0046-202.jpg" title="f0046-20" width="627" height="2267"></div> &#9632;

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

NHL affiliates are listed under IHL team names.<h2>ATLANTA KNIGHTS</h2>(Tampa Bay)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-01374/7918256-1-eng-US/f0047-012.jpg" title="f0047-01" width="600" height="552"></div><h2>CHICAGO WOLVES</h2>(Independent)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-02250/7918249-1-eng-US/f0047-022.jpg" title="f0047-02" width="596" height="606"></div><h2>CINCINNATI CYCLONES</h2>(Florida)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-03195/7918242-1-eng-US/f0047-032.jpg" title="f0047-03" width="600" height="607"></div><h2>CLEVELAND LUMBERJACKS</h2>(Pittsburgh)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-04145/7918235-1-eng-US/f0047-042.jpg" title="f0047-04" width="598" height="665"></div><h2>DENVER GRIZZLIES</h2>(Islanders)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-05111/7918228-1-eng-US/f0047-052.jpg" title="f0047-05" width="597" height="389"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0691/7918221-1-eng-US/f0047-062.jpg" title="f0047-06" width="606" height="275"></div><h2>DETROIT VIPERS</h2>(Independent)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0778/7918214-1-eng-US/f0047-072.jpg" title="f0047-07" width="615" height="779"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0857/7918207-1-eng-US/f0047-082.jpg" title="f0047-08" width="577" height="1052"><figcaption class="caption-body">Phoenix&rsquo; Yanic Perreault</figcaption></div><h2>FORT WAYNE KOMETS</h2>(Independent)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-0945/7918200-1-eng-US/f0047-092.jpg" title="f0047-09" width="612" height="660"></div><h2>HOUSTON AEROS</h2>(Independent)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-1035/7918193-1-eng-US/f0047-102.jpg" title="f0047-10" width="609" height="251"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-1133/7918186-1-eng-US/f0047-112.jpg" title="f0047-11" width="621" height="443"></div><h2>INDIANAPOLIS ICE</h2>(Chicago)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-1230/7918179-1-eng-US/f0047-122.jpg" title="f0047-12" width="633" height="603"></div><h2>KALAMAZOO WINGS</h2>(Dallas)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-1328/7918172-1-eng-US/f0047-132.jpg" title="f0047-13" width="615" height="757"></div><h2>KANSAS CITY BLADES</h2>(San Jose)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-1427/7918165-1-eng-US/f0047-142.jpg" title="f0047-14" width="579" height="550"></div><h2>LAS VEGAS THUNDER</h2>(Independent)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-1526/7918158-1-eng-US/f0047-152.jpg" title="f0047-15" width="590" height="577"></div><h2>MILWAUKEE ADMIRALS</h2>(Independent)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-1623/7918151-1-eng-US/f0047-162.jpg" title="f0047-16" width="597" height="631"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-1723/7918144-1-eng-US/f0047-172.jpg" title="f0047-17" width="571" height="1092"><figcaption class="caption-body">Milwaukee&rsquo;s Brad Werenka</figcaption></div><h2>MINNESOTA MOOSE</h2>(Independent)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-1821/7918137-1-eng-US/f0047-182.jpg" title="f0047-18" width="618" height="659"></div><h2>PEORIA RIVERMEN</h2>(St. Louis)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-1921/7918130-1-eng-US/f0047-192.jpg" title="f0047-19" width="612" height="597"></div><h2>PHOENIX ROADRUNNERS</h2>(Los Angeles)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-2021/7918123-1-eng-US/f0047-202.jpg" title="f0047-20" width="610" height="640"></div><h2>SAN DIEGO GULLS</h2>(Anaheim)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-2119/7918116-1-eng-US/f0047-212.jpg" title="f0047-21" width="588" height="601"></div><h2>GOALTENDING</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0047-2218/7918109-1-eng-US/f0047-222.jpg" title="f0047-22" width="595" height="1841"></div> &#9632;

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INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

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SCOREBOARD

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>For every rookie star-in-waiting, there are many more like Roman Oksiuta.Some make it. Most don&rsquo;t. Inconsistency is the major roadblock and they spend too many years on a teams&rsquo; top-prospect list instead of its top line.Oksiuta, 24, played for the Cape Breton Oilers the past two seasons while players with higher intensity quotients passed over him on flights to the parent club in Edmonton.Early reviews this season on the Russian right winger are mixed. After cracking the NHL team&rsquo;s roster in training camp, he scored four goals in three games and was named a star in two of them. The fourth game he went pointless, was directly responsible for one goal against and finished minus-three. The fifth game he sat.Nonetheless, Oilers&rsquo; coach George Burnett said he is satisfied.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re really pleased with Roman&rsquo;s progress,&rdquo; Burnett said. &ldquo;He has turned not only his game around but his life. Regardless of any defensive break downs, it&rsquo;s not going to do us an good if we don&rsquo;t score. And he&rsquo;s a go who can do that for us.&rdquo;Oksiuta won&rsquo;t be confused with super rookies Peter Forsberg of tl Quebec Nordiques or Paul Kariya the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim-wh led NHL rookies with seven point But talent has never been a proble for the 6-foot-5, 212-pound Oksiuta.The 1993-94 season was consider a disppointment for Oksiuta despi scoring 31 goals and 57 points in - American League games. He had goal and three points in 10 games with Edmonton.&ldquo;Last season was not a good year Oksiuta said. &ldquo;I went home, lifted k of weights, skated with my team Russia and thought every day above the next season.&rdquo;In the past, Oksiuta&rsquo;s conditioning was suspect, focus blurry and defensive game frequently absent. &ldquo;1 know thi; he said. &ldquo;I try to play defense no backcheck, forecheck, everything.&rdquo;Excessive alcohol consumption ablamed, in part, for Oksiuta weighing 242 pounds when he arrived at traini camp last year. Oksiuta said he hasi had a drink in nine months.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m 24 now, have a family (awe and four-year-old daughter), and I &iacute; more mature,&rdquo; he said.Oksiuta is one among ma unsung rookies to be making th&rsquo; breakthrough, including Queb Nordiques&rsquo; center Adam Deadman Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; left winger E Lacroix and Boston Bruins&rsquo; defen; man John Gruden.Deadmarsh, a rugged custom from the Portland Winter Hawks, performing well in Forsberg&rsquo;s shad with a goal and three points.Lacroix couldn&rsquo;t crack the Toroi Maple Leafs&rsquo; lineup and was trad to the Kings. He had three points six games and was plus-six, tops the team.Gruden capitalized on Al Iafrati absence and the trade of Glen Wesl to Hartford to earn a spot on the B ins&rsquo; blueline. He is a strong ska who handles the puck well.Other rookies off to good sta include right winger Denis Chasse the St. Louis Blues; Mike Peca of i Vancouver Canucks; defenses Oleg Tverdovsky of the Migl Ducks; right winger Todd Harvey the Dallas Stars; center Jeff Friesen the San Jose Sharks; right win; David Oliver of the Oilers; cen Jason Allison of the Washington C; itals; and center Brian Savage of Montreal Canadiens.Four rookie goaltenders hi claimed regular spots-includ early-season sensation Blaine Lac of the Bruins and New Islanders&rsquo; No. 1 goalie Jamie McLenan, who played 22 games lasts son. Olaf Kolzig of the Washing Capitals and Jamie Storr of 1 Angeles are also rookies. &#9632;

Roman’s development requires more than a day

<div class="byline">By Murray Townsend</div>My thanks go out to the people who publish the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; media guide. This season, I won&rsquo;t have to go looking for it in my 14-year-old daughter&rsquo;s room where she and her friends regularly fawned over Pavel Bure&rsquo;s picture.The Canucks did something different with their individual photographs, distorting them so the players appear taller and thinner.Why the long faces? Probably some kind of artsy thing. Either that or they took the pictures right after last year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup final.At any rate, my daughter was clearly disappointed andbeing an understanding father of the &rsquo;90s, I decided to give her a consolation prize. I told her I&rsquo;d let her go through all the media guides if she and her friends would pick out the best-looking players.That&rsquo;s not something rugged, macho sportswriters such as myself are ever apt to do, but 14-year-old girls can be considered experts in the field.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-01198/7918580-1-eng-US/f0051-012.jpg" title="f0051-01" width="379" height="504"></div>Some of their findings were surprising to the untrained eye. They immediately eliminated the over-the-hill gang such as 31-year-old Doug Gilmour. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s cute, but just too old,&rdquo; said my daughter, Holly.I figured a more mature perspective was in order, so I asked my thirtysomething girlfriend to lend an eye. But she wanted a list of their salaries and just seemed a little too eager. Despite assuring me her &ldquo;type&rdquo; was short, fat, balding guys, she was unceremoniously disqualified.The girls put comments about the players on their list. Mike Modano, for example, made it because he looks like Vinnie, Blossom&rsquo;s old boyfriend on the television series. Mark Recchi made the list because he has nice eyes. Others were &ldquo;babes&rdquo; or &ldquo;mega-babes.&rdquo;Bure still ranked near the top on the strength of last year&rsquo;s picture, but taking over the No. 1 spot was Jason Arnott.My Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; media guide is now missing.<h2>THE TOP 15</h2>1. Jason Arnott, Edmonton Oilers2. Pavel Bure, Vancouver Canucks3. Geoff Sanderson, Hartford Whalers4. Patrice Brisebois, Montreal Canadiens5. Felix Potvin, Toronto Maple Leafs6. Garth Snow, Quebec Nordiques7. Mark Recchi, Philadelphia Flyers8. Mike Modano, Dallas Stars9. Wayne Presley, Buffalo Sabres10. Michal Grosek, Winnipeg Jets11. Drake Berehowsky, Toronto Maple Leafs12. Trevor Linden, Vancouver Canucks13. Daniel Marois, Boston Bruins14. Ken Baumgartner, Toronto Maple Leafs15. Rob Niedermayer, Florida Panthers &#9632;

f0051-01

Arnott chosen Mr. Cute

<div class="byline">By Stu Hackel</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0051-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0051-02138/7918611-1-eng-US/f0051-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nike is hoping Cam Neely&rsquo;s charisma will help sell a new street hockey shoe.</figcaption></div>Cam Neely&lsquo;s dedication to hockey earned him the Masterton Trophy and a second all-star team berth last season. It has now earned him a significant endorsement steal that could place him in a category with Michael Jordan, Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson.Mega footwear manufacturer Nike has signed the Boston Bruins&rsquo; star to promote such products as cross training shoes, leisure wear and a new street hockey shoe. The deal makes Neely the first NHLer other than Wayne Gretzky to represent a high profile, international company whose products transcend hockey.Jordan, Sanders and Jackson parlayed their pro sports accomplishments into Nike endorsement deals which in turn raised their celebrity status to an even higher level.In the first phase of the deal, Neely will be promoting a cross trainer in magazine ads, billboards and. most notably, a television spot shot in Boston. The deal runs for two years, but financial details were not announced.Nike spokeswoman Donna Gibbs said Neely&rsquo;s inspirational 1993-94 season is what made him most attractive to the company. &ldquo;He overcame a serious injury and he exhibited a great dedication to cross training,&rdquo; Gibbs said.Neely is the first player signed by Nike since it inked a deal with the NHL in July. The footwear giant is hoping to make major inroads with its NHL-sponsored street hockey program. Under the plan, teams provide equipment for fully funded street hockey programs at local schools and community centers for kids aged six to 16.Nike projects 14 NHL teams will have programs operating by this summer and the goal is to have all teams in tow by 1997 and 1 million participants by 1999. The NHL says 100,(XX) youths are currently in the program.Neely&rsquo;s promotion of the Nike street hockey shoe, scheduled to hit stores in May or June, is crucial to the manufacturer. The athletic shoe business has slumped in the past two years and street hockey shoes will be aggressively marketed to help jumpstart a rebound. Shoe makers-L.A. Gear has plans for a Gretzky-endorsed product this summer-hope the street hockey line will explode into a fashion craze.The Nike-NHL pact also gave Nike title sponsorship to the International Challenge exhibition series, which featured the Winnipeg Jets in Finland last September. Nike TV spots will also be part of the advertising mix on NHL games aired on the Fox network.Nike, meanwhile, officially acquires Canstar, Canada&rsquo;s giant skate, stick and equipment supplier, in February, but Gibbs isn&rsquo;t sure if Neely will be promoting Canstar products. &#9632;

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February 17, 1995

PLUS MINUS

Earl Seibert: Hockey’s forgotten superstar

Plans for update sets back on rails after lockout

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