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.

June 28, 1996

The Hockey News June 28, 1996

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>Glen Sather should be impressed with his choice of coach for Canada&rsquo;s World Cup team.He picked a guy who coached Canada to the Canada Cup title in 1984 and was GM of Canada&rsquo;s first gold medal team in 31 years at the 1994 World Championship.Meet the coach of Team Canada: Glen Sather. The Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; GM was expected to make the formal announcement at a news conference June 17. After resisting earlier calls to coach the team, Sather added coaching to his GM duties when Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman withdrew his name.Russia, meanwhile, resolved its coaching problem. Igor Dmitriev succeeds Vladimir Vasilyev, who resigned following Russia&rsquo;s failure to win a medal in the World Championship. Dmitriev says his priority would be to meet with Igor Larionov and Slava Fetisov.As for Team USA, Mike Keenan declared himself a coaching candidate. Keenan lobbied for the Team Canada job, but after talking to players, Sather ruled Iron Mike out.Keenan is obtaining his U.S. citizenship and likely would like nothing more than to coach Team USA to a win over Team Canada.Coaching the U.S.,&rdquo;is a possibility that would come to a fruition if my dual citizenship comes through,&rdquo; Keenan said.Keenan isn&rsquo;t a lock for the job. Mighty Ducks of Anaheim coach Ron Wilson is another candidate. Wilson is U.S.-born and coached the U.S. to bronze at the World Championship in May.Meanwhile, Ray Bourque is likely a scratch from Canada&rsquo;s lineup because of family commitments. Rob Blake may not play if his injured knee isn&rsquo;t ready. And nobody is sure of Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s plans.Sather expressed concern about the status of players such as Wayne Gretzky and Bill Ran-ford who will be free agents when camps open. But insurance will be made available by World Cup organizers.The World Cup begins Aug. 26 with the finals slated for Sept. 10-14. (See pg. 38 for rosters and pre-toumament schedule.)BEST GOAL: Bobby Orr&rsquo;s memorable overtime goal that gave the Boston Bruins their first Stanley Cup in 29 years was selected the MasterCard Greatest Moment in NHL history.Orr&rsquo;s shot past St. Louis Blues&rsquo; goalie Glenn Hall and subsequent dive through the air May 10, 1970 scored 609 of a possible 1165 points in voting done by 400 writers and broadcasters covering the NHL.The diving save in overtime in Game 1 of the Western Conference final by Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; goalie Chris Osgood was selected the play of the year. He stopped Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche on the play.COURT APPEARANCE: Alan Eagleson is finally talking, but not for public consumption.The embattled former executive director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association gave sworn pre-trial examination in early-June for an Ontario civil suit launched against him by retired Boston Bruin Mike Gillis. Under court order, transcripts of the discovery information given in Toronto will not be disclosed publicly since criminal charges are pending against Eagleson.The 63-year-old Eagleson was indicted by a U.S. grand jury in 1994 on charges including fraud, racketeering and embezzlement relating to his NHLPA reign. The U.S. government requested his extradition in December, but Canadian officials refuse to confirm the application exists.Gillis, who was a client of the former agent, alleges Eagleson improperly billed him to receive disability insurance money after the exBruin sustained a career-ending injury in 1984.Now a lawyer in Kingston, Ont., Gillis alleges Eagleson kept 15 per cent of a $275,000 (U.S.) policy payout to which he was not entitled. The claim for damages includes the $41,250 (U.S.) Eagleson received. Gillis will give his oral examination for discovery in late-June.JACKSON IN CHARGE: Jeff Jackson is the new go-to guy at USA Hockey.The former coach and athletic director at Lake Superior State University was given the newly created position of national coach and senior director of the elite development program. He signed a three-year contract June 7.Jackson, 40, will guide the player development program and serve as coach for both the U.S. national team and U.S. junior team. He will also be on the coaching staff for the U.S. team at the 1998 Winter Olympics.USA Hockey also named Ben Smith coach of the 1998 U.S. Olympic women&rsquo;s team.Smith spent the past five seasons coaching the Northeastern University men&rsquo;s team. He resigned from that job to accept the three-year appointment with USA Hockey.&ndash;With files from Alan Adams and Mary Ormsby &#9632;

IN THIS ISSUE

Sather Canada’s man

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0003-044/6469332-1-eng-US/s0003-042.jpg" title="S0003-04" width="875" height="3563"></div> &#9632;

S0003-04

OUR THREE STARS

Pat LaFontaine remembers his 15th birthday well.The St. Louis-bom, Detroit-raised Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; center was glued to the televison set on Feb. 22, 1980, watching an upstart team of U.S. Olympians defeat the mighty Soviet Union (now Russia) 3-2. The win put the Americans in the gold-medal game against Finland, a game the U.S. also won.That, LaFontaine says, was the beginning of great things for U.S. hockey. And he sees just how far things have come when he looks at the roster of the U.S. entry in the 1996 World Cup (formerly Canada Cup), which begins Aug. 26.&ldquo;(John) LeClair, (Jeremy) Roenick, (Mike) Modano, (Chris) Chelios&hellip;there&rsquo;s all kinds of talent out there.&rdquo;&ldquo;I look at our team and I think, going back to 1980, hockey in the United States has made such great strides.&rdquo;The three-Canada-Cup veteran says,&rdquo;I&rsquo;m looking forward to it more than any other tournament I&rsquo;ve ever played in. I love our chances, but, I think, you look at all the squads now and see they have a good chance, too. It&rsquo;s the best of the best; there&rsquo;s eight dream teams out there.&rdquo;Those teams are Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Germany.Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; defenseman Mathieu Schneider agrees with LaFonatine that the U.S. roster is as strong as it ever has been, but concedes,&rdquo;Canada is the team to beat.&ldquo;The difference between us and Canada is that Canada could put on two teams.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0004-0119/6469363-1-eng-US/s0004-012.jpg" title="S0004-01" width="606" height="872"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pat LaFontaine</figcaption></div><h2>DID YOU KNOW?</h2>The Canada Cup, held five times between 1976 and 1991, always featured the same six teams&mdash;Canada, Russia. United States. Czechoslovakia, Sweden and Finland&mdash;except for 1984, when Finland was replaced by West Germany, based on that year&rsquo;s Olympic results. &#9632;

S0004-01

U.S. ready to make noise at World Cup

Listen, up, young rollerhockey players&mdash;it&rsquo;s time to play by the rules.So says Jeff Prime, the director of membership services for a brand-new organization, Roller Hockey International-Amateur.&ldquo;There are four or five organizations at the amateur level,&rdquo; Prime says,&rdquo;but none are consistent in their rules. Nobody&rsquo;s playing the same rules as the pros.&rdquo;That&rsquo;s where RHI-A comes in. The organization, the only one endorsed by Roller Hockey International, wants to get all youth roller-hockey leagues playing the game by the same rules as the pros.&ldquo;About two years ago I came up with this concept,&rdquo; Prime says.&ldquo;I grew up playing ice hockey back east. Ever since I was a little guy, I played the same rules as the pros. Same with baseball, soccer. But in roller hockey there are a few organizations out there who don&rsquo;t go by the same rules as the professionals.&rdquo;One of the main goals of RHI-A is that the sport develops its own feeder system&mdash;from youth roller hockey through high school and university to the pros.&ldquo;RHI players are all icehockey pros who come over in the summer,&rdquo; Prime notes.&ldquo;Right now there&rsquo;s no system for a kid who plays rollerhockey to play pro roller-hockey.&rdquo;RHI-A is actively promoting a roller-hockey style of play, such as the &lsquo;bump-and-slide&rsquo; style of checking&mdash;a concept unfamiliar to those who play the ice sport.&ldquo;You have to bump and come off at an angle instead of the slamming hits of ice hockey,&rdquo; Prime explains. &ldquo;You do that and you take yourself out of the play.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/s0005-0119/6469394-1-eng-US/s0005-012.jpg" title="S0005-01" width="488" height="488"></div> &#9632;

S0005-01

RHI-backed group aims at standard game rules

<h2>Avs mile high after Cup win</h2>1. How sweep it is Colorado beats Florida to capture first Stanley Cup.2. Conn job Joe Sakic misses playoff goal mark, but wins playoff MVP award.3. Saint Patrick In a big game, is there anyone better than Patrick Roy?4. Oh, Rats It was swept in final, but Florida&rsquo;s season still one to behold.5. Baby Uwe Colorado defenseman Uwe Krupp nets Cup winning goal in OT.6. Beezer does it Florida goalie John Vanbiesbrouck excels in crunch.7. Back-to-back Utah (nee Denver) Grizzlies claim second straight IHL title.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-021174/6466743-1-eng-US/f0002-022.jpg" title="f0002-02" width="327" height="462"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marc Crawford</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-03861/6466736-1-eng-US/f0002-032.jpg" title="f0002-03" width="325" height="461"><figcaption class="caption-body">Uwe Krupp</figcaption></div><h2>A perfect 10 for Crawfords</h2>8. Amerks emerge Rochester beats Portland to win AHL&rsquo;s Calder Cup.9. Pat Kelly Man who built ECHL to roaring success goes into semi-retirement.10. Crawford family jewels Colorado coach Marc Crawford&rsquo;s Stanley Cup victory brings to 10 number of major hockey championships won by family members. Brothers Louis, Bobby and Peter won six major junior and minor league titles as players. Papa Floyd won World Championship in 1959 as player. Marc won two Memorial Cups (1980, 1981) as player and added Stanley Cup as coach June 10. &ldquo;This is the big one,&rdquo; Marc said. &#9632;

f0002-02

PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-chief</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-04634/6466781-1-eng-US/f0002-042.jpg" title="f0002-04" width="347" height="430"></div>The game as we know it could be changed more than you realize next season.Two changes in the way the NHL does business on and off the ice are under review. Each alone has the potential to make a significant difference. Together, they could represent a subtly seismic shift, a tremor heard round the hockey world.NHL GMs have recommended the league revert to its old offside rule and the league office is examining the possibility of moving ahead the trade deadline. (See pg. 5 for more on the trading issue and other rule changes.)During the 199697 pre-season, the NHL will return to the offside regulation in the books until 1986-87. Prior to that season, offsides were called if an attacking player shot the puck into the offensive zone with a teammate trapped inside the blueline and a defending player unable to make a clear pass or take a clear path out of the zone. (Linesmen raised their hands to signal a delayed offside call, pending safe clearing of the puck.)Since then, players in the attacking zone have been able to put themselves &ldquo;onside&rdquo; by coming back over the blueline, or &ldquo;tagging up,&rdquo; before re-entering the offensive zone. The change was made to cut down on the number of whistles and shaved as much as six minutes in stoppages. But everybody agrees the change also led to a diminution in the skill of defensemen who have made like tennis players, too often robotically returning the puck to the offensive zone after it&rsquo;s cleared from the zone.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the tag-up rule has contributed anything to the flow of the game.&rdquo; said Brian Burke, NHL vice-president, hockey operations. &ldquo;In fact, it has reduced the skill level defensemen need to play in the NHL and it has taken an important ingredient out of the game-neutral zone play with the puck, puck pressure, regrouping.&ldquo;Defensemen used to retreat with the puck and make a play. Now they just hammer it down the wall. It (has) absolutely eliminated the development of skilled defensemen at lower levels. It has had such a corrosive effect. It&rsquo;s our hope that the change will be successful and be adopted right down the line-the NCAA, the CHL. AHL, IHL, every league. Right now the game is played in two zones. In the old days it was played in three zones.&rdquo;GMs will vote midway through next fall&rsquo;s pre-season to determine whether the old rule should be re-instituted. If it is, the game will be the better for it and a chain of seemingly endless return volleys will be broken.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0002-011432/6466774-1-eng-US/f0002-012.jpg" title="f0002-01" width="1709" height="2363"><figcaption class="caption-body">Colorado Avalanche captain Joe Sakic celebrates the Game 4 overtime Stanley Cup winning goal.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0002-04

GMs onside with offside proposal

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-Chief</div>MIAMI-The extraordinary life and times of Peter Forsberg-all 22 years-continue unabated.He has won a World Championship (1992), an Olympic gold medal (1994) and now a Stanley Cup (1996)-a championship hattrick unequalled by anyone so young in the game&rsquo;s history.What&rsquo;s next?A World Cup title? Retirement?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011577/6466819-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="377" height="368"></div>Forsberg could quit today and be proud of his accomplishments, but make no mistake, his will be a lengthy and much-decorated Hall of Fame career. The Colorado Avalanche center, who finished fifth in scoring during the regular season (30-86-116) and playoffs (10-11-21) is headed for greater things.&ldquo;This guy has the potential to be the best player in the NHL,&rdquo; said Florida Panthers&rsquo; coach Doug MacLean after Game 3 of the Stanley Cup final. Forsberg scored three goals in the first period of Colorado&rsquo;s Game 2 rout (8-1) and followed up with a flawless checking performance to help preserve a 3-2 victory in Game 3.Call it Extreme Hockey.Forsberg goes to both of them-offensive and defensive-so well two seasons into his NHL career it boggles the mind just how good this Swede will be one day. In four short years, he has conquered more worlds than accomplished space invaders: the 1992 World Championship, where he contributed as an 18-year-old; the 1993 World Junior Championship, where he dominated like no other player in the history of the tournament; the 1994 Olympics, where he scored the gold medal-winning goal in memorable fashion; the 1996 Stanley Cup, where he was second only to goalie Patrick Roy in performance during the Cup final series.Avalanche captain Joe Sakic was the deserving winner of The Hockey News Playoff MVP Award and the Conn Smythe Trophy, but it was Forsberg who gave Florida fits. It was his line that MacLean coached against, putting his top defense pairing of Terry Carkner and Robert Svehla on the ice every time Forsberg, Valeri Kamensky and Claude Lemieux appeared.Forsberg scored three goals and two assists in the four-game finale and played his trademark style. His play is marked by a stubbornness that borders on obsessiveness. He wants the puck-all the time. When Forsberg has it, he surrenders it only on his terms; when he doesn&rsquo;t, Forsberg relentlessly hunts it down.Nothing is so special about Forsberg-not his imagination, not his understanding of the game&rsquo;s rhythms, not his puck-carrying ability, not even his attitude-as his skating ability. He is fast, but more importantly Forsberg has remarkable balance on skates. As with Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; superstar Jaromir Jagr, you seldom see Forsberg knocked off his feet. And it&rsquo;s not because they don&rsquo;t go into the war zones. On the contrary, they both excel along the wall and in the slot where defensemen are as likely to knock your block off as block a shot.Forsberg, whose hometown of Omskoldsvik sits on the Gulf of Bothnia in the Baltic Sea, is the ultimate warrior-a Viking warrior. Panthers&rsquo; captain Brian Skrudland, one of the NHL&rsquo;s fiercest checkers, assailed Forsberg throughout the final, but the young center was unfazed. &ldquo;I can handle that as long as we&rsquo;re winning,&rdquo; Forsberg said after Uwe Krupp finally gave Colorado its first Stanley Cup with a goal in the third overtime period of Game 4. &ldquo;I can take any beating.&rdquo;It was an ironic choice of words. It has been two decades since Harold Ballard uttered one of hockey&rsquo;s most insensitive remarks; that Inge Hammarstrom, among the first Swedish imports, could go into the comer with a dozen eggs and emerge without any broken. The Toronto Maple Leaf owner&rsquo;s put-down of his own player hung over Swedish players for years to come. Others reinforced the stereotype of Scandinavians playing with extreme caution on NHL ice surfaces. Many have since proved other-wise-Tomas Sandstrom and Ulf Samuelsson come to mind-but none with Forsberg&rsquo;s skill level.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021272/6466812-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="1151" height="1654"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Skrudland was never far from Peter Forsberg in the final.</figcaption></div>Asked how many eggs would be broken if he carted a dozen into the comer. Forsberg said: &ldquo;All of them because the &lsquo;D&rsquo; wants to kill me.&rdquo; His philosophy? Get Crackin&rsquo;. Or in his words: &ldquo;When you&rsquo;re out there, you can&rsquo;t be afraid.&rdquo;Opponents might not say the same. They should be paralyzed by fear Forsberg will make them look foolish. His shootout goal-the decisive goal in Sweden&rsquo;s first-ever Olympic victory-was so stunning and significant the country wanted to issue a stamp commemorating the move. Canadian goalie Corey Hirsch threatened legal action, but the Swedes went ahead anyway. Perhaps, it might have been better left undone. Forsberg never mails in a performance.Forsberg, whose Swedish biography is entitled Magic Boy, struggled at times during the playoffs, but he still managed to score some dandies. He swatted a puck that bounced off the top of the net past John Vanbiesbrouck in Game 3 of the final and before that helped finish off the Detroit Red Wings with a killer against Chris Osgood. Forsberg put the puck between the legs of both defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom and Osgood in Game 6.What defines Forsberg&rsquo;s greatness? &ldquo;He&rsquo;s the kind of guy,&rdquo; said close friend and former teammate Lennart Hermansson,&rdquo;who does things no one else dares to do.&rdquo;Truth or dare? Both. &#9632;

f0003-01

DEPARTMENTS

Peter great once more

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-03842/6466850-1-eng-US/f0003-032.jpg" title="f0003-03" width="352" height="419"></div>Imagine the person you love leaving you&hellip;then winning the lottery.Now you know how Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; fans feel.There was no big celebration in Quebec City in the early hours of June 11 when the Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup-no dancing in the streets, no planning for a victory parade.There was just a fistful of memories of the Nordiques and thoughts of what might have been.&ldquo;It has been a mixed bag of emotions, that&rsquo;s for sure,&rdquo; said journalist Kevin Johnston, who covered the Nordiques for Le Soleil. &ldquo;Some fans are completely turned off; others are celebrating, but not out in the open. Many people are sad for themselves, but happy for the team.&rdquo;Nordique fans watched a painful growing process for players such as Joe Sakic and Curtis Leschyshyn, but was it really their team? Some of them cling to the notion that the Nordiques wouldn&rsquo;t have won anyway, since the Montreal Canadiens would never have traded Patrick Roy to the provincial rival. And while Stephane Fiset and Jocelyn Thibault are capable stoppers, most maintain there&rsquo;s no way the Avalanche would have won without St. Patrick.Hockey is a game of dollars now more than ever. Nordiques&rsquo; owners claim they would have lost $12 million this season and $20 million the next if they elected to continue playing in Le Colisee. When government officials refused to underwrite the building of a new arena, the team was sold for $75 million to Comsat Corp. No doubt former Nordique fans were thrilled to find out that Comsat didn&rsquo;t even want the Nordiques and only posed as a prospective buyer to help the team get a new arena.Some Quebecers cling to the slim hope NHL hockey will one day return to La Belle Province. In the interest of safety, they should be advised to not hold their breath. Go Rafales.A couple hundred Colorado fans wore blue armbands to Game 2 of the final in a show of support for Nordiques&rsquo; fans who lost their team. And after the Avalanche victory, a few hundred teenagers strolled quietly along the Grande Allee in Quebec City carrying replicas of the Stanley Cup.But much of the rest of the province slept, not giving a darn. &#9632;

f0003-03

COLUMNISTS

Quebecers cool on Cup winners

A compendium of significant events and developments (May 31-June 14).May 31: Calgary&rsquo;s executive vice-president GM Al Coates named Flames&rsquo; full-time GM.Edmonton tops 13,000 in season ticket sales to qualify for financial subsidies from NHL.June 2: NHL suspends Colorado&rsquo;s Claude Lemieux two games for hit from behind on Detroit&rsquo;s Kris Draper.June 3: Vladimir Vasilyev resigns as coach of Russian national team.June 4: Stanley Cup final opens, Colorado defeats Florida 3-1.Tom Renney resigns as coach of Canada&rsquo;s national team, signs three-year contract as coach of Vancouver.June 6: Terry Crisp re-signs with Tampa Bay.Al Sims hired as San Jose head coach.June 10: Colorado beats Florida 1-0 in triple overtime to win Stanley Cup. Colorado&rsquo;s Joe Sakic wins Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.June 13: Igor Dmitriev named coach of Russia&rsquo;s national team.Rangers&rsquo; GM Neil Smith signs six-year contract extension.June 14: NHL referee Andy van Hellemond retires to become director of operations for East Coast League. &#9632;

Avs find perfect rat trap, Andy Van waves goodbye

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>Shifting from the NHL to the East Coast League is generally not considered a move in the right direction.But for Andy van Hellemond, it represents a new beginning.After 25 years as an NHL referee, van Hellemond retired June 14 to accept the post of senior vice-president and director of operations with the ECHL. He will be responsible for application of rules, discipline, fines and other discretionary matters.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m the Brian Burke of the East Coast League,&rdquo; he said.Van Hellemond, the first big-league ref to wear a helmet during games, said he leaves the NHL on his own volition. His final game was Game 3 of this year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup final June 8.The NHL no longer publically ranks its refs and linesmen, but when it did, Andy Van was the man for 14 consecutive years. The 48-year-old Winnipeg native holds the record for most regular season games (1,474), playoff games (211) and Stanley Cup final appearances (19).<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011521/6466943-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="576" height="644"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andy van Hellemond</figcaption></div>Van Hellemond said the league requested he officiate one more year, but he decided the opportunity with the ECHL is too good to pass on.&ldquo;I have an opportunity to move into a second career,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If I stayed one more year, maybe this opportunity wouldn&rsquo;t be available a year later. When opportunity knocks, you had better answer.&rdquo;Van Hellemond considered retiring following 1994-95, but would have left with a bad taste in his mouth. He made in incorrect call, wiping out a goal scored by Joe Sakic of the Quebec Nordiques. Quebec was eliminated by the New York Rangers.&ldquo;I did the best I could not having the benefit of video replay,&rdquo; he said.Van Hellemond was kept out of the Stanley Cup final in &rsquo;94-95, the only time since 1976-77, including this year.&ldquo;Andy is going out on top of his game,&rdquo; said NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. &ldquo;For a quarter of a century he exemplified what it means to be a referee in the NHL-a love, a respect, a passion for the game. We told Andy he was welcome to continue to referee, but the ECHL opportunity would not wait. We will miss him.&rdquo;Van Hellemond said he is grateful players showed him respect right up to the end.&ldquo;A lot of guys in their final year take grief from players,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You know how players can be; they say things like &lsquo;Get out of the way old man&rsquo; or &lsquo;You should have packed it in years ago.&rsquo; That can hurt a guy. Now I won&rsquo;t hear it and I thank the players for the respect they showed me.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021095/6466936-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="1195" height="1499"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tie Domi of the Toronto Maple Leafs kicked a 25-yard field goal and an extra point for the Toronto Argonauts in a Canadian Football League exhibition game June 13. The stunt earned $3,500 for charity.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0005-01

It’s official, van Hellemond hangs up stripes, whistle

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-in-Chief</div>Trade winds, by definition, travel in one direction. In today&rsquo;s NHL they&rsquo;re all over the compass.That&rsquo;s the reason the league is contemplating moving its deal deadline. League by-laws state it falls 26 days before the end of the regular season. Common sense states it should be earlier.A staggering 120 trades involving 328 team assets (players and draft picks) occurred in the 257 days between the 1995 entry draft (July 8) and the March 20,1996 trade deadline.The dizzying swirl of activity was believed to be a record.One thing the league can do to discourage such wholesale movement is advance the trade deadline.A series of reasons contributed to last season&rsquo;s number of deals-led by the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; 20- and many of them (such as liberalized free agency and the declining value of draft picks) are facts of life in the new NHL.Something that can change, however, is the price of trading players. A key reason for making late-season deals is how inexpensive they can be because teams are only on the hook for two paychecks until the end of the regular season.That makes, for instance, the trading for Wayne Gretzky more economically feasible than it might be if teams were responsible for more regular season paychecks. (NHL players don&rsquo;t collect paychecks during the playoffs; they receive playoff bonus payments.)The trend towards acquiring high-priced players late in the season is called &ldquo;renting&rdquo; players.By moving up the trade deadline, some believe teams will be more reluctant to trade for high-salaried players.The options, said NHL vice-president of operations Brian Burke, are to leave the trade deadline where it is, or move it up to something like 45 or 52 days from the end of the season.The latter options would put the trade deadline in late February, instead of two-thirds through March.&ldquo;If you move it (ahead),&rdquo; Burke said,&rdquo;you have more teams in contention (for the playoffs), so dumping (salaries) is less likely. From a fairness or equality standpoint, it&rsquo;s difficult for a team to load up late in the season, because the team that has played well from the get-go doesn&rsquo;t get penalized by a team that all of a sudden loads up.&ldquo;The drawback, of course, is that if you have a major injury after a February deadline, instead of a March deadline, you can&rsquo;t replace them.&rdquo;Burke said any changes would be made in conjunction with the NHL Players&rsquo; Association.While the trade deadline remains under discussion, league GMs made a series of recommendations for rule changes after a June 5 meeting.Led by a screening committee of six GMs, the 26 team representatives considered 18 rule modifications.Their recommendations, pending approval by the board of governors, are as follows:Delayed Offside (Rule 69) Current rule-Attacking players caught inside the blueline when a teammate shoots the puck into the offensive zone can put themselves onside by crossing over the blueline or &ldquo;tagging up&rdquo; before reentering the zone. Proposed change-Attacking players will be required to clear the offensive zone before the puck is shot in. Old rules for delayed offside calls would be in effect. The new standard will be experimented with during the 1996-97 pre-season and voted upon at the midway mark. (See pg. 2 for Steve Dryden&rsquo;s column and more on this rule.)<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03726/6466974-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="363" height="371"></div>Instigator Penalty (Rule 54a) Current rule-A player who instigates a fight is given a two-minute minor, five-minute major and game misconduct. Proposed change-The instigator will get two, five to and a 10-minute misconduct for the first offense in a game, then two, five and a game misconduct for the second offense. The suspension schedule for repeat ers will be stiffened from one game for a third instigator during the season to two; two games for a fourth to four; and four games for a fifth to six. Additionally, players are responsible for tieing down their jerseys if the potential exists they will come off easily (deliberately) in fights. If a sweater comes off without being pulled off, players are suspended one game.Leaving Players&rsquo; Bench or Penalty Box to Fight (Rule 66) Current rule-A player who enters play legally or illegally for the purpose of fighting is given an automatic 10-game suspension. Proposed change-A player who enters play legally (i.e. during play) will be assessed a five-game suspension. A player who fights at the drop of the puck during a faceoff will be given a five-game suspension. There is currently no sanction for the latter.Faceoff Markings (Rule 52) Current rule-Players are required to square off before the puck is dropped. Proposed change-New &ldquo;L-shaped&rdquo; ice markings will be added to four comer faceoff circles, forcing players to conform and &ldquo;square off&rdquo; properly before the drop of the puck. This new technique will be tested during the World Cup and 1996-97 pre-season.Video Goal Judge (Rule 87) Current rule-Video goal judges can review a goal under seven conditions. Proposed change-Video goal judges will be given authority (at the referee&rsquo;s discretion) in an eighth situation, to determine if a member of the scoring team is in the crease.Goalkeeper&rsquo;s equipment (Rule 22) Current rule-Goalie equipment (i.e. size of pads, gloves) must meet NHL specifications. Proposed change-Random testing will be instituted to ensure goalies comply with league rules. Tests will be based on random drawing. Those whose equipment don&rsquo;t meet league standards will be suspended for one game.Other rule changes, scheduled to take effect next season, previously recommended by the GMs are:Goal Posts and Nets (Rule 3) Flexible pegs used to keep the net in place will all be blue in color.Sticks (Rule 20b) Maximum length of skaters&rsquo; sticks will be increased from 60 to 63 inches.Major Penalties (Rule 28) Major penalties earned in the final five minutes of a game or in overtime when an opponent receives only a minor penalty-thus creating a three-minute differential-will be served immediately.Game Misconduct (Rule 29e) Add a fourth category of game misconducts-abuse of officials. A player who receives two abuse of official misconducts will be suspended one game.Supplementary Discipline (Rule 34a) Teams must request reviews of incidents within 24 hours of their occurrence, down from the current 72 hours.Kicking the Puck (Rule 65) Absent a distinct kicking motion, pucks that deflect off skates will be legal.Among changes rejected was a proposal teams wear dark jerseys at home and white jerseys on the road. Deferred were recommendations that players be required to wear certified helmets (pending negotiations with the NHLPA) and sanctions be imposed against players who dive and/or fake injuries. &#9632;

f0005-03

The NHL winds of change

For Todd Gill, the rumors finally came true. But that didn&rsquo;t make his June 14 trade from the Toronto Maple Leafs to the San Jose Sharks any less of a shock.&ldquo;Did I hear anything about me being traded? No,&rdquo; Gill said a half hour after learning he had been dealt for center Jamie Baker. &ldquo;Did I think something would happen? Of course I did.&rdquo;Gill led current Leafs in years of service and rumors. He played 10 years with a franchise that has always truly embraced change.The Leafs, who also get San Jose&rsquo;s fifthround pick in the 1996 entry draft, made a drastic cut in payroll with the trade. Both players are signed through 1998-99 with Gill, 30, scheduled to earn $3.6 million (U.S.) and Baker, 29, $1.45 million (U.S.) in that span.Gill had seven goals and 25 points with 116 penalty minutes in 74 games this past season, while Baker had 16 goals and 33 points with 79 penalty minutes in 77 games. Baker was the Sharks&rsquo; 1995-96 most valuable player.The Edmonton Oilers, meanwhile, acquired goalie Bob Essensa from the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; for future consideration that same day. Essensa played for the Fort Wayne Komets of the International League this past season. He was 24-14-5, with a 2.89 goals-against average and 91.2 save percentage.Essensa is in the option year of a one-way contract that will pay him $1.3 million (U.S.), but the Red Wings are reportedly picking up more than half of the salary. &#9632;

Gill off to San Jose for Baker

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div>The NHL knew its cybercast experiment was going to be a hit or miss proposition.It was a hit-between 300,000 and 500,000 of them per game during the Stanley Cup final. A hit is the number of requests for a file on a web site.The cybercast was a joint effort between the NHL and CBC. All four games of the Colorado Avalanche/Florida Panthers final were available on computer to Internet subscribers.The package consisted of a pre-game analysis, intermission updates and a post-game report using RealAudio technology and digital photography. The live play-by-play feed was picked up from NHL radio.&ldquo;We received nothing but positive feedback,&rdquo; said Charlie Schmitt, the NHL&rsquo;s director of publishing. &ldquo;All the way from a guy who tuned in from his office while working late to fans in Sweden who tapped in.&rdquo;Schmitt said the league was overwhelmed with the 300,000 to 500,000 nightly hit range. CBC publicist Susan Procter said it&rsquo;s difficult to judge those figures because no benchmark had been established.The National Basketball Association, by comparison, received a traffic total of two million hits for all its services its site. About half of those hits were for its nightly cybercast of the final series.The strength of the NHL&rsquo;s cybercast was the game analysis of host Greg Millen and intermission insider reports featuring Sean Burke and players such as Jody Hull, Craig Wolanin and Troy Murray.It is expected the cybercast web site will be retained next season on a special event basis.RATINGS HIGH: Television ratings for the Stanley Cup final were impressive both on ESPN in the United States and CBC in Canada.Game 4 of the Colorado Avalanche/Florida Panthers final received a 4.4 rating (3,000,960 homes) on ESPN. That was the third highest NHL telecast ever on ESPN, trailing two Game 7 finals, New York Rangers/Vancouver Canucks 1994 game (5.2 rating) and Edmonton Oilers/Philadelphia Flyers 1987 game (5.0 rating).ESPN&rsquo;s playoff ratings rose 38 per cent from last year, from 1.3 to 1.8. Its Stanley Cup final ratings rose from 2.8 last year to 3.6.The deciding game June 10 drew an audience of 2.7 million on CBC. When the winning goal was scored at 1:05 a.m. (Eastern time), more than two million viewers were still tuned in. &#9632;

Cybercast experiment a hit across internet

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div>Daniel Goneau has a second chance to be a second-round draft pick.The left winger for the Memorial Cup champion Granby Predateurs of the Quebec League is among 66 players eligible for reentry in the 1996 entry draft.Major junior players drafted in 1994, but unsigned by June 1, are thrown back into the NHL draft. Junior players drafted in 1995 and not offered a contract by June 1 are also eligible to be selected June 22 in St. Louis.Goneau, according to some scouts, is the cream of the reentry players and shouldn&rsquo;t last long past the second round.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a solid junior player who scored a pile of points and had the best plus-minus in Canada,&rdquo; one scout said. &ldquo;He may lack intensity, but he&rsquo;s worth a chance.&rdquo;The 6-foot-1, 196-pound Goneau scored 54 goals, 105 points and was plus-82 in his fourth junior season. A second-round pick of the Boston Bruins in 1994, Goneau was insulted with the team&rsquo;s contract offer and didn&rsquo;t sign by the deadline.&ldquo;Teams will select a prospect with their first pick,&rdquo; another scout said. &ldquo;Then in the second round, you&rsquo;ll see (Goneau) go. Maybe the third. That has been the case the past two (re-entry players who were drafted).&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011698/6467077-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="464" height="614"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daniel Goneau</figcaption></div>Bill McCauley, a fourth round pick of the Florida Panthers in 1993, was re-drafted by Boston in the third round last year. Larry Courville, a fifth round pick of the Winnipeg Jets in 1993, was taken in the third round by the Vancouver Canucks.Some high picks available this year are 1994 second rounder Scott Cherrey and third rounders Corey Neilson, Sebastien Bety, Martin Belanger and Dorian Anneck. Major junior goalie of the year Frederic Deschenes is also available. (See pg. 41 for full list.)The Ottawa Senators are expected to make Chris Phillips the No. 1 pick in the June 22 draft. It&rsquo;s set to begin at 11:30 a.m. (Central time) and will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and TSN from 12:30-3:30 p.m. (Eastern time). &#9632;

f0006-01

Goneau tops among re-entry draft crew

On behalf of hockey fans everywhere, I want to thank the Colorado Avalanche and the Florida Panthers for a fantastic finish to the Stanley Cup final.Game 4 was unbelievable with end-to-end action for five-plus periods. Patrick Roy and John Vanbies-brouck put on a historic display of goaltending.That game was what hockey is all about-good, clean, hard play. It was truly a classic and will not soon be forgotten.Bruce Ellis,&nbsp; Gibbsboro, N.J.<h2>Great predictions</h2>In the words of THN columnist Stan Fischler:&ldquo;The Colorado Avalanche will prove by February to be the most overrated team west of Times Square.&rdquo; (THN, Nov. 10)&ldquo;(Patrick Roy) plays good goal when he has an above-average defense and/or a defense-oriented club. Otherwise, he&rsquo;s merely an ordinary, overrated, over-the hill netminder.&ldquo;And since Sandis Ozolinsh happens to be Colorado&rsquo;s best backliner, Roy come playoff time will look about as good as he did last April in Montreal. That means the Avalanche will make a quick post season exit.&rdquo; (THN, Jan. 12)Stan, please don&rsquo;t predict that the Avalanche will win the Stanley Cup next year.Dave Paul,&nbsp; West Vancouver, B. C.<h2>Remember Pat?</h2>Hey, Mario Tremblay. Just in case you didn&rsquo;t recognize him, yes, that was Patrick Roy once again hoisting the Stanley Cup over his head. You do remember him, don&rsquo;t you?Susan Jarvis,&nbsp; Irving, Tex.<h2>Thanks, Quebec</h2>Now that the Colorado Avalanche has won the Stanley Cup, the franchise should somehow show its gratitude to the fans of Quebec City who supported them for so many years.If the Avalanche could come up with some sort of ceremony to show Quebec fans its appreciation, that would truly be a class act.Brian Badanai,&nbsp; Thunder Bay, Ont.<h2>No big surprise</h2>The Florida Panthers deserve huge kudos for what they accomplished this season and so do their fans for believing in them.I cannot understand why the Panthers&rsquo; trip to the Stanley Cup final stunned the hockey world. The New Jersey Devils proved last year it doesn&rsquo;t take a bunch of superstars to win the Cup-just determination and hard work.Last year, the Devils constantly heard,&rdquo;Boston is too good a team,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Pittsburgh has too many fastskating, playmaking superstars,&rdquo; or &ldquo;Eric Lindros and the Legion of Doom are too much for the Devils to handle.&rdquo; With each series, the team played harder and stronger. So why is it such a shock that the Panthers, who play a similar style, beat the exact same teams?Shelley Johnston,&nbsp; Wall Twp., N.J.<h2>Get serious, guys</h2>If Gary Bettman, Brian Burke and the rest of the NHL were truly serious about cracking down on violence, they would have suspended Claude Lemieux for the entire Stanley Cup final. Instead, Lemieux gets a slap-on-the-wrist, -two-game suspension for rearranging Kris Draper&rsquo;s face with a cheap shot.I wonder what kind of suspension Lemieux would have received if Draper had been wearing a New York Rangers&rsquo; sweater instead of a Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; one.George Reed,&nbsp; Springfield, III.<h2>Cold hearted</h2>In an interview after the last game against Detroit, Claude Lemieux didn&rsquo;t seem the least bit concerned about the injuries he inflicted on Kris Draper.A decent guy would have said something like,&rdquo;I&rsquo;m sorry he got hurt so bad, but I didn&rsquo;t do it on purpose.&rdquo; Instead, he said that Detroit should have been glad to get him off the ice. Not a word about Draper&rsquo;s broken nose, jaw or eye socket.It showed a total lack of respect for a fellow human being. Those cold little eyes match his cold little heart.R.R. Mion,&nbsp; Hudson Falls, N. Y.<h2>Lemieux on rise</h2>In light of recent events, THN should do another reader poll. I would suggest that if you did that, Claude Lemieux would rise from No. 4 to No. 1 in the least favorite player category.What will it take for the NHL to recognize its responsibility to protect its players? A two-game suspension and $1,000 fine is an injustice to Kris Draper and an insult to hockey players and fans everywhere.Marsh Chanda,&nbsp; London, Ont.<h2>Rules are different</h2>This is an open letter to NHL vicepresident Brian Burke:Might I suggest that if Claude Lemieux&rsquo;s two games in the Stanley Cup final were equal to Tie Domi&rsquo;s eight-game suspension in the regular season, as you implied on Hockey Night in Canada, then the game misconduct he received for his cheap shot on Kris Draper should have been reduced to a 10-minute misconduct penalty.However, I must congratulate you on having the guts to go on national television and tell the world the rules are different during the playoffs. Now if we could get you to admit that the rules change in the last 10 minutes of each game.Chuck Ottley,&nbsp; Medicine Hat, Alta.<h2>Claude succeeded</h2>As far as I&rsquo;m concerned, the Detroit Red Wings are nothing but a bunch of whiners. They lost in the playoffs-again-and all they could focus on was Claude Lemieux&rsquo;s hit on Kris Draper.It was definitely a cheap shot by one of the best in the business, but Lemieux got a game misconduct and the Red Wings had a five-minute power play. For them to emphasize that play after the game only lends credence to the fact that Lemieux was successful in doing what he does best-getting the other team&rsquo;s mind off the game and onto him.Wings&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman set the example two games previous with his own public tirade on Lemieux in the parking lot. The players see this, follow his lead and also get distracted by Lemieux&rsquo;s antics.The bottom line-the Colorado Avalanche wins the series, Detroit doesn&rsquo;t.Joe McArdle,&nbsp; Closter, N.J.<h2>No Wayne, no way!</h2>How can THN have a reader allstar vote without including Wayne Gretzky on the ballot? Would a football publication have left Joe Montana off an all-pro ballot because he was getting long in the tooth?I think not. Give Gretzky his due respect.Tyler Latacki,&nbsp; Rochester, N. Y.Make your feelings known. Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 340-1641.&nbsp;Write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, 777 Bay St., Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont, M5G 2N8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, The Hockey News, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.&nbsp;E-mail us at <a href="mailto:THN@transc.com">THN@transc.com</a>. Include home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

Final game was one for the ages

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011537/6467132-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0007-01

ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Dave Joseph</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011603/6467163-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Panther supporters remained faithful to their team despite rumors of an impending move this season.</figcaption></div>Two days after the sweep was complete, flags were still flying across South Florida.Florida Panther flags, that is. And they weren&rsquo;t at half mast.Displayed from the front doors of apartments and houses, from the windows of cars, South Florida&rsquo;s love affair with the Panthers couldn&rsquo;t be extinguished after the team was eliminated in four straight games by the Colorado Avalanche.Automobiles were still painted with signs reading, &lsquo;Go Panthers&rsquo; and &lsquo;Rat Mobile,&rsquo; Panther merchandise was being gobbled up and thousands filled the Miami Arena two days after Game 4 to give one last salute to the Panthers of 1995-96.It was a fitting end to an exciting and tumultuous season. Just nine months earlier, Panther fans didn&rsquo;t even know if they&rsquo;d have a team next season when owner H. Wayne Huizenga said he might have to sell because he was losing money at the Miami Arena.But while Huizenga and Broward County worked out a deal to build a new arena, the Panthers put together a dream season. Despite all the talk about a possible move to Nashville, Portland, Ore., or Phoenix, the Panthers drew 94 per cent capacity at the Arena.And a love affair had started.&ldquo;The crowd, the support, the noise, it has been unbelievable,&rdquo; said center Tom Fitzgerald. &ldquo;This crowd has been like a sixth man for us.&rdquo;After the Panthers&rsquo; first home playoff game against the Boston Bruins, right winger Scott Mellanby said the atmosphere at the Arena,&rdquo;reminded me of Chicago Stadium.&rdquo;Panthers&rsquo; play-by-play broadcaster Jeff Rimer said the crowd&rsquo;s reaction to Uwe Krupp&rsquo;s series winner was an indication of how good Panthers&rsquo; fans have become.&ldquo;At first there was stunned silence,&rdquo; Rimer said. &ldquo;But a couple seconds later, when you looked around the place, no one left. It was a great gesture, as was the fans standing and applauding for the Colorado Avalanche.&rdquo;GM Bryan Murray was equally impressed.&ldquo;The attention we received-the media attention, the fan support-it was really incredible,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;And the fans showed their class after (Game 4) by showing the courtesy they gave to Colorado when the Stanley Cup was presented.&rdquo;Of course, no talk of Panther fans would be complete without a rat tale, a tradition started after Mellanby one-timed a rodent in the team&rsquo;s dressing room before the Oct. 8 home opener.Dean Jordan, the Panthers&rsquo; vicepresident, business operation, went to work marketing the bizarre incident. The hottest selling item at the Arena was Panther-red hats which read, &lsquo;The Year of the Rat.&rsquo; Before playoff games, colored rats were illuminated on the ice. After each goal Panther fans threw plastic rats on the ice and a crowd of workers sporting construction hats and jackets scooped the critters off.So how many rats had a close-up view of the ice?&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s say there was an average of 100 a game for the first 20 games, then 200 for the next 20 games and about 600 a game for the playoffs. So&hellip;&rdquo;Jordan got out his calculator.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s about 10,000 rats,&rdquo; he said.And what happened to them after they were taken off the ice?&ldquo;They&rsquo;re humanely destroyed,&rdquo; Jordan smiled.But it&rsquo;s not just about rats.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve talked to people in Canada and they can&rsquo;t believe the noise level in our building across the television on Hockey Night in Canada,&rdquo; said Panthers&rsquo; coach Doug MacLean. &ldquo;I think our building is the toughest building to play in in the NHL.&ldquo;But, you know, it&rsquo;s a two-way street. We get a lift from our crowd, they help us big time. But the team deserves to be treated that way.&rdquo;Right winger Ray Sheppard, acquired before the trading deadline from the San Jose Sharks, praised the fans.&ldquo;It has been a lot of fun, unbelievable really, to go out there every night,&rdquo; Sheppard said. &ldquo;The harder they cheer, the harder we want go out there and work.&rdquo;The Cup final was a culmination of three years of hard work.&ldquo;You think back to just three years ago,&rdquo; Vanbiesbrouck said. &ldquo;We were a new team that didn&rsquo;t know if it could win one game. Now this.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0008-01

FEATURES

Rats! Panthers lose, but fans keep faith

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>There is no trace of anger in his voice, no hint of resentment.The only tone one detects when listening to Gary Roberts discuss his future is a calmness that comes with the realization you can&rsquo;t control fate.So when Roberts says he has in all likelihood played his final NHL game, it is with the peace of mind knowing he did everything in his power to continue a career that, injuries aside, showed no signs of decline.The powerful Calgary Flames&rsquo; forward still had meetings planned with team doctors to see if anything could be done to salvage his career, but all indications were the 30-year-old Roberts will be forced into retirement.&ldquo;I love the game and I still want to play,&rdquo; said Roberts, who is scheduled to earn $2 million for the 1996-97 season. &ldquo;But physically I&rsquo;m still riding a roller coaster. One day you wake up feeling great, the next day you feel like hell. I can&rsquo;t risk it getting any worse.&rdquo;Few would have been surprised had he called it a career two years ago. Roberts underwent neck surgery twice-March 9, 1995 and Oct. 25, 1995-for cervical forminal atenosis, a condition where the space available for the nerves to exit the spine narrows. Both operations were performed by Dr. Robert Watkins of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic in California. The surgeries, and follow-up rehabilitation, allowed Roberts to return to the Flames&rsquo; lineup Jan. 10 after missing 98 games and he immediately made his mark, scoring the opening goal of a game against the Hartford Whalers. He scored a hat trick against the Buffalo Sabres in his second outing.Roberts also took a cross check in the back from Whalers&rsquo; defenseman Jeff Brown in his return to action. He would be hit numerous times before succumbing to the pain April 3. He received his share of cheap shots from behind as he stood his ground in front of the opposition&rsquo;s net.&ldquo;The NHL keeps saying it is changing the rules to protect players, but I don&rsquo;t see evidence of that,&rdquo; Roberts said.Roberts recorded 22 goals and 42 points in 35 games, his heroics earning him a nomination for the Masterton Trophy for perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.He also won the Ralph Scurfield Humanitarian Award presented to the Flames&rsquo; player who combines similar qualities as the Masterton with dedication to community service.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011524/6467194-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="981" height="1968"><figcaption class="caption-body">Calgary&rsquo;s Gary Roberts says he&rsquo;d like to remain in the game.</figcaption></div>Because he keeps himself in outstanding condition, it was expected a healthy Roberts could have made a solid contribution to the Flames for the next five years. Losing him prematurely will be devastating to their rebuilding cause.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a top player in the league and no one can afford to lose a top player,&rdquo; said Flames&rsquo; GM Al Coates. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t have an opportunity to trade him or get anything that could replace him in our lineup. If he can&rsquo;t play, it is a flat out loss of one of the league&rsquo;s premiere power forwards.&rdquo;Roberts&rsquo; ascent to stardom in the NHL was gradual. On talent alone he was a solid second-to-third liner upon arriving in Calgary after helping the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s and Guelph Platers win Memorial Cups. He scored occasionally with his stick and often with his fists.After a few years he became serious about diet and conditioning and his change of lifestyle paid dividends.Roberts had his best season in 1991-92 when he scored 53 goals and 90 points in 76 games. The longest-serving active Flame, he scored his 500th career point March 15 and ranks second on the Flames&rsquo; alltime goal list with 257. In 10 NHL seasons Roberts scored 505 points. A case could be made Roberts is the best player to be permanently sidelined in his prime by injury since Bobby Orr.On a good day, Roberts feels he could play at the top of his game again. But he would always be wondering if further damage was waiting for him just around the corner. He is a robust player who could never change his style.&ldquo;Most of my _pain comes from being hit,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And my range of motion is down about 25 per cent, which affects my game and also affects my day-to-day life.&ldquo;At this point I&rsquo;m more concerned about day-to-day life than playing hockey. I don&rsquo;t want to end up getting so damaged my family has to look after me when I get older. I have to ask myself how high is the risk of further damage? Every shift I take the risk gets greater. It&rsquo;s just not worth it.&rdquo;Roberts doesn&rsquo;t know what lies ahead, but hopes to remain in hockey.&ldquo;I had a dream the other night that I was coaching and I told my wife about it,&rdquo; Roberts said. &ldquo;She said. &lsquo;Keep dreaming.&rsquo;&rdquo; &#9632;

f0009-01

Flame’s future flickers

<div class="byline">By Al Morganti</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011582/6467225-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="385" height="535"></div>From the start, this series is going to be so very different. Maybe not the games, but just one spring after the horror of doing time in Detroit and north Jersey for the 1995 Stanley Cup final it sure feels different making reservations for Denver and Miami.After the last final, this felt like the games were being played in Heaven and the Garden of Paradise.The first hint things would be different was the unusual lack of emotion shown by the media crew. In most cases, the swarm of media descends on the morning practices, but before Game 1 in Denver most have elected to stay by the hotel pool.With that in mind, the president of the professional hockey writers association is formally nominated as the &ldquo;pool&rdquo; reporter.Game 1 in Denver looks like an excuse for a barbecue. The game starts at 6 p.m. to accommodate TV, and the parking lot around McNichols Arena is a giant block party. There is little &ldquo;tension&rdquo; which usually surrounds the final, especially when a team such as Montreal is commanded to win. This feels more like a holiday.Post-game, sitting on the left of Mike Keenan at the bar of a local restaurant, with agent Rick Curran to Keenan&rsquo;s right. Keenan is busy with what is left from an order of chicken wings, and signing flags for a group of contest winners visiting from Newfoundland.Curran argues Mark Crawford could wind up as coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. I say Crawford is likely to stay in Colorado, and seeing the Avalanche have just made a point with a win, it is even more likely.The &ldquo;opinions&rdquo; get more animated, and Keenan sits back oblivious. Finally, I glare at Curran and state emphatically: &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t tell me the man is going to win the Stanley Cup and then go to coach another team!&rdquo;Keenan hears this, leans forward, and with a deadpan delivery and shrug of the shoulders sing songs: &ldquo;You never know.&rdquo;The morning after turns into &ldquo;tape gate.&rdquo;The story of the day is the news John Vanbiesbrouck was told minutes prior to Game 1 he could no longer use red tape at the butt end of his stick. It had to be white.TV crews fall over themselves to get a shot of the tape on Beezer&rsquo;s stick, and the Panthers organization is trying to use the tape issue as another example the world is against them. That night, the Panthers get more paranoid when the fire alarms at their hotel sound at about 2 am. Convinced it is not a plot by the Avalanche, they buy the fire marshall&rsquo;s explanation the system malfunctioned, and get some sleep before facing the next volley.The most &ldquo;popular&rdquo; figure for the Avalanche remains Claude Lemieux. Sitting out the first two games as the result of a suspension, he is the most interviewed player on either team.Game 2 is turning into a major blow out, and Joe Sakic has not scored a goal. His best chance turns into no shot when he goes in toward the Florida net on a two-on-zero with teammate Warren Rychel. If Rychel had a mirror, he would have spied Sakic behind him; instead Rychel elects to take the shot and gets stoned. If he made the pass, and Sakic had scored, Sakic&rsquo;s name would now be in the record books for most goals scored in a playoff season.Series shifts to Florida, and the story line switches to plastic rats and how to get around Miami if you don&rsquo;t speak Spanish. Much as the Colorado fans had a &ldquo;feel good&rdquo; attitude about their team&rsquo;s accomplishments, so too the Panthers fans have no mean edge.They are just happy to be here and they just want to see how many rats they can throw on the ice. The media has made the transition from mountain sunlight to South Beach, and some of the more honest members even mentioned the topless Beach during their conversations back home.Game 4 is turning into an epic. Between the second and third overtimes, Florida forward Bill Lindsay works on the blade of his hockey stick, but still has enough energy to grin and say &ldquo;This is what it&rsquo;s all about. The Cup on the line, overtime, everybody watching. This is just great.&rdquo;The Panthers lose, but for the first time in a long time, everybody leaves to an ovation. It was a great ride. And perhaps for the first time ever, a large portion of the media was crushed by the short series.With postcard cities such as Denver and Miami, most would have voted to change the format to best of nine, and have the triple overtime in the ninth game. &#9632;

f0010-01

Memories from an unusual Cup final

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>When he left the United Center Ice after his final game with the Chicago Blackhawks this season, Jeremy Roenick waved to the crowd. Could he have been waving goodbye?&ldquo;Sure, he might have been waving goodbye,&rdquo; said Roenick&rsquo;s agent Neil Abbott,&rdquo;because you just never know what is going to happen.&rdquo;If history is any indication, however, you know not many, if any, restricted free agents such as Roenick will be changing teams this summer. More than 250 players could qualify for Group II free agency July 1, including several prominent players, but don&rsquo;t look for a lot of activity.One high ranking management member of an NHL team said the best term to describe interest in restricted free agents is: &ldquo;uninterested.&rdquo;Another GM added: &ldquo;There&rsquo;s always going to be interest because there are some good players available. But speaking for our team only, we wouldn&rsquo;t be interested in signing one. We would be interested in trying to arrange a match (trade), however.&rdquo;Along with Roenick, some highprofile players expected to become free agents July 1 include: Mike Modano of the Dallas Stars, Felix Potvin and Mathieu Schneider of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Doug Weight of the Edmonton Oilers, Alexei Zhamnov of the Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes and Petr Nedved of the Pittsburgh Penguins.Teams have until July 1 to make a qualifying offer to retain the right to match offers. If a player doesn&rsquo;t receive a qualifying offer equal to his previous year&rsquo;s salary or up to a 10 per cent raise depending on age and/or previous salary, he becomes an unrestricted free agent without compensation.Last year, just three of 134 restricted Group II free agents received offers from new teams and only Shayne Corson-who went from the Edmonton Oilers to St. Louis Blues-actually changed teams.Below are prominent Group II free agents. 1995-96 salaries are in the currency of the team&rsquo;s country unless indicated otherwise. Canadian-based players paid in U.S. dollars are denoted by an asterisk (*). U.S.-based players paid in Canadian dollars have had their contracts converted at a rate of $0.73. All salaries listed are NHL salaries. Ages are as of July 1.<h2>GROUP II: PLAYERS ELIGIBLE TO MOVE</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021180/6467270-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="585" height="2063"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-03741/6467263-1-eng-US/f0010-032.jpg" title="f0010-03" width="581" height="2021"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-04504/6467256-1-eng-US/f0010-042.jpg" title="f0010-04" width="576" height="2016"></div> &#9632;

f0010-02

Free, but not cheap

<div class="byline">By Tom McMillan</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011434/6467308-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Penguins may try to move Tom Barrasso despite his stellar performance in the post-season.</figcaption></div>Tom Barrasso played effectively, sometimes magnificently, during the Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; three-round playoff run, but all it took was one shot to tarnish his hero&rsquo;s image.Light-scoring Florida Panthers&rsquo; center Tom Fitzgerald beat Barrasso with a 55-foot slapshot that deflected off the stick of a Penguins&rsquo; defenseman, and it stood as the winning goal in the Panthers&rsquo; 3-1 victory in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final.So Barrasso took the brunt of the criticism for the Penguins&rsquo; ouster, even though he posted an excellent 93.2 save percentage in the series.In retrospect, many Penguins&rsquo; fans believe coach Eddie Johnston should have replaced the controversial Barrasso with popular, mild-mannered Ken Wregget for Game 7. The debate will continue throughout the summer as to whether the Penguins should go with Barrasso or Wregget in the 1996-97 season.Johnston and GM Craig Patrick say they like the idea of having two quality veterans in goal, but the reality is both Barrasso and Wregget want to be No. 1. Barrasso has been the designated starter for much of his 13-year career, but the 32-year-old Wregget wants a chance to be the main man, finally.Wregget, who never has made waves about his backup status since coming to Pittsburgh in 1992, indicated he would speak with Patrick about his future during the off-season.If the Penguins decide to move one of the two, economics will likely be a major factor. Barrasso earns $2.7 million a year while Wregget is in the $450,000 range. Wregget is entering the final year of his contract.Although Barrasso has had the more distinguished career, having won the Calder and Vezina Trophies and backstopped the Penguins to Stanley Cups in 1991 and 1992, Barrasso and Wregget had remarkably similar statistical years in 1995-96, with Wregget holding a slight edge.Meanwhile, back in 1994-95, when Barrasso was sidelined after wrist surgery, Wregget led the NHL with 25 regular season wins.Barrasso started the playoffs for Pittsburgh this year, but suffered back spasms in the first period of Game 4 in a first round series against the Washington Capitals. Wregget came on in relief that night and played spectacularly, stopping 46 of 47 shots, including a penalty shot by Joe Juneau, as the Penguins outdueled the Capitals in four overtimes.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021031/6467301-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg" title="f0011-02" width="594" height="714"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Wregget</figcaption></div>Wregget then started the next eight games, winning six of them. With him in goal, the Penguins finished off the Caps and eliminated the New York Rangers in five games before losing to Florida 5-1 in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final.After that performance, Johnston went back to Barrasso and the goalie posted victories in three of the next four games and was outstanding even in defeat-stopping 56 of 61 shots in a Game 3 loss at Miami.But after he shut out the Panthers 3-0 in Game 5 at Pittsburgh, giving the Penguins a 3-2 lead, the momentum shifted. Florida squeezed out a 43 victory at Miami in Game 6, forcing a seventh game back in Pittsburgh. Petr Nedved&rsquo;s power play goal pulled the Penguins into a 1-1 tie early in the third period, but Fitzgerald&rsquo;s goal ended Pittsburgh&rsquo;s season.&ldquo;That was a back-breaker,&rdquo; said center Bryan Smolinski. &ldquo;When there are (about) 12 minutes to go and they get a goal like that, you kind of wonder.&rdquo;Although stars Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr combined for just two goals in the seven game series, Barrasso took much of the public heat for the Penguins&rsquo; failure. Amazingly, Barrasso&rsquo;s stats in the series were almost identical to Florida hero John Van-biesbrouck&rsquo;s: Barrasso allowed 14 goals on 222 shots and Vanbies-brouck allowed 14 goals on 224 shots.But Pittsburgh lost. So the goaltending debate continues. &#9632;

f0011-01

Barrasso takes fall despite great play

<div class="byline">By Vance Oliver</div>It seemed that every time Daymond Langkow got familiar with his surroundings this past season, he was shifted to another location.The fifth overall pick in the 1995 NHL entry draft started the season with the Tampa Bay Lightning, was returned to the Tri-City Americans of the Western League and spent his Christmas holidays in Boston playing for the gold medal Canadian entry at the World Junior Championship.Some players face that kind of change with dread, others adapt and thrive. Count Langkow among the latter.&ldquo;I thought I had a pretty good year in Tri-City,&rdquo; Langkow said,&rdquo;considering the fact that I got back so late (from Tampa Bay), going to the World Juniors and I had a few other distractions.&rdquo;The numbers Langkow put up this season support his theory. The 5-foot-10, 175-pound center still managed to collect 30 goals and 91 points in 48 regular season games with the Americans this past season.In 1994-95, Langkow captured the WHL scoring crown with 67 goals and 140 points in 72 games.In the WJC, Langkow finished tied for second on the Canadian team with three goals and six points in five games. After a so-so preliminary round, Langkow saved his best play for the final, where he scored two goals and an assist in Canada&rsquo;s 4-1 win over Sweden.&ldquo;I think Daymond had a much better season than a lot of people give him credit for,&rdquo; said Americans&rsquo; coach Bob Loucks. &ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t see his name in the top-20 scorers, so, therefore, they didn&rsquo;t think he was doing anything. But he averaged almost two points per game. I think the pace he was on this year, he would&rsquo;ve had more points than last year.&rdquo;Langkow averaged 1.94 points per game in 1994-95 compared to 1.90 points per game this past season. However, experienced a natural letdown when the Lightning returned him to Tri-City early in the season. Like every aspiring NHLer, he wanted his road to the big time to be a smooth one, but management in Tampa Bay had a different game plan.So Langkow headed west with something to prove, but his return to the WHL was greased with a little turmoil.Loucks suspended Langkow for a game after his captain showed up late for a team meeting on a game day. Langkow reportedly had family visiting him in Tri-City and was detained when lunch was served late in a restaurant, but team rules apply to everybody in the Americans&rsquo; dressing room, even first round, blue-chip NHL prospects.Langkow didn&rsquo;t play that night in a road game against the Spokane Chiefs. He understood the decision, agreed with it and called it &ldquo;a wake-up call.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011542/6467339-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="977" height="1968"><figcaption class="caption-body">Daymond Langkow expects to stick with Tampa Bay in the fall. (Photo by Jim Mclsaac/BBS)</figcaption></div>&ldquo;He played the next game after that as if nothing happened,&rdquo; Loucks said.Langkow finally settled down in Tri-City during the latter stages of the regular season and was red-hot during the playoffs, despite nursing nagging injuries. He erupted for 14 goals and 27 points in 11 post season games.The Americans eventually lost 3-2 in the best-of-five West Division semifinal to the Kamloops Blazers.&ldquo;What a lot of people don&rsquo;t know is that he played the whole playoffs with charley horses in both legs,&rdquo; Loucks said. &ldquo;(Also), the last three games against Kamloops, his wrist and thumb were so sore that he could hardly hold his stick.&ldquo;Had he been healthy, that might have been enough to get us through the Kamloops series.&rdquo;Langkow has since recovered from his WHL war wounds and has already fast forwarded to 1996-97.He fully anticipates being stationed in Tampa Bay for the entire season. Since he turns 20 on Sept. 27, he won&rsquo;t have to go back to junior. He&rsquo;ll either be with the Lightning or Tampa&rsquo;s new minor league affiliate, the Adirondack Red Wings of the American League which the Lightning will share with Detroit.Langkow tallied one assist in four games with the Lightning before being sent down to Tri-City Oct. 23.The Lightning&rsquo;s roster was relatively solid down the middle with Brian Bradley, Chris Gratton, Aaron Gavey, and John Cullen. Tampa Bay was also intent on making the playoffs, which rendered Langkow&rsquo;s move back to junior a difficult, but sound decision.The 19-year-old Langkow, however, wants to make the coaching staff&rsquo;s task an easy one at training camp this fall. He wants to impress so much that it&rsquo;ll have no choice but to keep him in the Lightning lineup for good.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s my plan,&rdquo; Langkow said. &ldquo;I know what it&rsquo;s like now and it&rsquo;s definitely not going to be easy. It&rsquo;s going to be a long, hard-working summer.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

Rubber band man

<div class="byline">By Stan Fischler</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011448/6467377-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="385" height="536"></div>What a difference a year makes.At this time in 1995, the Devils were knighted as New Jersey&rsquo;s first professional champions. Their chances of repeating in 1996 were rated anywhere from superb to excellent.Now they&rsquo;re just ex-Champions.This is particularly galling to Bill Guerin, who starred in the 1995 Cup run and believed his team would repeat.&ldquo;The trouble really started last summer,&rdquo; Guerin says. &ldquo;The playoffs ran later than usual because of the lockout. After you win the Cup, you&rsquo;re going to party for a month and the guys didn&rsquo;t get the proper rest.&ldquo;I know it sounds like an excuse, but it&rsquo;s just a fact. We needed a little rest and we didn&rsquo;t get it.&rdquo;A number of elements come into play that always undermine defending champions. One of them is complacency induced by Cup rings.&ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t as hungry as we should have been,&rdquo; Guerin says. &ldquo;There was a bit of a lack of commitment from the players. Coaches and players had an off-year. We weren&rsquo;t pulling on the same rope and the mental focus was missing.&rdquo;Murmurs heard through the year suggested some players tuned out coach Jacques Lemaire. Others claimed the absence of ex-assistant coach Larry Robinson caused an ache like an abscessed molar.&ldquo;A few guys were frustrated with the (defense-oriented) system,&rdquo; Guerin says. &ldquo;At times during the year we would believe in it and use it and we&rsquo;d play great. When we didn&rsquo;t, we weren&rsquo;t so great.The Devils&rsquo; demise can best be capsulized in one game. It took place March 17 at Miami Arena. New Jersey was riding the crest of an 10-game unbeaten streak and appeared poised for a run at the top. But they were soundly spanked 3-0. The defeat set a tone for the rest of the campaign during which the Devils behaved like a rudderless aircraft.Meanwhile, the Panthers regrouped and landed comfortably in fourth place.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021026/6467370-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="519" height="888"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bill Guerin</figcaption></div>&ldquo;In that game,&rdquo; Guerin recalls,&rdquo;I looked over at the Panthers and said to myself, &lsquo;They&rsquo;re the spitting image of the way we were the year before.&rsquo; They had no superstars; just a bunch of guys who believed in themselves, worked hard and sacrificed. That&rsquo;s why they were successful.&rdquo;Another theory is Claude Lemieux&rsquo;s departure to Colorado removed spice from the dressing room. Steve Thomas, who replaced the 1995 Conn Smythe Trophy winner, was considerably less cantankerous but better-liked.&ldquo;Ask anyone on our team and he&rsquo;ll tell you we made out great in that trade,&rdquo; Guerin insists. &ldquo;(Lemieux) didn&rsquo;t want to be here and we lucked out getting an all-round player who wants to play in New Jersey.&rdquo;Guerin only sporadically watched the 1996 playoffs. It was too painful, especially since he remains convinced the Devils could have beaten just about anybody-including the Avalanche-if only New Jersey had figured out a way to get into the post-season.Now, GM Lou Lamoriello is faced with the task of getting his team back on top. He has already has begun the reconstruction by promoting two-time American League coach-of-the-year Robbie Ftorek as an assistant with the big club. Other changes, including a trade or two, are anticipated.Guerin, among the young nucleus, is not expected to be a part of any moves.&ldquo;Next season will be different,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It has to be if we&rsquo;re going to win another Stanley Cup.&ldquo;Robbie is a great addition because all the guys, young and old, love him. He&rsquo;s positive, knows the game and brings excitement into the room.&rdquo;Last summer, the Devils were honored by U.S. President Bill Clinton at the White House. Now they&rsquo;re in the clubhouse of their local golf course.&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; Guerin concludes,&rdquo;if there&rsquo;s one thing we&rsquo;ve learned that should apply to next season, it&rsquo;s this: There are no more &lsquo;gimmes.&rsquo;&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-01

Devils say they’ve learned lesson

<div class="byline">By Dave Joseph</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-02987/6467415-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="587" height="917"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Fitzpatrick</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011419/6467422-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="163" height="160"></div>Mark Fitzpatrick never missed a game during the Florida Panthers&rsquo; incredible run through the Stanley Cup playoffs.Unfortunately, his vantage point for all but a few periods came from the end of the Panthers&rsquo; bench.With John Vanbiesbrouck playing the best hockey of his career in April, May and June, Fitzpatrick once again found himself in the roll as Beezer&rsquo;s backup.After starting two of the Panthers&rsquo; last 15 regular season games, Fitzpatrick saw action in the playoffs twice in relief. For Fitzpatrick, who was 1511-3 during the regular season with 3.03 goals-against average, the role of a backup is nothing new. He has held that role with the Panthers since being acquired in the 1993 expansion draft.But Fitzpatrick, a Group II free agent, must decide whether he wants to remain a part of this promising team or move to another club to increase his playing time. For Fitzpatrick, 28, it won&rsquo;t be an easy decision.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to take some time and think about what my options are,&rdquo; he said two days after the Stanley Cup final ended.His options are fairly clear. Fitzpatrick can remain in Florida and play between 30-35 games a year, or try to win a starting job elsewhere.So what does he want?&ldquo;Both of those, and there&rsquo;s the dilemma,&rdquo; said Fitzpatrick&rsquo;s agent, Herb Pinder. &ldquo;Florida is a great place to play. It&rsquo;s a terrific organization, a great bunch of guys, an up-and-coming team. There&rsquo;s many reasons to object to leaving. But the objective is to play.&rdquo;Panthers&rsquo; GM Bryan Murray said he discussed Fitzpatrick&rsquo;s situation with Pinder during the regular season.&ldquo;Obviously, they&rsquo;re looking out for Mark&rsquo;s best interest,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;I suspect they&rsquo;ll look around before making a commitment to us.&rdquo;Said Pinder,&rdquo;All I can say is the outcome of this is not at all clear.&rdquo;Whatever decision he ultimately makes, Fitzpatrick said the past year has been a special time.&ldquo;It has been unreal,&rdquo; Fitzpatrick said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve played for three organizations and, by far, this is the classiest from my teammates to the fans to the staff. We&rsquo;ll always take with us this season.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Three nights after the Panthers were swept in the Stanley Cup final, a crowd of 16,000 showed up at the Miami Arena to toast the season. Players were introduced and highlight films were shown. The highlight of the evening came when rookie defensemen Ed Jovanovski and Rhett Warrener poured a jug of ice water on coach Doug MacLean. After helping to douse his coach, Jovanovski asked forgiveness with a bouquet of flowers&hellip;The Panthers may try rookie winger Radek Dvorak at center come next fall&hellip;The Panthers will host a rookie camp at their Pompano Beach training facility during the first week of September before opening training camp in coach Doug MacLean&rsquo;s hometown of Summerside, P.E.I.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-03711/6467408-1-eng-US/f0015-032.jpg" title="f0015-03" width="587" height="916"><figcaption class="caption-body">Radek Dvorak</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0015-02

NHL TEAMS

Free agent goalie Fitzpatrick torn between staying, playing

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-04520/6467453-1-eng-US/f0015-042.jpg" title="f0015-04" width="163" height="159"></div>Peter Forsberg played like a superstar for much of 96, but unless Colorado Avalanche management grants him a new contract, he might have to wait until next year to make superstar money.There were reports two days after the Avalanche won the Stanley Cup that Forsberg was seeking a deal worth $6 million a season. He has one year left on his existing three-year contact and is scheduled to make a little more than $2 million in Canadian funds for the 97 season.Under the old NHL collective bargaining agreement-the one in place before the lockout 1994-95 season-Forsberg would have been eligible for arbitration this summer. In all likelihood, he would have gotten a big raise based on a season in which he finished fifth in regular season and playoff scoring.Under the old rules, however, Forsberg would have had to have an additional year added on to his contract.But under the new collective bargaining agreement signed last year, Forsberg is bound to the last year of his contract and cannot opt for arbitration.That means the Avalanche could wait until after next season to re-sign Forsberg to a new deal. Players often hold out of training camp to pressure their teams, but Forsberg&rsquo;s agent, Don Baizley, said he doesn&rsquo;t think that will happen.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t see that happening,&rdquo; Baizley said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;ll see Peter withhold services. He has a year left on a hard and fixed contract.&rdquo;But Baizley hinted an extension to Forsberg&rsquo;s contract could be forthcoming. Another of Baizley&rsquo;s clients, Joe Sakic, signed a one-year extension earlier this season.&ldquo;From a club&rsquo;s perspective, an extension is often in their best interest,&rdquo; Baizley said. &ldquo;In Peter&rsquo;s original deal, the theory was he would sign for a smaller base salary and receive a large signing bonus. After two years, based on his performance, he could receive arbitration if it was warranted or wait until his contract expires to receive a more lucrative one.&rdquo;Forsberg said he loves Colorado and wants to stay, but wouldn&rsquo;t say what his salary demands are.Avalanche GM Pierre Lacroix was unavailable for comment.NOTEBOOK: GM Pierre Lacroix said Avalanche fans shouldn&rsquo;t worry about coach Marc Crawford leaving the team. &ldquo;One day soon, you&rsquo;re going to see Marc Crawford&rsquo;s going to be part of our team&rsquo;s family for a long time to come,&rdquo; Lacroix said. The two parties are renegotiating a deal that has one year left to run. There were reports out of Toronto the Maple Leafs were interested in Crawford&rsquo;s services&hellip;A crowd estimated at 200,000 lined the streets of Denver for a Stanley Cup parade June 12. Players stood on top of fire trucks and saluted the record crowd before having a reception at a downtown park. Avalanche management received a call from President Bill Clinton and was invited to the White House later this summer. &#9632;

f0015-04

Forsberg may ask to become league’s next $6 million man

<div class="byline">By Bobyn Norwood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021027/6467484-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="571" height="971"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Hebert</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011318/6467491-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="163" height="160"></div>There have been some Mighty Quiet Ducks in Anaheim since the Florida Panthers made it to the Stanley Cup final in only their third season.The three-year-old Ducks have yet to make the playoffs. And though they fell only a point shy this year after a late-season run fueled by Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya, that&rsquo;s long forgotten in the wake of Florida&rsquo;s success.&ldquo;We came so close,&rdquo; said Anaheim GM Jack Ferreira. &ldquo;(But the Panthers) deserve a lot of credit. They&rsquo;ve probably been one of the most consistent teams in the league all season.&rdquo;Ferreira credits some of the moves Panther president Bill Torrey made this season for Florida&rsquo;s ran, but much of the team&rsquo;s success is still linked to the 1993 expansion draft.Getting John Vanbiesbrouck can be attributed to the luck of the draw for the No. 1 pick. Even though Ferreira indicated at the time he would still have picked Guy Hebert first, he admits now he said that for Hebert&rsquo;s sake and that Vanbiesbrouck was the clear choice.Some of Florida&rsquo;s other picks have proved brilliant-right winger Scott Mellanby was the eighth forward taken and the consummate characterplayer, center Brian Skrudland, went 10th.The Ducks made center Steven King the first forward and the only forward they have kept from Day 1 is right winger Joe Sacco. Most of the others are in the minors or out of hockey.NOTEBOOK: With Al Sims&rsquo; departure to become head coach in San Jose, former Providence College star Tim Army becomes the Ducks&rsquo; top assistant to Ron Wilson. Walt Kyle, coach of Baltimore in the American League, is a candidate to fill the other job, but isn&rsquo;t clear if that&rsquo;s the ideal career move.&hellip;GM Jack Ferreira said the team is eager to re-sign unrestricted free agent tough guy Todd Ewen. Ewen wants to test his value on the market, though he is expected to give the Ducks the option of last refusal&hellip;Ferreira will wait until after the draft to decide whether to offer 35-year-old defenseman Randy Ladouceur a new contract. Ladouceur is chasing 1,000 games, but was a regular scratch at the end of the season. &#9632;

f0016-02

Ducks envy Panther run

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04555/6467522-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="162" height="160"></div>The Buffalo Sabres broke out of their penny-pinching mode June 6 by signing goaltender Dominik Hasek to a new deal set to be worth $12.5 million over three seasons.Hasek reportedly agreed to a three-year contract that will pay him $4.3 million for the 1996-97 season, followed by years at $4.2 and $4 million, respectively.In addition, Hasek will have a notrade provision that kicks in when he turns 32 on Jan. 29, 1997. Players under that age are not allowed to have no-trade clauses.The deal makes Hasek, a two-time Vezina Trophy winner, the highest paid goalie in the NHL.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very happy,&rdquo; Hasek said. &ldquo;I wanted very much to stay in Buffalo.&rdquo;Buffalo GM John Muckier was also elated. He said Hasek and agent Rich Winter were responsive to the Sabres&rsquo; needs in making the deal. He also said securing Hasek keeps the Sabres secure in goal now and for the immediate future.&ldquo;Dominik is a true competitor and we feel he&rsquo;s the best goalie in the league,&rdquo; Muckier said. &ldquo;His willingness to want to stay in Buffalo helped make this deal.&rdquo;Hasek, 31, has a wife and two children and they&rsquo;ve pretty much made Western New York their year-round home.Winter said there were never any real sticking points in coming to the agreement. &ldquo;The Sabres recognized Dom&rsquo;s contributions and responded,&rdquo; Winter said. &ldquo;At the same time, Dom wanted to help the Sabres continue to go forward.&rdquo;Both sides were very much interested in getting this deal done. Hasek is a two-time first-team all-star and again led the NHL in save percentage this season, despite the fact the Sabres were in a major rebuilding phase. Hasek said he hopes and expects the team would move to improve its lot (it finished 15 points out of a playoff berth last season) and wants to be a patt of any future success.NOTEBOOK: The memorial service for former Sabres&rsquo; owner Seymour H. Knox III May 30 drew an overflow crowd. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman attended, along with top aides Jeff Pash and Steve Solomon. Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; owner Steve Stavro was also in attendance, as was former Quebec Nordiques&rsquo; owner Marcel Au-but and New Jersey Devils&rsquo; GM Lou Lamoriello&hellip;GM John Muckier said he hadn&rsquo;t been approached about being a technical coach for Team Canada in the World Cup. but would accept the role he filled in two Canada Cups if it were offered&hellip;The proposed rule barring players who lose their sweaters in an altercation-appears directly aimed at Roh Ray, who routinely strips during fights. &#9632;

f0016-04

Sabres make exception for Hasek

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03763/6467553-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="162" height="159"></div>His is one of the least familiar names on a list of Boston Brains&rsquo; potential Group II free agents. The list is headed by goalie Bill Ranford and includes core players Shawn McEachern, Ted Donato and Steve Heinze.Sandy Moger, therefore, was a bit more concerned the Bruins&rsquo; rapid exit from the 1996 playoffs also coincided with the end of his contract.&ldquo;I hope they want me to come back because I&rsquo;d love to stay here,&rdquo; said Moger, a big right winger who played his first full NHL season. He was paid $250,000.Although the Brains hadn&rsquo;t announced the re-signing of any potential free agents by the second week of June, it was virtually certain they&rsquo;d at least make the obligatory qualifying offer to Moger by the July 1 deadline. Moger played two minor-league seasons before signing a free-agent deal with Boston two years ago. He turned in a 15-goal, 29-point campaign in 1995-96.Moger developed a knack for scoring important goals. His team-leading six game-winners doubled the figure of any other Brain and he had the distinction of scoring Boston&rsquo;s first and last goals of the season.Moger&rsquo;s play, in part, made Steve Leach expendable and took some of the sting out of losing right wingers Cam Neely and Joe Mullen to injury.&ldquo;I think I proved some things this year,&rdquo; Moger said,&rdquo;but I hope I come back here because I know I can do more.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Bruins appeared close to nailing down deals with highly-regarded Cameron Mann of the Ontario League&rsquo;s Peterborough Petes and Swedish defenseman Mattias Timander. Mann was selected 99th overall last year. Timander was selected in the ninth round, 208th overall in 1992&hellip;Boston won&rsquo;t meet the contract requests of left winger Daniel Goneau, a second round pick (47th overall) two years ago, so Goneau goes back into this year&rsquo;s draft June 22. Goneau scored 54 goals for the Memorial Cup-winning Granby Preda-teurs and led the Canadian Hockey League at plus-82&hellip;The Bruins&rsquo; signed Harvard University forward Kirk Nielsen, a free agent who was picked by the Philadelphia Flyers in the 1994 supplemental draft. &#9632;

f0016-03

Moger hopes there’s room in budget for lesser lights

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011173/6467584-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="167" height="163"></div>He summers in Quebec now, but just before Sandy McCarthy returned to Calgary to sign his new contract, he visited his parents.As they were going over the details of the contract-worth $2.5 million (Cdn.) over three years-McCarthy saw something he&rsquo;d never seen before.Tears in his parents&rsquo; eyes.&ldquo;They&rsquo;d worked so hard all their lives,&rdquo; said the Calgary Flames&rsquo; tough guy. &ldquo;They couldn&rsquo;t believe it.&rdquo;After getting the majority of their top players under contract last summer, the McCarthy talks represented one of GM Al Coates&rsquo; more ticklish negotiations this summer. McCarthy played for a paltry $150,000 (Cdn.) last season. In an effort to partially remedy that, the new deal included $350,000 in retroactive pay.The Flames made only one request of McCarthy-that he improve his commitment to off-ice conditioning.&ldquo;I trained with Gary Roberts for two weeks after I hurt my ribs and when I returned, I played the best hockey of the season,&rdquo; McCarthy said. &ldquo;It opened my eyes to the training part of it.&rdquo;McCarthy had a career high nine goals last season, but is known mainly as one of the NHL&rsquo;s most feared fighters.NOTEBOOK: St. Lawrence University star Burke Murphy, who had 33 goals last season, signed a multi-year deal with the Flames. &ldquo;One of my fortes is finding open ice,&rdquo; Murphy said. &ldquo;I tend to get a lot of shots off during the game&rdquo;&hellip;The Flames made a new contract proposal to center Robert Reichel, now of the Frankfurt Lions in Germany, in an effort to woo him back to Calgary. Reichel is a two-time 40-goal scorer in the NHL. &#9632;

f0017-01

Enforcer gets huge pay day

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02884/6467615-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="164" height="162"></div>Jeremy Roenick&rsquo;s messy contract situation might not be the biggest off-season story for the Chicago Blackhawks.A trade of veteran goalie Ed Bel-four would certainly steal Roenick&rsquo;s thunder.While no one in management has said Belfour is on the block, assistant GM Bob Murray did admit the Blackhawks may have to do something &ldquo;uncharacteristic for us&rdquo; this summer, such as trade a star player to get better.The Blackhawks who would bring the most in a trade are Roenick, Chris Chelios, Belfour, Tony Amonte and Eric Daze. Of the five, Belfour is the guy the Blackhawks would most like to deal, if the price is right.Belfour, who will earn $2.75 million next season, will be 32 years old and an unrestricted free agent after the upcoming season.&ldquo;We have to talk about it,&rdquo; Murray said, although not mentioning Belfour by name. &ldquo;We have some tough decisions to make and we&rsquo;re talking about every possibility.&rdquo;Any trade the Blackhawks make would be to fill several glaring holes, including a playmaking No. 2 center, a big winger with some offensive ability to play left wing with Roenick and a young defenseman.Of course, what management must decide is whether Jeff Hackett and Jimmy Waite can handle the goaltending duties.Hackett is coming off a terrific season as a backup, but it&rsquo;s a totally different kind of pressure being No. 1.The Blackhawks drafted Waite in the first round in 1987. Management still feels he can be a good goaltender in the NHL, but is it willing to gamble Belfour on it?NOTEBOOK: Contract talks were set to start with unrestricted free agent Joe Murphy, who is being represented by his father&hellip;The Blackhawks were also preparing to make unrestricted free agent Brent Sutter an offer to return&hellip;It was looking like they wouldn&rsquo;t be making unrestricted free agent Bernie Nicholls an offer to return prior to July I. Nicholls is seeking a multi-year contract, but it is the Blackhawks&rsquo; policy to offer veteran free agents no more than one-year pacts. &ldquo;If any of those older players want a two-or three-year contract that&rsquo;s not how we do business,&rdquo; said assistant GM Bob Murray. &ldquo;I (signed for one year at a time), Dirk Graham did it, and Denis Savard is doing it. We don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s unfair at all.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0017-02

Dealing star a real option

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02891/6467653-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="582" height="912"><figcaption class="caption-body">Andy Moog</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011210/6467660-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="162" height="161"></div>The Dallas Stars signed Roman Turek to a two-year contract June 6 and appear ready to give him every chance to be their No. 1 goalie.Turek, a 26-year-old Czech, is expected to report to training camp after his stint with the Czech Republic team at the World Cup and begin his first attempt at play in North America. He is coming off a gold medal performance at the World Championship and his play there gave the Stars enough confidence to pay $500,000 a season plus a $200,000 signing bonus.&ldquo;He showed us some good things against some good players,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; GM Bob Gainey said. &ldquo;Now he&rsquo;ll get an opportunity to play for us here.&rdquo;The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Turek was 7-0-1 at the World Championship with a 1.88 goals-against average and a 95.2 save percentage.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s really ready to make the step over,&rdquo; said Craig Button, the Stars&rsquo; director of scouting. &ldquo;Plus, he&rsquo;ll get a chance to test himself at the World Cup, so he should come into camp in really good shape.&rdquo;Veteran Andy Moog said Stars&rsquo; management is calling him &ldquo;a No. 2 goalie&rdquo; in contract negotiations and four-year Stars&rsquo; veteran Darcy Wakaluk said he has not been contacted by the Stars. Both are unrestricted free agents.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ve called me a No. 2 for three years now, but I don&rsquo;t think the numbers bear that out,&rdquo; Moog said.Moog, who has led the team in minutes played the past three seasons and was team MVP in 1994-95, is asking for an extension of last year&rsquo;s contract, which had a base of $962,000 and a couple of incentives based on games played and performance. The Stars are coming in significantly lower. Despite their differences, Moog and Stars&rsquo; management say they expect to get a contract signed.Still, the goalie picture is far from clear. The Stars expect to allow Wakaluk to shop the free agent market, but still may make an effort to sign him once he has established an asking price. They also expect to give Michigan K-Wings&rsquo; goalie Manny Fernandez another chance to make the squad and may dabble in the trade market, with Kirk McLean of the Vancouver Canucks and Mike Vernon of the Detroit Red Wings the most mentioned names.NOTEBOOK: The Stars have rewritten the final year of GM Bob Gainey&rsquo;s contract and added two more to keep him with the organization for the next three seasons. New owner Thomas Hicks said Gainey &ldquo;has a lot of good ideas&rdquo; and ownership is ready to put them to work. Details of the contract, which had yet been signed, were not released&hellip;The Stars lost one of their pro scouts when Craig Ramsey signed as an assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators. Ramsey, a two-way standout as a player, previously was an assistant coach with the Florida Panthers and Buffalo Sabres&hellip;The Stars will likely allow right winger Randy Wood to test the free agent market. Wood, an unrestricted free agent, was acquired this past season from Toronto.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03614/6467646-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="584" height="912"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darcy Wakaluk</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0018-02

Addition of Czech Turek creates crowd in crease

<div class="byline">By Cynthia Lambert</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-04383/6467691-1-eng-US/f0018-042.jpg" title="f0018-04" width="163" height="163"></div>Chris Osgood experienced two unexpected pleasures June 9.First, the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; goalie was presented with the first-ever MasterCard Play of the Year Award. Second, during the luncheon prior to receiving the award, he sat one table from Colorado Avalanche forward Claude Lemieux.The latter was significant because of the threats Osgood and many of the Red Wings made after Lemieux&rsquo;s dirty hit from behind on Detroit forward Kris Draper in Game 6 of the Western Conference final. Many Detroit players vowed to seek retribution for the hit that fractured several bones in Draper&rsquo;s face. Osgood, one of Draper&rsquo;s best friends, led the verbal charge.&ldquo;I came up here to get the award and I had to come up from Cancun,&rdquo; Osgood who glared at Lemieux hoping it served as a warning for what is to come when Detroit plays Colorado next season. &ldquo;I was on vacation and had to cut it short. But the vacation continued because I was so close to him.&rdquo;Osgood then smiled, one of his first publicly since being in net for all four losses to the Avalanche and sending Detroit to an early post-season exit. Ironically, Osgood received his play of the year award for his stop in overtime on Colorado&rsquo;s Joe Sakic, which was a difficult task considering the Conn Smythe winner netted 18 goals in 22 playoff games.On the winning save, coming in overtime of Game 1, Osgood dove across the crease area and made a glove stop. It was the second play for which Osgood was nominated. He also received consideration for the empty-net goal he scored on March 6 against the Hartford Whalers, a feat he downplays.&ldquo;I told them if I won for that goal I wasn&rsquo;t going to come at all,&rdquo; Osgood said, smiling. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to get the award. There were a lot of good plays.&rdquo;Osgood made enough of them in the regular season and early in the playoffs to take over the No. 1 goaltending role for the Red Wings. He played the final 10 playoff games. He is now a spokesman of hope for the Wings.&ldquo;Mark my words, we&rsquo;ll win a Cup with the guys we have,&rdquo; said the 23-year-old. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got a good team and I feel really confident we&rsquo;re going to do it. I know we will.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: After spending 14 years as public relations director with the Red Wings. Bill Jamieson resigned from his position effective June 21 and will begin his new job as an account director with a Detroit-area communications firm. &ldquo;I made so many wonderful friendships in hockey,&rdquo; Jamieson said. &ldquo;Just the camaraderie I enjoyed with players, staff, media, people in other teams; even on the road, in other buildings. There&rsquo;s just a lot of wonderful people in hockey.&rdquo;&hellip;Goalie Mike Vernon approached management and asked to be traded if he was not going to figure prominently in its plans next season. With Chris Osgood as the No. 1, and prospect Kevin Hodson signed to a one-way contract, Vernon was already figuring to be the odd-man out. &#9632;

f0018-04

Osgood gets a charge out of big save on Colorado’s Sakic

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011124/6467722-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="162" height="161"></div>There will be plenty of bums in the seats.Now Edmonton&rsquo;s hockey fans have every right to demand there not be any in uniform.Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; fans-even those dismayed with a team that has failed to make the playoffs for four straight years-came to their rescue and put them over the crucial 13,000 season ticket mark, allowing the team to qualify for the NHL&rsquo;s financial assistance plan.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a real indication people want to keep the hockey team in Edmonton,&rdquo; said GM Glen Sather. &ldquo;The rest is up to us and the players. We&rsquo;ve got to get the right players and they have to play well. We&rsquo;ve got to get back to winning.&rdquo;The best place to start is by signing key free agents and the extra money generated by the ticket base and the assistance plan will obviously help.&ldquo;It gives you that ability to sign (Doug Weight, Jason Arnott and Zdeno Ciger) which, in my estimation, is what our hockey club has to retain to be successful,&rdquo; said coach Ron Low.Owner Peter Pocklington said he will increase Sather&rsquo;s player budget to more than $20 million (Cdn.) from last year&rsquo;s $15 million.&ldquo;If that&rsquo;s what he says, great,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;He keeps trying to nail me down with an exact number and I keep telling him there is no exact number because these (free agents) won&rsquo;t tell me what they&rsquo;ll play for.&rdquo;Sources say Sather&rsquo;s five-year offer to Weight started at $1.5 million (Cdn.) and graduated to $1.8 million.NOTEBOOK: The Oilers&rsquo; new uniforms received a thumbs-up from the players. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m glad they got away from what the league has been doing; the paint-splotchy, lines-everywhere, new-wavy uniform,&rdquo; said center Doug Weight, who snuck a peek at the uniforms before heading to his cottage in Michigan. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a refreshing change, but you keep the beauty of the logo.&rdquo;&hellip;The Oilers did not sign junior defenseman Corey Neilson by the deadline of June 1, but they did ink goalie Chris Wickenheiser of Red Deer in the Western League to a contract in time and he&rsquo;s a good bet for Hamilton of the American League&hellip;GM Glen Sather confirmed the Oilers will make an offer to the Ottawa Senators for their first pick at the draft in St. Louis. &#9632;

f0019-01

Fans pay for right to expect bigger things next season

<div class="byline">By Michael Arace</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03534/6467753-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="571" height="972"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sean Burke</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-02810/6467760-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="163" height="163"></div>The rumor mill was churning overtime in Hartford and it was likely being fueled by fallout from the Save the Whale campaign.Depending upon who you talked to, one or all of left winger Brendan Shanahan, goalie Sean Burke and defensemen Jeff Brown and Glen Wesley-the team&rsquo;s highest-priced players-were on the block.In the aftermath of the Save the Whale campaign, owner Peter Karmanos said he would live up to his Civic Center lease and stay two more years-but costs would have to be cut in the areas of marketing and payroll.But Whalers&rsquo; GM-president Jim Rutherford said he&rsquo;s not necessarily shopping his high-priced talent.&ldquo;What has happened is that some people have become convinced that our higher-priced players are being shopped,&rdquo; Rutherford said. &ldquo;I think that&rsquo;s a product of other people&rsquo;s conversations more so than we&rsquo;re actually shopping them. Because that&rsquo;s not the case-we&rsquo;re not shopping them.&rdquo;Rutherford said fans shouldn&rsquo;t expect to see a rebuilding project in Hartford next season.&ldquo;We may make some moves, but we want to maintain the level of play we had last year or be better,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not going to arbitrarily take a player at the top of our roster and just move him for prospects.&ldquo;On the other hand, it may work out that someone at the lower end of the roster gets moved as a way of alleviating the pressure on our payroll costs.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Goalie Sean Burke was a hit in Cyberspace. The goalie was hired by the CBC, as part of a joint venture with the NHL, to entertain on-line fans during the Stanley Cup final. &ldquo;Sean&rsquo;s a natural,&rdquo; said Charlie Schmitt, who helped set up the web site&hellip;Left winger Brendan Shanahan said his left wrist, which hampered him greatly during the first three months of the 1995-96 season, is now healed to the point where he doesn&rsquo;t have to think about it. &ldquo;My full focus is on the World Cup.&rdquo; Shanahan said&hellip;The Whalers signed prospects Hnat Domenichelli, Ryan Risidore and Tom Buckley just before the June 1 deadline. Domemchelli is expected to have a good chance at making the big club this fall. &#9632;

f0019-03

Stars at heart of trade talk

<div class="byline">By Lisa Dillman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02665/6467791-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="569" height="974"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rob Blake</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011002/6467798-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="161" height="161"></div>Rehabilitation doesn&rsquo;t always have to mean hours of dreary, repetitious indoor activity. Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; defenseman Rob Blake has been there, done that.Blake, who is trying to come back from major knee surgery, has entered the sun, surf and sand phase of his recovery-playing beach volleyball about twice a week by his coastal home of Manhattan Beach, Calif.He&rsquo;s easy to pick out. Blake wears a brace on his left knee, in which he suffered a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in October.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s very soft out there on the sand-there&rsquo;s no impact on my knee,&rdquo; Blake said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re trying to get that leg to react as well as the other one.&rdquo;At the end of the regular season, Blake was skating with a brace, but still felt a bit of soreness and some tendinitis in the knee. He didn&rsquo;t skate in June, but plans on resuming full skating in July, preparing for Team Canada&rsquo;s World Cup training camp in mid-August at Whistler, B.C.Understandably, the 26-year-old Blake has been frustrated. The knee surgery limited him to six games last season and a nagging groin injury allowed Blake to play in only 24 games in the lockout shortened 1994-95.But watching the Stanley Cup final and the return of Colorado Avalanche defenseman Uwe Krupp gave Blake a bit of inspiration. &ldquo;It definitely does because his knee was a lot worse than mine and he was supposed to be out a lot longer,&rdquo; Blake said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s encouraging to see how well he played.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Kings gained a scout, but lost a minor pro coach when Rob Laird joined the big team as pro scout June 12. For the past two seasons, Laird was head coach of the Kings&rsquo; International League affiliate in Phoenix&hellip;The Kings signed two junior graduates, right winger Andrew Dale and defenseman Jan Nemecek to three-year contracts May 31. just before the deadline. Dale was the Kings&rsquo; eighth round pick in the 1994 draft. Last season, he had 89 points and 75 penalty minutes in 64 games with Sudbury and Kitchener of the Ontario League. Nemecek, a seventh round pick in 1994, led Hull (Quebec League) defensemen in scoring with 66 points in 57 games. Both players are 20. &#9632;

f0020-02

Beach part of Blake’s rehab

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03448/6467829-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="160" height="161"></div>Six months after hading their franchise goaltender, the Montreal Canadiens bid adieu to the man who played a major role in making Patrick Roy one of the game&rsquo;s premier players.Francois Allaire resigned as the Canadiens&rsquo; goalie coach June 4.The 40-year-old, who spent nine full seasons with Montreal and 12 in the organization, will now work as a goalie consultant for agent Gilles Lupien. Lupien&rsquo;s most prominent clients are Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils and Felix Potvin of the Toronto Maple Leafs.Allaire said he wanted a new challenge and claimed he was fulfilling a lifelong dream.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my long-term objective to develop Quebecers who will go on to play net in the NHL,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I want to teach my style to different goalies in various countries.&rdquo;Allaire teaches the butterfly technique-a style that numerous goalies have used to perfection. Roy, traded to the Colorado Avalanche last December, is his most famous and successful disciple.Allaire, whose contract expired at season&rsquo;s end, earned $75,000 last season and said GM Rejean Houle made a &ldquo;reasonable offer&rdquo; to retain him. &ldquo;He generally tried to keep me on,&rdquo; Allaire said. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a question of money.&rdquo;Houle said a decision on whether to replace Allaire with a full-time or parttime assistant will be made after talking with goalies Jocelyn Thibault and Pat Jablonski.NOTEBOOK: Pro scout Charles Thiffault isn&rsquo;t being offered a new contract by the Canadiens. Thiffault was an assistant under coach Jacques Demers until being reassigned following last October&rsquo;s frontoffice purge that cost Demers, GM Serge Savard, director of scouting Andre Boudrias and pro scout Carol Vadnais their jobs. Demers remains a pro scout, making Thiffault expendable&hellip;Assistant coaches Jacques Laperriere and Steve Shutt have signed new two-year deals&hellip;Right winger Oleg Petrov, who divided a four-year career between Montreal and Fredericton of the American League, signed a two-year contract with Ambri-Piotta of the Swiss League. He&rsquo;ll remain with the Canadiens as a European scout through 2000. &#9632;

f0020-03

Goaltending guru Allaire parts company with Habs

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04280/6467860-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="161" height="161"></div>Jacques Lemaire has always refused to dwell on the past, but the coach of the New Jersey Devils spent the early weeks of his lengthy off-season debating whether he was ready to leap into the future.A key decision that faced the Devils as they looked to juggle personnel was whether to stick with aging veteran centers Bobby Carpenter and Neal Broten for another season or go with youth. The latter, barring a trade, would mean giving rookie Denis Pederson a shot and, perhaps, moving winger Brian Rolston to the middle.Pederson, who will be 21 this September, has been groomed as the type of checking center the Devils covet. Rolston, 23, played center for the bronze medal-winning United States team at the World Championship and believes he is ready to do the same in the NHL.&ldquo;No question I think I can play the middle and be an offensive threat,&rdquo; Rolston said. &ldquo;I hope they do give me a shot there. I&rsquo;m not sure Jacques is comfortable with me at center.&rdquo;Lemaire feels speed on the wings is more important than speed at center, so he was hesitant to commit to such a move.&ldquo;It is a possibility,&rdquo; Lemaire said. &ldquo;Brian is a guy who has great speed and I want to use speed on the wing. If you put Rollie at center, you lose that speed on the wing.&rdquo;Rolston said playing in the World Championship, where he scored a shorthanded overtime goal against the Russians to secure bronze, helped take away some of the disappointment of failing to make the playoffs.&ldquo;It definitely took the sting away to win the bronze in the fashion we did,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That was probably the best hockey I&rsquo;ve ever played in my life. I was just relaxed. (Coach Ron Wilson) had no restrictions. He didn&rsquo;t put pressure on us. I really let the offensive side of my game come out and it was fun to do that.&rdquo;That is a style Rolston may never see with the Devils.NOTEBOOK: GM Lou Lamoriello said he had no bitterness about right winger Claude Lemieux winning the Stanley Cup with Colorado. Lemieux, the 1995 Conn Smythe winner for the Devils, was dealt to the Avalanche last fall after a bitter contract squabble: &ldquo;That trade, fundamentally, was not a hockey trade. That trade was made for certain philosophical reasons we have in our organization. If that situation hadn&rsquo;t come about, he&rsquo;d probably still be a New Jersey Devil. To have any ill feelings that he (won) the Stanley Cup, absolutely not.&rdquo;&hellip;The Devils and defenseman Phil Housley came to an agreement the team would not make an offer until after the unrestricted free agent heard from interested clubs. &#9632;

f0020-04

Young, old at center of debate

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01773/6467891-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="164" height="161"></div>GM-coach Mike Milbury rarely raised his voice last season as the New York Islanders stumbled to their worst record in 22 years. But he seemed fighting mad when discussing Ziggy Palffy&rsquo;s contract squabble.Palffy, 24, had a club-high 43 goals and 87 points in his first full season while earning $300,000 in the last year of his contract. Milbury said Palffy&rsquo;s Edmonton-based agent Paul Kraus has compared him to Alexei Yashin (who will earn $2.7 million in 1996-97), Paul Kariya (who earned $2.3 million this season) and Peter Forsberg (earning $2.1 million). &ldquo;I think he&rsquo;s full of it,&rdquo; Milbury said of Kraus. &ldquo;I think he shouldn&rsquo;t be in the business.&rdquo;Milbury said he plans to make Palffy, who becomes a restricted free agent luly 1, the highest-paid player on the team,&rdquo;but he has only had one breakthrough season. He isn&rsquo;t going to go from $300,000 to $2 million.&rdquo;Todd Bertuzzi, who will earn $1.1 million in 1996-97, is currently the Islanders&rsquo; highest-paid player.Milbury, meanwhile, had several other issues on his plate, including:&#9633; Bryan Berard&rsquo;s contract. Milbury indicated a recent offer the Islanders made to Berard, the first overall pick in 1995, is not as lucrative as that signed by 11th overall choice larome Iginla of the Calgary Flames. Iginla&rsquo;s pact is believed to contain a $500,000 bonus for winning the Calder Trophy and at least $1 million a season in other bonuses.&#9633; Captain Patrick Flatley&rsquo;s status. There was talk the team may buy out Flatley, who is scheduled to earn $900,000 in the last year of his deal.&#9633; The third overall pick at the draft. Milbury said he was uncertain if he will take right winger Alex Volchkov if defensemen Chris Phillips and Andrei Zyuzin are gone. Volchkov was tested by the Islanders June 4, after which Milbury said,&rdquo;He brings unique problems as well as values. He&rsquo;s not very competitive, not a real gritty player. It&rsquo;s an interesting call, one we have to look hard at.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: GM Mike Milbury traded unsigned defense prospect Brad Lukowich to Dallas for a third round 1997 entry draft pick. &ldquo;He wanted far more (money) than we thought he was worth,&rdquo; Milbury said. &ldquo;We made him a six figure proposal. In our estimation he was no better than a 50-50 guy to make it.&rdquo;&hellip;Milbury allowed minor league center Craig Darby to be claimed on waivers by Philadelphia. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think he was ever going to make our team,&rdquo; Milbury said&hellip;Milbury said goaltender Tommy Salo&rsquo;s strong performance in leading Utah to the International League Turner Cup championship has reestablished him as a candidate to play with the Islanders next season. &#9632;

f0021-01

Palffy looking for big-time pay increase

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02416/6467922-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="165" height="162"></div>The New York Rangers see a Stanley Cup in their future, but will no longer mortgage the future to meet that end.That was the message GM-president Neil Smith sent June 13 after agreeing to terms on a new contract. Smith, 42, signed a six-year contract that will pay him about $1 million a season.While insisting he will continue to go for the Cup, Smith said he will no longer make the type of trades that will &ldquo;leave the cupboard bare.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll be trying to win it again, but in a different way,&rdquo; he said.The Rangers were one of the oldest teams in the league last season with an average age of 29.One player Smith may pursue via the trade market is Hartford Whalers&rsquo; left winger Brendan Shanahan. The Rangers almost acquired him last season for Alexei Kovalev and there were reports the cost-cutting Whalers may be willing to peddle their captain.Smith was evasive about the possibility of adding Wayne Gretzky, who becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1. Acquiring the 36-year-old Gretzky would go against the notion of making the team younger and more fiscally responsible.Smith is confident he&rsquo;ll be able to institute his game plan now that his own position is secure. Entering the summer, he was in the last year of a contract that paid him $550,000 a year. He did not want to be a lameduck GM and had never received the reward he was promised for winning the 1994 Stanley Cup.NOTEBOOK: Center Mark Messier reiterated what he has said since he signed his three-year, $18.2 million contract in 1994-95: he wants to finish his career with the Rangers and he wants to play beyond next season, when that contract expires. Messier said he would accept less money for a contract extension beyond 1996-97. &ldquo;My main thing is to stay here,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had my time being paid well, being the highest paid, and probably at the end of next year I won&rsquo;t be deserving of that and I&rsquo;ll turn that over to Brian Leetch or Mike Richter&hellip;GM Neil Smith said unrestricted free agents-right winger Pat Verbeek and defenseman Jeff Beukeboom-may not be back if they&rsquo;re seeking big raises from their current deals. &#9632;

f0021-02

Smith charts new course after getting new contract

<div class="byline">By Chris Stevenson</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04159/6467953-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="573" height="977"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wade Redden</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03224/6467960-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="162" height="161"></div>One good thing about the three-year contract Wade Redden signed with the Ottawa Senators is everything is in writing.&ldquo;You won&rsquo;t hear anything about verbal promises from me,&rdquo; said Redden&rsquo;s agent, Don Meehan.After a long, bitter battle between center Alexei Yashin and former GM Randy Sexton over an alleged verbal promise and a similar battle brewing with defenseman Stan Neckar, that will be good news for Senators&rsquo; fans.Redden&rsquo;s deal, signed May 30, is &ldquo;virtually identical,&rdquo; said Meehan, to the one signed in April by Jarome Iginla, another Meehan client, with the Calgary Flames.Redden will receive $850,000 (U.S.) a season-the maximum allowed under the rookie salary cap-but performance bonuses which, if met, could push the deal well over $1 million a season.&ldquo;If Wade achieved everything in this contract, we&rsquo;d have another Bobby Orr on our hands,&rdquo; Meehan said. &ldquo;Some expectations are such that realistically it&rsquo;s inconceivable they&rsquo;d all be reached.&rdquo;&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t say how excited I am,&rdquo; Redden said. &ldquo;Signing my first contract is a big step in my career.&rdquo;Senators&rsquo; GM Pierre Gauthier, who expects Redden to make the team in the fall, is most impressed with Redden&rsquo;s dependability.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s not a guy who&rsquo;s going to carry the puck all over the ice,&rdquo; Gauthier said,&rdquo;but out of 100 decisions, 99 are the right ones.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Senators rounded out their coaching staff with the addition of assistant coaches Craig Ramsay and Perry Pearn. Ramsay left his position with Dallas where he was a pro scout. &ldquo;I want to coach,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;And I tried not to make it a secret with Dallas.&rdquo; Pearn comes to the Senators from the Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes where he was an assistant coach under Terry Simpson last year&hellip;Trevor Timmins, who had been the Senators&rsquo; director of team services and strength and conditioning coach, is now the club&rsquo;s scouting co-ordinator. Lorne Goldenberg, who worked most recently with the Quebec Nordiques, has been brought in to help with the club&rsquo;s strength and conditioning. &#9632;

f0021-04

Redden inks air-tight deal

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01801/6467991-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="161" height="163"></div>Just as the Philadelphia Flyers were ending their season, Eric Lindros had to deal with allegations involving his private life.It began in March, when Lindros was the subject of a newspaper entertainment writer&rsquo;s column.Lindros, according to the columnist, returned some complimentary tickets to the Flyers for resale. Eventually, they wound up in the hands of reputed Philadelphia mobster Joey Merlino, who was spotted at a game.A Philadelphia sports magazine picked up on the story. It alleged the Lindros-Merlino association went deeper, that they had met on three occasions and hinted Lindros had befriended Merlino&rsquo;s sisters.From there, an all-sports radio station made the story almost round-the-clock material.The Lindros family strongly denied the allegations and hinted legal action may be taken. Lindros&rsquo; father and agent, Carl, was attempting to secure tapes of the radio station&rsquo;s discussions for a possible lawsuit.The Flyers, who have their games broadcast over the same radio station, are reviewing their relationship with the station.The team issued a statement that read: &ldquo;The Flyers will not respond to ridiculous, unfounded charges and innuendo. The matter has been turned over to our attorneys. We will take appropriate action to protect the interests of the organization, and we fully support our players in their efforts to protect their rights as individuals.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Speculation contract talks between center Eric Lindros and the Flyers may be affected by the recent ticket controversy was shot down. Carl Lindros said his son, who has two years left on a deal that is supposed to be re-worked soon, hasn&rsquo;t expressed any desire to leave Philadelphia. &ldquo;The candle may be blowing in the wind a little bit,&rdquo; Carl Lindros said,&rdquo;but it&rsquo;s still burning.&rdquo;&hellip;The Flyers did not renew the contract of radio play-by-play announcer Steve Carroll&hellip;Defensemen/left wingers Jason Bowen and Dan Kordic agreed to terms on new contracts&hellip;The Flyers acquired Craig Darby from the Islanders on waivers June 4. Darby had no goals and four assists in 23 games with Montreal and the Islanders this past season. &#9632;

f0023-01

Lindros camp considers suit over ‘unfounded’ allegations

<div class="byline">By Dave Molinari</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03352/6468022-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="561" height="966"><figcaption class="caption-body">Petr Nedved</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02506/6468029-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="159" height="162"></div>The NHL season didn&rsquo;t end when the Pittsburgh Penguins lost Game 7 of the Eastern Conference final to the Florida Panthers. The Penguins just felt it had.Almost to a man. they insisted they had little interest in seeing how the Panthers would fare against the Colorado Avalanche in the Cup final.&ldquo;When you&rsquo;re looking to be a part of it and you&rsquo;re not&hellip;it&rsquo;s not something I&rsquo;ll be following too closely,&rdquo; said center Ron Francis, who missed the third round with a broken left foot.They might not have cared how the Cup final unfolded, but most of the Penguins should be keenly interested in how Pittsburgh&rsquo;s off-season plays out.The primary issue in Pittsburgh this summer is Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s future. He has not said whether he wants to play again in 1996-97 and indicated he would make his decision in mid-June.GM Craig Patrick also has a number of contracts to negotiate. No fewer than seven Penguins have played out their options, a list that includes Petr Nedved, Chris Tamer, Bryan Smolinski, Neil Wilkinson and Kevin Miller.There&rsquo;s no indication the Penguins are close to re-signing any of their own free agents and Patrick said he hadn&rsquo;t determined whether any free agents from other teams might be able to help the Penguins.One area where there apparently won&rsquo;t be a change is behind the Pittsburgh bench. There had been no formal announcement, but all indications were Ed Johnston would return for a fourth season.NOTEBOOK: GM Craig Patrick said assistant coaches Rick Kehoe and Bryan Trottier have done nothing to jeopardize their positions with Pittsburgh. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t anticipate making any changes there,&rdquo; Patrick said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m pleased with the job they&rsquo;ve done.&rdquo;&hellip;Goalie Ken Wregget, who earned considerable attention and praise for his work during the playoffs, would not rule out asking for a trade or an extension of his contract, which pays $425,000 and expires after next season. &ldquo;I know what I have to offer and I haven&rsquo;t had the best time getting the chance to do it,&rdquo; Wregget said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;ve tried to make the most of it.&rdquo; Wregget went 7-2 during the playoffs, but remains the backup to Tom Barrasso. &#9632;

f0023-03

Mario’s status tops concerns

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02586/6468060-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="574" height="980"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jon Casey</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01878/6468067-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="164" height="164"></div>Goalie Jon Casey was the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; forgotten man this season.Banished to the Peoria Rivermen of the International League, Casey toiled in obscurity while Grant Fuhr became a candidate for comeback player of the year, starting the first 76 games.Although the Blues recalled Casey late in the season and he started three games after a late-season knee injury to Fuhr, it appeared as if Casey&rsquo;s NHL career was over.But then Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; left winger Nick Kypreos bulled over Fuhr in the second game of the playoffs, sidelining Fuhr for the rest of the post season and putting his career in jeopardy with tom knee ligaments and cartilage.Casey stepped in and although no one gave the Blues a chance, led them past Toronto and helped them take the Detroit Red Wings to seven games in the second round before losing 1-0 in the second overtime.For his reward, Casey, 34, received a new two-year contract worth a reported $2 million. Not bad for a guy who played all of nine games this season and 28 in the past two with the Blues, while earning $1.6 million.&ldquo;We signed him based on a sense of loyalty and appreciation for what he did,&rdquo; said Blues&rsquo; GM-coach Mike Keenan. &ldquo;He kept himself fit. And he was in a good situation in terms of proving something to someone because he needed a contract. That&rsquo;s always a highly motivating factor.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: With goalie Jon Casey signed, the Blues have five other players they want to sign before they become free agents. Wayne Gretzky is top priority, but the Blues also want to sign center Peter Zezel, right wingers Steve Leach and Rob Pearson and left winger Stephane Matteau&hellip;Depending on Fuhr&rsquo;s prognosis-he says he wants to be ready for the start of training camp-GM-coach Mike Keenan says he&rsquo;ll consider signing a free agent goalie. Kelly Hrudey of the Los Angeles Kings will be an unrestricted free agent this summer&hellip;Keenan laughed off a rumor he will be hired as Toronto&rsquo;s next head coach. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a rumor, that&rsquo;s all it is,&rdquo; he said. Keenan has four more years remaining on his Blues&rsquo; contract at $2 million per year. &#9632;

f0024-02

From minors to major deal

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03380/6468098-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="162" height="160"></div>Among Al Sims&rsquo; first priorities as coach of the San Jose Sharks was placing telephone calls to each of his new players.The friendly conversations would be designed to provide an idea &ldquo;who I am, what I&rsquo;m about,&rdquo; Sims said June 6 after being named the fourth bench boss in the club&rsquo;s six-year history. Oh, and one other thing.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell them to be prepared (for training camp), because they&rsquo;re going to be expected to live up to my standards,&rdquo; Sims said. &ldquo;Every coach has different standards of hard work, discipline and team play. I&rsquo;d like to think my standards are (among) the highest.&rdquo;The attitude adjustment Sims has in mind is perhaps the single biggest reason he was chosen over the other finalist. former Boston Bruins&rsquo; and St. Louis Blues&rsquo; coach Brian Sutter, to succeed interim coach Jim Wiley.&ldquo;We were looking for a coach who could provide a real strong sense of direction,&rdquo; said Sharks&rsquo; president Greg Jamison. &ldquo;One of the things that really came out was what I would call a quiet sense of intensity, and an air of professionalism. He&rsquo;s someone who could be fun to be with on one hand, but could really set a tone.&rdquo;Sims, 43, inherits a club coming off a 20-55-7 season, second-worst in the NHL. An assistant coach for the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim the past three seasons, Sims was given a two-year contract that will automatically roll over to a third year if he completes the first season.NOTEBOOK: GM Dean Lombardi made major strides toward his goal of restructuring the team&rsquo;s scouting department with the hiring of ex-NHL GMs John Ferguson and Don Maloney. Ferguson will focus on the Western Conference, Maloney on the Eastern Conference&hellip;San Jose also officially announced the promotion of former pro scout Tim Burke to director of amateur scouting. Burke will be in charge of the club&rsquo;s entry draft strategy&hellip;Colorado defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh is the first former Shark to win the Stanley Cup. Ozolinsh, a contract holdout during San Jose&rsquo;s training camp who began the season with San Francisco of the International League, was traded to Colorado for right winger Owen Nolan. &#9632;

f0024-03

Sims sets high standards for lowly Sharks to meet

<div class="byline">By Roy Cummings</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04238/6468129-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="160" height="160"></div>Even at a time when it would have been prudent to lie, Terry Crisp couldn&rsquo;t bring himself to do it.Crisp felt he had to be honest and so when he finally opened up negotiations with the Tampa Bay Lightning on a new contract, he did so by stating he wanted nothing more than to return to the team next season.Here was a guy whom the Toronto Maple Leafs were reportedly courting and he kicks off a critical round of negotiations by throwing out what might have been his biggest bargaining chip.&ldquo;It may not have been the smartest ploy, but what was the sense in lying?&rdquo; Crisp said. &ldquo;I want to coach the Tampa Bay Lightning.&rdquo;And so he shall, for three more years. At least, that&rsquo;s what the contract Crisp signed June 6 calls for. That, and $1.6 million in salary.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not exactly what I wanted and it&rsquo;s not quite what they wanted to give me,&rdquo; said Crisp, who made just $285,000 last season. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m a very happy camper because this is what I wanted, to come back and finish what we&rsquo;ve started.&rdquo;Many have speculated GM Phil Esposito was leaning toward replacing Crisp with associate coach Wayne Cashman. Esposito was given what Lightning CEO Steve Oto termed a &ldquo;Marching order&rdquo; to sign Crisp.Crisp could have used that as leverage as well, but didn&rsquo;t. He let his desire to return and his experience-he won a Stanley Cup as coach of the Calgary Flames in 1989 and got the Lightning into the playoffs-do the talking.He also got the power to pick his own coaches. That proved to be bad news for Cashman, who was told his contract would not be renewed. Cashman was surprised by Crisp&rsquo;s decision not to retain him.&ldquo;I just wish (Crisp) had told me three or four weeks ago,&rdquo; said Cashman, whose contract expired May 31, 10 days before he was told of the decision. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t like the way it was handled. But I&rsquo;ll go on, I&rsquo;ll be fine.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The end to one of the most bizarre chapters in Lightning history was written in a Tampa courtroom June 6 when a would-be Lightning investor was sentenced to 33 months in prison for trying to bilk the team and two local banks out of more than $27 million. In addition to his prison term, Angus Charles Drogo Montagu, the 12th Duke of Manchester and a member of the British House of Lords, was ordered to repay the Lightning the $51,000 it lost when he signed a 1991 partnership agreement that called for him to invest $50 million into the organization. That deal fell apart when it was learned Montagu and two associates had offered phony collateral in an attempt to borrow $25 million from the two banks. &#9632;

f0024-04

Crisp back in fold as head coach

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-05172/6468160-1-eng-US/f0024-052.jpg" title="f0024-05" width="163" height="161"></div>It seems at every turn, the Toronto Maple Leafs are being foiled in their search for a new head coach.First, Tom Renney opted after three meetings with Leaf GM Cliff Fletcher to sign on with the Vancouver Canucks. Then Terry Crisp, also on the Leafs&rsquo; short list, returned to the Tampa Bay Lightning for another three seasons.Then, the man acknowledged by most to be Fletcher&rsquo;s unofficial No. 1 candidate, Colorado Avalanche coach Marc Crawford, made the possibility of his joining the Leafs almost negligible by leading the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup.Crawford refused to acknowledge speculation he might be interested in the Toronto job, but both Avalanche GM Pierre Lacroix and owner Charlie Lyons went out of their way during the final to make it clear they plan on having him back next season.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll make everyone happy,&rdquo; Lacroix said.Except the Leafs, who figure the potential public relations points would be bountiful indeed if they could lure their former minor league coach back into the fold. With one year left on his contract with Colorado, however, Crawford would essentially have to ask out of his contract to join the Leafs and that seemed a slim possibility indeed after Colorado swept the Florida Panthers in the final.For fear of tampering allegations, Fletcher went out of his way to officially deny any interest in Crawford.NOTEBOOK: GM Cliff Fletcher joined his son. Chuck, in Florida for the Stanley Cup final. Chuck Fletcher is the Panthers&rsquo; assistant GM&hellip;The Maple Leafs will play two exhibition games against the Panthers next fall, both in the Toronto area&hellip;The Leafs were hopeful of improving their draft position slightly going into the June 22 event which will be held in St. Louis. The team&rsquo;s first pick will not arrive until the No. 36 slot after it dealt its first round pick to the Philadelphia Flyers for defenseman Dimitri Yushkevich. With a thin goaltending depth chart that begins with Felix Potvin and ends with 35-year-old Don Beaupre, the Leafs were considering using their first selection on a netminder. &#9632;

f0024-05

Leaf coaching prospects sign on with other teams

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-07120/6468191-1-eng-US/f0024-072.jpg" title="f0024-07" width="568" height="970"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Renney</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-06142/6468198-1-eng-US/f0024-062.jpg" title="f0024-06" width="162" height="162"></div>Acting out of character and with unusual haste. Vancouver Canucks GM Pat Quinn chose a head coach for his hockey club and, surprisingly, it wasn&rsquo;t himself.Quinn hired 41-year-old Canadian national team coach Tom Renney June 4 on the basis of a one day-long interview and without speaking to another candidate. And this came just days after reiterating he wasn&rsquo;t certain whether he was ready to give up the coaching reins himself.Quinn readily admitted he was pressured into making the quick decision to keep Renney away from the Toronto Maple Leafs, who had offered him their vacant position. Renney&rsquo;s deal is for three years.&ldquo;I thought I was on my own time frame,&rdquo; Quinn said. &ldquo;But interest from other clubs pushed it forward. We&rsquo;ve followed Tom for a long time and the many significant achievements he has had. I felt he was a top candidate for our organization and I felt I&rsquo;d better not lose him.&rdquo;The Phoenix Coyotes were also pursuing Renney, whose resume includes a Memorial Cup with the Western League&rsquo;s Kamloops Blazers in 1992, a silver medal in the 1994 Winter Olympics and three World Championship medals.&ldquo;Obviously I&rsquo;m thrilled,&rdquo; said Renney, a native of Cranbrook, B.C. &ldquo;I couldn&rsquo;t be happier. I&rsquo;ve identified with the Vancouver Canucks ever since they joined the National Hockey League. This is one of my dreams. Pat came forward and made it easy for me.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach Tom Renney said he intends to retain assistant coaches Stan Smyl and Glen Hanlon&hellip;Toronto assistant GM Bill Watters on the Leafs being aced out for Renney&rsquo;s services: &ldquo;From Day 1, his heart was in B.C. He made no qualms about it. And the only thing we couldn&rsquo;t offer him was B.C.&rdquo;&hellip;Except for four years with the Calgary-based national team, Renney has lived his entire life in B.C&hellip;Renney ran the Cuff N&rsquo;Collar men&rsquo;s wear shop in Trail. B.C., and later opened G.T. Renney Clothing with wife Glenda. The latter enterprise went bankrupt, prompting Renney to pursue a full-time career in hockey&hellip;Renney&rsquo;s highest level as a player was with the University of North Dakota. He was a defenseman. &#9632;

f0024-07

Renney home with Canucks

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01784/6468229-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="162" height="159"></div>Olie Koizig&rsquo;s stellar play in the post-season for the Washington Capitals made for a good story, but it won&rsquo;t necessarily guarantee him more action next season.By the same token, Jim Carey&rsquo;s strong regular season doesn&rsquo;t automatically mean he&rsquo;ll be the No. 1 man in 1996-97. The two should get an equal shot.&ldquo;If he gives all and I give all and he ends up being better, then that&rsquo;s all I can ask for,&rdquo; Kolzig said of the impending competition for top billing.Carey has been the No. 1 man in the regular season since March, 1995, but Kolzig has been the better of the pair during the past two post-seasons.&ldquo;The playoffs might have been my coming out party,&rdquo; said the 26-year-old Kolzig, who posted a 1.94 goals-against average in five playoff games. &ldquo;It has been seven years since I was drafted and they&rsquo;ve been pretty patient with me.&rdquo;Kolzig said he met with team management and got the feeling it wants him to play more often in 1996-97 than he has in previous years. This past season, Kolzig saw action in 18 games.The affable Kolzig said his good relationships with Carey shouldn&rsquo;t be affected by their competition.&ldquo;&lsquo;What happens on the ice we leave there,&rdquo; Kolzig said. &ldquo;You can determine who a coach wants to play and when you&rsquo;re on the ice you&rsquo;ve got to give it your best anyway. You can&rsquo;t carry that stuff that happens at the rink home with you.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: GM David Poile has only two Group II free agents to deal with this summer, goaltender Olie Kolzig and left winger Keith Jones, both of whom become restricted free agents July 1. Both players are expected to re-sign&hellip;Poile has more than player contract negotiations on his mind: the last year of his contract and those of his three coaches begin July 1 and all are looking for extensions. Poile has been Washington&rsquo;s GM for 14 seasons; only Boston&rsquo;s Harry Sinden (24 years) and Edmonton&rsquo;s Glen Sather (17) have longer tenures with their teams&hellip;Washington&rsquo;s European scouts are Bob Schmidt and Craig Channell, not Shawn Simpson as reported in THN&rsquo;s Draft Preview. &#9632;

f0025-01

Kolzig hopes post-season was his coming out party

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-03321/6468260-1-eng-US/f0025-032.jpg" title="f0025-03" width="565" height="964"><figcaption class="caption-body">Don Hay</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02501/6468267-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="161" height="158"></div>Identifying a new coach, or at least their choice for one, hasn&rsquo;t been terribly difficult for the soon-to-be Phoenix Coyotes.Getting Don Hay on board, however, was proving to be an ordeal.The Calgary Flames&rsquo; assistant coach has completed the first of his three-year contract. And after one interview with the Coyotes, he was believed to be at the top of the short list. Still, obtaining Hay&rsquo;s services wasn&rsquo;t as simple as making him an offer.In Hay&rsquo;s contract with Calgary, the Flames are entitled to compensation if he were to move to another organization. The Coyotes had begun a discussion about that issue, but it had yet to be resolved by mid-June.Reports indicated Calgary GM Al Coates was asking for a first-round draft pick and that the Coyotes had no intention of agreeing to it.Coyotes&rsquo; executive vice-president Bobby Smith told Phoenix reporters he could understand a team being compensated for losing a head coach, but wasn&rsquo;t sure they should be entitled to anything for losing an assistant.If the Coyotes land Hay, they&rsquo;ll be getting a man with a solid resume. He coached the Western League&rsquo;s Kamloops Blazers to a pair of Memorial Cups (1994, &rsquo;95) and was at the helm when Team Canada won the 1995 World Junior Championship.The Coyotes, who aren&rsquo;t certain they&rsquo;ll have a coach in place by the June 22 draft, have also shown interest in former Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; coach Darryl Sutter.NOTEBOOK: Assistant coach Perry Peam did not have a guarantee he&rsquo;d be moving with the team to Phoenix so he decided to accept a job as assistant coach with the Ottawa Senators&hellip;The Coyotes/Jets seem likely to trade center Alexei Zhamnov during the off-season. Zhamnov, who had a mediocre 1995-96, is a Group U free agent and contract negotiations have been almost non-existent in the past year&hellip;The Coyotes/Jets will make qualifying offers to all their free agents and pursue negotiations with most, including centers Mike Eastwood and Eddie Olczyk, left winger Igor Korolev and defenseman Craig Muni. Olczyk and Muni are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents July 1. &#9632;

f0025-03

Hay may come at high price

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>It used to be collectors had to wait until a player&rsquo;s second season in the NHL before they could get his rookie card. Now for many players they don&rsquo;t even have to wait until he has taken a shift in the big league.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01855/6468312-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="574" height="808"><figcaption class="caption-body">Boyd Devereaux is solid in all facets of the game.</figcaption></div>Take the players eligible for this year&rsquo;s draft, for example. It may be a weak crop of players as far as NHL scouts are concerned, but you wouldn&rsquo;t know it with the number of cards out there. Licensed companies are falling all over themselves producing rookie cards of players nobody is even sure will ever play in the league.Topps, for example, used its Bowman issue to produce cards of all draft prospects who played in the Chrysler Cup Challenge game. That&rsquo;s 40 players eligible for the 1996 draft right there.In fact, prospects without rookie cards are more notable than those with them. Because Alexandre Volchkov was injured for the Chrysler Cup, he didn&rsquo;t have a Bowman card. Fellow Russian and top prospect Andrei Zyuzin also does not have a licensed card.Card companies already have some of 1997 covered off as well. Sergei Samsonov already has several Upper Deck cards and Daniel Cleary has an Electric Ice Gold card this year.Here are the top 10 prospects-according to THN&rsquo;s Draft Preview-who have licensed cards and their rookie card checklists:Chris Phillips THN ranking: No. 1. Prince Albert Raiders&rsquo; rookie defenseman high on skill, character. Projected as future NHL captain material.Rookie cards: 1995-96 Upper Deck Canada under-18 juniors, 517; Donruss Elite, WJC 7; Upper Deck SP, 176; Bowman CHL all-stars, P28.Josh Holden THN ranking: No. 4. Regina Pats&rsquo; smallish center had 57 goals this season. A feisty competitor with good offensive skill.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02559/6468305-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="576" height="808"><figcaption class="caption-body">Erik Rasmussen opted out of the 1995 NHL entry draft.</figcaption></div>Rookie cards: 1995-96 Upper Deck Canada under-18 juniors, 513; Bowman CHL all-stars, Pl9.Boyd Devereaux THN ranking: No. 5: Kitchener Rangers&rsquo; rookie center solid in all facets of game. May be best defensive forward in draft.Rookie card: 199596 Bowman CHL allstars, P10.Jean-Pierre Dumont THN ranking: No. 6. Val d&rsquo;Or Foreurs left winger made great strides this season. Skating has improved greatly to match his offensive skill.Rookie card: 1995-96 Bowman CHL all-stars, Pl 3.Erik Rasmussen THN ranking: No. 7. University of Minnesota center opted out of draft last year. Showed good instincts against older players.Rookie card: 1994-95 Pinnacle Select USA under-18 juniors, 152.Matt Higgins THN ranking: No. 8. Moose Jaw Warriors&rsquo; center not great skater, but has tremendous work ethic, hockey sense. Played very well in CHL prospects game.Rookie card: 1995-96 Bowman CHL all-stars, P17.Marcus Nilson THN ranking: No. 10. Curiously for Swedish player, knock is on his skating. But he is offensively gifted, can play in traffic, shows great leadership.Rookie cards: 1995-96 Upper Deck Collectors Choice Sweden under-18 juniors, 345; Upper Deck SP Sweden juniors, 185; Upper Deck, 560.Dan Focht THN ranking: No. 11. Tri-City Americans&rsquo; defenseman was replacement in CHL prospect game and played very well. Moves well for big man, but is considered a raw talent.Rookie card: 1995-96 Bowman CHL all-stars, P20.Corey Sarich THN ranking: No. 12. Saskatoon Blades&rsquo; defenseman has good mobility, but must bulk up to play in NHL.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03445/6468298-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="572" height="808"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sweden&rsquo;s Marcus Nilson outstanding offensive instincts.</figcaption></div>Rookie cards: 1995-96 Upper Deck Canada under-18 juniors, 519; Bowman CHL all-stars, P31.Chris Hajt THN ranking: No. 14. Guelph Storm defenseman son of former NHL rearguard Bill Hajt. Defensive specialist has limitations, but seen as safe pick.Rookie card: 1995-96 Bowman CHL all-stars, P16. &#9632;

f0026-01

First round prospects in the cards

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>No card company has ever survived Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but the head of the company that owns Signature Rookies says his will be the first.Tim Flatt, chairman and CEO of Sports Heroes, insists his company will not suffer the same fate as Pro Set and Wild Cards, two companies which filed for Chapter 11 and never recovered.&ldquo;Often when people file Chapter 11 it&rsquo;s too late,&rdquo; said Flatt, a founder of Signature Rookies; &ldquo;but we feel we have identified our problems early on.&rdquo;Signature Rookies, which guarantees a signed card in every pack, merged with Sports Heroes, a publicly traded sports memorabilia and marketing company, last August. Industry experts, who claim the company is $3 million in debt, say that was when the problems began for Signature Rookies.Chapter 11 bankruptcy gives companies a chance to reorganize and work out their debts with creditors, who are usually paid a small percentage of what they are actually owed. Signature Rookies has signed a host of major junior and European prospects over in the past two years for its hockey, Tetrad and Autobilia sets. One player agent said his clients have not been paid, nor have many photographers. Collectors Edge, which prints Signature Rookie cards, is reportedly owed over $100,000.Flatt, one of the founders of Signature Rookies, said the company is optimistic about the card division&rsquo;s prospects. Signature Rookies now falls under the umbrella of Signature Stars, which is owned by fellow Signature Rookies&rsquo; founder Andrew Havens. While Signature Stars owns the rights and distributes Signature Rookies, it has taken on Sports Heroes&rsquo; debt load.Sports Heroes, which specializes in game-worn memorabilia, has been hit hard in recent times.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve come to the realization that the game-worn memorabilia business has been dying,&rdquo; Flatt said,&rdquo;and our main goal has been to identify our long-term business, which lies with Signature Rookies. We&rsquo;ve swallowed the hard pill and now our focus is to pay off Sports Heroes&rsquo; creditors.&rdquo;The bankruptcy will even further delay the release of Signature Rookies&rsquo; hockey set. Flatt said the set should come out shortly after the June 22 NHL entry draft, which may not be a bad thing since the set contains many prospects from the draft.Flatt insisted the bankruptcy will not change the company&rsquo;s plans for the set&rsquo;s release.&ldquo;We will be running a controlled liquidation,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It won&rsquo;t be like Pro Set where people are getting stuck with 100 cases.&rdquo;DO I HEAR&hellip;: The largest sports auction house in the world is coming to Canada in the fall.Leland&rsquo;s Auction House of New York is planning to hold a hockey-only auction Nov. 23 to coincide with the Sportscard and Memorabilia Fall Expo in Toronto. Regularly an allsports auction house, Leland&rsquo;s is breaking with tradition for its first single sport auction.&ldquo;Hockey is hot, really hot,&rdquo; said Michael Puzzo, director of public relations for Leland&rsquo;s,&rdquo;and the place to do it is Canada. It&rsquo;s a perfect tie-in for us.&rdquo;Leland&rsquo;s is currently looking for hockey articles to auction on consignment. They can be anything from programs and ticket stubs to game-worn sweaters and equipment.Once an item is given to the auction house on consignment, a minimum price is agreed upon and if the item doesn&rsquo;t attract a high enough bid, it comes off the auction block. Once it is sold, the profits are divided between the owner and Leland&rsquo;s.Leland&rsquo;s will be accepting items from now until the days leading up to the auction. Anyone interested in selling a hockey item on consignment should call Leland&rsquo;s at (212) 5450800 and ask for Bill Adams.Leland&rsquo;s will also be conducting the Boston Garden auction at the Bruins&rsquo; former home Sept. 27. Stanley Cup banners, the scoreboard and seats are among the items which will be auctioned off. &#9632;

Signature Rookie set delayed by bankruptcy

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>Two years ago, Upper Deck and the NHL Players&rsquo; Association was onto something good, really good. We can only wonder why they let it slip away.When the Be A Player card set debuted in 1994, it was something to behold. While all the other companies were giving collectors the same old boring shots of players waiting for a pass. Be A Player showed Pat Verbeek feeding his pigs on the family farm, Pierre Turgeon playing road hockey and beefcake teen idol Pavel Bure sitting in a sauna in nothing but a towel.Be A Player depicted these NHL millionaires who often seem so far removed from the average fan as regular schmoes.And it was brilliant.The Be A Player Signature Series may still be the hottest cards on the market, but for those looking for something a little different, they&rsquo;re nothing but a colossal disappointment. The fact that collectors are guaranteed a signed card in each pack is the only redeeming aspect of the set.Aside from that, all collectors are treated to, for the most part, is the same old NHL game shots that they&rsquo;ve seen a million times before. But because the set is not joint licensed by the NHL, collectors get the added feature of having the NHL logo airbrushed off. Others are wearing the uniforms of that legendary powerhouse team steeped in tradition-the NHLPA. Who&rsquo;s your favorite NHL-PAer?And you get all this for a suggested retail price of $7.29 for a 10-card pack.NHL officials could not be reached for comment at press time, but it&rsquo;s hard to believe they wouldn&rsquo;t be furious with the union using the entire uniform except the logo. And if, as the NHLPA has maintained many times before, the players and not the teams are the ones who drive the game&rsquo;s popularity, why are they in their NHL uniforms in an NHLPA-produced set?<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01843/6468367-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="576" height="720"><figcaption class="caption-body">Not enough Be A Player cards look like Luke Richardson&rsquo;s.</figcaption></div>Which isn&rsquo;t to say the set is all bad. First of all, it gives collectors a chance to receive authentic autographs of players ranging from Wayne Presley to Wayne Gretzky. It also has players such as Tom Barrasso and Steve Smith, two players who generally don&rsquo;t sign cards, and a host of others who personalize everything they sign.There are also some top-notch cards in the set. There a a precious few non-conforming cards and Luke Richardson&rsquo;s is the best. Great Memories, a 10-card chase set depicting highlights from Gretzky&rsquo;s career, is sure to be popular. The chances of getting a Gretzky-autographed card are slim though; he put his signature on just 802 regular cards and 99 diecut cards.The subsets include Global Training (training regimens of players from around the world). In the Crease with Mike Richter (New York Rangers&rsquo; goalie comments on the game&rsquo;s top goalies), World Class (players in international competition for their native countries) Rookie Quotebook (top rookies with quotes from their coaches) and Ice Wars (a focus on physical players).If it sounds an awful lot like just another hockey card set, that&rsquo;s because, aside from the autographs, that&rsquo;s exactly what it is.And that&rsquo;s a shame because it used to be so much more. &#9632;

f0028-01

Autographs are superb, but set comes up short

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0030-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01836/6468398-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Scott Nichol&rsquo;s Rochester Americans beat Norm Batherson&rsquo;s Portland Pirates in Game 7.</figcaption></div>Steve Shields stood on the steps of Rochester City Hall, the Calder Cup in his hands and hoisted above his head, while a crowd of more than 1,000 fans chanted his name.Boy, and to think that just six months earlier, some of the same fans were chanting for his head.Oh, how winning cures all, how becoming a champion vindicates those who once struggled.Shields&rsquo; rise from the East Coast League ashes to the American League&rsquo;s apex was a microcosm of the Rochester Americans&rsquo; incredible march to the Calder Cup championship.Buried in last place in the Central Division with the AHL&rsquo;s second-worst record in January (17-28-3), the Americans capped their marvelous 15-4 romp through the playoffs with a 2-1 Game 7 victory over the Portland Pirates June 13.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never been married, I&rsquo;ve never had a kid, but I can&rsquo;t imagine any experience being better than this,&rdquo; Americans captain Dane Jackson said after his skate around the War Memorial with the Cup, while a modern-day record crowd of 7,502 cheered on.&ldquo;This is the funnest day of my life.&rdquo;It was fun for everyone, particularly Shields, who set a Calder Cup record with 15 wins, and left winger Dixon Ward, who won the Jack Butterfield Trophy as the playoffs&rsquo; most valuable player.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re just so excited for everybody and the way we did it, coming back after the first half of the year we had,&rdquo; Shields said.No one came from farther down than Shields. When he entered pro hockey last season from the University of Michigan, where he was the National Collegiate Athletic Association&rsquo;s alltime wins leader with 111, Shields was given little chance to succeed.He had the AHL&rsquo;s worst goals-against average and save percentage when he was shipped to the East Coast League in November, and opposing NHL scouts were laughing that the parent Buffalo Sabres had given him a three-year contract worth $1 million-plus.But Shields rebounded in the final half of this season, posting a 20-17-2 record and 3.53 GAA. In the playoffs, he was even better, going 15-3 with a 2.50 average.&ldquo;Once people have a mindset about a player, it&rsquo;s tough to change that,&rdquo; Shields said. &ldquo;You have to win a championship before people will ever change their opinion.&rdquo;The Americans had already changed their beliefs about themselves as the regular season came to a close. They finished with a 20-10-2 flurry and entered the playoffs with great confidence.&ldquo;I remember Steve telling me during the last week of the regular season, &lsquo;We&rsquo;re going to be playing until June 20, we&rsquo;re going to win the Calder Cup,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Mitch Korn, the goaltending coach of the Sabres who worked closely with Shields the past two years.Shields was wrong about the date. The season ended a week earlier. He was correct about the title.The Americans swept the Adirondack Red Wings 3-0 in the best-of-five first round, swept the Cornwall Aces 4-0 in the second round and didn&rsquo;t lose until Game 3 of the Western Conference finals against the Syracuse Crunch. Two games into the Calder Cup finals against Portland, they were 13-1 in the playoffs.Ward and linemate Brian Holzinger were major components. Holzinger was Mr. Clutch. Of his 10 goals, nine came in the third period and the other was scored in overtime.His 10th goal was the Cup-winner, breaking a 1-1 tie at 2:34 of the third period in Game 7.Ward was the leading playoff scorer with 11 goals, 24 assists and 35 points, the second highest point total ever. He had points in 18 of the 19 games, pushing him to the forefront in the MVP race ahead of Shields and Holzinger.&ldquo;I felt if I didn&rsquo;t win this (MVP award), then I didn&rsquo;t do my job,&rdquo; Ward said.&ldquo;But nobody ever remembers the MVP, they only remember who wins the Cup. Since I can&rsquo;t take the Calder Cup home, this will be a reminder of what we went through, how I was able to contribute to this.&rdquo;For other Americans, the Cup washed away bitter hockey memories. Left winger Scott Metcalfe was a first round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers in 1985 but played only 19 NHL games. Nevertheless, he felt he ruled the world June 13.&ldquo;It has been a long and frustrating career for me in a lot of respects,&rdquo; Metcalfe said. &ldquo;Tonight wipes out everything that was frustrating for me in my career.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a champion and no one can ever take that away from me. And I&rsquo;m a champion because I&rsquo;m part of a great team and that&rsquo;s what means the most to me.&rdquo;For the Pirates, the defeat meant heartache.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m going to give them full credit, they&rsquo;ve played like a champion,&rdquo; said Pirates&rsquo; goalie Ron Tugnutt. &ldquo;We came a long way (rebounding from a mid-season mark of 11-24-7) but it&rsquo;s not far enough.&rdquo;In the end, Portland&rsquo;s grueling 24-game playoff run may have cost them. Defensemen Stewart Malgunas, Steve Poapst and Rob Leask were battered.&ldquo;They played five less games than we did and I think our team ran out of gas,&rdquo; Malgunas said. &ldquo;You have to give Rochester all the credit in the world. But I&rsquo;m very proud to be on this team, to come this far.&rdquo;Pirates&rsquo; winger Martin Gendron finished second in playoff scoring with 15 goals and 33 points. He was first in goals. The Americans&rsquo; penalty killing may have been the difference, going 27-for-29, while Rochester&rsquo;s power play produced eight times in 28 chances.&ldquo;Finally, finally,&rdquo; said 34-year-old Rochester right winger Dan Frawley, who ended a two-year retirement to play this season and had been a losing finalist with the Americans in 1991 and &rsquo;93. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s a tough one to win.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0030-01

American dream

<div class="byline">&#x2014;Kevin Oklobzija</div>Having thrashed the Rochester Americans 5-1 in Game 6, a night in which the Americans intended to party, the Portland Pirates were poised to steal the Calder Cup two nights later.&ldquo;I never felt more positive that we&rsquo;d win a game,&rdquo; said Pirates&rsquo; goalie Ron Tugnutt.The problem: Rochester was just as confident. With 7,502 screaming fans watching, the Americans suffocated the tiring Pirates with tremendous forechecking and won 2-1.The world&rsquo;s final hockey game of the season was one for the ages.Norm Batherson&rsquo;s goal 4:08 into the first period gave the Pirates a quick lead. Dixon Ward tied the score at 11:07 of the second period.&ldquo;That gave them such a boost, we couldn&rsquo;t handle it,&rdquo; Pirates&rsquo; coach Barry Trotz said.Over the final 48 minutes, Rochester outshot the Pirates 35-8, including 15-1 in the third.&ldquo;We attacked them ferociously,&rdquo; Rochester&rsquo;s Craig Charron said. &ldquo;By the third period, they were so tired of getting pounded into the glass.&rdquo;When Brian Holzinger scored on his own rebound at 2:34 of the third period, the 2-1 lead seemed like 6-1.&ldquo;Once they scored that goal, the crowd was so fired up and their guys could smell the Cup,&rdquo; Pirates&rsquo; defenseman Stewart Malgunas said. &ldquo;We had nothing left. Our tank was empty.&rdquo; &#9632;

Game 7 was epic tilt

<div class="byline">By Kevin lole</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01775/6468453-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Utah&rsquo;s Yan Kaminsky, left, and Orlando&rsquo;s Bob Joyce kept the action close all series.</figcaption></div>It was suggested to Butch Goring that things got easier for his Utah Grizzlies as the club advanced deeper into the playoffs.Goring&rsquo;s club was stretched to the limit in its opening two series of the International League playoffs. But the Grizzlies ended up sweeping the Orlando Solar Bears to win their second straight Turner Cup title. Goring got a hearty laugh out of the suggestion.&ldquo;Well,&rdquo; he said,&rdquo;maybe to the public and to people who weren&rsquo;t here it seemed easy. But believe me, this was a very difficult series.&rdquo;The Grizzlies became the third team in league history to win titles in each of its first two seasons. Based in Denver last season, the Grizzlies swept the Kansas City Blades. A year later in a new home, the Grizzlies maintained the tradition.Utah snuck past Kansas City in the first round, needing to win Games 4 and 5 of the best-of-five series. The Peoria Rivermen held a 3-2 series lead in the second round before Utah won Games 6 and 7 in dramatic fashion.Then it was on to the Western Conference final against the powerful Las Vegas Thunder. Las Vegas had rolled to the league&rsquo;s best regular season record (57-17-8), finishing 20 points ahead of the Grizzlies in the Southwest Division.But Goring preached confidence even as his team was in the midst of an eight-game losing streak in late March and early April. The Grizzlies were outscored 27-13 and held to one goal or fewer three times during that drought.The Grizzlies beat Las Vegas in six games, moving on to meet Eastern Conference champion Orlando. Three games went into overtime and the other was a two-goal game with an empty-net goal. (See sidebar for game-by-game recap.)Marc Rodgers, who was acquired from Las Vegas along with defenseman Jeff Sharpies in a controversial trade for forward Grigori Panteleyev, scored at 8:32 of overtime in Game 4 to cap a 3-2 win and give Utah the Turner Cup.It set off a wild celebration, led by the nine Grizzlies who were on last year&rsquo;s winning roster. They include coaches Goring and assistant Kevin Cheveldayoff and players Andy Brickley, Gord Dineen, Viktor Ignatjev, Yan Kaminsky, Mike MacWilliam, Tommy Salo and Andrej Vasiljev.&ldquo;Last year, we won with a dominating team,&rdquo; Goring said. &ldquo;We were just overwhelming. It wasn&rsquo;t the same this year. With a bounce here or there it could have gone 4-0 in Orlando&rsquo;s favor.&ldquo;We really had to fight and battle to get by, but this group of players had a lot of heart and they believed in themselves as players even when not a lot of other people did.&rdquo;Goring, too, is finding it hard to get someone at the NHL level to believe in him, though he has made plenty of believers throughout the IHL. He is the league&rsquo;s all-time winningest coach by percentage (189-78-21 record for.693 winning percentage) among coaches who have coached at least 100 games.In three seasons in the IHL, Goring&rsquo;s teams have won two Turner Cups, captured the regular season title twice and never posted fewer than 102 points. Goring&rsquo;s playoff record is 31-13, including 8-0 in finals.But Goring is convinced he&rsquo;s destined to return to the IHL for yet another season. The bulk of the vacant NHL coaching positions have been filled and Goring hasn&rsquo;t received as much as an interview. He was a candidate for at least two positions last season.He said he thought he would be able to parlay his first Turner Cup into a job as an NHL coach, but said he understands now that it probably won&rsquo;t happen for a while, if at all.However, Goring, who coached a season-and-a-half in the NHL with the Boston Bruins after his retirement as a player in 1985-86, sounded philosophical about it.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not sure what to think anymore,&rdquo; Goring said. &ldquo;Last year, I thought what we did would open some eyes. I thought winning a championship was important to some people. I thought that would give me a tremendous opportunity to go back, but it didn&rsquo;t.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m at the stage now where it doesn&rsquo;t matter. I won&rsquo;t lose sleep over it. If somebody calls, I&rsquo;ll listen, but I&rsquo;m not hung up on it. I&rsquo;ve been treated very well in this league and it&rsquo;s hard to complain when you win as much as we&rsquo;ve done.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: A Turner Cup final record crowd of 17,381 was on hand at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City for the decisive game. A record 52,534 fans attended the final series&hellip;Utah goalie Tommy Salo won the Bud Poile Trophy as playoff MVP. He was 15-7 in the post-season with a 2.28 goals-against average and three shutouts&hellip;Three records were set during the playoffs including: most games played, Orlando with 23; most games lost, Orlando with 12; and most goalie wins, Salo with 15. Two records were tied: most games won, Utah with 15; and most road games won, Utah with seven&hellip;Orlando&rsquo;s Mark Beaufait led the playoffs in scoring with 28 points, including a league-high 19 assists. &#9632;

f0031-01

Grizzlies rule IHL

The Utah Grizzlies swept the Orlando Solar Bears in the Turner Cup final, but it was far from being a one-sided series.Three of the four games were settled in overtime and the other was sealed with an empty-net goal. The Solar Bears were attempting to become the 12th first-year franchise to win the Turner Cup. They had come back from the brink of elimination in their first three playoff rounds against the Fort Wayne Komets, Detroit Vipers and Cincinnati Cyclones.&ldquo;This team took it farther than anyone expected,&rdquo; said Orlando coach Curt Fraser. &ldquo;They did a great job and I&rsquo;m proud to have coached every one of them. You talk about building a foundation for the future and these guys have done that.&rdquo;Here&rsquo;s a recap of the action:Game 1, June 2 Utah 3 Orlando 2 (OT). Brett Lievers&rsquo; second goal of the game 12:09 into overtime is the difference. Orlando goalie Allan Bester makes 32 saves in a losing effort.Game 2, June 4 Utah 4 Orlando 3 (OT). Scott Amiel scores with 31 seconds remaining in regulation time and Yan Kaminsky scores on a backhand 61 seconds into overtime.Game 3, June 6 Utah 4 Orlando 2. Andrej Vasiljev scores his 11th playoff goal and Marc Rodgers scores an empty-net goal to go along with two assists. Tommy Salo makes 31 saves.Game 4, June 8 Utah 3 Orlando 2 (OT). Rodgers scores on a rebound of a Gord Dineen shot 8:32 into overtime to complete Utah&rsquo;s sweep. Orlando leads 2-0 after the first period. &#9632;

Solar Bears kept it close

<div class="byline">By Kevin lole</div>Jean Pronovost was a feared sniper during his playing days, but the first coach of the Quebec Rafales plans to put a heavy emphasis on defense.The Rafales played the past four seasons as the Atlanta Knights, but moved to Quebec City when the lease agreement in Atlanta expired and a new one couldn&rsquo;t be worked out. Quebec will play as an independant.GM Joe Bucchino was looking for someone to replace interim coach Scott Gordon and said he felt most comfortable with Pronovost.&ldquo;We seemed to hit it off so well,&rdquo; Bucchino said. &ldquo;We think a lot alike and there was definitely a rapport right away. All of the guys I interviewed are first-rate coaches, but I just felt things worked out the best with Jean.&rdquo;Pronovost scored 391 goals during a 14-year NHL career played primarily with the Pittsburgh Penguins, with brief stops with the Atlanta Flames and Washington Capitals.He said his goal is to get to the NHL and is excited about the opportunity in the International League. Pronovost spent the past two seasons coaching the Shawinigan Cataractes of the Quebec League, where he posted a record of 61-39-8.&ldquo;You need a good marriage between offense and defense,&rdquo; said the 50-year-old Pronovost. &ldquo;Look at (Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final). Colorado wins 1-0 and both sides play great defense. You need that to win. Scoring goals is glamorous and gets the attention in the newspapers.&ldquo;You don&rsquo;t often see defense given a lot of glory. But when a guy backchecks to prevent a goal, that&rsquo;s just as important as scoring. That&rsquo;s what I want from my team.&rdquo;MANITOBA COACH: Frank Serratore, director of player personnel for the Manitoba Moose, has narrowed his search for a coach down to two ex-NHL bench bosses, Terry Simpson and Kevin Constantine.Both candidates were fired last season from their NHL jobs, Simpson from the Winnipeg Jets and Constantine from the San Jose Sharks.The Moose are relocating to Winnipeg after spending the past two seasons in Minnesota.Serratore, who coached the Moose the past two seasons, said despite the fact both coached in the NHL, he didn&rsquo;t make that a prerequisite when he began his search.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t go looking for guys who had coached in the NHL,&rdquo; Serratore said. &ldquo;If the best candidate was a guy who had never coached in the NHL, that&rsquo;s who I would have hired.&ldquo;But both of the guys have NHL experience, are outstanding coaches and will be immediately recognizable names to our fans.&rdquo;NO IN NASHVILLE: Nashville is a no-go for the IHL in 1996-97.IHL commissioner Bob Ufer headed a group that sought a lease at a new Nashville arena. The hope was to relocate the San Francisco Spiders there for at least one season.The proposal was nixed, with Nashville mayor Phil Bredesen saying it would hurt the city&rsquo;s chances of obtaining an NHL franchise.Had there been an agreement, the Spiders, who have filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy after losing in excess of $6 million, would have gone there for at least 1996-97 or until an NHL team announced it would move to the city.The Spiders&rsquo; fate remains in the air.I-OPENERS: The Houston Aeros took the interim out of Dave Tippett&rsquo;s title and made him head coach. Tippett replaced the fired Terry Ruskowski Jan. 2 and the Aeros responded with a 17-18-5 record. Houston was 12-27-3 under Ruskowski. Tippett played 11 seasons in the NHL with four teams&hellip;Former Winnipeg Jets&rsquo; forward Thomas Steen was named director of player development for Manitoba. Steen played 14 seasons with the Jets.<h2>IHL PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01831/6468508-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="829" height="553"></div> &#9632;

f0032-01

LEAGUES

Pronovost will stress ‘D’ as first coach of Rafales

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>The East Coast League doesn&rsquo;t have a commissioner anymore. But it still has Pat Kelly.During its spring meeting in Gulfport, Miss., May 28-30, the league announced it is retiring the title of commissioner. Kelly, who helped found the league and has been its only commissioner for eight years, will remain with the league.Kelly, 60, agreed to a five-year contract as commissioner emeritus.&ldquo;I plan to be active in the day-to-day operations,&rdquo; Kelly said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m not that young anymore and I&rsquo;ve put in enough 12- or 14-hour days. My wife (June) and I are going to Scotland, Ireland and Wales in August. It&rsquo;ll be the first time we&rsquo;ve been away from hockey for more than two or three days in eight years.&rdquo;The league plans to hire a senior vice-president, hockey operations to relieve Kelly of some duties.&ldquo;Pat will be working closely with (the new V-P) during the transition period,&rdquo; said ECHL president and chief operating officer Richard Adams, who signed a new three-year contract. &ldquo;I expect Pat to continue working and lending his guidance.&rdquo;In a tribute to Kelly, the league changed the name of its championship trophy from the Jack Riley Cup to the Patrick J. Kelly Cup. The Charlotte Checkers go down as the final Riley Cup champions.&ldquo;This honor has to be the utmost thrill of my career,&rdquo; said Kelly. &ldquo;I thank all the ECHL governors for bestowing this honor on me.&rdquo;Charlotte president Carl Scheer, who was re-elected chairman of the board of governors, praised Kelly&rsquo;s contributions.&ldquo;We want to give Pat an opportunity to bask in the success of the league he was so instrumental in building,&rdquo; Scheer said. &ldquo;This doesn&rsquo;t reflect badly on Pat, but there&rsquo;s a need for a younger and more vigorous person in this role.&rdquo;Kelly will maintain an office in his home in Charlotte, N.C. The league offices, meanwhile, have moved to Princeton, N.J., to be near Adams&rsquo; home.ANDY VAN: Retired NHL referee Andy van Hellemond was named senior vice-president and director of operations for the ECHL.Van Hellemond retired June 14 and will start his new job in the Princeton office July 15. (See pg. 5 for more on van Hellemond&rsquo;s career.)TOP EXECUTIVE: Dave Berryman, vice-president and GM of the Louisiana IceGators, was chosen the league&rsquo;s executive of the year.The Lafayette, La.-based club set four ECHL attendance records, including average (9,775) and total attendance (342,154) for a season.In other business, owners agreed to have four veterans per team next year, similar to this past year, when each club had three veteran skaters and a veteran goalie. Sixteen of 23 teams will make the playoffs-the top five in each division and a wildcard.It was also determined that expansion franchises in Greenville, S.C., and Trenton, N.J., won&rsquo;t join the league until the 1998-99 season. &#9632;

Kelly slows down, doesn’t shut down

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>John CunnifT admits that his way of life as a New Jersey Devils&rsquo; pro scout was pretty nice the past five years.&ldquo;I looked at myself as one of the supply guys in the war,&rdquo; the 52-year-old Cunniff said. &ldquo;You&rsquo;re behind the scenes, you&rsquo;re not getting shot at But you&rsquo;re not in the action either.&rdquo;And the action of coaching-the pressures, the decisions, the teaching-is something Cunniff missed.Which is why he said yes to the offer from Devils&rsquo; GM Lou Lamoriello to become coach of the American League&rsquo;s Albany River Rats, replacing Robbie Ftorek, who was promoted to Jacques Lemaire&rsquo;s assistant in New Jersey.&ldquo;I was thinking about getting back into coaching,&rdquo; Cunniff said. &ldquo;In my case, I was always thinking coaching (while scouting).&rdquo;A native of South Boston, Cunniff was last behind a pro bench in 199091, when the Devils were 28-26-11 before he was fired and replaced by Tom McVie.The approach in the AHL is some what different. The pressures to win are less, the pressure to develop players is greater.But the fans in Albany have come to expect a winner. The Rats&rsquo; three-year record under Ftorek was 138-70-32. Ftorek was named coach of the year the past two seasons.&ldquo;My challenge is to keep up what has been started in Albany,&rdquo; said Cunniff, whose first stint behind an AHL bench was for a year and a half with the Binghamton Whalers in 1982-83.&ldquo;In the NHL, you&rsquo;re on the road a lot and you have games every other day. In the AHL, it&rsquo;s basically a weekend league and it&rsquo;s an ideal situation for working with the kids. They still have their dreams, they aren&rsquo;t tainted and it&rsquo;s still a challenge.&rdquo;PHANTOMS OF SPECTRUM: The NHL&rsquo;s Flyers rule Philadelphia, but their new AHL affiliate that will play in the old Spectrum is carving out its own place in the hockey marketplace.A week after their marketing campaign began, the Philadelphia Phantoms had sold about 1,500 season tickets.&ldquo;People are really excited about it,&rdquo; said Emily Kaplan, the Phantoms&rsquo; director of marketing. &ldquo;Philadelphia is a huge hockey city, but the Flyers are pretty much sold out, you can&rsquo;t get your hands on tickets.&rdquo;The Phantoms offer fans a chance to see the Flyers&rsquo; prospects play in the Flyers&rsquo; old home for reasonable prices. The cheapest season ticket is $320. The top season seats go for $480.The Phantoms unveiled their new logo during the CoreStates Pro Cycling Championship, a bicycle event that draws half a million spectators.The logo, sort of mask-like with the Flyers&rsquo; wings incorporated into the sides, was created by Drake Newkirk of CoreStates Creative Resources Department and Martha Snider, wife of Flyers&rsquo; owner Ed Snider.AHL IN MID-JUNE: Numerous parties have complained about the seemingly endless season, with Game 7 of the Calder Cup final not played until June 13, three days after the Stanley Cup final ended.The Rochester Americans and Portland Pirates were the world&rsquo;s final teams to play.But AHL president Dave Andrews said tampering with the playoff format isn&rsquo;t likely to happen because solid attendance in the later rounds will mean a strong bottom line on the balance sheet.&ldquo;This will turn out to be a pretty successful year,&rdquo; Andrews said. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s neat we&rsquo;re the last game being played.&rdquo;<h2>AHL PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02571/6468563-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="866" height="546"></div> &#9632;

f0032-02

Cunniff goes back to front line in Albany

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Ontario League referees might be going upstairs next season.OHL director of hockey operations and referee-in-chief Ted Baker said league governors and GMs are considering using video replay for 1996-97. A decision is expected during OHL meetings in August.Video replay was used for the first time at this year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup in Peterborough. Baker was the off-ice official and said it was a success.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely on everybody&rsquo;s mind and it takes the pressure off the goal judges and referees,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Every game is videotaped. It&rsquo;s up to the owners if they want to spend the money to have the proper sightlines for the cameras.&rdquo;In other league news:&#9633; The OHL is tightening its helmet policy.Starting next season, when a player loses his helmet with play in progress, he must either retrieve it immediately or leave the ice. Failure to do so will result in a minor penalty.OHL players wear the half visor and there&rsquo;s already a rule calling for a misconduct if the helmet is tipped back so the shield is above eye level.&ldquo;Referees will now be instructed to order a player off the ice if he&rsquo;s not wearing the chin strap properly,&rdquo; Baker said. &ldquo;We feel if the chin strap is worn properly, the visors will come down as well.&rdquo;Any player who intentionally knocks off&mdash;an opponent&rsquo;s helmet will get a minor penalty for roughing.&#9633; Governors rejected a motion to increase the number of overage players to three from the current two.The idea of three overagers is not endorsed by the NHL. The Western League uses three and the Quebec League is reviewing its use of two.KNOCK-KNOCK: Sarnia Sting owner Rob Ciccarelli will send the heavy hitters-minority owners Dino Ciccarelli and Shawn Burrto London to try and land 17-year-old defenseman Mike Van Ryn.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01750/6468594-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="688" height="237"></div>Van Ryn, 17, who plays Jr. B in his hometown, was considered by many the best defenseman in this year&rsquo;s OHL draft. But he indicated he&rsquo;ll attend the University of Michigan in 1997 after another year of high school.Van Ryn was rated sixth overall by the OHL&rsquo;s Central Scouting Bureau. The Sting selected the 6-foot-185-pounder in the eighth round June 1 in Kitchener.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t mind meeting them and I&rsquo;m glad Sarnia drafted me because it&rsquo;s close to home, just in case things don&rsquo;t work out with school,&rdquo; Van Ryn said. &ldquo;But I&rsquo;m positive school is what I want to do.&rdquo;Meanwhile, former NHLer Bob Gould is the frontrunner to replace Mark Hunter as coach in Sarnia.WE&rsquo;RE NO. 1: The London Knights have the first pick in both rounds of the Canadian Hockey League import draft June 27-28 and are expected to choose Maxim Spiridonov first overall. Spiridonov, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound right winger, has already visited London.Spiridonov, 18, from Moscow, watched the OHL draft after playing with the Smiths Falls Bears of the Central (Ont.) Jr. A League. He led his team with 52 goals and 81 points in 51 games.Spiridonov, formerly of the Central Army junior team, already speaks English and has made a quick adjustment to North America.&ldquo;I would play in London because I want to play in the OHL and then the NHL,&rdquo; Spiridonov said.COACHING NEWS: After being passed over twice by London as head coach, assistant coach Murray Nystrom joined the Sudbury Wolves as assistant coach-GM. New Knights&rsquo; coach Moe Mantha then hired Derek Clancey, a former playing assistant coach with Mantha for the Columbus Chill of the East Coast League&hellip;Former OHLer Greg Bignell is the North Bay Centennials&rsquo; new assistant coach. &#9632;

f0033-01

Video replay may become reality for ’95-96 season

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div>The Granby Pr&eacute;dateurs, who rolled the dice en route to ending Quebec&rsquo;s 25-year drought at the Memorial Cup, will pay the price next season.The Pr&eacute;dateurs traded away a number of young players and their first-round pick in this year&rsquo;s midget draft to build a powerhouse team. Most of their key players won&rsquo;t be back to defend junior hockey&rsquo;s top prize.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to be losing up to nine players, so there&rsquo;s a big hole that has to be filled,&rdquo; said Pr&eacute;dateurs&rsquo; special consultant Jean-Claude Morrissette. &ldquo;Normally we don&rsquo;t like to lose more than six or seven guys, but this year we&rsquo;re going to lose a little more and they&rsquo;re really top guys, so it&rsquo;s going to be tough.&rdquo;Among the players who won&rsquo;t be back are goalie Frederic Deschenes, forwards Daniel Goneau, Benoit Gratton, David Brosseau, Jean-Francois Tremblay and Georges Laraque, and defensemen Francis Bouillon, Jimmy Drolet and probably 19-year-old Jason Doig.Granby didn&rsquo;t have a first-round selection at the midget draft June 2 after trading it to the Laval Titan for Doig and Gratton. The Pr&eacute;dateurs finally picked 28th overall, selecting Randy Copley from Cape Breton.&ldquo;When you lose that many talented, gifted players, I don&rsquo;t think we&rsquo;re going to be able to replace them,&rdquo; Morrissette said,&rdquo;but I&rsquo;m sure we&rsquo;ll do the optimum to be competitive next year. I wouldn&rsquo;t like to say it&rsquo;s going to be a rebuilding year because it&rsquo;s never a rebuilding year, but it&rsquo;s always a rebuilding year, if you understand what I&rsquo;m saying.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re just going to have to wake up a little earlier in the morning and work a little harder.&rdquo;Morrissette has no regrets about stocking up for one season with little regard for 1996-97. Winning the Memorial Cup, of course, is the ultimate dream of a junior operator.&ldquo;I never in my wildest dreams imagined (winning the Memorial Cup) would be like this,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a sensation that nothing else is comparable to. It&rsquo;s something I will remember for a long, long time.&rdquo;BACK IN THE DRAFT: Two key members of the Predateurs will re-enter the NHL draft June 22 after failing to sign with the teams that drafted them two years ago.Frederic Deschenes, who was named the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s most outstanding goaltender this season and earned a shutout in the Memorial Cup final, didn&rsquo;t figure in the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; plans after they drafted him in the fifth round (114th overall) in 1994.Daniel Goneau, who was the Boston Bruins&rsquo; second-round pick (47th overall), called the team&rsquo;s contract offer &ldquo;ridiculous.&rdquo; Goneau scored 54 goals this season and led the league at plus-82.NHL teams had until June 1 to sign major junior players drafted in 1994. (See pg. 49 for the complete list of players re-entering the draft.)Meanwhile, Predateurs&rsquo; captain Francis Bouillon has agreed to a minorleague contract with the Edmonton Oilers. He will spend the summer playing roller hockey for the Montreal Roadrunners.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02511/6468625-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="582" height="291"></div>NOTEBOOK: QMJHL coach of the year Jean Pronovost left the Shawinigan Cataractes to take the coaching job with Quebec&rsquo;s new International League team, the Rafales&hellip;Chicoutimi Sagueneens&rsquo; goalie Marc Denis was the QMJHL winner of the Guy Lafleur Excellence Award, presented to the player who best combines hockey with education. Denis, the Colorado Avalanche&rsquo;s first-round pick in 1995, maintained an 81 percent average in social sciences at junior college in Chicoutimi, despite missing the beginning of the school year while attending NHL training camp. Guy Lafleur Excellence Awards are also presented at the university and midget level in Quebec&hellip;The Rouyn-Noranda team that will enter the league next season (formerly the St-Hyacinthe Laser) will be called the Blizzard&hellip;When Laval selected Jonathan Girard with the first overall pick at the midget draft, it marked the first time a defenseman has been taken No. 1 since Yves Racine in 1986. &#9632;

f0033-02

Granby forced to rebuild after Memorial Cup run

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>Lethbridge Hurricanes&rsquo; coach Bryan Maxwell will stand trial on assault charges Oct. 28.The charges stem from an incident following a March 23 Western League playoff game against the visiting Regina Pats.Maxwell, who was angry over the officiating, had a disagreement with referee Brent Reiber and linesman Jeff Klick underneath the stands.Lethbridge police charged Maxwell with two counts of common assault and one count of uttering a threat. Maxwell&rsquo;s assistant, Reid Williams, was charged with one count of uttering a threat. He is to stand trial Oct. 29.Both men pleaded not guilty. They were committed to stand trial following a June 12 preliminary hearing.The WHL has suspended Maxwell from coaching for 1996-97. He will continue in his capacity as director of hockey operations. Maxwell&rsquo;s appeal of his suspension was dismissed by the WHL.&ldquo;The initial report was reviewed by the executive committee,&rdquo; said WHL commissioner Dev Dley. &ldquo;They were satisfied that there weren&rsquo;t any errors, so the original decision stands.&rdquo;The league also suspended Williams for 36 games-half the regular schedule.CHAIRMAN CHYNOWETH: Former WHL president Ed Chynoweth has returned to the league&rsquo;s hierarchy.Chynoweth was elected by acclamation as chairman of the board of governors at the WHL&rsquo;s annual meeting, which concluded June 12 in Kelowna, B.C.Prince George Cougars&rsquo; governor Rick Brodsky stepped down as chairman to devote more time to his franchise.Chynoweth owns the Edmonton Ice, an expansion team. He was succeeded by Dev Dley as the league&rsquo;s chief executive.&ldquo;I was drafted,&rdquo; Chynoweth said of his coronation as chairman. &ldquo;It certainly wasn&rsquo;t planned from my side of the table.&ldquo;I was asked on a number of occasions. I said I didn&rsquo;t think it would necessarily be a good situation unless the people were all satisfied I was the guy they wanted and, secondly, what did the new commissioner think of it?&rdquo;Dley provided his assent.&ldquo;Rick was great to work with and Ed has been great to work with as well,&rdquo; Dley said.Chynoweth debuted as president in 1973-74. He stepped down last summer to run the Ice. Dley was named Chynoweth&rsquo;s successor Nov. 27 and assumed control in January.SWIFT EXITS: The Medicine Hat Tigers have a new feeder system-otherwise known as the Swift Current Broncos.On June 3, Medicine Hat appointed former Swift Current GM Doug Mosher as its GM.Two days later, Mosher hired Kurt Lackten as Tigers&rsquo; coach. Lackten Penl the Past, wo seasons as an as sistant with Swift Current.Broncos&rsquo; board members are up-set over Mosher&rsquo;s departure and filed a tampering complaint against Medicine Hat. Mosher got permission from the Broncos to talk to Lackten.Mosher succeeds Dennis Polonich as the Tigers&rsquo; GM. Polonich resurfaced as Prince George&rsquo;s GM after resigning from the Tigers.Lackten replaces Joe Canale behind Medicine Hat&rsquo;s bench. Canale and the Tigers were unable to agree on a new contract.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03377/6468656-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="353" height="359"></div>COACHING CAROUSEL: The Kelowna Rockets named Peter Anholt as coach. Anholt has previous WHL head-coaching experience with the Prince Albert Raiders, Seattle Thunderbirds and Red Deer Rebels. Anholt succeeds Alan Kerr, who was appointed interim coach March 2 after Marcel Comeau was fired. Shortly thereafter, Anholt was hired as the Rockets&rsquo; assistant&hellip;In Prince George, the Cougars introduced Stan Butler as coach. Butler was fired by the Oshawa Generals after two seasons in the Ontario League&hellip;Dale Marquette, who finished last season as Prince George&rsquo;s coach, is in the running for an assistant&rsquo;s position with the Tri-City Americans. &#9632;

f0033-03

Maxwell and Williams face October trial date

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01840/6468687-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0034-01

CLASSIFIED

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01798/6468725-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Colorado&rsquo;s Claude Lemieux</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01755/6468718-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="3087" height="3504"><figcaption class="caption-body">Missing most of the regular season didn&rsquo;t hurt Colorado&rsquo;s Uwe Krupp in the playoffs.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0035-01

LOUISVILLE LOCJAW

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0037-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-01676/6468756-1-eng-US/f0037-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

f0037-01

NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<h2>NOTE</h2>Unofficial game summaries provided by National Hockey League: (shots on goal/plus-minus); SA-shots against; GA-goals against; ENG-empty net goals; Dec-decision, charges to goaltenders of record when winning goal is scored.<h2>TUESDAY, JUNE 4</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-02478/6468822-1-eng-US/f0037-022.jpg" title="f0037-02" width="494" height="1124"></div><h2>THURSDAY, JUNE 6</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-03367/6468815-1-eng-US/f0037-032.jpg" title="f0037-03" width="498" height="1173"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-04302/6468808-1-eng-US/f0037-042.jpg" title="f0037-04" width="494" height="197"></div><h2>SATURDAY, JUNE 8</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-05270/6468801-1-eng-US/f0037-052.jpg" title="f0037-05" width="491" height="1055"></div><h2>MONDAY, JUNE 10</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-06237/6468794-1-eng-US/f0037-062.jpg" title="f0037-06" width="491" height="1321"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0037-07210/6468787-1-eng-US/f0037-072.jpg" title="f0037-07" width="2037" height="1777"><figcaption class="caption-body">Foote loose? Not quite as Avalanche defenseman Adam Foote gets taken into the boards by Panther Bill Lindsay.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0037-02

NHL SUMMARIES

<h2>BOSTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 6: Kirk Nielsen, RW/C, signed two-year free agent contract.<h2>BUFFALO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 5: Craig Millar, D, signed three-year contract. June 6: Dominik Hasek, G, signed three-year contract.<h2>CALGARY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 14: Sandy McCarthy, RW, Burke Murphy, LW and Patrik Haltia, G, signed contracts.<h2>COLORADO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic, Mike Ricci, Stephane Yelle, Dave Hannan, Troy Murray. LW-Valeri Kamensky, Adam Deadmarsh, Rene Corbet, Warren Rychel, Chris Simon. RW-Claude Lemieux. Scott Young, Mike Keane, Jon Klemm. LD-Sylvain Lefebvre, Sandis Ozolinsh. Adam Foote. RD-Curtis Leschyshyn. Uwe Krupp, Alexei Gusarov, Craig Wolanin. G-Patrick Roy, Stephane Fiset.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h2>DALLAS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 5: Brad Lukowich, D, acquired from New York Islanders for a third-round draft pick in 1997. June 6: Roman Turek, G, signed two-year contract.<h2>DETROIT</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 3: Sean Gillam, D, signed three-year contract. June 13: Tomas Holmstrom, LW, signed two-year contract. June 14: Bob Essensa, G, traded to Edmonton for future considerations.<h2>EDMONTON</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 12: Jeff Daw, C, Chris Wickenheiser, G, and Mike Minard, G, signed contracts. June 14: Bob Essensa, G, acquired from Detroit for future considerations.<h2>FLORIDA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>None.<h3>ROSTER</h3>C-Stu Barnes, Rob Niedermayer, Brian Skrudland, Tom Fitzgerald, Steve Washbum. LW-Dave Lowry, Martin Straka, Mike Hough, Bill Lindsay. RW-Ray Sheppard, Scott Mellanby, Johan Garpenlov. Radek Dvorak, Jody Hull, Dave Nemirovsky. LD-Terry Carkner, Ed Jovanovski, Jason Woolley, Geoff Smith, Magnus Svensson. RD-Robert Svehla, Paul Laus, Gord Murphy, Rhett Warrener. G-John Vanbiesbrouck, Mark Fitzpatrick.<h3>INJURIES</h3>None.<h2>HARTFORD</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 1: Hnat Domenichelli, C, Ryan Risidore, D, and Tom Buckley, C, signed contracts.<h2>LOS ANGELES</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>May 31: Andrew Dale, C/RW, and Jan Nemecek, D, signed three-year contracts. June 12: Rob Laird signed as pro scout.<h2>MONTREAL</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 3: Jimmy Drolet, D, signed three-year contract. June 4: Francois Allaire, goaltending coach, resigned. Jacques Laperriere, assistant coach, and Steve Shutt, assistant coach, signed two-year contracts. Charles Thiffault, pro scout fired.<h2>NEW JERSEY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 12: Jeff Williams, C, and Frederic Henry, G, signed contracts.<h2>N.Y. ISLANDERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 5: Craig Darby, C, claimed on waivers by Philadelphia. Brad Lukowich, D, traded to Dallas for a third-round draft pick in 1997.<h2>N.Y. RANGERS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 13: Neil Smith. president/GM. signed six-year contract.<h2>OTTAWA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 5: Roy Mlakar named president. June 6: Perry Peam and Craig Ramsey named assistant coaches.<h2>PHILADELPHIA</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 4: Craig Darby, C, claimed on waivers from New York Islanders. June 6: Jason Bowen, D/LW, signed contract. June 12: Dan Kordic, D, signed contract.<h2>ST. LOUIS</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 3: Jon Casey, G, signed two-year contract.<h2>SAN JOSE</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 4: John Ferguson and Don Maloney named pro scouts June 6: Al Sims named coach. June 14: Jamie Baker, C, and a fifth-round draft pick in 1996 traded to Toronto for Todd Gill, D.<h2>TAMPA BAY</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 6: Terry Crisp, coach, signed three-year contract.<h2>TORONTO</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 14: Todd Gill, D, traded to San Jose for Jamie Baker, C, and a fifth-round draft pick in 1996.<h2>VANCOUVER</h2><h3>TRANSACTIONS</h3>June 4: Tom Renney named coach. &#9632;

NHL ROSTERS AND TRANSACTIONS

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-01744/6468891-1-eng-US/f0038-012.jpg"></div><h2>EXHIBITION SCHEDULE</h2>In preparation for the World Cup, teams are set to face off in a series of exhibition games between Aug. 14 and 26. Listed is game date, local starting time/Eastem Standard Time, venue and TV coverage.<h2>TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE</h2>Listed is game date, local starting time/Eastem Standard Time, venue and TV coverage. Fox designates an American partnership between Fox and Liberty Sports; CBC includes the French-language Radio-Canada; TSN includes the French-language Le Reseau des Sports; and CWL designates Swiss programmer CWL Telesport. Abbreviations: N.A.-North America; EUR-Europe.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-02549/6468884-1-eng-US/f0038-022.jpg" title="f0038-02" width="1012" height="1531"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-03443/6468877-1-eng-US/f0038-032.jpg" title="f0038-03" width="2078" height="2478"><figcaption class="caption-body">A good showing for Canada at the World Cup may help Devil Martin Brodeur forget about missing the 1996 playoffs.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

Search for your favorite player or team

June 28, 1996

Sather Canada’s man

OUR THREE STARS

U.S. ready to make noise at World Cup

RHI-backed group aims at standard game rules