Whalers made most of bad situation

All things considered, the Hartford Whalers didn’t fare too badly. When evaluating the return on the trade of Brendan Shanahan, keep two points in mind. One, the Whalers didn’t want to trade Shanahan. He forced them into it, which is often the recipe for disaster in terms of getting equal value or a fair return. Two, whatever Hartford got must be equated with what they gave up to acquire Shanahan in the first place. That is, defenseman Chris Pronger. Effectively, the Whalers traded Pronger for Keith Primeau, Paul Coffey and Detroit’s first-round pick in 1997. Not bad. “I’m happy with how it worked out, considering this was a trade we really didn’t want to make,” said Whalers’ GM Jim Rutherford. “It was a deal with considerable risk.” Rutherford rolled the dice and won. He went ahead…

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Earth to Shanahan: You must earn Cup

So Paul Coffey doesn’t want to play in Hartford for the same reasons Brendan Shanahan didn’t. All right, that’s it. I can’t stand it any longer. I wish, for once, these guys would come back down to Earth. I make roughly $30,000 a year and it costs me $600 a year to play hockey. The games are usually between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. If I could play in the NHL, I’d play anywhere and I’d play my heart out for the fans, just like Kevin Dineen does. I wouldn’t think of Hartford as a joke, like some of these guys do. Besides, the Hartford Whalers are a great team. With their young players and great management, the Whalers will win the Cup someday. Just ask Eric Lindros about playing for a team with…

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

Team affiliations are listed in parentheses under names (OT) denotes overtime game…