AMERICAN LEAGUE

Tik ticked off at ‘joke’ offer

The clock is Tiking on another problem. Three weeks after Alexander Mogilny issued a conditional trade demand over management’s inability to find the team an elite center, left winger Esa Tikkanen demanded a trade and threatened to withhold services in a dispute over money. Despite the fact Canuck doctors may have prolonged the gimpy-kneed Finn’s career, Tikkanen was furious with assistant GM George McPhee’s negotiating tactics. “I want to stay here, but I want a new deal and if the team management is not looking forward to keeping me, I want to get out of here,” Tikkanen said. “What they offered me in the last week was just a joke.” Tikkanen, 32, stands to become an unrestricted free agent July 1, but has been looking for a contract extension from the Canucks almost since…

Playoff lives in jeopardy

Ray Bourque went into late-January needing three points to pass Hall of Fame left winger John Bucyk as the Boston Bruins’ alltime scoring leader with 1,440 career points. The next milestone in Bourque’s brilliant career wasn’t a hot topic, though. Any anticipation of that big moment was wiped out by the possibility of another historic occurrence: By losing three of its first four games after the all-star break to fall seven games below.500 (17-24-6), Boston moved closer to its first failure to qualify for the playoffs since 1966-67. “Maybe you can say it’s too early to talk like that because on any given night four or five teams can switch positions,” said left winger Ted Donato. “I think we’re all very well aware of the situation, though. The frustrating part is that…

Mr. Coffey surpasses Mr. Hockey

As assists go, Paul Coffey has vanquished the highest attainable peak. Mount Howe was Coffey’s latest conquest. Mount Gretzky, he will never reach. The Philadelphia Flyers’ defenseman moved into the No. 2 slot in career assists when he recorded his 1,050th in a Jan. 21 game against the Dallas Stars. That moved Coffey ahead of former Detroit Red Wings’ great Gordie Howe. The NHL career leader is New York Rangers’ center Wayne Gretzky, who had 1,819 assists, more than 750 ahead of Coffey. Right behind Coffey among active players were Ray Bourque (987) of the Boston Bruins and Mark Messier (956) of the Rangers. They ranked fifth and sixth behind fourth-place Marcel Dionne (1,040). Coffey’s landmark assist came on a goal by Dale Hawerchuk, No. 10 in career assists. Listed are the top 20…