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 19, 1998

The Hockey News June 19, 1998

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0039-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0039-01761/6821132-1-eng-US/f0039-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-01837/6820539-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg" title="f0031-01" width="213" height="214"></div>There&rsquo;s finally some hope for the guy from New Hope, Minn.After seven months, the headaches, dizziness and blurred vision were starting to subside for Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; defenseman Jim Johnson.&ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t say I&rsquo;m completely symptom-free, but I&rsquo;ve really improved a lot,&rdquo; Johnson said in early June. &ldquo;If I had to give you a percentage, I&rsquo;d say I&rsquo;m probably at about 75 per cent right now.&rdquo;A 13-year veteran, Johnson suffered a severe concussion-perhaps one of the worst in the NHL this past season-in early November and didn&rsquo;t return to the Phoenix lineup.Doctors warned him his playing career might be over, which remains a distinct possibility.But for the first time since he can remember, &ldquo;things are finally starting to clear up a little,&rdquo; Johnson said.&ldquo;I still have a few symptoms, but it&rsquo;s much better,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I still get these vision and focus problems and the headaches&hellip;but I just went four straight days without having any problems at all. That&rsquo;s good. That&rsquo;s encouraging.&rdquo;For the first time since the injury, Johnson, 35, also went skating.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have any of my equipment on, of course, but it felt great,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It was fun to get out there and not get dizzy like I had been. That in itself showed me I&rsquo;m making progress.&rdquo;Johnson still isn&rsquo;t sure if he will be able to play again, however.NOTEBOOK: Left winger Keith Tkachuk and his agent, Bob Murray of Boston, rejected Phoenix&rsquo;s initial offer on a multiyear contract extension. Tkachuk, who has two years remaining on his current contract, reportedly is seeking an extra three years at about $7 million a season&hellip;The team also was negotiating with defenseman Teppo Numminen regarding a three-year extension. Numminen signed a two-year extension in December, but the Coyotes want to tie him up even longer so he doesn&rsquo;t become a free agent&hellip;Coyotes&rsquo; right winger Mike Gartner, 38, has sold his Phoenix home and is moving his family back to Toronto, where he&rsquo;d like to hook up once again with the Maple Leafs. &ldquo;That could be the perfect situation,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

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NHL TEAMS

Johnson makes progress, but return still uncertain

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011619/6819135-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg" title="f0007-01" width="410" height="511"><figcaption class="caption-body">Steve Dryden</figcaption></div>Editor-in-ChiefPre-season pick: ColoradoWhere I went wrong: Had too much faith in Avs&rsquo; talent, the most unpredictable of all assets.Final, final, final pick: Detroit in six games.Why: Ultimate team concept led by today&rsquo;s ultimate defenseman: Nicklas Lidstrom<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021090/6819128-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="392" height="500"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie</figcaption></div>Associate EditorPre-season pick: ColoradoWhere I went wrong: Thought Colorado could re-establish the chemistry and dominance of its 1996 Stanley Cup run.Final, final, final pick: Detroit in five games.Why: Wings are superior to Caps in every area, except goal.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-03695/6819121-1-eng-US/f0007-032.jpg" title="f0007-03" width="389" height="493"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Brophy</figcaption></div>Senior WriterPre-season pick: ColoradoWhere I went wrong: Didn&rsquo;t appreciate how the Olympics would affect Avs or suspect trouble between players and coach.Final, final, final pick: Detroit in five games.Why: Captain Steve Yzerman simply won&rsquo;t let Red Wings lose.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-04460/6819114-1-eng-US/f0007-042.jpg" title="f0007-04" width="387" height="493"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mark Brender</figcaption></div>Staff WriterPre-season pick: DetroitWhere I went right: Believed the Red Wings&rsquo; talent and character would prevent complacency from setting in.Final (and original) pick: Detroit in five games.Why: Let&rsquo;s be blunt: Washington shouldn&rsquo;t have beaten the Bruins. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

STANLEY CUP PREDICTIONS

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-04297/6820608-1-eng-US/f0031-042.jpg" title="f0031-04" width="212" height="210"></div>There&rsquo;s going to be a lot of mirror-watching in Philadelphia this summer, but Bob Clarke sounds like he might take up permanent residence in front of one.The Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; president-GM accepted much of the blame for his team&rsquo;s uneven season and early playoff exit.Clarke was so upset and embarrassed by the Flyers&rsquo; first round loss to the Buffalo Sabres it took him nine days to compose his thoughts before addressing the media.When Clarke did talk, he admitted he did a number of things wrong.He said he carried too many players, creating some resentment over playing time; caused an unsettled situation by changing coaches twice in one year; and could not find a solution to what might be best termed as &ldquo;bad chemistry.&rdquo;&ldquo;A lot of it is my own fault,&rdquo; Clarke said May 12. &ldquo;We made changes, we had older players who weren&rsquo;t playing much. The players we brought in (Chris) Gratton, (Alexandre) Daigle-were young. We probably ended up with a poor combination&hellip; screwed up more than anyone on this team.&rdquo;The Flyers played with little fire in the post-season.&ldquo;I think when a team plays without the emotion that it should have in the playoffs, then there&rsquo;s obviously some internal problems,&rdquo; Clarke said. &ldquo;It seemed to me our team needed a lot of effort to play well.&rdquo;Clarke admits he went overboard building depth on defense.&ldquo;Having eight or nine defensemen around didn&rsquo;t help any of our defensemen,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t a banner year for any of them and that&rsquo;s my fault because I had too many guys around.&rdquo;Clarke said veteran defensemen Paul Coffey, Kjell Samuelsson and Chris Joseph, along with center Joel Otto and unrestricted free agent goalie Sean Burke, will not be back next season.NOTEBOOK: The Flyers signed defenseman Ryan Bast of the American League&rsquo;s Saint John Flames to a two-year contract which averages out to $925,000 per season. Calgary failed to protect Bast&rsquo;s NHL rights, but Saint John could retain Bast for one more season. A likely scenario would have the Flyers sending a draft pick to Calgary as compensation. The matter is headed for arbitration&hellip;GM Bob Clarke said he has not begun talks with center Rod Brind&rsquo;Amour on a new contract. Brind&rsquo;-Amour could become a restricted free agent July 1. Clarke also said he has not had contact with Carl Lindros, Eric Lindros&rsquo; father and agent, concerning a new contract. Lindros&rsquo; current contract runs through 1998-99. &#9632;

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GM Clarke ’fesses up to mistakes

<h2>Capitals finally in line for Cup</h2>1. Suffering over After years of failure and disappointment, Washington Capitals advance to Stanley Cup final.2. Game 4 specialist Washington&rsquo;s Olaf Kolzig records three straight Game 4 shutouts and record-tying four in playoffs.3. How Swede it is Sweden knocks off Finland in two-game final to claim World Championship.4. Sheldon Kennedy Ex-NHLer begins skate across Canada to raise money, awareness for sexual abuse victims.5. Enjoy retirement Murray Costello signs off as longtime president of Canadian Hockey Association.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0221/6818866-1-eng-US/c0002-022.jpg" title="C0002-02" width="435" height="619"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ed Belfour</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0312/6818859-1-eng-US/c0002-032.jpg" title="C0002-03" width="432" height="618"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Osgood</figcaption></div><h2>Eddie the Eagle flies off handle</h2>1. Ouch! Dallas goalie Ed Belfour swings goal stick upwards into groin area of Detroit&rsquo;s Martin Lapointe.2. Dominik Hasek Buffalo goalie throws hissy fit (and his blocker) after being bumped by Washington&rsquo;s Peter Bondra.3. Os-bad Detroit goalie Chris Osgood allows three goals on shots from outside blueline, two of those from center.4. United we fall Five major suspensions, including one for life, make United League playoffs look like Slap Shot.5.USA blues United States beaten 3-2 by Latvia at World Championship, now must qualify to return to A Pool. &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editorin-Chief</div>Those who don&rsquo;t want goalies to handle the puck behind the goalline don&rsquo;t understand the implications of such devolution.They might think more offense will result, but as long as goalies continue to overplay their hands as they have during the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs, nothing could be fur-ther from the math. Arturs Irbe should be very happy. He no longer represents the depths to which goalies can sink when they leave their creases to play the puck.That dubious distinction belongs to the likes of Chris Osgood and Dominik Hasek, both of whom demonstrated how to take a good thing and make it bad. GMs have toyed with prohibiting goalies from playing the puck behind their nets because it&rsquo;s thought they&rsquo;ve become such good puckhandlers teams can&rsquo;t create offense off dump-ins. Enter Osgood and Hasek.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-046/6818897-1-eng-US/c0002-042.jpg" title="C0002-04" width="457" height="576"></div>During the conference finals, each left his net to stop a shoot-in behind the net to disastrous effect. Here&rsquo;s what happened: At key times, each sent the puck up the left wing boards directly to an opposition player. Both opposition players-Grant Marshall of the Dallas Stars and Andrei Nikolishin of the Washington Capitals-instantly passed the puck to a teammate. Both teammates-Bob Bassen of the Stars and Peter Bondra of the Capitals-scored crucial goals. The turnovers were so quick, neither playmaker-Osgood nor Hasek-had enough time to return to his goal and properly set up for his other job.The law of averages insists that goalies are bound to make mistakes considering all the times they handle the puck. What the law doesn&rsquo;t insist is that they handle the puck so often. It&rsquo;s one more example of goalies trying to do too much. Today&rsquo;s goalies not only want to stop the puck, they want to play it, direct traffic, argue with the officials, act as team enforcers, oversee the league video review process and be on call to perform delicate surgery. (&ldquo;Paging Dr. Belfour, Mr. Lapointe is here for his vasectomy.&rdquo;)It&rsquo;s no wonder, then, that sometimes lost in the shuffle are long distance shots, an inordinate number of which have resulted in goals this season. When Osgood allowed a 100-footer against Dallas-earning a place in NHL lore for permitting the worst goal in overtime history-who could blame him with everything else on his mind? In this case, it wasn&rsquo;t enough to stop the puck; he felt compelled to direct it into the comer. Instead he directed it into his own net.Somehow, the goal of playing goal in the NHL has taken on a new meaning in the modem game-too much meaning. &#9632;

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Note to goalies: Sometimes less is more in NHL

The Canadian Hockey Association knew it wouldn&rsquo;t be a pretty picture when it shone a light into the dark recesses of minor hockey.And it wasn&rsquo;t.The first full year of the CHA&rsquo;s &lsquo;Speak Out!&rsquo; program-initiated in the wake of Sheldon Kennedy&rsquo;s revelations and Graham James&rsquo; conviction on charges of sexual abuse of minors-produced a myriad of horror stories, including:&#9633; A pre-novice player who was grabbed and thrown to the ground after a &ldquo;bad shift.&rdquo;&#9633; A goaltender, with a history of seizures who had a suspected concussion, being forced by his coach to continue playing.&#9633; Players who inserted toothpaste into another player&rsquo;s rectum as part of an initiation ritual.&#9633; A team of adolescents being shown porno graphic material as an incentive to win with the promise of more wins, more porno.In all, there were close to 100 reported episodes that ran the gamut from physical and sexual abuse to verbal harassment. The CHA&rsquo;s &lsquo;Speak Out!&rsquo; program is a proactive step to clean up the Canadian minor hockey environment.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re getting our message out there and that is no one should have to suffer in silence.&rdquo; said Sheldon Lanchbery, a lawyer from Deloraine. Man., who is the chairman of the CHA&rsquo;s harassment and abuse committee that is committed to raising its profile and getting its message out to more people.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ll all be safer if people do speak out. It&rsquo;s the belief of the CHA that the vast. vast, vast majority of our volunteers are excellent and that we&rsquo;re talking about a miniscule number, but we recognize one incident is one too many.&rdquo;Indeed, with 520,000 registered members, plus 75,000 coaches in 2,500 minor associations across the country, there are bound to be abuses. But the CHA&rsquo;s &lsquo;Speak Out!&rsquo; program uses video, TV ads, brochures, posters and coaching clinics to reinforce its message and encourage people to come forward and report any incidents of abuse.&ldquo;We want people to understand this is more than just a campaign against (sexual) abuse,&rdquo; Lanchbery said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a campaign against any form of harassment or abuse that would cause a player to be uncomfortable playing the game.&rdquo; &#9632;

CHA: ‘We’re getting our message out’

When the Canadian Hockey Association unveiled more initiatives to combat harassment and abuse, there was fear expressed-by Don Cherry and others-that volunteer coaches might have second thoughts about giving their time.To that, all that needs to be said is: Good.Second thoughts are good. A little reflection, a little re-examination is not a bad thing. The CHA&rsquo;s &lsquo;Speak Out!&rsquo; program should cause all of us who volunteer our time and effort to coach kids to make sure we&rsquo;re ioing it for the right reasons and in the right way.I am a parent and a coach. I have two sons-one is 12, the other urns nine in the summer-who play competitive minor hockey and a crosse. If I&rsquo;m not working, chances are you&rsquo;ll find me in an arena.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011659/6818935-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="432" height="584"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</figcaption></div>When I read the litany of harassment and abuse stories the CHA has compiled in just one season (see story below), I do not see myself as part of that problem, either as a parent or a coach. But no one. including myself, should be so righteous as to think there isn&rsquo;t room for improvement.Do I take kids&rsquo; sports too seriously? Sometimes, yes. Do I have flaws? Absolutely. Incidentally, I&rsquo;m going to make every effort next season to chirp less at the on-ice officials.But to heap verbal or physical abuse on a young player is unthinkable. Or at least it should be. though I do recall an incident involving me and my son two years ago during a tournament in Kitchener, Ont. During a game against the Detroit Little Caesars, coached at the time by Sergei Fedorov&rsquo;s father, Viktor, there was a point in the game where my son became frustrated and was losing his composure on the bench. 1 responded by losing mine, grabbing his sweater and pulling him toward me.If it hadn&rsquo;t been my son, I would never have considered doing it. not that it made it right. It wasn&rsquo;t a violent tug by any stretch, and the second I did it, I realized the error of my ways. Fortunately, my son regained his composure. So did I. It never happened again, nor will it.Ironically, after that game in Kitchener, a 2-2 tie that eliminated the Little Caesars from the tourney, there was an incident not unlike some chronicled by the CHA.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021326/6818928-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="2071" height="3104"><figcaption class="caption-body">Sheldon Kennedy begins his cross-Canada in-line skate to raise awareness of abuse.</figcaption></div>Some ot the parents on the Detroit team got into a hellacious verbal dust-up with each other, liberally dropping the F-bomb within earshot of players, coaches and fans. A couple of mothers had to be restrained from going after each other. Eventually, Viktor Fedorov went behind closed doors with the most agitated parents. As it turned out, some of the parents of the better players were angry because Fedorov didn&rsquo;t shorten his bench.As much as the onus is on organizations such as the CHA and its branches and minor hockey associations to educate and police the masses, and as much as coaches should endeavor to use the right approach, the ultimate responsibility for most everything lies with the parents.It never ceases to amaze me how many seemingly sensible, normal parents will suspend their beliefs, values and common sense to differentiate between right and wrong the minute they walk through an arena door. Ultimately, every parent must safeguard the health and welfare of his/her own children, because no one else-no coach, no matter how conscientious he or she may be-has the same stake as a parent.Fortunately, I&rsquo;m blessed with a wife whose sense of perspective and common sense is overwhelming. Between us, we try to make the decisions we believe are right for our children.A few years ago, when one of our kids was lacking in on-ice discipline, we effectively &ldquo;suspended&rdquo; him for one game, over the objections of the coach. It had a positive impact on his behavior. Another time, he had to miss practice because he didn&rsquo;t get a school assignment completed. Again, a positive result.And then there was the occasion two years ago when we pulled our other son off a rep lacrosse team because in the first four games of the first tournament of the year, the coach received four bench minors for verbally abusing the officials and was heard swearing on more than one occasion. Some parents on the team no doubt felt quitting was an extreme measure-I wondered myself-but my wife&rsquo;s reasoning was we wouldn&rsquo;t allow our son to be exposed to that type of behavior in school or at home, why would we permit it in his sports?The postscript to this story is that at the final lacrosse tournament of the summer, one of the parents on that team physically attacked the coach in the dressing room after a game and the police had to be called. Suffice to say, those seven-year-olds saw and heard more than they should have.All that said, there&rsquo;s no room to be righteous in kids&rsquo; sports, especially minor hockey and even more so when you&rsquo;re the coach.Minor hockey coaches-actually, everybody involved in the game-have to be held accountable. If that means taking a three-hour course as part of the &lsquo;Speak Out!&rsquo; program, so be it. And if that means we are all held to a higher standard for our behavior, that good, too. Because, with rare exceptions, the good coaches, the ones with their hearts and minds in the right place, will endure. With any luck, the bad ones will be weeded out.There are a myriad of reasons why Canadian minor hockey needs to be reformed and the outcome of World Junior Championship, the Olympics o the World Championship in any given year has nothing to do with any of them. The changes, whether it&rsquo;s a better practice-to-game ratio or whatever, will not come without a change in deep-rooted attitudes that have been fostered in the minor hockey sub culture for decades.The &lsquo;Speak Out!&rsquo; campaign is an obvious step in the right direction because no matter how well intentioned we all may be, we need to look long and hard at how we behave and how we treat the children who play the game. The old hockey axiom of what goes on in the dressing room stays in the dressing room couldn&rsquo;t be more &rsquo; wrong. Sheldon Kennedy, who is inline skating across Canada to help raise awareness of sexual abuse prevention, is living proof of why we need to make it our business to know what&rsquo;s going on. (See pg. 8for more on Kennedy&rsquo;s skate).Whatever our kids pursue should be an open book and if issues of mistreatment arise, they should be aired and dealt with. I don&rsquo;t know of any minor hockey coach worth his salt who wouldn&rsquo;t agree with that. &#9632;

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Let’s make change Minor coaches, parents must be held accountable

This is an open letter to the management and players of the New Jersey Devils.1 write this as a true Devils&rsquo; fan, someone who has been there since the start and during the lean years.I want to thank you for the heaven you brought all Devils&rsquo; fans in 1995 when you won the Stanley Cup.However:&#9633; What the hell happened in 1995-96 when you became the first Stanley Cup champion in almost 20 years to not make the playoffs the next season?&#9633; What the hell happened in 1996-97, when you finished first in the Eastern Conference, but lost in the second round-to the New York Rangers of all teams?&#9633; What the hell happened this year, when you again finished first in the East, then lost to the eighth place Ottawa Senators?&#9633; How the hell could a team with your talent and depth have so much post-season failure?Please think long and hard about the above questions over the summer-in fact, agonize over them as much as your fans will-and come back in 1998-99 with some answers.Steve Jurich,Ashburn, Va.<h2>Storr was victim</h2>I&rsquo;m flabbergasted by editor-in-chief Steve Dryden&rsquo;s misguided assertion that Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; goalie Jamie Storr was the &ldquo;instigator&rdquo; in what proved to be Geoff Courtnail&rsquo;s deliberate attempt to run a goalie in Game 3 of the first round (THN, May 15).Regardless of the final outcome ol the game, it is clear that the officials blew this call twice.Ian Laperriere of the Kings was being called on a delayed penalty and Storr went behind his net to play the puck. As soon as he touched it, the whistle should have been blown. Replays clearly show Storr returning to his crease when Courtnail barreled into him, resulting in Courtnall&rsquo;s pummeling at the hands of Sean O&rsquo;Donnell and Storr&rsquo;s eventual concussion.Referee Don Koharski missed the play and didn&rsquo;t confer with the linesmen.There&rsquo;s no doubt O&rsquo;Donnell deserved either a double minor or a majoi and there&rsquo;s certainly no doubt he die the right thing attacking a cowardlj Courtnall, but the real travesty is no; that the Blues scored four goals in 3:01 to win the game, but that Courtnail go away with it. And as long as acts like these are perpetrated in the NHL without punishment while ticky-tack obstruction penalties are called at nauseam, goalie-running and concus sions will long be a part of the game.Pierre LapointeLos Angeles, Calif<h2>There is no doubt</h2>In response to your article about Geoff Courtnall and Jamie Storr, I simply ask you to view the video tape (especially overhead, behind the net).It is possible in many instances for two people to see the same thing differently. In this case, taken from the correct angle, there is no room for doubt.Courtnall&rsquo;s intentional running of Storr is as clear as night and day.Jay Rosenberg,Los Angeles, Calif.<h2>Av-not got heart</h2>The heart, soul, grit and character of the Colorado Avalanche showed up for Game 6 of the first round.There were two players who were willing to carry their teams on their backs into Round 2, but unfortunately, these two were not playing in Edmonton. They were playing against one another in San Jose.Mike Ricci had a highlight goal for the San Jose Sharks and Mike Keane scored two for the Dallas Stars, including the winner in overtime.Pam Harrison, Colorado Springs, Colo.<h2>Stop sulking</h2>Growing up in Canada and being of Brazilian background, I constantly heard how Brazil was the best at soccer. But in Brazil, people are aware that there are other countries that could defeat Brazil at any time.Yet Brazilians do not sit there and lament how awful they are at soccer as Canadians do with hockey. Instead, they strive to produce better players.There is something so Canadian in criticizing our countrymen at any chance we get. Perhaps that is why we have a global reputation for being polite, passive people. We are too busy denouncing and finding fault with ourselves to have time to be upset with anybody else.Giorje Oleveira,Scarborough, Ont.<h2>Let&rsquo;s freeze Ray</h2>Well, you can rack up yet another season that Ray Bourque goes without a Stanley Cup ring. That makes it 19 and counting.This man should be frozen until the Boston Bruins are Cup contenders. It would be a sad day in Boston and the NHL if Bourque retires without a ring.Chad Teixeira,Achusnet, Mass.Fax us your comments at&nbsp;(416) 340-1641&nbsp;or write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, 777 Bay St., Suite 2700, Box 148, Toronto, Ont., M5G 2N8&nbsp;in Canada. In the U.S., write to&nbsp;Letters, THN, P.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y., 14240-9947.&nbsp;E-mail us at <a href="mailto:campbellk-@transcontinental.ca">campbellk-@transcontinental.ca</a> Include home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

What’s wrong with Devils in playoffs?

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011605/6819045-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"></div><h2>What you need to know about the 1997-98 season</h2>Shooting star Nikolai Antropov of Kazak-hstan was rated 53rd in The Hockey News&rsquo; Draft Preview, but if recent talk turns out to be more than idle chatter, the big offensive forward could be a top-10 pick in Buffalo June 27.The re-entry draft Of the 57 unsigned NHL draftees who will re-enter the 1998 draft. New Jersey Devils&rsquo; selections Scott Parker (third round, 1996) and Lance Ward (first round, 1996) will attract the most attention. Parker, a mobile 6-foot-4, 220-pound heavyweight who scored 30 goals for the Kelowna Rockets of the Western League this season, is especially coveted. There is talk he could be re-drafted in the first round this year. If not, the Devils could take him again with one of three second round picks.SEEING RED At its Congress in Lausanne, Switz., the International Ice Hockey Federation voted in favor of elimating the red hne (except for icing) in all UHF events. Canada was the only nation to significantly oppose it. but next year&rsquo;s World Junior Championship in Winnipeg will be played without the red line nonetheless.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021152/6819038-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="499" height="783"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Wregget</figcaption></div>Bucks and pucks Don&rsquo;t be surprised if Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; goalie Ken Wregget is on the move. A number of teams are looking for a steady veteran netminder and the Penguins are faced with further cuts to their pay-roll. Because of that, defenseman Kevin Hatcher could also be dealt.King of Florida? Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; assistant coach Dave King has the inside track on the Florida Panthers&rsquo; job. He&rsquo;s followed closely by Terry Murray. Butch Goring is also a candidate, but he will likely end up as New York Islander coach-GM Mike Milbury&rsquo;s associate coach. &#9632;

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THE HOCKEY NEWS’ PUCK PRIMER

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011782/6819083-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Modano of Dallas found out how tenacious Steve Yzerman and the Winos can be alona the boards</figcaption></div>Here&rsquo;s a little something for Washington Capitals&rsquo; coach Ron Wilson to pin on his team&rsquo;s bulletin board: The Capitals will not win the Stanley Cup. In fact, they&rsquo;ll be lucky to win a game against the Detroit Red Wings in this year&rsquo;s final.There, we said it and Wilson, the master motivator and one of the most colorful characters in the game today, will eat it up.Fine, if we could put Wayne Gretizky&rsquo;s Los Angeles Kings into the 1993 Cup final-something about Gretzky skating like he had &ldquo;a piano on his back"-we have no problem providing some added inspiration for the Caps in their first-ever Cup final appearance.Besides, the Capitals need all the help they can get to compete against a team as talented and driven as Scotty Bowman&rsquo;s Red Wings.The only thing that stands in the way of this being an utter mismatch is Washington netminder Olie Kol-zig, who enters the Cup final as the leading candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP.Kolzig, not Dominik Hasek, had been the NHL&rsquo;s best playoff netminder this spring. Kolzig was consistent, something Hasek wasn&rsquo;t, and brilliant, too. He had a goals-against average of 1.69 and save percentage of .946, both league leaders.Heading into the final, the Caps had a 12-5 playoff record. They were outshot in 14 of those 17 games and often by a wide margin.But it&rsquo;s one thing to play sloppy hockey against the Boston Bruins, Ottawa Senators and Buffalo Sabres and have your goaltender bail you out. It is quite another, however, to do it against the Wings, who may not be as thoroughly dominant as they were a year ago, but are still a force with which to be reckoned.The key to Red Wing success is depth and balance. Players such as Brendan Shanahan and Sergei Fedorov can misfire for a whole series, but Detroit&rsquo;s depth was still good enough to beat the Dallas Stars, the NHL&rsquo;s regular season titlist, in six games.The Wings have four lines that can check and score: Steve Yzerman between Brent Gilchrist and Darren McCarty; Igor Larionov between Shanahan and Martin Lapointe; Fedorov between Tomas Holmstrom and Slava Kozlov; and the grind line of Kris Draper between Kirk Maltby and Joey Kocur, with Doug Brown ready to step into any role on any line. And Bowman mixes and matches his lines better than anyone in the game.On the blueline, the almost error free pair of Nicklas Lidstr&ouml;m and Larry Murphy lead the way. The Wings rely a little too much on the thirtysomething pair of Bob Rouse and Jamie Macoun, but if they could get the job done against the physically punishing Stars, they&rsquo;ll get it done against the Capitals. Rookie Anders Eriksson and aged veteran Slava Fetisov comprise the third set with Dmitri Mironov and Aaron Ward providing the depth.Certainly, after giving up longshot goals in Game 3 against the Phoenix Coyotes (Jeremy Roenick), Game 4 against the St. Louis Blues (Al Macln-nis) and Game 5 against Dallas (Jamie Langenbrunner), Wings&rsquo; netminder Chris Osgood has something to prove. But he has shown tremendous resilience in these playoffs. While Washington has an edge over Detroit in goal, it&rsquo;s not as wide as Osgood&rsquo;s detractors would have you believe.Entering the final, Osgood rated at the Wings&rsquo; No. 2 candidate for the Conn Smythe Trophy. The leading contender was captain Yzerman, for his complete game approach. Lid-str&ouml;m, and to a lesser degree, Fedorov also rate some consideration, pending how they perform in the final.No one should suggest the Caps aren&rsquo;t full value for their first appearance in the final. If the Wings don&rsquo;t show them respect, the Caps can jump up and bite them, especially if Kolzig remains true to form.Wilson has two good offensive lines: Andrei Nikolishin between Peter Bondra and rookie star-in-waiting Richard Zednik; and savvy veteran Adam Oates between the recycled, but useful Brian Bellows and scoring hero Joey Juneau. And he got good mileage from a grinding line of Dale Hunter between Craig Berube and Chris Simon and a utility unit of Esa Tikkanen between Kelly Miller and Mike Eagles, with Michal Pivonka (bruised shoulder) and Todd Krygier (sprained knee) possibly available.That fourth line for the Caps may find itself mismatched against any one of the Detroit lines.The Hockey News&rsquo; scouting report (see opposite page) suggests the Detroit forwards have a significant edge in two categories-speed and competitiveness.It&rsquo;s true the Washington defense corps is, generally speaking, more mobile than Detroit&rsquo;s, but what those numbers don&rsquo;t reveal is how much the Caps rely on so few.Mark Tinordi and Calle Johansson, the top pair, play a ton, as do stay-at-home Joe Reekie and offensive threat Sergei Gonchar, who often sees more than 30 minutes. The tandem of Brendan Witt and Phil Housley doesn&rsquo;t play a lot, only 10 to 12 minutes some games. If it does play more against Detroit, the Wings will take advantage.The flip side, though, is that it&rsquo;s difficult to shut down Detroit using primarily four defensemen.The Wings aren&rsquo;t a particularly punishing team, but the pressure they exert with speed and puck control should break down a Washington defense that hasn&rsquo;t been tested to this degree.Another Capital weakness is their play along the boards. They got away with some sloppy efforts against Boston, Ottawa and Buffalo, three teams that simply don&rsquo;t play with the same tenacity and consistency as the Wings. Enter THN&rsquo;s Scouting Report and the Wings&rsquo; decided edge in spirit (competitiveness).According to other NHL teams&rsquo; playoff scouting reports, the Caps will often leave their No. 1 power play unit, headed by Oates, on for 90 seconds. The Wings&rsquo; speedy and aggressive penalty killers could also take advantage of that.But breaking down a series on paper is always easier than doing it on the ice. There is the Kolzig factor for the Wings to consider and the fact that the Caps are prohibitive underdogs will create a nothing-to-lose mindset that should permit Washington to play a relaxed, pressure-free game.That said, it&rsquo;s clear the Wings have better personnel than the Capitals. The Caps have good experience but so, too, do the Wings.In each of the past three Cup finals, we&rsquo;ve been shocked by four-game sweeps by the New Jersey Devils, Colorado Avalanche and Detroit, respectively. If it happens this year, there&rsquo;ll be no surprise.THN&rsquo;s pre-playoff Stanley Cup pick was Detroit. We see no reason to change it.<h2>THE PAPER CHASE: WINGS DOMINATE</h2>The Detroit Red Wings have an edge over the Washington Capitals in every category. They outscored the Caps 351-337 in The Hockey News Stanley Cup Scouting Report (see opposite page).THN measured each team&rsquo;s capabilities in five crucial categories: size, skill, skating, spirit and hockey sense. The cumulative scores for the top 21 skaters on both teams follow.Not included is goaltending or coaching. Washington has the edge in goal. Scotty Bowman has an advantage over Washington&rsquo;s Ron Wilson in experience, but the latter has proven himself to be on exceptional coach.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03744/6819076-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="840" height="399"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Glenn James)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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FEATURES

Red Wings will rule

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-05322/6819187-1-eng-US/f0007-052.jpg"></div>COACHRon WilsonGMGeorge McPhee<h2>DETROIT RED WINGS</h2>COACHScotty BowmanGMKen Holland<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-06248/6819180-1-eng-US/f0007-062.jpg" title="f0007-06" width="2153" height="2371"></div><h2>THN&rsquo;S SYSTEM</h2>Players are listed in order of prominence according to projected lines and defense pairings. Star players are denoted with the following designation: &#8902;&#8902;&#8902;&#8902;.NHL pro scouts evaluate players by reducing them to component parts and assigning values. The Hockey News Scouting Report grades players in five categories: Size, Skill, Skating, Spirit (competitiveness) and Hockey Sense. Marks can range from 1.0 to 5.0.The categories are self-explanatory, except for size. Marks for size are based not just on actual height and weight, but how size is used. Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; 5-foot-11 center Steve Yzerman, for example, has below average size, but earns an above average grade (3.5) because he plays an effective physical game.Final grades represent the sum of the parts and range from Star to Below Average. Five players participating in the final-Peter Bondra and Olie Kolzig of the Washington Capitals and Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov and Nicklas Lidstr&ouml;m of Detroit-have received Star designation.Also listed are sweater number (No.); position (Pos.); age; height (Ht.) and weight (Wt.) according to official rosters; and which way a skater shoots (S) or goaltender catches (C), left (L) or right (R).<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-07190/6819173-1-eng-US/f0007-072.jpg" title="f0007-07" width="1165" height="519"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-08155/6819166-1-eng-US/f0007-082.jpg" title="f0007-08" width="1253" height="2289"><figcaption class="caption-body">Washington&rsquo;s Adam Oates gets top marks for sense. (Photo by Claus Andersen/BBS)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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WASHINGTON CAPITALS

<div class="byline">By Bob McKenzie Associate Editor</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011675/6819218-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div>The NHL forecast is for change-not radical change, but noteworthy change nonetheless.When GMs meet June 16, the day of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup final, it&rsquo;s expected they&rsquo;ll approve the following recommendations, which would then be sent to the board of governors June 25 for final endorsement:Move the goalline two feet further out (13 feet from the end boards instead of 11), which would increase the offensive zones at the expense of the neutral zone by four feet.This move, experimented in the American League this season, is designed to promote more creative offense and make it less likely for goalies to come out to play the puck.&ldquo;Of all the testing we did (in the minors), moving out the goallines had the most support.&rdquo; NHL senior vice president Brian Burke told THN.Experiment in the 1998-99 regular season with a two-referee, two-linesman system. Each NHL team would play the same number of games (i.e. four home, four away) with two referees. The GMs and governors would then assess the experiment and decide whether to implement it full time, pending negotiations with the NHL Officials&rsquo; Association.&ldquo;It would reduce the wear and tear on referees and prolong their careers significantly,&rdquo; Burke said of the system that would effectively give one referee the responsibility for only one-half of the ice surface.&ldquo;The additional referee would always be behind the play so there&rsquo;s no issue of clutter and our test games with two referees were shorter by more than 10 minutes.&rdquo;If the league opts to proceed with a two-referee system, there are labor issues to be resolved. Specifically, if the highest-paid senior refs are going to have their careers prolonged (and.thus, make more money), the league will no doubt be seeking some relief on entry level referees&rsquo; salaries.? A revamped policy on the use of video review for crease infringement that would include a reconfigured crease. It&rsquo;s expected the NHL will decrease the width of the crease (from 12 feet to eight) by clipping two feet from each side of the semi-circle-but will maintain its depth of eight feet.The league is expected to give the video review official authority to call down and disallow any goal where a player precedes the puck into the crease. The NHL policy of zero tolerance on crease infringement would remain.Other issues will be discussed and there may be other recommendations, but the changes to the goal line, crease and refereeing system top the list.One proposal that will be talked about is awarding three points for a regulation time victory. That would be an anti-tie measure designed to induce teams to &ldquo;go for the win&rdquo; in regulation time rather than play for an OT tie.Teams would still get one point for a regulation tie and another point for an OT win. Whether it has enough support to pass remains to be seen. &#9632;

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Watch out for line changes

<div class="byline">By Brian Costello</div>Sheldon Kennedy&rsquo;s coast-to-coast inline skate across Canada is picking up momentum.The former NHLer, who stunned the hockey world last year by revealing his junior coach had sexually abused him for six years, launched his 5.000-mile, 136-day skate from St. John&rsquo;s, Nfld., May 31. The mandate is to raise awareness and funds in the fight against sexual abuse.The journey picked up steam in more ways than one after Kennedy skated up Kelly&rsquo;s Mountain in Nova Scotia June 3. Normally skating at a pace of 15 miles-per-hour, Kennedy sped up to almost 40 mph as he descended from the summit.&ldquo;He was flying,&rdquo; said Chris Brown, executive director of the Sheldon Kennedy Foundation. &ldquo;We had to gun it in the (lead) van to stay ahead.&rdquo;Comfortable being the center of attention, Kennedy said he was over whelmed by the response in the first week of the journey.&ldquo;It has been unbelievable,&rdquo; Kennedy said. &ldquo;People are driving by, honking to show their support, offering encouragement, making donations. And the important thing is the message is getting out. Society is willing to open its eyes and acknowledge the problem sexual abuse is.&rdquo;While on the journey, Kennedy makes appearances at schools and speaks about sexual abuse prevention.&ldquo;The teachers have been great,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They brief the kids beforehand on why I&rsquo;m doing this so that when I show up to talk they understand what the mission is about.&rdquo;The goal of the foundation is to raise $15 million for a B.C. facility for sexually abused youngsters. It had $55,000 in roadside donations alone through five days. Corporate support is expected to pick up as the journey progresses.Kennedy is joined by a six-member skate team which collects donations and clears the highway; and a six-member lead team which sets up appointments and prepares his schedule.The 29-year-old Elkhorn, Man., native has three pairs of in-line skates and goes through a set of wheels each day, rotating them at mid-day.He&rsquo;s averaging more than 60 miles per day and is feeling great.&ldquo;I played eight years in the NHL and never worked out,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t give a shit about myself then. Now, I care about myself and look what I can do.&rdquo; &#9632;

Kennedy on wheels

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>When the NHL board of governors convenes June 25 in Toronto, it&rsquo;s expected the league will be getting a new trophy.All signs point to the board formally approving the Maurice &lsquo;Rocket&rsquo; Richard Trophy, which would be presented annually to the NHL&rsquo;s regular season goal-scoring leader. No such honor currently exists.The award would not only fill a void, but honor one of the NHL&rsquo;s greatest ever goal scorers, who is currently waging a battle against a rare form of stomach cancer. Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; president Ronald Corey recently proposed the concept to the board, but it was commentator Gord Miller of The Sports Network who initiated the idea in March.In other board business, the sales of the Edmonton Oilers and Tampa Bay Lightning are expected to be formally approved. Also, the governors will likely endorse rule-change recommendations (see above story) from the GMs.The board meeting will be held during the day June 25, just before the NHL awards ceremony.AUSTRIA HOSTS: The Tampa Bay Lightning finished a long way back from the pack in 1997-98 and it will start the 1998-99 exhibition season even farther away.The Lightning will travel to Austria Sept. 11-18 to play in the International Challenge &rsquo;98, a four-game series that will feature another NHL team and two Austrian Elite League teams.The Austrian teams are Samina VEU Feldkirch and Klagenfurt AC. The second NHL team is believed to be the Buffalo Sabres. &#9632;

New trophy in works

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div>Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; left winger Nick Kypreos, contemplating retirement after a concussion sustained during a fight last September, says players should not be asked after a head injury if they feel ready to return to play. They can&rsquo;t be trusted.&ldquo;Probably worse than suffering a concussion was my bruised ego,&rdquo; Kypreos said. &ldquo;As players, I think we&rsquo;re the last one you should really ask that question.&rdquo;Kypreos was speaking May 31 at a brain injury seminar in Toronto organized by safety expert Dr. Tom Pash-by and Dr. Charles Tator, a Toronto neurosurgeon.He has no recollection of the fight, last Sept. 15 at Madison Square Garden in New York. Then New York Ranger right winger Ryan Vanden-Bussche caught him flush on the cheek with a punch. Kypreos hit his head on the ice again when he fell; he lost his helmet during the fight.After the game, Kypreos was asked by Ranger medical staff if he felt able to fly back to Toronto or if he needed to spend the night in hospital. He said he was fine and ended up flying home. In hindsight, it was the wrong thing to do. Kypreos practised a few days later, but didn&rsquo;t play the rest of the season and hasn&rsquo;t played since.&ldquo;As a player in that situation, all I tried to do was downplay it. In that situation, I couldn&rsquo;t be honest,&rdquo; Kypreos said. &ldquo;It is our livelihood, it&rsquo;s a big business, there are hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line. We walk out that door, we can&rsquo;t earn it anywhere else&hellip;and I can&rsquo;t be honest if you ask me if I&rsquo;m all right in that situation.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011649/6819297-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg" title="f0010-01" width="773" height="984"><figcaption class="caption-body">Nick Kypreos hasn&rsquo;t played since a Sent. 15 concussion.</figcaption></div>He admitted he was only able to speak from his heart because his career is in doubt.&ldquo;I can sit here and discuss my feelings honestly,&rdquo; he said after his presentation. &ldquo;If I was sitting here trying to play next week, I don&rsquo;t think I could have done that.&rdquo;The need to eliminate from hockey culture a &ldquo;shake-it-off&rsquo; attitude toward head injuries was a message repeated throughout the seminar by various speakers. They said players have to be encouraged to speak out about dangerous plays. Hitting from behind and any hits to the head must be punished severely; the Ontario Minor Hockey Association has already sent a memo to referees that hitting from behind is to be wiped from the game next season. Rules in minor hockey that force players to do up helmet chin straps tightly and wear their helmets properly must be enforced.NHL director of officials Bryan Lewis, also a referee for the OMHA, said rules already exist to severely punish offenders, but it&rsquo;s difficult for referees to call them when coaches and parents aren&rsquo;t on-side and educated about the dangers. &ldquo;Ultimately the officials who enforce the rules are the officials the leagues don&rsquo;t want,&rdquo; Lewis said.Kypreos said he believes the majority of NHL players felt Gary Suter&rsquo;s four-game suspension for crosschecking Paul Kariya in the head last February was too light. Kariya missed the Olympic Games and the rest of the NHL season. In doling out suspensions, Kypreos said, it&rsquo;s the long-term health of the game&rsquo;s superstars that should be remembered rather than the inevitable short-term outcry that would come if a player such as Suter were suspended for, say, 20 or 25 games.&ldquo;You&rsquo;re not trying to sell the public the next three or four months, you&rsquo;re trying to sell them on the next six or seven years of the contract. You&rsquo;ve got to treat these star players like gold.&rdquo; &#9632;

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‘Shake-it-off’ attitude must be eliminated

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrioch</div>Murray Costello&rsquo;s decision to retire was made two years ago. On May 30, one of the most influential men in hockey walked away from the job he held for almost two decades.Costello, president of the Canadian Hockey Association, officially handed over the reins to Bob Nicholson June I, signalling a new beginning for Canadian hockey&rsquo;s governing body.&ldquo;It was time,&rdquo; said Costello, who plans to stay in Ottawa. &ldquo;I made this decision two years ago because I wanted them to have time to decide which direction they wanted to go in.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been here a long time. I felt I was starting to get tired. You can&rsquo;t keep that pace up your whole life.&rdquo;Costello, 64, is proud of the achievements the organization has made since he took over the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1979.Costello doesn&rsquo;t like to take sole credit for the progress made. However, he&rsquo;s proud of the work done in the following areas:The success of the national junior team through the use of the Program of Excellence. &ldquo;We worked hard to have success and the program speaks for itself,&rdquo; Costello said.The marriage of Hockey Canada and Canadian Amateur Hockey Association into one governing body, the Canadian Hockey Association (CHA).The Centres of Excellence Development Program across the country.,The steps taken after Sheldon Kennedy&rsquo;s shocking admission that he&rsquo;d been sexually abused by junior coach Graham James. &ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t stick our heads in the sand on that issue. I think we came up with some good programs,&rdquo; Costello said.On the day he retired, he was elected to the International Ice Hockey Federation&rsquo;s council in Lausanne, Switzerland, which means he is Canada&rsquo;s lone representative on the board.Costello is concerned about the future of the game in Canada. He wants to make sure the CHA keeps programs in place to work on the development of players and coaches.&ldquo;The NHL has a massive marketing machine in New York and they&rsquo;re getting people in the U.S. interested in hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If they get people turned on to hockey there could be more Keith Tkachuks, Pat LaFontaines and Chris Chelioses. They could surpass us.&rdquo;Costello will spend his newfound free time with family and golfing. &#9632;

Player development crucial, says outgoing CHA president

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender Staff Writer</div>It&rsquo;s easy to figure out compensatory picks when an unsigned draftee heads back into the draft. The team that drafted him receives the same numbered selection one round later. Figuring out compensatory picks awarded to teams losing a unrestricted free agent is another matter altogether.Unrestricted free agents who sign with a new team (compensatory free agents) are given a ranking among all league players based on a combination of salary and performance.The salary component is determined by assigning all league players one point for every hundred dollars of average annual compensation over the term of the contract. For example, a player averaging $3 million a year would be assigned 30,000 points.For CFAs only, more points are added based on honors accumulated over the prior three seasons including: all-star team berths (20 points for firstteam, 10 for second or winning the Lady Byng or Masterton Trophies); major league awards (30 points); being named team captain (10); winning the Stanley Cup (20). Players aged 32 on June 30 receive an additional 20 points, 33-year-olds get 15 points and 34-year-olds 10 points.CFAs are then re-ranked taking the honors into account. Clubs that lost a CFA ranked within the top five per cent of players receive a compensatoiy selection no earlier than the 11th pick of the second round; after the 52nd pick for players in the top 10 per cent; after the 104th pick for top 25 per cent; after the 130th pick for the top 50 per cent; after the 156th pick for top 75 per cent; and after the 234th for all others.Easy, right? That&rsquo;s the short version.To top it off: &ldquo;The exact slot, subject to the above guidelines and availability of compensatory draft selections, shall be determined by the Commissioner prior to the draft&rdquo;The NHL released a list of 58 unsigned draftees going back into the June 27 entry draft. They are 1997 draftees not made qualifying offers or 1996 draftees not signed by June 1.Prominent names on the list are defenseman Lance Ward (10th overall by New Jersey Devils in 1996), Trevor Wasyluk (34th by Carolina Hurricanes in 1996) and Pierre Dagenais (47th by New Jersey in 1996).High draft picks from 1996 released are Peter Ratchuk (25th overall by the Colorado Avalanche), Wesley Mason (38th by New Jersey) and Henry Kus-ter (45th by the Boston Bruins). &#9632;

Get your calculators out for compensatory picks

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011488/6819376-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="705" height="1048"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bruce Newton</figcaption></div>Lance Neale, Publisher of The Hockey News, is pleased to announce the appointment of Bruce Newton to the position of Marketing Director. Previously Marketing Director, North America, for Karhu USA and Manager of Special Projects for the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, Bruce also has publishing experience through his work with St. Clair Group where he was involved with promotions for the Canadian Hockey Association and the Canadian Hockey League. &#9632;

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The Hockey News

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0011-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-021063/6819407-1-eng-US/f0011-022.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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NHL GAME USED JERSEYS, STICKS & EQUIPMENT

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011610/6819438-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marc Crawford&rsquo;s next team will likely oav him $1 million a year.</figcaption></div>Heads just keep rolling.Following a year in which six NHL coaches were fired during the season, two more have been let go and anoth-er has quit. And the playoffs aren&rsquo;t even over yet.&ldquo;Coaches aren&rsquo;t getting any more respect from manage-ment,&rdquo; said Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s the real problem. GMs in the NHL have never looked upon coaches as being a very important part of the team.&rdquo;With all that has occur-red in the coaching ranks the past few seasons, it is virtually impossible to speculate on who is safe and who isn&rsquo;t anymore.A quick recap is in order:&#9633; Ted Nolan was named the NHL&rsquo;s coach of the year last season. The Buffalo Sabres offered him a one-year deal and he turned it down. Three of the last four winners of the Jack Ad-ams Award are out of work.&#9633; Terry Murray guided the Flyers to the Stanley Cup final for the first time in 10 years. His con-tract was not renewed.&#9633; Colin Campbell of the New York Rangers and Craig Hartsburg of the Chicago Blackhawks signed contract extensions last summer, presumably rewards for jobs well done. Campbell&rsquo;s deal, three years at $2.4 million, is one of the richest ever awarded to an NHL coach. He was fired late in the season. The Black-hawks finished with the league&rsquo;s eighth best defensive record, but Haitsburg (three years, $1,075 mil-lion) was fired when the team missed the playoffs for the first time in 29 years.&#9633; Wayne Cashman signed a three-year, $1,325 million contract to re-place Murray, but was fired when the Flyers got off to a 32-20-9 start under his direction.&#9633; Two years after being named runner-up to Scotty Bowman as coach of the year and leading the Florida Panthers to the final in just their third year of existence, Doug MacLean was fired.&#9633; Terry Crisp of the Tampa Bay Lighting and Tom Renney of the Vancouver Canucks were dismissed during the season; Rick Bowness of the New York Islanders got his pink slip afterward.&#9633; Three years after winning the Stanley Cup and four years after being named top coach, Jacques Le-maire resigned from the New Jersey Devils. Robbie Ftorek took over.&#9633; Marc Crawford&rsquo;s days with the Colorado Avalanche all but ended when he reportedly turned down a one-year extension on a contract that had one year remaining.More changes could be coming. There was a noose hanging around the neck of Mike Murphy with the Toronto Maple Leafs who has two years remaining on his contract. Also, new ownership in Tampa Bay has put both coach Jacques Demers and GM Phil Esposito on report: Win now or you&rsquo;ll be booted where the sun doesn&rsquo;t shine.On Long Island, Islanders&rsquo; GM Mike Milbury has been interviewing for an associate coach.&ldquo;Now there&rsquo;s a tremendous amount of pressure on management to win,&rdquo;Crawford said. &ldquo;What that has done is forced managers to turn to guys they know can get the job done. I don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;ll see a lot of (coaches) being hired who don&rsquo;t have experience for that reason.&rdquo;The good news is coaches are being paid more money, both at the entry level and overall, than ever before. Last season 16 coaches started the year earning $400,000 (U.S.) or better, up from nine the year before. The average salary was $466,000, which is 21 per cent higher than the year before.The Crawford firingresigning, or whatever it is ultimately determined to have been, didn&rsquo;t come completely by surprise. There were rumblings out of Colorado a month before the regular season ended that players were beginning to tune him out. It didn&rsquo;t help matters when the Avalanche was bounced from the playoffs in the opening round by the Edmonton Oilers.It could also be argued Crawford saw his stock dropping and orchestrated his departure. Some of the luster had come off his star when Canada failed to win a medal at the Winter Olympics in Nagano.Given the fact he&rsquo;s just 37 years old, was the NHL&rsquo;s coach of the year in 1994-95 and guided the Avalanche to the Stanley Cup just three years ago. Crawford should be able to squeeze a three-or four-year deal out of some team for an average of about $1 million a season.Crawford isn&rsquo;t offering any opinions on what will unfold.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been advised to lay low and not say anything,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I feel like a big submarine now.&rdquo;Bob Hartley, who coached the Hershey Bears of the American League (the Avalanche&rsquo;s affiliate) this season, is expected to replace Crawford. You can bet it will be for a lot less than what Crawford earned.It isn&rsquo;t all bad news for coaches. Darryl Sutter of the San Jose Sharks gambled on a two-year deal that paid him $450,000 a season last summer, but included a clause in the deal that allowed him to renegotiate after the first year. He parlayed that into a two-year deal worth $800,000 a year. &#9632;

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Coaching carousel

<div class="byline">By Denis Puska</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0013-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011508/6819469-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jonathan Cheechoo will likely be selected in the second round of the June 27 entry draft.</figcaption></div>There was no road to connect Jona-than Cheechoo with the rest of the world. No road meant no scouts. No scouts meant no hockey career.It&rsquo;s a conundrum that prompted Cheechoo, a first nation native Canadian, to leave behind his own world at 14 to pursue a professional hockey career.From toiling on outdoor rinks in Ontario&rsquo;s far north to becoming a probable second round pick in the June 27 NHL entry draft in Buffalo, Cheechoo has seen big changes in his life.Summers for Cheechoo used to mean travelling from trap line to trap line across the Northern Ontario tundra. It meant camping in the bush, hunting and fishing for small game.This summer, however, Cheechoo will shake the hands of scouts, coaches and media following his selection in the draft. The rest will be spent getting ready for his first NHL camp.The 17-year-old was a rookie this season with the Ontario League&rsquo;s Belleville Bulls and is a role model for youth living in Moose Factory, one of several tiny communities which dot the James Bay in Northern Ontario.&ldquo;A lot of the younger kids back home respect what I&rsquo;ve done,&rdquo; Cheechoo said. &ldquo;Instead of wondering if they can play at a competitive level because they are native, it gives them confidence.&rdquo;Moosonee and Moose Factory have a population of about 5,000 and are separated by the three-mile wide Moose River, which flows into the James Bay at the base of Hudson Bay. The two communities are 700 miles north of Toronto and can only be accessed by the Polar Bear Express rail system north of Cochrane, Ont., in the summer or by aircraft.Moosonee was first to get an indoor rink in the late 1980s, while Moose Factory didn&rsquo;t have an indoor facility until the early 1990s.The teams and leagues Cheechoo played on were more recreational than competitive, but he walked the extra mile. The hours spent on the ice, taking thousands of shots weekly, are paying off. The big winger earned a reputation as having one of the hardest slapshots in the OHL.&ldquo;I would go out in the summer and shoot pucks every day,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I had a net and some boards set up. After a while, they had to get thicker boards because 1 was breaking them.&rdquo;Cheechoo&rsquo;s dream was to play hockey at the highest competitive level and it wasn&rsquo;t until 14 he made the decision that would change his life.&ldquo;In Moosonee and Moose Factory there was nobody to scout me and I had to make a decision when i I was 14 whether I wanted to leave I home or just play around the north,&rdquo; he said.Cheechoo played one season of I bantam Triple-A hockey in Tim-mins, Ont., and then moved to I nearby Kapuskasing for a season of midget hockey. At 15 and still a I bantam-aged player, Cheechoo led the Great North Midget League in scoring and caught the eye of scouts from the Kitchener Dutch-men of the Midwestern (Ont.) Jr. B League.The 6-foot, 205-pound Cheechoo was among the league leaders in many offensive categories with the Dutchmen in 1996-97.Cheechoo was chosen fifth over-all by Belleville at the 1997 OHL midget draft. He had a great rookie season with the Bulls, firing 31 goals and 76 points in 64 games.&ldquo;I was pleased with my point total, but I&rsquo;ve always been able to score so it didn&rsquo;t surprise me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It just took time to get used to the league.&rdquo;In the OHL playoffs, Cheechoo had four goals and six points in 10 games. The Bulls were eliminated by the Plymouth Whalers and No. 2 draft-rated prospect David Leg-wand.Cheechoo is on the verge of becoming the first person from the James Bay coast to be drafted in the NHL. The Hockey News&rsquo; Draft Preview had him rated 31st overall. The big knock on Cheechoo is his skating and the prevailing opinion is it will have to improve for him to play at the next level.Cheechoo says one person has been a major influence on him.&ldquo;My dad helped me a lot,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;He instilled a hard-work ethic in me and I have been using it my whole life. It got me prepared.&rdquo;His father, Marvin Cheechoo, said the family is proud of what Jonathan has accomplished in so little time.&ldquo;We have a good feeling,&rdquo; Marvin Cheechoo said. &ldquo;We helped and guided him. but much of it too is Jonathan&rsquo;s own desire.&rdquo;The fire inside Cheechoo is not unlike most Canadian children who dream to play in the NHL. The difference for Cheechoo and hundreds of native kids on the James Bay coast is breaking away from the traditional way of life to pursue their dream.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t an easy thing for Jonathan to do,&rdquo; Marvin Cheechoo said. &ldquo;It is a big commitment and sacrifice because you are brought up a certain way here with our traditional hunting and trapping and fishing. I don&rsquo;t think he will ever totally break away from it. When he calls home he still talks about it.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0013-01

NHL Bull-ish on Cheechoo

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011597/6819500-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hayley Wickenheiser will attend Philadelphia&rsquo;s rookie camp. (Photo by Bruce Benet Studios)</figcaption></div>Hockey has come a long way indeed. Almost 26 years after breaking Valeri Kharlamov&rsquo;s ankle in the 1972 Sum-mit Series, Bob Clarke is inviting a woman to play with the boysBut he has a message for any young men who might have chauvinistic visions of knocking Hay-ley Wickenheiser back into her place when Canada&rsquo;s top female player joins the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; prospects for an evaluation camp in Voorhees N.J., July 7-14: Don&rsquo;t even think about it.&ldquo;They&rsquo;ll be told before that they&rsquo;d better have some respect for her. You don&rsquo;t run a woman,&rdquo; Clarke said. &ldquo;You expect them to compete, but there&rsquo;s no courage in beating on someone who&rsquo;s smaller and weaker than you are.&rdquo;Which is no slight against the 5-foot-9, 170-pound Wickenheiser, who happens to be one of the most powerful forces in the women&rsquo;s game. But even Wickenheiser realizes the opportunity for what it is-after all, she was cut from a boys&rsquo; midget team four years ago and she&rsquo;ll be going up against players with major junior experience-and has gone out of her way to emphasize that she is not trying out for the Flyers and harbors no thoughts of playing in the NHL.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m very realistic about this,&rdquo; said Wickenheiser, a 21-year-old center. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t see this as reality. It&rsquo;s a chance to gauge my skating and my skills against some of these players and it will help me improve my game.&rdquo;Clarke said the whole idea is to help Wickenheiser improve her all-around game. Not only will there be scrimmages, but the camp will focus on skating drills, dryland training, nutrition and off-ice training techniques.&ldquo;We didn&rsquo;t do it for publicity, our team gets enough of that,&rdquo; Clarke said. &ldquo;Hayley knows and understands the game and wants to get better, just like any other player. I like her as a player and a person and if we can help her get better, we&rsquo;d like to do that.&rdquo;Clarke got to know Wickenheiser at the Winter Olympics, where the former was GM of the Canadian men&rsquo;s team and the latter a member of Canada&rsquo;s silver-medal women&rsquo;s squad. Clarke was impressed with her skills and power and, in true Broad Street Bullies&rsquo; fashion, her nastiness and feared reputation in the women&rsquo;s game.&ldquo;She plays like John LeClair, only she&rsquo;s nastier,&rdquo; Clarke said.While some may see Wickenheiser&rsquo;s participation in the evaluation camp as a triumph for the women&rsquo;s game, those involved in women&rsquo;s hockey have mixed feelings about these sorts of things.Administrators would rather see the women&rsquo;s game stand on its own merits than become news only when a woman makes a breakthrough in the men&rsquo;s game, says Fran Rider, executive director of the Ontario Women&rsquo;s Hockey Association.Rider pointed to an example in which an Ontario women&rsquo;s team won a provincial championship and received two lines of type in the newspaper, yet the same paper carried a front page story on a female who played two minutes in a boys&rsquo; high school game.&ldquo;Hopefully, Hayley is not going to be hurt by this,&rdquo; Rider said. &ldquo;I certainly hope the media doesn&rsquo;t say she&rsquo;s no good because she can&rsquo;t keep up in this drill or that drill.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve worked very hard to battle the perception that a girl is better because she&rsquo;s playing with boys because often it&rsquo;s not true,&rdquo; Rider said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re striving for stand-alone credibility. Women&rsquo;s hockey is not a second-rate place to play.&rdquo; &#9632;

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Canada’s Wickenheiser first woman to try Flyer

Alan Eagleson began a temporary absence work program, just four months and 12 days after starting his 18-month jail term.The founder and former executive director of the NHL Players&rsquo; Association started his new job at Dema Industries, a sheet-metal company in Scarborough, Ont., May 19. Under terms of his conditional release, Eagleson goes to work in the morning and returns to the Mimico Correctional Centre at night. He is allowed to spend every other weekend at home.The Globe & Mail reported May 22 that Eagleson&rsquo;s new employer is a close friend and business associate for at least two decades.&ldquo;We feel he deserves a chance at reentering society,&rdquo; Dema general manager Rene Vogrin told the Toronto Star.The Globe reported a former NHL player said he would encourage former colleagues to call Eagleson at Dema and ask for apologies pertaining to his wrongdoings as head of the NHLPA.In May, Eagleson was cleared on a misconduct charge stemming from an incident in which he signed a sports calender. That was said to violate orders from jail authorities, who were concerned Eagleson&rsquo;s autograph would be used for business purposes.Eagleson, 65, was sentenced Jan. 7 to 18 months in jail and ordered to pay $1 million in restitution after pleading guilty to fraud charges. &#9632;

Eagleson on work release

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011475/6819562-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="516" height="731"></div>Chris Osgood can survive as the No. 1 goaltender of the Detroit Red Wings indefinitely for one important reason. The fans don&rsquo;t hate him.They embrace his humanity, ignore his faults. They don&rsquo;t hiss and boo and heckle and jeer when things don&rsquo;t go well for the cherubic net-minder.No big thing you say? Well, ask Tim Cheveldae if it&rsquo;s no big thing not to be hated in Detroit while goal playing for the Wings. Or Bob Essensa. Or any one of the countless others who donned the big pads for the home side at The Joe and failed.Ask mostly any goaltender who has worn Red Wing red since Terry Sawchuk.There were even significant chunks of the population that despised Mike Vernon right up until the moment he skated away with the Conn Smythe Trophy last June.Osgood, however, is a different case study altogether.When he wasn&rsquo;t covering the net appropriately four years ago when San Jose forward Jamie Baker was sticking a knife in the Wings in a second consecutive first round disaster, they didn&rsquo;t hate him. Maybe the post-series tears helped.This season, the fans chose to restrain themselves when Osgood began showing a penchant for allowing goals from distances that most experienced NHL netminders find as challenging as covering a bar tab.By the playoffs, Osgood had become Dr. Longshot. As in physician heal thyself. He became the reincarnation of short-sighted Tony Esposito, who as we know was one of the greatest ever, but for years struggled with those dipping 80-footers. Jacques Lemaire can testify to that.In March, there was a 9()-footer off the stick of Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; defenseman Rob Blake that Osgood couldn&rsquo;t quite corral. No big deal.In the first round of the 1998 Stanley Cup playoffs against the Phoenix Coyotes, Jeremy Roenick beat him from just outside the blueline.Stuff happens. We move on.But Osgood wasn&rsquo;t finished. With the Wings up 2-1 in their second round series against the St. Louis Blues and set to win Game 4, Blues&rsquo; backliner Al Maclnnis stepped up to the red line and hammered a slapper that flew between Osgood&rsquo;s legs with seconds to play.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021028/6819555-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="574" height="1038"><figcaption class="caption-body">Chris Osgood</figcaption></div>The Wings won in OT and Osgood appeared unruffled by the entire episode. Indeed, he didn&rsquo;t really indicate he was upset with the goal, suggesting that Maclnnis simply &ldquo;overpowered&rdquo; him with the shot.From the red line?Even that error, however, was relatively unimportant compared to the beauty Osgood served up to Jamie Langenbrunner in Game 5 of the Western Conference final against the Dallas Stars. With less than a minute played in overtime, Langenbrunner&rsquo;s shot from the red line skipped once and appeared to be heading just wide until Osgood nonchalantly extended his goalstick and deflected it into his own net.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not like this has happened my whole career,&rdquo; said Osgood in the wake of the Langenbrunner goal. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just this past two or three months.&rdquo;Just in the middle of the playoffs.Whether Osgood likes it or not, he officially has a reputation for being weak or at least unpredictable on long shots, and that&rsquo;s not a comfortable rep to carry. When he lets the next one in they&rsquo;ll replay all the others again.His personal defense mechanism is to shrug them off, and well he should. He&rsquo;s a good to very good goalie who fits in well on an excellent defensive team. He&rsquo;s tough-minded, plays the puck efficiently at most times and is well-liked and respected by his teammates. If the Wings win it all, he&rsquo;ll be regarded as a helpful component in the process, not the main circuit.And the Detroit fans don&rsquo;t hate him. When he returned home for Game 6 two days after the Langenbrunner goal, he was greeted with an enormous cheer, not hoots of derision. He responded with a 26-save shutout, catapulting the Red Wings in the Stanley Cup final.A Cheveldae or Essensa might wonder why such generosity wasn&rsquo;t shown to them, but it could be they just were in the wrong place at the wrong time.It could be that Vernon&rsquo;s efforts in helping produce a Stanley Cup victory has finally taken the heat off all the masked men in Motown. &#9632;

f0015-01

COLUMNISTS

Red Wing fans give Osgood long relief

<div class="byline">By Jason Paul Staff Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0016-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011383/6819593-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg"></div>John LeClair and the Philadelphia Flyers bottomed out in the playoffs, but you have made him tops.The left winger was voted to the first all-star team by readers of The Hockey News. LeClair not only finished first at his position, but received more first place votes than any other player, including Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; superstar Dominik Hasek, the top goaltender.LeClair was picked first on 70 per cent of ballots while Hasek was named first on 69 per cent.Competition on the left side was weakened this year due to Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; superstar Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s retirement and the prolonged absence of Mighty Ducks of Anaheim&rsquo;s Paul Kariya THN readers&rsquo; choices as left-wing all-stars last season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a great honor,&rdquo; LeClair said. &ldquo;Every time you have fan support through Canada and the United States is nice.&rdquo;LeClair earned 82 per cent of the maximum number of voting points. Runner-up Keith Tkachuk of the Phoenix Coyotes garnered 30 per cent of the vote.Results were based on five points for a first-place vote and three for a second-place.Peter Forsberg of the Colorado Avalanche outpolled Wayne Gretzky of the New York Rangers at center, while right winger Jaromir Jagr of the Pittsburgh Penguins snuck by Mighty Ducks of Anaheim sniper Teemu Selanne 66 per cent to 57 per cent.The closest battle emerged on defense, where Nicklas Lidstr&ouml;m of the Detroit Red Wings (64 per cent) and Rob Blake of the Los Angeles Kings (61 per cent) attracted more support than St. Louis Blues&rsquo; captain Chris Pronger (59 per cent).Although the Flyers were bounced by the Sabres in the first round of the playoffs, LeClair had another strong individual season.The power forward has emerged as one of the league&rsquo;s most accomplished scorers and dependable performers. Nobody has scored more goals (152) than LeClair over the past three NHL seasons.LeClair&rsquo;s 51 goals this season were one behind league leaders Selanne and Washing-ton Capitals&rsquo; right winger Peter Bondra. Le-Clair became the first American-born player in; NH1 history to record three consecutive 50-goal seasons.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s nice to have been able to do it over a I few seasons so people won&rsquo;t look at it as a one-year fluke,&rdquo; said LeClair, who led the Fly-i ers in scoring with 87 points.He hasn&rsquo;t missed a game in more than three) years and his consecutive games streak of 252 is the fifth-longest active streak. The Flyers haven&rsquo;t shown the same consistency. Their indifferent play this season led to the firing of head coach Wayne Cashman and hiring of Roger Neilson.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re obviously disappointed by the way the season ended,&rdquo; LeClair said. &ldquo;Next year i we just want to get off on the right track and have a full season under Roger.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0016-01

LeClair tops chart of THN’s all-stars

Defensemen Nicklas Lidstr&ouml;m, Rob Blake and Chris Pronger each earned his first Norris Trophy nomination this year. They were also the top three defensemen of THN readers and were picked first or second on more than 70 per cent of reader ballots. Claiming the fourth spot was five-time Norris winner and 19 year veteran Ray Bourque, who has played just one fewer season than the other three combined.<h2>FIRST TEAN</h2>CenterPeter ForsbergColorado AvalancheKey Stat: 91 points1997-98 Highlights: Led Avalanche in scoring, placed second in NHL&hellip; Scored 100th career goal&hellip;94 PIM were a career high.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021068/6819701-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="284" height="445"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-04582/6819694-1-eng-US/f0016-042.jpg" title="f0016-04" width="286" height="448"></div>Left WingJohn LeClairPhiladelphia FlyersKey Stat: 51 goals1997-98 Highlights: First American-born player to record three straight 50-goal seasons&hellip;Second most shots (303)&hellip;Plus-30 was fifth best.Right WingJaromir JagrPittsburgh PenguinsKey Stat: 2nd Art Ross1997-98 Highlights: Only player to crack 100 points (102)&hellip;Led league in powerplay points (38)&hellip;300th career goal&hellip;Olympic gold medal.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-06360/6819687-1-eng-US/f0016-062.jpg" title="f0016-06" width="284" height="445"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-08304/6819680-1-eng-US/f0016-082.jpg" title="f0016-08" width="286" height="445"></div>DefenseNicklas Lidstr&ouml;mDetroit Red WingsKey Stat: 59 points1997-98 Highlights: Led all defensemen in scoring, second on Wings overall&hellip;Had only 18 PIM&hellip;Plus-22 second on team.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-10255/6819673-1-eng-US/f0016-102.jpg" title="f0016-10" width="287" height="447"></div>DefenseRob BlakeLos Angeles KingsKey Stat: 23 goals1997-98 Highlights: Only defenseman to score 20 goals&hellip;Recorded 11 power play goals&hellip;81 games played most since 1993-94 season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-12222/6819666-1-eng-US/f0016-122.jpg" title="f0016-12" width="283" height="445"></div>GoaltenderDominik HasekBuffalo SabresKey Stat: 13 shutouts1997-98 Highlights: Best save percentage fifth straight year (.932)&hellip;Most shutouts since Tony Esposito (15) in 1969-70&hellip;Olympic gold medal.<h2>SECOND TEAM</h2>CenterWayne GretzkyNew York RangersKey Stat: 90 points1997-98 Highlights: Tied Jaromir Jagr for most assists (67)&hellip;Scored 1,000th NHL goal, inducing playoffs&hellip;Named top player in NHL history by THN.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-03793/6819659-1-eng-US/f0016-032.jpg" title="f0016-03" width="286" height="446"></div>Left WingKeith TkachukPhoenix CoyotesKey Stat: 40 goals1997-98 Highlights: Fourth 40-goal season&hellip;.Led the Coyotes in scoring with 66 points&hellip;Passed the 200-goal, 400-point marks for career.Right WingTeemu SelanneAnaheim Mighty DucksKey Stat: 52 goals1997-98 Highlights: Scored 28.1 per cent of his team&rsquo;s goals in games he played&hellip;Led Ducks with 86 points&hellip; Had 10 winners.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-05430/6819652-1-eng-US/f0016-052.jpg" title="f0016-05" width="284" height="447"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-07332/6819645-1-eng-US/f0016-072.jpg" title="f0016-07" width="285" height="447"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-09278/6819638-1-eng-US/f0016-092.jpg" title="f0016-09" width="285" height="446"></div>DefenseChris ProngerSt. Louis BluesKey Stat: Plus-471997-98 Highlights: Highest plus-minus in NHL&hellip;Career highs in assists (27), points (36), PIM (180)&hellip;Earned 100th career assist.DefenseRay BourqueBoston BruinsKey Stat: 30.0 min/game 1997-98.Highlights: Ice time second highest in NHL&hellip;Has scored at least 40 points in all 19 seasons&hellip;80 PIM most since 1980-81 season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-11241/6819631-1-eng-US/f0016-112.jpg" title="f0016-11" width="285" height="445"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-13207/6819624-1-eng-US/f0016-132.jpg" title="f0016-13" width="287" height="446"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Photo by Bruce Benet Studios)</figcaption></div>GoaltenderMartin BrodeurNew Jersey DevilsKey Stat: 1.89 GAA1997-98 Highlights: Led NHL with 43 wins, second in shutouts (10)&hellip;Third goalie ever to post back-to-back sub-2.00 GAA seasons. &#9632;

f0016-02

The new guards

<div class="byline">By Michael Ulmer</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011239/6819739-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="519" height="730"></div>There is grey hair where it was once jet black, no speed where there once was a little. Time has tinged every outward feature in 38-year-old Dale Hunter and left him untouched inside.Five years removed from his infamous late hit on then-New York Islander Pierre Turgeon, Hunter is in the Stanley Cup final for the first time in 18 seasons.The Washington Capitals&rsquo; captain has moved from villain to sympathetic character. Hunter&rsquo;s nastiness, which spilled out so graphically in the Turgeon hit, has kept him in the game far longer than much more talented players. His game, once a potent cocktail of intimidation and skill, could be riveting and repellent, skillful and chilling. His shopworn features and six-word sentences are what the game was once about.&ldquo;Dale Hunter,&rdquo; said teammate Bill Ranford, &ldquo;is a true-blue Canadian hockey player.&rdquo;In person, Hunter is unerringly gentle natured. The gap between the on-ice persona and the off-ice demeanor is startling.&ldquo;People in the media are looking for flash. He doesn&rsquo;t say much, he&rsquo;s not interesting to the electronic media in particular,&rdquo; said Washington coach Ron Wilson. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like watching a Sutter brother get interviewed. But what Dale does off the ice, his work ethic, he hasn&rsquo;t changed a bit.&rdquo;&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think the passion changes as you get older,&rdquo; Hunter said. &ldquo;I think as you get older, you enjoy every minute more.&rdquo;Only three times has Hunter advanced as far as a division final (twice with the Quebec Nordiques, once in Washington) and each time his team was swept.Once an upper echelon star, Hunter has no false pride about his standing. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m a role player,&rdquo; he said without a trace of embarrassment."You do what you have to to keep playing.&rdquo;&ldquo;He&rsquo;s still relentless and 1 think he has shown in the past, he&rsquo;ll do anything to win,&rdquo; Wilson said, &ldquo;good or bad.&rdquo;The bad happened in the 1993 playoffs when Hunter blind-sided Turgeon seconds after the Islanders&rsquo; star scored a series-clinching goal. The late hit left Turgeon with an injured shoulder. Hunter was hit with a 21-game suspension the following season and there are those who will argue Turgeon, coming off a career 132-point season, has never been the same player.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02936/6819732-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="675" height="1193"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dale Hunter</figcaption></div>Hunter said the chance to hold the Stanley Cup, not a lasting repositioning of his image, made advancing to the final so memorable.&ldquo;That was in the past,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You know to win a Stanley Cup is every kid&rsquo;s dream. You don&rsquo;t dream of losing a Stanley Cup when you&rsquo;re out in the yard. You dream of winning it.&rdquo;Hunter worked the fringes of the first Caps&rsquo; appearance in the final in the club&rsquo;s 24-year history, holding down an effective fourth line with Chris Simon and Craig Berube. He played between six and 11 minutes a game, most spent bashing Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; defenders about in their own end. He had no goals and three assists in 17 games.Playing as hard as he can has been Hunter&rsquo;s hallmark since he broke in with Quebec in 1981. An incendiary competitor, he topped 200 penalty minutes for his first six years in the league and four times hit the 20-goal mark in that span.After seven seasons in Quebec, Hunter was shipped by the Nordiques to Washington. It would have been a disastrous deal, but for the first round draft choice shipped to Quebec that the Nordiques used to draft Joe Sakic in 1987.Hunter is playing out another one-year contract, as he has the past couple of seasons, and clearly his days in the league are dwindling to a precious few. If Hunter&rsquo;s ability to reach trouble has slowed, his taste for it has not.&ldquo;I believe the harder the game, the tougher the situation, the better he&rsquo;s going to play,&rdquo; Berube said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s like when we work out. We&rsquo;11 go ride the bike and he&rsquo;ll say we&rsquo;ll do 30 minutes, nice and easy. We get 10 minutes into it, he doesn&rsquo;t like it. he pushes it so hard that when you&rsquo;re done riding, you&rsquo;re cooked. That&rsquo;s Dale.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0017-01

Passion runs deeply in Capitals’ captain

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0018-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011272/6819777-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Look for the Philadelphia Flyers to make a serious pitch for Mike Richter this summer.</figcaption></div>Mike Richter had a miserable season and his inconsistent goaltending was one of the main reasons why the New York Rangers missed the playoffs.Brett Hull scored the fewest number of goals since his rookie year, 27, and then had an unproductive playoff for the St. Louis Blues. So what?So both players can expect to receive huge raises this summer, that&rsquo;s what.&ldquo;There isn&rsquo;t a GM out there who doesn&rsquo;t believe Mike Richter won&rsquo;t return to form or BrettHull won&rsquo;t be a top scorer again,&rdquo; said Calgary Flames&rsquo; GM Al Coates. &ldquo;Both guys are proven veterans and there is a market for each of them.&rdquo;Richter is reportedly seeking $7 million a year for five years with a no trade clause to remain with the Rangers. The Philadelphia Flyers are expected to make a serious pitch for the Abington, Pa., native, which means the Rangers would make a bid for Curtis Joseph of the Edmonton Oilers. Hull has said he&rsquo;ll settle for $5 million a year and a no trade clause to remain in St. Louis.The age for players to be unrestricted Group III free agents drops to 31 this summer from 32 and Richter and Hull represent the best of a large group who can freely shop their services as of July 1. There are also a number of players (Group V) who will be unrestricted because they are 10year pros who make less than the NHL annual salary, estimated at $1.1 million. (See accompanying chart for all unrestricted free agents.)With salaries escalating and unrestricted free agents getting younger, New Jersey Devils&rsquo; GM Lou Lamoriello figures a new scenario will creep into the free agency picture.&ldquo;The way the collective bargaining agreement is set up, I think you&rsquo;ll see some (Group II restricted) players not get qualifying offers and they&rsquo;ll become unrestricted,&rdquo; Lamoriello said. &ldquo;Teams might not want to qualify a guy if they feel they can get a better unrestricted free agent for the same money. I think you&rsquo;ll see players who wish they had accepted earlier offers to extend their deals.&rdquo;Most GMs agree a hot or cold playoff doesn&rsquo;t necessarily affect a player on the open market, but it&rsquo;s hard to believe 34-year-old Doug Gilmour of the New Jersey Devils didn&rsquo;t convince a few teams he still has it with his play in the spring of 1998. Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; goalie Sean Burke might have convinced teams otherwise.<h2>Freedom around corner</h2>Could Patrick Roy ever return to the Montreal Canadiens? Would Ray Bourque ever leave the Boston Bruins? Probably not on both counts.But both are part of the class of players scheduled to be unrestricted free agents following the 1998-99 season.Roy, who won two Stanley Cups with Montreal and another with the Colorado Avalanche, will be nearly 35 years old when he gains unrestricted free agency. Bourque, who has accepted lesser money to remain a Bruin in the past, will be 38.&ldquo;Age isn&rsquo;t as much of a factor as it used to be,&rdquo; said Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; coach Roger Neilson. &ldquo;Players keep themselves in amazing shape nowadays.&rdquo;Other players of note who could be Group III unrestricted free agents in 1999 include defensemen Brian Leetch (New York Rangers), Mark Tinordi (Washington Capitals), Ulf Samuelsson (Rangers), Steve Chiasson (Carolina Hurricanes), Sylvain Lefebvre (Colorado) and Doug Bodger (New Jersey Devils) and forwards Pat Verbeek (Dallas Stars), Dave Andreychuk (Devils), Dino Ciccarelli (Florida Panthers). Valeri Kamensky (Avalanche), Ray Ferraro (Los Angeles Kings) and Nelson Emerson (Hurricanes).<h2>Unrestricted and available</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-02938/6819770-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="1006" height="3654"></div><h2>Can Oilers afford all?</h2>Who is this year&rsquo;s Joe Sakic?Is there one, maybe two restricted free agents who will make a splash this summer by attempting to change teams?Much of the focus has been on the vast number of higher-level unrestricted free agents who could be available this summer, but what about those free agents who really aren&rsquo;t so free, the Group II guys? Stiff compensation rules (see pg 43 for more) make it difficult for restricted free agents to find new homes.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s always a market for high-end (restricted) guys,&rdquo; said New York Rangers&rsquo; president-GM Neil Smith. &ldquo;But there probably won&rsquo;t be as much of the inordinate salaries given to mid-range players.&rdquo;Everybody talks about the dilemma St. Louis Blues&rsquo; GM Larry Pleau faces with four key unrestricted free agents-defensemen Al Maclnnis and Steve Duchesne and forwards Brett Hull and Geoff Courtnall. But what about Glen Sather?The Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; president-GM has one marquee unrestricted free agent, goalie Curtis Joseph, and a couple of big-name restricted free agents to deal with, namely center Doug Weight and left winger Ryan Smyth. Let&rsquo;s say, for example, the Oilers identify Joseph and Weight as their top two priorities. And what if Joseph commands $6 million (U.S.) a year on the open market and Weight shoots for about $4 million (U.S.) a season? That would open the door for one of the league&rsquo;s richer teams to make Smyth, a rising star, a front-end loaded offer that would make it difficult for the Oilers to match.NHL teams zero in on other teams that are not financially sound. Two years ago the Chic-ago Blackhawks structured an offer designed. to make it difficult for the Winnipeg Jets to keep Keith Tkachuk. The Jets matched.Last year, the New York Rangers made a huge front-end loaded offer to Sakic that the Colorado Avalanche eventually matched. And the Philadelphia Flyers made Chris Gratton an offer the Tampa Bay Lightning matched, even-though they couldn&rsquo;t really afford to. The Lightning ultimately traded Gratton, who struggled this year, to the Flyers.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s the problem with free agents,&rdquo; said (Boston Bruins&rsquo; GM Harry Sinden. &ldquo;You can look at almost every organization and point, out a disaster or two.&rdquo;-Mike Brophy &#9632;

f0018-01

Off-year won’t hurt these free agents

<div class="byline">By Mike Dudurich</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0019-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011175/6819808-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg"></div>Remember all the warm and fuzzy feelings that enveloped Pittsburgh, its hockey fans and Mario Lemieux when the superstar center retired following the 1996-97 season?In the spring of 1998, things turned considerably less warm and a whole lot less fuzzy.On May 15, Lemieux filed a motion in Common Pleas Court to sue Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; co-owner Roger Marino, claiming the Penguins have failed to make deferred payments on the $42-million contract he signed in 1992. Lemieux is scheduled to be paid something close to $24 million over the next eight to 10 years.Lemieux&rsquo;s original agreement has been revised several times, reportedly deferring more and more of the money as the Penguins&rsquo; financial situation has become more and more tenuous.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve tried for months to resolve this on high ground and Mario is fresh out of patience,&rdquo; said Tom Reich, Lemieux&rsquo;s agent. &ldquo;He wanted this action brought now after months of trying the high road and I concur with him. Mario has done everything for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He has gone out of his way to accommodate them. But this is a contract that was signed by both parties and recognized by the NHL, as were all of the various revisions. That must be honored. Believe me: Mario will be paid.&rdquo;Not long after Lemieux filed his in-tent-to-sue motion, it was learned that at the end of March Lemieux had filed a grievance against the Penguins through the NHL Players&rsquo; Association. If Lemieux&rsquo;s representatives and the Penguins cannot settle the dispute on their own, the matter could go to an arbitrator.Had Lemieux waited much longer to file the grievance, however, he might not have been protected by the NHLPA.&ldquo;Mario filed a timely grievance to assure he would be able to pursue (arbitration) in case the parties didn&rsquo;t solve the matter on their own,&rdquo; said Ian Pulver, an associate counsel for the NHLPA.The Penguins are believed to be $5.1 million behind on their payments to Lemieux. Reich denied Lemieux is seeking a lump-sum payment so he can become an unrestricted free agent and sign with another team, as suggested by a Toronto newspaper.&ldquo;Mario isn&rsquo;t playing any hockey next year,&rdquo; Reich said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll never say neve, because I&rsquo;ve been in sports for 30 years and you don&rsquo;t say never after what I&rsquo;ve seen, but he isn&rsquo;t going to be playing any hockey.&rdquo;After the story appeared in late May, Lemieux told reporters he had no intentions of coming back to the NHL.&ldquo;Nope, no chance,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;I played for one team my entire career. That&rsquo;s what I wanted. Things are good now (in retirement). It&rsquo;s great. I love it. It&rsquo;s a different life, butI like it.&rdquo;There had been speculation Marino is trying to dodge responsibility for the team&rsquo;s debt to Lemieux because his contract included several &ldquo;personal service&rdquo; clauses between Lemieux and then-dominant owner Howard Baldwin. Marino said he merely wants to stretch the payments over a longer period of time.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s unfortunate that this occurred,&rdquo; Baldwin said, &ldquo;but we are talking, and I&rsquo;m hoping things will be settled within 30 days. We want to work out something that gives us a break over the next two years. We want this club to get back on its feet.&rdquo;Said Reich: &ldquo;We know that when Howard says something, he is sincere.However, we have absolutely no indication from the other powers that be that some substantive effort to resolve this significant problem is being made. Obviously, a settlement would be the best result, but I&rsquo;m not particularly optimistic.&rdquo;<h2>CHRISTIAN SPORTSCARDS PRESENTS ANOTHER HOCKEY AUCTION &#9632;</h2>

f0019-01

Lemieux to sue Pens over late payments

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender Staff Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0020-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02707/6819839-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Yes, Al Maclnnis could be a Predator this summer. By the time autumn rolls around, he&rsquo;ll be long gone.</figcaption></div>You heard it here first. When Garth Brooks is crooning the national anthem for the Nashville Predators&rsquo; home opener next October, these five players will be standing on the blueline: Pat LaFontaine at center, Brent Gilchrist at left wing and Dino Ciccarelli on the right. Sean O&rsquo;Donnell and Sean Hill on defense and Mike Dunham in goal. Some creaky bones up front, but altogether not too shabby.Two shifts later, out skates a third unit of Craig Darby, Radek Bonk and Mike Sullivan with Craig Rivet and Rob Zettler on defense. Well&hellip;they&rsquo;ll work hard.Of course, providing a home for the in-firm, elderly and unproven is what building an expansion team is all about. We know that now from first-hand experience. We window-shopped for Dominik Hasek and ended up with Tony Hrkac. Somewhere in here is a wistful country ditty just waiting to be written.Nevertheless, Nashville GM David Poile remains undaunted in his career choice and unmoving in his insistence on battle plan secrecy. We believe his first task-the expansion draft-is all but taken care of, and told him as much. Fax over the team, said the GM, then we can talk.We did. And what did Poile give us back? Vague generalities. He wouldn&rsquo;t tell us which of the Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; Jims he would prefer if both were available-Cummins or McKenzie (we like J.C.)-or even if there&rsquo;d be a run for Scott Walker. We know junior center Marian Cisar, acquired from the Los Angeles Kings June 1, is the first Predator, but Poile wouldn&rsquo;t name names of other game he&rsquo;s hunting. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s very representative of what&rsquo;s available,&rdquo; Poile said of the THN list. &ldquo;There are some things 1 know that you don&rsquo;t necessarily know that would change things a little bit.&rdquo;Such as? Well, contract legalese, for one. Certain players we anticipate being exposed for the expansion draft may in fact become unrestricted free agents due to fine print in con-tracts. Some may be released outright. Then there&rsquo;s the matter of trades. All rosters are frozen 48 hours after the last game of the Stanley Cup final. Before then, good teams will trade players they can&rsquo;t protect to weaker teams, who deal a draft pick or prospect in return. For Nashville, it means they may get even more bottom-of-the barrel fish than the list you see here.When choosing our Predators, we first predicted who would be available after teams submit protected lists, then tried to stay away from players with high salaries and give priority to youth over experience.Nashville must draft one player from each team, including eight defensemen, 13 forwards and three goalies, plus two others at any position. They will likely be goalies.<h2>THN EXPANSION PICKS</h2>Nashville must select one player from each NHL team in the June 26 expansion draft-a total of three goalies, eight defensemen, 13 forwards and two others at any position (they will likely be goalies). We thought we&rsquo;d give it a try first.ANAHEIM MIKHAIL SHTALENKOVAnaheim won&rsquo;t have much else to offer (read forward J.F. Jomphe or defenseman Doug Hou-da) and Shtalenkov is a serviceable No. 2 goalie. Former Pittsburgh rookie star Patrick Lalime is Ducks&rsquo; property and will be available.G Anaheim 13-18-5,3.22 GAABOSTON MIKE SULLIVANDefenseman Grant Ledyard is another option, but at 36 he doesn&rsquo;t have much gas left. Don&rsquo;t be overly shocked if Boston protects two goalies-By-ron Dafoe and yes, Jim Carey. In this case, Ted Donato or Steve Heinze would go.C Boston 77-5-13-18-34BUFFALO STEVE SHIELDSIf the Sabres do choose to protect Shields-we say they won&rsquo;t-defenseman Jason Woolley (or, less likely, Bob Boughner) is a goner. Or. they could offer Nashville a bone in the form of Derek Plante not to take Shields.G Buffalo 3-6-4,2.83 GAACALGARY JOEL BOUCHARDBouchard is a good, quick skater and skilled with the puck, but his reluctance to hit hard and hit often means he doesn&rsquo;t have much of a future with Brian Sutter. He&rsquo;d be a better addition than forwards Todd Hlushko, Jim Dowd or Ed Ward.D Calqary 44-5-7-12-57CAROLINA SEAN HILLThe choice between veterans Hill or Kevin Dineen is almost a toss-up. The best-case scenario for the Predators would be for Carolina to expose tough guy Stu Grimson, but it&rsquo;s unlikely he&rsquo;ll be available.D Carolina 55-1-6-7-54CHICAGO GREG JOHNSONJohnson has speed and some offensive ability going for him, but not a whole lot else. In Nashville, that just might be enough. The Hawks&rsquo; biggest fear is losing backup goaltender Chris Terreri.C Chicago 74-12-22-34-40COLORADO ALEXEI GUSAROVAlthough 34, Gusarov still has value, but not likely enough for the Avs to protect him over Aaron Miller, 26. If Colorado is forced to expose one of young forwards Rene Corbet, Stephane Yelle or Sean Donovan, Nashville would jump.D Colorado 72-4-10-14-42DALLAS GREG ADAMSThe Stars have the option on Adams&rsquo; contract next year, which they may be reluctant to pick up. If he stays healthy, he can contribute for Nashville. Minor league goalie Manny Fernandez or forward Dave Reid are other options.LW Dallas 49-14-18-32-20DETROIT BRENT GILCHRISTGoalie Kevin Hodson will also be exposed and will merit consideration, but Gilchrist can provide some offense in the right role. Elder defenseman Jamie Macoun wouldn&rsquo;t be as effective on a poor team as he can be with the Wings.LW Detroit 61-13-14-27-40EDMONTON TONY HRKACHe&rsquo;s old (32), but still has some offensive spark and creativity. He&rsquo;ll only be available because of Edmonton&rsquo;s numbers problems; to protect him, it would have to expose-and lose-young center Rem Murray.C Edmonton 49-13-14-27-10FLORIDA DINO CICCARELLIFlorida will expose a number of high-priced veterans including Ciccarelli, who could be a good asset for Nashville come the 1999 trade deadline Selecting one of defensemen Jeff Norton or Ter ry Carkner wouldn&rsquo;t be unpalatable.RW Florida 62-16-17-33-7CLos ANGELES SEAN O&rsquo;DONNELLThe Kings will lose a top-six defenseman because they&rsquo;ll protect both Stephane Fiset and Jamie Storr. Nashville&rsquo;s real choice-a relatively pleasant one-is between tough customers O&rsquo;Donnell and Doug Zmolek.D Los Angeles 80-2-15-17-179MONTREAL CRAIG RIVETRivet is young and has potential, but likely not enough for the Habs to protect him ahead of Peter Popovic. Although goalie Andy Moog has said he isn&rsquo;t moving anywhere, the Predators could gain a draft pick by promising not to take him.D Montreal 61-0-2-2-93Yes, Al Maclnnis could be a Predator this summer. Bv the time autumn rolls around, he&rsquo;ll be long qone.<h2>EXPANSION DREAM TEAM</h2>Goalies: Mike Dunham. Wade Flaherty, Steve Shields, Mikhail Shtalenkov, Peter Skudra.Defensemen: Joel Bouchard, Enrico Ciccone, Alexei Gusarov, Scan Hill. Al Maclnnis, Sean O&rsquo;Donnell, Craig Rivet. Rob Zettler.Forwards: Greg Adams. Radek Bonk, Andrew Brunette. Dino Ciccarelli, Jim Cummins, Craig Darby, Brent Gilchrist, Stephen Guolla, Tony Hrkac, Greg Johnson. Pat LaFontaine, Mike Sullivan, Scott Walker.<h2>THN EXPANSION PICKS</h2>Teams can protect one goalie and either six defensemen and nine forwards or five defensemen and 10 forwards. If they decide to protect two goalies, the numbers fall to four and seven or three and eight We picked only players whom we believe will be exposed.NEW JERSEY MIKE DUNHAMA potential No. 1 goalie on a light contract is too good to pass up. The Devils have too many good forwards and defensemen to protect two goalies, though they&rsquo;d be foolish not to try to get something back for Dunham in a deal firstG New Jersey 5-5-3,2.25 GAAISLANDERS WADE FLAHERTYFlaherty proved in 16 games with the islanders this season that he could still play and he shone in the minors. The other options are defenseman J.J. Daigneault, who could easily be a top-six man on Nashville&rsquo;s blueline, or forward Tom Chorske.G Islanders 4-4-3,1.99RANGERS PAT LAFONTAINEOur longshot, pending LaFontaine&rsquo;s health. Nashville needs a marquee player. If he retires because of concussion problems or can&rsquo;t play, insurance will pay the big salary. If he does play, he&rsquo;ll score some and put fannies in the seats.C Ranqers 67-23-39-62-36OTTAWA RADEK BONKOdds are the third overall pick in 1994 has too much potential not to be chosen if left exposed. The change of scenery could only do him good. Don&rsquo;t count goalie Ron Tugnutt out of the mix, either, or captain Randy Cunney worth.C Ottawa 65-7-9-16-16PHILADELPHIA CRAIG DARBYScouts are high on the high-scoring Philadelphia Phantom. He&rsquo;s 25. talented, has never been given much of a chance and is better value for money than Joel Otto, Paul Coffey or other older Flyers likely to be exposed.LW Philadelphia (AHL) 77-42-45-87-34PHOENIX JIM CUMMINSIf tough guy Cummins isn&rsquo;t left open, tough guy Jim McKenzie will be. One of them is almost certain to be nabbed. Then again, there&rsquo;s always Michel Petit, ready and willing (wc can only assume) to make Nashville Team No. 11.LW Phoenix 75-0-2-2-225PITTSBURGH PETER SKUDRASkudra&rsquo;s two-way contract may makes him more valuable to Nashville than veteran Ken Wregget. If Wregget is traded before then, it&rsquo;s beside the point. If a goalie isn&rsquo;t taken from the Pens, defenseman Neil Wilkinson will be.G Pittsburgh 6-4-3,1.83 GAAST. LOUIS AL MACINNISIs an early second round pick better than Mike Eastwood? Yes, for an expansion team. Maclnnis, an unrestricted free agent, will sign elsewhere, but Nashville gets the compensatory pick. The same goes if the Predators take Brett Hull.LW St. Louis 71-19-30-49-80SAN JOSE STEPHEN GUOLLAGuolla, the second leading American League scorer. is one of the top skill players who should be available. San Jose may try to protect him, even though he only played 11 NHL games in 1997-98. In any case, he&rsquo;s deserving of a chance in the bigs.LW Kentucky (AHL) 69-37-63-100-45TAMPA BAY ENRICO CICCONECiccone is a loose cannon, but he still has more value around the league than does defenseman Yves Racine. Goalie Daren Puppa will be left exposed, but salary, age and injury troubles are all working against him escaping the Bolts.D Tampa Bay 39-0-4-4-175TORONTO ROB ZETTLERThe Leafs have only five defensemen eligible, which means Zettler is odd man out. A physical, hard-working veteran. Zettler would be a good addition. Toronto could make a trade first to acquire another blueline body to expose.D Toronto 59-0-7-7-108VANCOUVER SCOTT WALKERWalker, a third or fourth liner, has more than enough grit, drive and feistiness to compensate for skill deficiencies&hellip;and to make him more valuable than the other option at forward, David Roberts. Goalie Corey Hirsch is a longshot.C Vancouver 59-3-10-13-164WASHINGTON ANDREW BRUNETTEBrunette spent most of the season in the American League because the Caps consider him too slow. On the plus side, he has scored wherever he has played and the Predators know him well; he was originally a David Poile draft pick.LW Portland (AHL) 43-21-46-67-64 &#9632;

f0020-02

Predators set to pounce in NHL expansion draft

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-01960/6819870-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="509" height="727"></div>You are forgiven if you think this year&rsquo;s NHL&rsquo;s playoff schedule bites&hellip;or the playoffs run too long&hellip;or Sunday afternoon hockey in the spring is taboo.And it is completely understandable if you feel by disregarding the traditional Eastern-Western format with conference games being played on alternate nights, the NHL is thumbing its nose to its most faithful fans who grew used to seeing their favorite teams every second night.Which is evidently how a lot of hockey fans feel. Playoff ratings for Fox were down 14 per cent from last year and down 23 per cent on ESPN. The biggest shocker was in Canada, where Hockey Night in Canada was down an incredible 30 per cent.But there are certain realities people must get used to, namely the regular season and playoff schedules are dictated in a big way by television, arena availability and major sponsorship these days. That means under current conditions there will be occasions when a series will halt for 48 hours, instead of the customary one day between games, in order to ensure Fox gets a Sunday afternoon game or ESPN2 gets a Sunday night game or Hockey Night In Canada gets a Saturday night doubleheader. And that also means series last longer. There were nine two-day breaks in series in the first three rounds.Unless you have a schedule right in front of you, it&rsquo;s nearly impossible to remember which teams are playing on which nights. It&rsquo;s damn frustrating.&ldquo;I understand the complaint,&rdquo; said Glenn Adamo, the NHL&rsquo;s vice-president, broadcasting. &ldquo;The old schedule was very predictable, very easy to follow. But if I&rsquo;m an Eastern Conference fan and only Western Conference games are on, I have no reason to tune in. That&rsquo;s one of the reasons we have the two conferences playing on the same night. Our goal is to maximize our exposure and keep everyone interested on a night-to-night basis.&rdquo;There are other factors involved.Some arenas are shared between-NHL clubs and National Basketball &rsquo; Association teams. In most cases of conflicting dates, the NBA takes precedence over the NHL.This year&rsquo;s situation was further complicated by the fact the NHL took a 15-day break at mid-season to accommodate the Winter Olympics.It seems to me many people want: to put all the blame on TV. But what about the players? The NHL Players&rsquo; &rsquo; Association hasn&rsquo;t said anything official on the matter, but it&rsquo;s hard to believe they&rsquo;d want to play back-to-back games in the playoffs. In fact, the creaky old Detroit Red Wings were happy to have big breaks between their series.Philadelphia defenseman Paul Coffey said one way to speed things up is to start series quicker. Don&rsquo;t wait until one round is entirely finished to start the next if there are advancing teams available to play. &ldquo;If one team ends up with a longer break going into the final, that&rsquo;s its reward for winning in fewer games,&rdquo; Coffey said.Hockey needs television to grow in terms of popularity, which goes hand-in-hand with financial support. And it makes little sense to point at this year&rsquo;s sagging ratings, especially in the United States, and say, &ldquo;take the schedule out of TV&rsquo;s hands and give us back night hockey and games on alternate nights.&rdquo;If the New York Rangers made the playoffs and the Philadelphia Flyers met in the Eastern Conference final, you could be looking at a huge ratings increase. That&rsquo;s because New York and Philadelphia represent two of the largest TV markets. In this regard, the NHL is no different than the NBA, Major League Baseball or the National Football League. A Montreal Expos-Toronto Blue Jays World Series would be death for baseball&rsquo;s TV ratings outside Canada.For years the NHL tried to get an American network to jump on board. Adding Fox in 1995 (the deal expires after next season) gave revenue and exposure to the league. You don&rsquo;t need a blue streak to follow that logic.Don&rsquo;t even bother suggesting Fox show games on Sunday night, even if its ratings are down this year. It won&rsquo;t happen. Hockey is growing in popularity, but it has a long way to go to catch up to The Simpsons, King Of The Hill or X-Files. The only way you&rsquo;ll see hockey on Fox on a Sunday night is if Dana Scully gets invited to the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; rookie camp.Part of the answer seems to be in scheduling some back-to-back games during the playoffs. It might mean coaches have to play their fourth lines a little more and their star defensemen a little less. But if teams can play on consecutive nights in the regular season, they can do it in the playoffs.Injuries would be a concern, but aren&rsquo;t they always? Besides, all the teams would be competing on equal footing. The NHLPA says the issue of back-to-back games has not been broached. Perhaps it&rsquo;s time to do it. Perhaps it&rsquo;s time to take fans into consideration. &#9632;

f0022-01

Here’s why playoff drive can drive vou bonkers

<div class="byline">By Steve Keating</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0022-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02660/6819901-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mats Sundin and the Swedes corralled Raimo Helminen and the Finns to win the World Championship.</figcaption></div>ZURICH, Switz.-Sweden turned its Olympic disappointment into World Championship gold as European teams once again swept the medals, adding another dent to North America&rsquo;s battered hockey reputation.By beating Nordic rivals Finland in a quirky two-game gold medal final (a 1-0 win May 16 and 0-0 tie May 17) the Swedes assured themselves of a warmer reception when they flew home than the one they received when they returned without a medal from Nagano.The same couldn&rsquo;t be said for Canada and the United States, both of whom capped off a miserable year of international hockey on the men&rsquo;s side. After cruising through the preliminary round, Canada stumbled badly and finished fifth. The U.S. was simply embarrassed and humiliated, losing four of its six games and finishing 12th. Included in that was a 3-1 loss to France, a 1-1 tie with Germany, a 4-0 loss to Italy and a 3-2 loss to Latvia.Led by co-scoring champions Peter Forsberg and Mats Sundin, Sweden salvaged its season by roaring through the championship undefeated to claim a seventh world title and first since 1992.The victory earned the Swedes revenge on their archrivals-who had knocked them out in the quarterfinal in Nagano-and allowed Kent Forsberg to end his tenure as national team coach on a golden note.The Olympic champions from Czech Republic arrived in Zurich looking to complete the golden double, but settled instead for a bronze with a 4-0 win over the surprising Swiss.It was also not the ending for which the host Swiss had been praying. as their compelling run for their first medal in 45 years fell one game short.Making their first appearance in the A Pool championship since 1992 and only because they were hosting the event, the Swiss marched into the medal round behind a string of upsets, including an historic 4-2 win over Olympic silver medallist Russia.By the time the teams were facing off for the medals, the United States and defending champion Canada had long since departed. Canada, determined to make up for its failure in Nagano, assembled a solid lineup of NHL players, including four Olympians.But once again, the Canadians&rsquo; effort fell well short. They stumbled home after being hammered 7-1 by Sweden in the second round.Canadian coach Andy Murray complained loudly about the tournament format, the poor quality of officiating and even hinted at an anti-Canada conspiracy, with new rules this year designed to keep his team from defending its title.Canada&rsquo;s problems however, were minor compared to those facing the Americans. The U.S. hockey reputation. already tattered by its failure to return home from Nagano with a medal and further tarnished by the unsolved room-trashing incident at the athletes&rsquo; village, took yet another hit in Zurich.There was no need to bolt down the furniture and lock up the fire extinguishers, as the American players conducted themselves with the decorum of Swiss bankers.But their play on the larger European ice surface was equally subdued, with the U.S. winning just one game, a 4-2 win over Switzerland in their tournament opener, and dropping from the A pool.Still stinging from the criticism they received in Nagano, members of the U.S. Olympic team appeared to stage their own World Championship boycott. Every Olympic player available turned down the invitation.&ldquo;There is absolutely no respect for this event in the U.S.,&rdquo; charged U.S. coach Jeff Jackson. &ldquo;Some people are going to have to sit down and take a hard look and decide who was responsible for what happened here, the U.S. hockey federation or the NHL.&ldquo;If the NHL doesn&rsquo;t want to be part of this then we have to change our attitude and how we&rsquo;re going to approach these tournaments.&rdquo;The Americans can re-qualify for a spot in the A Pool if they can finish in the top two of a qualifying tournament in Klagenfurt, Austria Nov. 5-8 against Kazakhstan, Austria and Estonia.USA Hockey is hoping to get some help from the minor pro leagues in North America and is lobbying them before the schedules for next year are devised. It also hopes to pick up some Americans playing in European professional leagues.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve never been down this road before,&rdquo; said USA Hockey spokesman Darryl Seibel. &#9632;

f0022-02

Sweden captures gold, Canada, USA stumble

<div class="byline">By Mike Heike</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-02542/6819932-1-eng-US/f0023-022.jpg" title="f0023-02" width="420" height="563"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Nieuwendyk</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-01851/6819939-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg" title="f0023-01" width="220" height="217"></div>If the Dallas Stars have a schedule, they&rsquo;re probably a year behind right now.Last season, they thought they had enough fire-power to get to the Western Conference final, but instead were derailed in the first round of the playoffs by the Edmonton Oilers. This year, they were supposed to battle for the Stanley Cup and lost in the conference final.But if you can measure progress in the playoffs, the Stars are getting there. They pushed the Detroit Red Wings to the wall in their western showdown before losing in six games. Many of-servers felt the Stars actually outplayed the Red Wings in the conference final, losing only because of a few fluke goals and a less-than-perfect performance by netminder Ed Belfour.But the fact that Belfour needed to be perfect, as he was in the first two rounds, underscored the Stars&rsquo; problem in the playoffs-and possibly their biggest area of concern in the off-season. When center Joe Nieuwendyk went down with a knee injury in the first game of the playoffs against the San Jose Sharks, the Stars&rsquo; offensive structure changed.Either by coaching philosophy or lack of offensive skill, the Stars became one of the lowest scoring teams ever (averaging 2.4 goals per play-off game) to find its way this deep into the post-season.&ldquo;When Joe got hurt, it changed a lot of the things we do,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; center Mike Modano. &ldquo;We were a different team after that.&rdquo;So the question becomes do the Stars need more offense?They&rsquo;ve been very active in the free agent market and this summer&rsquo;s crop figures to be one of the deepest ever. (See pg. 18 for more on free agents.) Among their own players expected to be unrestricted free agents are forwards Benoit Hog-ue and Greg Adams, and the Stars could opt to go with younger legs in Jamie Wright and Jason Botterill or test the free agent waters for a proven scoring winger.The Stars will give serious consideration to re-signing two veterans center Guy Carbonneau and defenseman Craig Ludwig, both unrestricted free agents. Restricted free agents who likely will be back are defensemen Darryl Sydor and Richard Matvichuk (who expects to have major knee surgery over the summer) and right winger Jamie Langenbrunner.For the most part, though, the heart of the team is together and already signed. So it&rsquo;s simply a matter of reloading and trying to get themselves back on schedule.NOTEBOOK: Center Joe Nieuwendyk, who had major surgery on both knees May 7, was walking normally by June 1 and optimistic about his return next season. The original forecast was six-to-eight months. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just going to work hard and do everything I can to get back early,&rdquo; Nieuwendyk said&hellip;Right winger Jamie Langenbrunner&rsquo;s first goal of the playoffs-in Game 5 against Detroit-was a memorable one. His long drive from just inside center ice skipped toward Red Wings&rsquo; goaltender Chris Osgood, who then deflected into his own net for the overtime winner&hellip;Left winger Jamie Wright made his NHL playoff debut April 28&hellip;The Stars, who ranked No. 1 during the regular season on the power play at 20.0 per cent, were at 10.5 per cent in the playoffs&hellip;The Stars broke a 70-year-old NHL record by holding opponents to two goals or fewer in 10 consecutive playoff games. The old record was nine set by the Montreal Maroons in 1928. &#9632;

f0023-02

Strong Stars only need to re-load to net back on track for Cun bid

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-03376/6819970-1-eng-US/f0023-032.jpg" title="f0023-03" width="216" height="218"></div>In the end, the Buffalo Sabres were good, just not good enough.Their remarkable run through the NHL playoffs ended two wins short of a berth in the Stanley Cup final, losing to the Washington Capitals 4-2 in the Eastern Conference final series.The last loss came June 4 at Marine Midland Arena, a 3-2 decision in overtime.It was the third overtime loss in the series for the Sabres, who drew a split in Washington, lost two in a row at home, won a ragged game in Washington and then lost the clincher. The losses marked the first time the Sabres lost three in a row at home all season.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always disappointing when you lose the last game of the season,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; goaltender Dominik Hasek. &ldquo;We were close, but the Capitals played well. I have to give them credit. They played great defensively. The line with (Peter) Bondra, (Richard) Zednik and (Andrei) Nikolishin was probably the best line of the season.&rdquo;The Sabres had no answer for that line. Although they played well defensively, the offense that served them so well in early round triumphs over the Philadelphia Flyers and Montreal Canadiens deserted them against the close-checking Capitals.Buffalo&rsquo;s power play, the best in the playoffs through the first two rounds, also swooned against the Caps. In addition, Caps&rsquo; goalie Olaf Koizig played Hasek even to better in four of the six games. The Sabres won two road games, but their inability to get clutch goals was their undoing.&ldquo;To get this close and let it slip away is absolutely heartbreaking,&rdquo; said veteran Dixon Ward. &ldquo;I feel real bad for Dominik because we had the opportunity to give him one of the all-time greatest accomplishments in sports history if we could have pulled this out and made a run at the Cup.&rdquo;Ward was referring to the fact Hasek won a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Nagano and was trying for a rare double, an Olympic medal and the Stanley Cup in the same season. It didn&rsquo;t happen, but getting to the Eastern Conference finals was a major achievement for a Sabres team that hadn&rsquo;t been this far since 1980.Buffalo is the youngest team in the NHL and the Capitals are the oldest.&ldquo;I told our guys I would rather have our young players than their old ones,&rdquo; said head coach Lindy Ruff. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m very proud of this team and what it accomplished.&rdquo;Still, there are question marks for the Sabres. They learned that even with Hasek at his best, they were no match for deeper, better-balanced teams with good goaltending.A goal-scorer or two, preferably one with experience in tough situations would be a big help. Some added depth on the blueline would also be on their wish list as well as someone who can make a difference on the power play.NOTEBOOK: The Sabres dressed left winger Paul Kruse in the final game and he was credited with a goal, his first in his first playoff game. Kruse had been recovering from a knee injury&hellip;Right winger Rob Ray, 29, was inconsolable after the game. The oldest player on the team, he was a healthy scratch several times in the playoffs and his future with the club is cloudy&hellip;Right winger Miroslav Satan, the Sabres&rsquo; leading scorer during the regular season, was a healthy scratch in the final game. Satan had slipped into a goal-scoring slump&hellip;.Goalie Dominik Hasek played every minute of every game in the playoffs. Counting Olympic and preseason games, he played in more than 100 contests. &ldquo;For sure it was a long year for me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I never played hockey this late in the year before, but I would have liked to have played another seven or eight games."&hellip;Defenseman Jay McKee, a regular through much of the regular season, was the only player not to dress for the playoffs. &#9632;

f0023-03

Experience, extra scoring punch would hold Sabres in good stead

<div class="byline">By Cynthia Lambert</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01912/6820001-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="217" height="217"></div>When the Detroit Red Wings won their first Stanley Cup in 42 years last spring, Steve Yzerman was the first player to be handed the Cup. Not only was it protocol, since he is the captain, but it was right and just.Yzerman, after 13 years of frustration, played a major role in the Red Wings&rsquo; march to the championship. His performance was rewarded when he skated around the ice at Joe Louis Arena with the Cup held over his head.But Yzerman was not deemed the playoff MVP. Instead, goalie Mike Vernon, in the closest voting in the history of the award, was presented with the Conn Smythe Trophy. He edged Yzerman by two points, meaning if one voter had listed Yzerman first and Vernon second, instead of the other way around, Yzerman would have carried that trophy home, too.His turn could come this time around. Through 18 playoff games, Yzerman led the Wings with 20 points (four goals, 16 assists). He played in all situations, and, as he has done his entire career, Yzerman inspired his teammates with an unyielding attitude.&ldquo;I think people are seeing what a gritty guy he is,&rdquo; said left winger Brendan Shanahan. &ldquo;He plays such a well-rounded game at both ends. With the way he plays, the guys just build off it.&rdquo;For years, it has been expected Sergei Fedorov would be passed the torch of leading the Red Wings. But Yzerman has a stranglehold on that torch because his fire has not died or even flickered. He knows it is his responsibility to lead the Red Wings to consecutive Cup wins and, at 33, he was playing the best hockey of his career.&ldquo;I think there was a cloud that has gone from the top of his head and now he&rsquo;s rising through it,&rdquo; said associate coach Dave Lewis. &ldquo;I played with guys like (Bryan) Trottier and (Denis) Potvin. They wanted to win and it didn&rsquo;t matter if they won it the year before. Stevie has the same temperament.&rdquo;And perhaps this year, he&rsquo;ll have the Conn Smythe Trophy.NOTEBOOK: Tough right winger Darren McCarty made it through the first three rounds relatively unscathed. His only blemish came between Games 4 and 5, when his son&rsquo;s five-year-old friend lifted a plastic puck high during a friendly game and smacked McCarty on the forehead, cutting him for six stitches&hellip;In the series against Dallas, center Sergei Fedorov and left winger Brendan Shanahan were the offensive disappointments. Fedorov had two points in six games and Shanahan had no points in the series. &ldquo;You can do so much defensively, but if you aren&rsquo;t doing your full job, things get tough,&rdquo; Fedorov said. Said Shanahan: &ldquo;I&rsquo;m trying. I just have to make sure when I go to the net, I&rsquo;m ready.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Goalie Chris Osgood on the long overtime goal he allowed to Dallas right winger Jamie Langenbrunner in Game 5. &ldquo;I played a pretty good game and then to let in a stupid goal like that, I was so mad,&rdquo; Osgood said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s ridiculous, really. I&rsquo;ve never been so mad after a game in my entire life.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0026-01

Captain Yzerman hasn’t lost fire; playing best hockey of his career

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02601/6820032-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="219" height="217"></div>Rookie Washington Capitals&rsquo; GM George McPhee was standing in the dressing room after his team had just beaten the Buffalo Sabres for the Eastern Conference championship and was trying to sum up goaltender Olaf Koizig&rsquo;s accomplishments:&ldquo;He outplayed Dominik Hasek so I guess that says it all,&rdquo; McPhee said. &ldquo;Hasek&rsquo;s performance the other night (Game 5 on June 2) was outstanding, but Olie has been consistently good, poised, confident, certainly the best I&rsquo;ve ever seen. In fact, it&rsquo;s the best goaltending I&rsquo;ve ever seen.&rdquo;Biased no doubt, but there was a rapidly growing band of Kolzig followers starting to pop up. It was perhaps the same group of people who have been following the 6-foot-3, 225-pounder all season, waiting for something to go wrong. They were still waiting on the eve of the Stanley Cup final as the goalie emerged as one of the top candidates for the Conn Smythe Trophy.&ldquo;Is he a legitimate candidate?&rdquo; McPhee repeated. &ldquo;No doubt. Right now I&rsquo;d say he&rsquo;s the lead guy. He&rsquo;s the reason we&rsquo;re here, I&rsquo;ll tell you that.&rdquo;Funny how things work out. When the season started Oct. 1 in Toronto, Bill Ranford was No. 1 for Washington, Kolzig the backup. But Ranford was injured 2:29 into the first period of Game 1 and Kolzig started the second period. Ranford hasn&rsquo;t gotten his job back yet.McPhee took over the Caps last June, already aware of Koizig&rsquo;s reputation as an excellent backup. In fact, Gerry Cheevers had compared Kolzig to Hasek, when the Czech goalie was understudying for the Chicago Blackhawks.&ldquo;Then (Tampa Bay Lightning GM) Phil Esposito called me during training camp and asked if I&rsquo;d be interested in moving him,&rdquo; McPhee said. &ldquo;I said &lsquo;no&rsquo; and then Phil tells me his brother Tony loves the guy. When I hear two former goalies like (Tony Esposito and Cheevers) talking that way, I knew we had something.&rdquo;Entering the final, Kolzig was 12-5-0 with a 1.69 goals-against average, .947 save percentage and four shutouts.NOTEBOOK: The Caps had a private jet on standby while the team was in Buffalo for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final in case right winger Brian Bellows had to make a quick flight to Minnesota to be with his wife, who was expecting their second child. Bellows had asked the club for help in setting something up at his expense, but team owner Abe Pollin stepped in and said he would pay for the jet&hellip;With the Stanley Cup final still to go, center Andrei Nikolishin had already tied the team record for assists in a single playoff season with 11. He matched the previous efforts of defenseman Scott Stevens and center Mike Ridley&hellip;The Capitals&rsquo; ever-present injury woes don&rsquo;t stop just because it&rsquo;s the post-season. The team lost wingers Michal Pivonka and Todd Krygier during the playoffs and weren&rsquo;t able to use defenseman Jeff Brown, who was acquired for his right-handed shot on the power play, but couldn&rsquo;t play due to post-concussion syndrome. &#9632;

f0026-02

King of backup goalies Kolzig becomes Capitals’ playoff hero

<div class="byline">By Gammy Clark</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01871/6820063-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="218" height="212"></div>During the six weeks following the worst season in the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim&rsquo;s five-year history, the team conducted a post-mortem.The verdict is now in. GM Jack Ferreira and coach Pierre Page will keep their jobs, but there were casualties. Associate coach Walt Kyle and assistant coach Don Hay were fired.&ldquo;We just decided to restructure the coaching staff and made other jobs available to them in the organization,&rdquo; Ferreira said, insisting Kyle and Hay were not made scapegoats for the Ducks&rsquo; 26-43-13 season in which they missed the playoffs and finished fourth-last in the NHL.Kyle was offered a pro scouting job. Hay was offered the head coaching job of the Ducks&rsquo; American League farm team, the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks. Cincinnati&rsquo;s current head coach, Moe Mantha, likely will take one of the Ducks&rsquo; assistant positions.Ferreira and assistant GM David McNab have said repeatedly they are pleased with Mantha&rsquo;s ability to develop young players. The Ducks&rsquo; roster next season is expected to include several players under 25.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t anticipate any other moves, unless they regard player personnel,&rdquo; Ferreira said.The exception would be if McNab is hired as the first GM of the Atlanta Thrashers. McNab had an interview with the NHL expansion team and was still in the running in early June.NOTEBOOK: Former Duck defenseman Milos Holan is hoping to make an incredible comeback to the NHL. Just two years ago, he was battling for his life after receiving a bone marrow transplant to treat chronic granulocytic leukemia (a malignant disorder of bone marrow). &ldquo;Milos is totally off all his medication,&rdquo; said GM Jack Ferreira. &ldquo;He asked his doctor what he can and couldn&rsquo;t do. The doctor said, &rsquo;Anything you want.&rsquo; &ldquo;So Holan has begun working out with his former club team in his native Czech Republic. If all goes well, he will come to Anaheim&rsquo;s training camp on a tryout. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll see how it goes, but we&rsquo;d be more than happy to have him,&rdquo; Ferreira said. Holan currently is under contract with the Ducks as a scout. &#9632;

f0027-01

Page assistants Kyle, Hay let go after dismal season

<div class="byline">By Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03354/6820094-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="778" height="1215"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Allison</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02544/6820101-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="216" height="212"></div>Pat Burns sent the Boston Bruins off for spring and summer vacation with praise, compliments and a warning.&ldquo;What&rsquo;s important is we&rsquo;ve got to come back and think everything is going to be that much harder than it was the year before,&rdquo; the Bruins&rsquo; coach said a day after Boston lost its first round Eastern Conference playoff series to the Washington Capitals in six games. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve woken teams up to the fact the Boston Bruins are not going to be a pushover. You have to tell your team, &rsquo;You have to be prepared more than you were last year.&rsquo; &ldquo;The Bruins, dead last in the NHL in 1996-97, improved by 30 points, climbing all the way to ninth in the league (fifth in the Eastern Conference), then gave the Capitals all they could handle. Three of the series&rsquo; six games were decided in overtime, with Washington getting over the hump by winning two of those-including the double-overtime clincher-in Boston.Boston&rsquo;s surprisingly strong 199798 season, compiled with a team that used three rookies (including Calder Trophy finalist Sergei Samsonov) and opened the year with 10 players who had finished 1996-97 elsewhere, gave birth to a significant amount of optimism in Boston.There were some off-season concerns. though. Several key Bruins, ineluding three of their top five scorers (Jason Allison, Dmitri Khristich, Steve Heinze) and their best young defenseman (Kyle McLaren) were headed for Group II (restricted) free agency.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Ray Bourque, who hasn&rsquo;t said if he&rsquo;ll play past next season (his 20th in the NHL), gave the following summation of a super-long 1997-98 in which he played all 88 of Boston&rsquo;s regular season and playoff games, plus the Olympic tournament and NHL All-Star Game: &ldquo;It just keeps proving to me I can still do it,&rdquo; said the Bruins&rsquo; captain. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t have much time off this year, but I&rsquo;ve felt very good, very strong. I&rsquo;m very happy about how I felt as far as energy, the fire, the will to still go out and have fun. As long as that keeps up. I&rsquo;ll be around."&hellip;Defenseman Don Sweeney, sidelined through the playoffs by a March 1 shoulder injury, was to find out in mid-June if he&rsquo;ll need a second operation. &#9632;

f0027-03

Coach warns: ’Be prepared’

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01911/6820132-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="219" height="216"></div>One of the problems of trying to conceal an injury in the NHL is that sometimes the player does it all too well.That was the case with Calgary Flames&rsquo; goaltender Rick Tabaracci, who, for much of the season, had more than a gut feeling all was not well in his lower abdomen. With the Flames barely hanging on in the Western Conference playoff race, however, Tabaracci did not want to hear the bad news officially until he was beyond being able to help the team.Once that happened, Flames&rsquo; doctors did an MRI, discovered that Tabaracci did indeed have a hernia and booked the surgery.&ldquo;They squeezed me in as quickly as they could,&rdquo; said Tabaracci, &ldquo;which was good. That was the whole point, to get the process going as soon as possible. It&rsquo;s six weeks now and I&rsquo;m riding the bike and lifting some weights, but I&rsquo;m still having to be careful with how much 1 stretch. I&rsquo;ve started a rehab program and it&rsquo;s coming along as well.&rdquo;The future is less certain for Tabaracci in Calgary. Early in the season, he signed a one-year contract extension for $1.2 million (U.S.).However, it is distinctly possible that the Flames will make him available in the expansion draft, gambling that Nashville Predators&rsquo; GM David Poile-the man who traded Tabaracci to Calgary in the first place during his Washington Capitals&rsquo; days-would not reclaim him.NOTEBOOK: The Flames managed to get two of their better prospects from the 1996 entry draft under contract just before the June 1 deadline for signing players-Regina center Ronald Petrovicky and Oshawa goaltender Tyrone Garner. Petrovicky, chosen in the ninth round of the 1996 draft, blossomed this season, scoring 113 points in 71 games. Gamer went 23-178, had a 3.30 goals-against average and finished the year on the Flames&rsquo; roster following an injury to Rick Tabaracci. The Flames acquired Gamer as a throw-in in the Robert Reichel-for-Marty McInnis trade with the Islanders. Of Gamer, GM Al Coates said: &ldquo;We went out of our way to make him part of the trade, so I wouldn&rsquo;t have wanted to lose him.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0028-01

Tabaracci may be cut loose after going under the knife

<div class="byline">By Steve Politi</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03431/6820163-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="784" height="1217"><figcaption class="caption-body">Glen Weslev</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02605/6820170-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="218" height="212"></div>Apparently, Carolina Hurricanes&rsquo; GM Jim Rutherford saw enough encouraging signs from the team&rsquo;s impressive stretch in March and April to keep its key parts intact.Rutherford re-signed five of the team&rsquo;s key players to long-term contracts or contract extensions and told coach Paul Maurice he will return for a fourth season. The Hurricanes have already earmarked $30 million to keep those players-defensemen Glen Wesley and Curtis Leschyshyn and wingers Gary Roberts, Robert Kron and Paul Ranheim-with the team at least through its first scheduled season in Raleigh.Wesley&rsquo;s contract is the richest, giving him a reported $12.5 million over five seasons. He finished the season with six goals and 25 points. Leschyshyn gave up a chance at free agency to sign a three-year deal worth about $5 million.Roberts, who returned from retirement to record 49 points in just 61 games, signed a two-year pact worth $5 million, while Ranheim signed a three-year, $2-million contract. Kron, who would have been an unrestricted free agent at the end of next season, signed a four-year extension with a notrade clause worth $5.5 million.&ldquo;The fact that they were willing to sign us and give us fair value says a lot,&rdquo; said Ranheim, who gave up a shot at unrestricted free agency. &ldquo;If they&rsquo;re fair to you, you feel like there&rsquo;s not reason why you shouldn&rsquo;t be fair to them.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The &rsquo;Canes are expected to pursue some top-level free agents, including Pittsburgh center Ron Francis and St. Louis defenseman Steve Duchesne&hellip;Defensemen Sean Hill and Nolan Pratt are the only unsigned Carolina players&hellip;GM Jim Rutherford has hired Jason Karmanos, son of team owner Peter Karmanos. as assistant GM. Terry McDonnell will remain the vice-president, hockey operations, but will expand his focus to pro scouting&hellip;Director of public relations Jim Loria resigned. Loria oversaw arena operations, including the much-ridiculed pig-in-the-Zamboni incident where a man in a mascot costume nearly asphyxiated while awaiting his entrance from out of the ice-resurfacing machine. &#9632;

f0028-03

Core players kept content

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-04305/6820201-1-eng-US/f0028-042.jpg" title="f0028-04" width="219" height="213"></div>Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; GM Bob Murray was true to his word when he said he wouldn&rsquo;t be in any hurry to name a new head coach.More than a month after Craig Hartsburg&rsquo;s April 28 firing, the Hawks still were without a replacement, although Murray had plenty of candidates.Marc Crawford, Barry Melrose and Terry Murray were believed to be the three people who interested Murray most. Melrose and Murray were interviewed in late May. As for Crawford, Bob Murray was attempting to get permission from Colorado Avalanche GM Pierre Lacroix to speak with the team&rsquo;s former coach.&ldquo;Sure, I&rsquo;m interested (in Crawford),&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s a proven coach.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s an interesting scenario, but I want to know what the legal ramifications are. In my mind, Pierre holds all the cards. I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going to happen.&rdquo;Melrose had a good interview with Murray and just might be the Hawks&rsquo; first choice to succeed Hartsburg.&ldquo;I think he misses coaching badly,&rdquo; Murray said of Melrose, who was fired by the Los Angeles Kings in 1995. &ldquo;We both believe that hockey should be played a certain way.&rdquo;Melrose, presently ESPN&rsquo;s hockey analyst, downplayed his meeting during a recent broadcast.&ldquo;I talked to Chicago and it went well,&rdquo; Melrose said. &ldquo;I like what they had to say and the direction they&rsquo;re going. But I&rsquo;ve talked to a lot of teams before and nothing happened.&rdquo;In addition to Melrose and Terry Murray, the third candidate formally interviewed by Bob Murray was Curt Fraser, a former Hawk and now the coach of the International League&rsquo;s Orlando Solar Bears.Murray also was expected to speak with former Mighty Ducks of Anaheim assistant Don Hay and former Hawk Steve Ludzik, coach of the IHL&rsquo;s Detroit Vipers.NOTEBOOK: The Hawks hope they have a potential star in right winger J.P. Dumont, acquired May 30 from the Islanders with a draft pick in exchange for center Dmitri Nabokov. Dumont, 20, scored 57 goals for Vai d&rsquo;Or in the Quebec League. He scored 31 goals in 19 playoff games, breaking Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s 12-year-old QMJHL record. The Hawks inherit Dumont&rsquo;s three-year, $3.6 million contract that includes a $1 million signing bonus&hellip;Murray reported no progress in negotiations with restricted free agent forwards Eric Daze. Ethan Moreau. Chad Kilger or Sergei Krivokrasov. &ldquo;Some of these guys have got to remember that we missed the playoffs,&rdquo; Murray said. &#9632;

f0028-04

Coaching candidates stand in line

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-06205/6820232-1-eng-US/f0028-062.jpg" title="f0028-06" width="782" height="1051"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Hartley</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-05237/6820239-1-eng-US/f0028-052.jpg" title="f0028-05" width="220" height="217"></div>The team that once drew raves of being a symphony on ice turned into something of a soap opera in 1997-98.The Colorado Avalanche won the Stanley Cup just two years ago, but found itself bounced out of the playoffs by the Edmonton Oilers in the first round this year and without a coach three weeks later.Enter Bob Hartley.The 37-year-old former windshield factory worker succeeded Marc Crawford as coach of the Avs June 2, just six days after Crawford had an ambiguous parting of the ways with the team.&ldquo;My one year plan is simple: We need to win,&rdquo; said Hartley, promoted from the Avs&rsquo; American Ireague team, the Hershey Bears, to become the 11th coach in franchise history. &ldquo;This is a very special day for me in my career.&rdquo;Crawford&rsquo;s departure was anything but smooth. He rejected a one-year contract extension offer from GM Pierre Lacroix May 27, choosing instead to &ldquo;look for new challenges.&rdquo;But, Lacroix maintained Crawford, who had one year to run on his contract, was still an employee of the team. Teams wanting to interview Crawford, Lacroix said, have to ask him first. It is also likely Lacroix will ask for compensation if Crawford signs elsewhere.But, when Hartley was hired, Crawford&rsquo;s agent, Harry Radomski, said, &ldquo;It&rsquo;s clear now Marc has been fired. With his contract terminated, we will now pursue opportunities somewhere else.&rdquo;With the two sides at loggerheads, the issue could go to arbitration.NOTEBOOK: GM Pierre Lacroix on new coach Bob Hartley: &ldquo;He is considered one of the top young coaching prospects in the game. We looked at him and saw the natural progression of the future of the club."&hellip;Joining Hartley as an assistant coach is Bryan Trottier. Trottier inquired about the head coaching job. but was convinced by Lacroix to join as an assistant. Trottier spent last season coaching Portland of the American League&hellip;Jacques Cloutier remained with the organization as an assistant, while Mike Foligno was assigned to Hershey to succeed Hartley as coach&hellip;The Avs signed center prospect Yuri Babenko to a multi-year contract and traded goalie Randy Petruk to Carolina for a 1999 sixth round draft choice. &#9632;

f0028-06

Messy end to Crawford era

<div class="byline">By Dan Barnes</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-07185/6820270-1-eng-US/f0028-072.jpg" title="f0028-07" width="219" height="212"></div>With apologies to center Doug Weight and goaltender Curtis Joseph, the most important free agent in the minds of Edmonton Oilers&rsquo; hockey fans is the boss.Although GM Glen Sather was still working in early June under the terms of a contract he signed last season, he was for all intents and purposes on the market. Inquiries had been made by the Vancouver Canucks and Atlanta Thrashers about their vacant GM positions. Sather also has a standing invitation from San Jose Sharks&rsquo; owner George Gund to run their show.But Sather never once said he was interested in leaving the team he had built into a five-time Stanley Cup champion and rebuilt just recently into a playoff contender. His focus was on the budget he had been handed in early June by the new ownership group. His employment status is contingent, he said, to the financial commitment being made by the group.&ldquo;This is the first time I&rsquo;ve had a chance to look at the budget,&rdquo; Sather said. &ldquo;I want to analyze these numbers.&rdquo;If they meet with his approval-if there is enough money to sign Weight, take a run at Joseph and stay competitive with the richer clubs-Sather will stay in Edmonton.The ownership group has said in the past they will do whatever it takes to keep Sather happy at the top of the Oiler depth chart.NOTEBOOK: The Oilers sold 13,121 season tickets by the May 31 deadline, qualifying them for about $2.5 million (U.S.) under the NHL&rsquo;s equalization plan&hellip;Left winger Andrei Kovalenko, who had six goals in 59 games this season, has apparently played his last game for Edmonton. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ll either expose him in the expansion draft or trade him,&rdquo; said GM Glen Sather&hellip;The Oilers&rsquo; list of restricted free agents includes forwards Doug Weight. Todd Marchant. Dean McAm-mond and Ryan Smyth and defenseman Janne Niinimaa. Goalies Curtis Joseph and Bob Essensa and defenseman Frank Musil will be unrestricted free agents July 1. Joseph said he&rsquo;s only interested in reluming if the Oilers keep the nucleus intact. &#9632;

f0028-07

GM Sather will stick around if team budaet to his likina

<div class="byline">By Dave Joseph</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01804/6820301-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="217" height="213"></div>Two months after watching their disappointing season come to an end, the Florid; Panthers were still looking for a coach to lead them out of the dark.He must be able to work with young players-as many as 10 under 23 years of age. NHL experience is preferred but not necessary. The perks are gooc working conditions (new arena) and nc state tax. The man on the inside trad appeared to be Montreal Canadiens assistant coach Dave King.GM Bryan Murray received permission from Canadiens&rsquo; GM Rejear Houle to talk to King, who has an escape clause in his contract. Shortly after, King sat down with Murray in the Panther offices.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve known Dave for quite some time and he&rsquo;s a real good guy, a rea good hockey guy, especially technically,&rdquo; Murray said.King, 49, coached the Calgarj Flames to two Pacific Division titles ant a 109-76-31 record from 1992-95. King was credited with helping the Canadiens&rsquo; defense last season, which gave up 68 fewer goals than the previous season.Murray identified several others as candidates for the job. They include his brother and former Washington Capitals and Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray; Utah Grizzlies&rsquo; coach-GM Butch Goring; former Tampa Bay Lightning coach Terry Crisp; American League Coach of the Year Bill Stewart of the Saint John Flames; and, Panther assistant coach Duane Sutter.NOTEBOOK: The Panthers had several players take part in the World Championship in Switzerland, including center Viktor Kozlov, who impressed attending GM Bryan Murray by scoring four goals and five assists in six games for Russia. Playing well for Canada was center Ray Whitney (four goals, two assists) and defenseman Ed Jovanovski (two goals, one assist)&hellip;The Panthers, who move into the new Broward County Arena this fall, are hoping to have as many as 17,000 season-ticket holders this season. They will christen the new arena Sept. 27 in a pre-season game against Boston. The new arena will likely have a corporate name by then&hellip;The Panthers have asked the league to have them kick off the regular season at home Oct. 9. &#9632;

f0029-01

Panthers’ coaching post could be nice fit for King

<div class="byline">By Helene Elliott</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03337/6820332-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="783" height="1211"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jamie Storr</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02518/6820339-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="219" height="213"></div>The Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; summer vacation started later than in the previous few years, but it still began earlier than all other NHL playoff teams.After making the playoffs for the first time since 1993, the Kings became the only team to be swept out of the first round. But if there&rsquo;s an upside to that, it&rsquo;s the early dismissal gave GM Dave Taylor and his staff more time to plan for what figures to be a busy off season, which club officials have promised will include an aggressive pursuit of top-notch free agents.It&rsquo;s believed the Kings have placed atop their list the names of St. Louis Blues&rsquo; defensemen Steve Duchesne and Al Maclnnis. One or both would certainly help the team&rsquo;s anemic power play and either could play the role of power play quarterback.Pulling off a trade is also an option for the Kings, who finally have some maneuvering room after years of being thin on talent.One potential surplus is in goal, where Jamie Storr&rsquo;s solid regular season finish and playoff might have vaulted him ahead of Stephane Fiset and left Fiset expendable. As a veteran, Fiset might have a higher trade value than Storr, but Taylor wasn&rsquo;t tipping his hand.&ldquo;We have a lot of keys on our team,&rdquo; Taylor said. &ldquo;Our goaltenders are a key, (Rob) Blake on defense is a key and (Jozef) Stumpel and (Glen) Murray up front. I wouldn&rsquo;t want to specify who might be untouchable, but those guys are our key players.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Before leaving for a team retreat at Lake Arrowhead, Calif., GM Dave Taylor re-signed right winger Russ Courtnail to a one-year deal&hellip;For the first time, this year&rsquo;s week-long retreat, an annual affair for King&rsquo;s management and employees, included players. Invitations went to defenseman Rob Blake, right winger Glen Murray and left winger Luc Robitaille&hellip;The Kings reached a one-year agreement with the Phoenix Coyotes to share the Coyotes&rsquo; American Hockey League affiliate in Springfield, Mass. The Kings will send eight players to Springfield on a loan basis. Michael Jund, a media relations assistant for the Kings for the past year, died May 31 of a heart problem. Jund, 22, was from Manhattan Beach, Calif. &#9632;

f0029-03

Hunt on for free agents

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04237/6820370-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="217" height="212"></div>His future appeared uncertain when he reported to the Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; training camp last September, and now Jocelyn Thibault&rsquo;s summer could be equally unsettled.Despite Thibault&rsquo;s solid regular season, his critics are suggesting his days with the organization are over following the goaltender&rsquo;s second playoff disaster in as many years.The 23-year-old received his first post-season start against the Buffalo Sabres in the third game of the Eastern Conference semifinal series, but was pulled early in the second period after allowing four goals on 13 shots.Thibault was excused from practice the following day, after learning that his maternal grandfather had been hospitalized with a heart attack, and wasn&rsquo;t dressed for Game 4.Thibault finished the post-season with a 5.58 goals-against average and .750 save percentage in 43 minutes of action. He didn&rsquo;t figure in any decisions.In the 1997 playoffs against the New Jersey Devils, Thibault lost the first three games of the teams&rsquo; opening-round series, allowing 13 goals for a 4.36 GAA, before being replaced by Jose Theodore.It has been suggested that Thibault is too nice and not cocky enough to thrive in pressure situations, such as in the playoffs.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s funny how one period, not even one game, can put your career in jeopardy,&rdquo; Thibault said. &ldquo;The people who are thinking that are probably the same ones who thought I was done in Montreal last year. But I came back and had a good season. I put a lot of pain and anger behind me.&rdquo;The Canadiens&rsquo; goaltending situation could be muddled heading into next season. Andy Moog is considering retirement. Hopes are high for prospect Theodore, who had a .971 save percentage in 120 minutes of playoff time over three games, but at 21 is he ready for the Monueal pressure cooker?NOTEBOOK: It appears inconsistent defenseman Vladimir Malakhov has played his last game for the Canadiens. Malakhov participated in the pre-game warmup prior to the fourth game against Buffalo, only to then claim he couldn&rsquo;t play due to a stiff neck. His move won&rsquo;t be viewed favorably by management considering defenseman Igor Ulanov played despite a broken foot; center Shayne Corson and left winger Benoit Brunet both played with shoulder separations; and center Saku Koivu&rsquo;s broken hand had to be frozen prior to each of the six playoff games he played. Malakhov is one of 13 potential free agents on the roster&hellip;Canadiens&rsquo; evening games will begin 30 minutes earlier, at 7 p.m., next season. &#9632;

f0029-04

Thibault’s Hab future in question

<div class="byline">By Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02605/6820401-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="788" height="884"><figcaption class="caption-body">Robbie Ftorek</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-01906/6820408-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="222" height="213"></div>It did not come as a great shock to most members of the New Jersey Devils when Jacques Lemaire decided to resign as coach. Most of the players knew Lemaire had been hurt badly by a first round playoff loss to the Ottawa Senators.And yet Lemaire&rsquo;s decision to step down May 8 seemed to take his successor, Robbie Ftorek, by surprise.&ldquo;I thought Jacques was going to stay another year or two,&rdquo; Ftorek said. &ldquo;I was convinced I was going to be assistant coach for another year.&rdquo;In following Lemaire, Ftorek, hired May 21, will be asked to take a Devils&rsquo; team which has been a regular season powerhouse and playoff underachiever and return it to a serious Stanley Cup contender for the first time since 1995.It is assumed Ftorek will keep the spirit of Lemaire&rsquo;s defensive system while injecting more offense into the game plan.&ldquo;I believe in Jacques&rsquo; system,&rdquo; Ftorek said. &ldquo;I believe in it a lot. There are some small things I believe in that will probably be a little different. I believe in the defensive zone we can be a little more aggressive.&rdquo;For Ftorek, 46. this is his second stint as an NHL head coach. He previously guided the Los Angeles Kings from 1987-88 through 1988-89. That experience ended with a strained relationship between Ftorek and Wayne Gretzky. Ftorek claims to have changed in the last decade.&ldquo;I have socks on and no sweater,&rdquo; Ftorek joked with reference to the casual way he dressed behind the bench in L.A.&ldquo;Robbie will have no trouble communicating with the players,&rdquo; said GM Lou Lamoriello. &ldquo;There is no question in my mind that Robbie is the right man.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach Robbie Ftorek&rsquo;s contract is believed to run for three years at $500,000 per season&hellip;After initially saying he would consider changing captains, Ftorek later said defenseman Scott Stevens would keep the &lsquo;C&rsquo;&hellip;Stevens endorsed the hiring of Ftorek. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m excited. I was hoping it would be Robbie,&rdquo; Stevens said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m hoping he&rsquo;ll make some changes for the better."&hellip;Jacques Lemaire will continue to be paid $500,000 a year by the Devils in a position neither he nor Lamoriello could describe. His coaching salary was $1 mil-lion&hellip;GM Lou Lamoriello told unrestricted free agent right winger Steve Thomas he still figures in the team&rsquo;s plans, but will have to wait until the club&rsquo;s salary structure: is clearer. &#9632;

f0030-02

Ftorek plans subtle change

<div class="byline">By Jim Smith</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03418/6820439-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="217" height="212"></div>Twelve days after Mike Milbury&rsquo;s status was resolved, the New York Islanders&rsquo; coach-GM traded J.P. Dumont, the third overall pick in the 1996 entry draft, and a fifth round choice in the 1998 draft to the Chicago Black-hawks for left winger Dmitri Nabokov.Following nearly two years of failed attempts to sign Dumont, the Isles got the right winger&rsquo;s name on a three-year, $2.625-million contract with a $1.2-million signing bonus May 30. Then Milbury dealt the 20-year-old Dumont for Nabokov, 21, a right-handed left winger who got seven goals in 25 games with the Black-hawks this season.&ldquo;We think he&rsquo;ll be a legitimate candidate,&rdquo; Milbury said. &ldquo;I feel his abilities will take him to a top-six (forward) position on our team.&rdquo;Milbury said he made the deal at the urging of assistant GM Gordie Clark, who feels Nabokov is bigger, stronger and more skilled than Dumont and better-equipped to put up points. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been watching him for three years,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;ll have no problem playing in the league.&rdquo;The move was the first significant one since the Islanders re-organized their front office May 18. On that day, the team announced Milbury had agreed to remain as coach and had signed a new five-year contract. It supercedes the two years he had left on his original five-year deal.Milbury retains the GM&rsquo;s title and power to make trades and shape his roster, but no longer will be responsible for contract negotiations. That duty will be shared by new senior vice-president John Sanders and new manager of player contracts Mike Santos.Milbury said he&rsquo;s looking forward to the new arrangement.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s time to step up to the plate,&rdquo; said Milbury, who took over as coach on March 11 after firing Rick Bow-ness. &ldquo;I want to get it right and my reputation is on the line to do that.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Other changes in the May 18 front office organization included: the promotion of player personnel director Gordie Clark to assistant GM; and the naming of Daren Anderson as vice president, hockey operations&hellip;Defenseman Scott Lachance, who missed 16 of the last 17 games due to a strained abdominal muscle, rehabbed the injury and said he will not need surgery. Right winger Ziggy Palffy (toe) and defensemen Ray Schultz (elbow) and Zdeno Chara (hand) have recovered from surgeries&hellip;Milbury was expected to retain assistant coach Wayne Fleming and add as many as three new assistants. It is believed he has interest in Oilers&rsquo; defenseman Kevin Lowe. &#9632;

f0030-03

Milbury nets Nabokov after role redefined

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05219/6820470-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="778" height="878"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Richter</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04299/6820477-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="219" height="216"></div>The chances of Mike Richter remaining a New York Ranger after he becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1 are slim, and approaching none.But, according to Richter, Rangers&rsquo; GM-president Neil Smith and Richter&rsquo;s agent Herb Pinder, the goaltender&rsquo;s fate is not sealed.Richter, 31, and the Rangers are miles apart. Richter wants a five-year, $35-million deal with a no-trade clause. The Rangers have offered a two, a three-and a four-year contract, all worth about $5 million per, and all without a no-trade clause.While the no-trade clause is a prickly issue, it is not yet seen as the deal-breaker. That distinction belongs to the buck. Still, bridges had yet to be burned.&ldquo;Nobody has cut off negotiations,&rdquo; Pinder said.Asked whether the Rangers&rsquo; chances of keeping Richter are over, Smith said, &ldquo;No, I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s over at all. It&rsquo;s far from over.&rdquo;He also scoffed at one report, which quoted an anonymous &ldquo;confidante&rdquo; as saying the situation is &ldquo;irreconcilable.&rdquo;&ldquo;I can tell you that article is wrong,&rdquo; Pinder said. &ldquo;There are issues I&rsquo;m not going to talk about. Mike&rsquo;s preference is to play in New York, but we may or may not get that done. The possibility of free agency under these rules is a very attractive alternative, so Mike is blessed with two very attractive alternatives. But we sincerely and positively have not stopped negotiating.&rdquo;&ldquo;Absolutely, 1 haven&rsquo;t closed the door on the Rangers,&rdquo; Richter said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re always talking to them and always will. Actually, the time I talked to Neil earlier in the summer, I said, &rsquo;Keep negotiating.&rsquo; If you want to get it done, you will find a way to get it done.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Rangers learned they will receive the 40th overall pick (second round) in the June 27 draft as compensation for losing free agent center Mark Messier to Vancouver last summer and the 130th overall pick (fifth round) for losing free agent left winger Esa Tikkanen to Florida&hellip;The gold medal winning Czech Republic team will host an exhibition game against a team of NHL stars this summer in hockey-wild Prague. Ranger defenseman Ulf Samuelsson plans to attend and Ranger coach John Muckier is expected to run the NHL bench&hellip;It now appears Muckier will retain the three assistant coaches he inherited from former coach Colin Camp bell-Dick Todd. Bill Moores and Craig MacTavish. &#9632;

f0030-05

Slim hope for Richter return

<div class="byline">By Bruce Garrloch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-06179/6820508-1-eng-US/f0030-062.jpg" title="f0030-06" width="220" height="214"></div>Marian Hossa was looking forward to scoring goals for the Ottawa Senators in October. Now, his only goal is to get healthy.The No. 1 ranked prospect this season in The Hockey News&rsquo; Future Watch realized his worst fears in late May when he learned he&rsquo;ll be out at least four-to-six months with a tom anterior cruciate ligament in his knee and will require reconstructive surgery.Hossa, 19, the club&rsquo;s top pick in the 1997 draft, was injured after taking a hit on the knee with seven minutes remaining in the Memorial Cup final. His Portland Winter Hawks went on to win the game in overtime with a 4-3 victory over the Guelph Storm.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really disappointed,&rdquo; Hossa said. &ldquo;I wanted to get ready to play at training camp in September. I had a great year in Portland and this is really frustrating for me.&rdquo;&ldquo;The only good thing is that it didn&rsquo;t happen in the middle of the year. I&rsquo;ll play sometime next season.&rdquo;Hossa, who collected 45 goals and 85 points in 53 games with Portland, was being counted on by the Senators to provide some much-needed scoring punch.It&rsquo;s expected Hossa, who had planned to return to his native Slovakia for the summer, will remain in Ottawa for rehabilitation.&ldquo;I just hope it doesn&rsquo;t hurt my skating,&rdquo; Hossa said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to hurry. I have to take care of myself.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Left winger Randy Cunneyworth&rsquo;s future with the team remains uncertain. The 36-year-old captain has a second year remaining on his contract at $575,000 (U.S.), but the club has an option to buy him out for $50,000. Coming off a difficult season in which he was scratched several times, Cunneyworth informed the Senators he doesn&rsquo;t intend to retire. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what&rsquo;s going to happen,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve expressed my feelings and I&rsquo;m not ready to hang &rsquo;em up yet. Now, it&rsquo;s all in their hands.&rsquo;&rsquo;&hellip;Coach Jacques Martin, who is entering the final year of his contract as the lowest-paid coach in the league, is expected to be rewarded with a new long-term deal for getting the club to the second round of the playoffs. &#9632;

f0030-06

Top prospect Hossa faces lengthy rehab from injury

<div class="byline">By Mike Dudurich</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-03396/6820570-1-eng-US/f0031-032.jpg" title="f0031-03" width="763" height="1208"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ron Francis</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-02547/6820577-1-eng-US/f0031-022.jpg" title="f0031-02" width="212" height="209"></div>Ron Francis has waited a long time for his shot at a big bucks contract, so waiting until July 1 isn&rsquo;t much of a hardship.Francis, 37, becomes an unrestricted free agent on that date and the list of suitors for a player of his intelligence, leadership and skills is lengthy: the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Los Angeles Kings, Toronto Maple Leafs, Chicago Blackhawks, Carolina Hurricanes, San Jose Sharks, New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Philadelphia Flyers and St. Louis Blues have all expressed unofficial interest in acquiring his services.&ldquo;I went in to Craig (GM Patrick) in September to see what they were thinking and they said they&rsquo;d get back to me,&rdquo; Francis said. &ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t hear anything again until Craig called me into his office in March and said they wanted to talk, but didn&rsquo;t want to go back and forth in the papers.&rdquo;By that point, Francis and his newly-hired agents, Tom and Steve Reich, had made up their minds to test the market. It&rsquo;s expected someone will offer a three-or four-year deal worth in the area of $4 million per year, something the Penguins seem unlikely to be able to match.Francis said he can&rsquo;t let his heart do the thinking.&ldquo;The simplest decision would be to stay here, but that doesn&rsquo;t necessarily mean that&rsquo;s what&rsquo;s going to happen,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;To be underpaid again just to stay in one place would be foolish on my part.&rdquo;Francis made $1.9 million in 1997-98.NOTEBOOK: The Penguins&rsquo; American League farm team, the Wilkes-Barre Scran-ton Penguins, will wear black, gold and red sweaters when they start play in October, 1999. As part of getting the new franchise off the ground, the Penguins and Philadelphia will play an exhibition game at HersheyPark Arena in Hershey, Pa., Sept. 26&hellip;The Penguins finally signed goalie Craig Hillier, their first pick (23rd overall) in the 1996 entry draft. Hillier, who played for Ottawa in the Ontario League, signed a three-year deal worth a reported $3.5 million, including a signing bonus of $1 million. Hiller would have re-entered the entry draft this year had he not reached agreement by June 1. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m more relieved than anything,&rdquo; he said. &#9632;

f0031-03

Francis won’t be underpaid

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-01901/6820639-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="216" height="214"></div>Brett Hull faces an uncerain future with the St. Louis Blues, but fans who responded to a newspaper poll voted overwhelmingly that the Blues should retain their career goal-scoring leader who will become an unrestricted free agent July 1.The final tally: 2,370 yea, 447 nay. Hull ended up with 87 per cent of the 3,417 votes cast.His reaction? &ldquo;Wow, it&rsquo;s extremely flattering. Unbelievable.&rdquo;Was he surprised by the results?&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to say whether I&rsquo;m surprised,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m more thankful than anything else.&rdquo;He was thankful because of fans&rsquo; mixed reaction to him in the last two home games of the playoffs. After the Blues gave up three goals in the third period of Game 4 against the Detroit Red Wings, fans vented their frustration at Hull, booing him when his image appeared on the JumboTron.It was the first time he had been booed so obviously by the hometown fans in 10 years with the team. However, the sellout crowd of 20,000-plus made a point of cheering him loudly in Game 6, which the Blues lost to drop out of the playoffs.Blues&rsquo; GM Larry Pleau said he wasn&rsquo;t surprised by Hull&rsquo;s margin of victory in the poll. He has received pro-Hull mail all season long.&ldquo;I would have thought that&rsquo;s the way it would be,&rdquo; Pleau said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d be shocked if it was any other way after all he has done for the franchise.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Coach Joel Quenneville has a year remaining on his contract, but the Blues have made overtures to begin work on an extension&hellip;The Blues have three award candidates: defenseman Chris Pronger (Norris Trophy); center Craig Conroy (Selke Trophy); and goalie Jamie Mc-Lennan (Masterton Trophy)&hellip;Quenneville said Jimmy Roberts will return as one assistant coach and the hunt is on to find a permanent replacement for former assistant Roger Neilson, who departed in March to become Philadelphia&rsquo;s coach. Pro scout Rick Meagher filled the assistant&rsquo;s job on an interim basis&hellip;Center Terry Yake agreed to a three-year, two-way contract (two years plus an option) worth $500,000 per season. &#9632;

f0032-01

Hull flattered by fan poll that he should stay Blue

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03434/6820670-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="778" height="1223"><figcaption class="caption-body">Darryl Sutter</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02619/6820677-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="217" height="213"></div>Nearly a year after hiring y coach Darryl Sutter, theSan Jose Sharks finally collected his autograph.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re blood brothers now,&rdquo; Sutter said May 28 after signing a two-year contract extension. With an annual income of approximately $800,000, Sutter will rank among the top handful on the NHL coaching salary scale.Sutter&rsquo;s future became somewhat clouded after the Chicago Blackhawks fired coach Craig Hartsburg April 28.A return to the Blackhawks, who employed Sutter as a player, assistant coach, minor league coach and head coach for 16 years, didn&rsquo;t seem farfetched.While he never bothered to sign his original two-year contract with San Jose, Sutter activated a re-negotiation clause by leading the Sharks to their first playoff berth in three seasons. The sides quickly reached an oral agreement May 10. Had they not come to terms by July 31, Sutter would have been free to pursue other job opportunities.&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t ever look at it as a huge issue,&rdquo; said Sutter, who had a big hand in several organizational moves the club announced in conjunction with his resigning.Paul Baxter, Sutter&rsquo;s top assistant, also signed a two-year contract extension. San Jose assigned Roy Sommer. Sutter&rsquo;s other assistant last season, to be coach of the club&rsquo;s American League affiliate, the Kentucky Thorough-blades. Former NHL tough guy Nick Fotiu, hired by the Sharks as a scout in January, will assist Sommer.NOTEBOOK: The Sharks signed two 1996 entry draft selections, goaltender Terry Friesen and right winger Matt Bradley, to three-year contracts just before the June I deadline. Friesen, a third round draft pick, went 26-10-7 with a 2.80 goals-against average for Swift Current of the Western League. Bradley, a fourth rounder, had 33 goals and 88 points for Kingston of the Ontario League&hellip;GM Dean Lombardi reported &ldquo;serious discussions&rdquo; with two teams interested in trading for San Jose&rsquo;s second overall selection in the June 27 entry draft. &ldquo;We know what we want for it.&rdquo; Lombardi said. &rsquo;To say we&rsquo;re fielding offers-we&rsquo;re telling them what we want. We want what we figure is a core player. If we don&rsquo;t get that, we&rsquo;ll keep the pick.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0032-03

Sutter’s word now on paper

<div class="byline">By Tim Buckley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04299/6820708-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="218" height="215"></div>Pending league approval, the Tampa Bay Lightning has a new owner.Retired Palm Beach insurance mogul Art Williams, 56. paid an unconditional $117-million for the NHL&rsquo;s most inept team, its lease at the Ice Palace and a six-acre real estate parcel near the Tampa arena.Williams said he intends to keep GM Phil Esposito, but has given him only one year to improve the team. Williams said the same applies to coach Jacques Demers, who was also given the title of director of player personnel in a restructuring of the Lightning front office.Hockey development and scouting director Tony Esposito becomes assistant GM and will continue to oversee the scouting operation while reporting to brother Phil.&ldquo;If they don&rsquo;t get the job done,&rdquo; Williams said with a Southern twang in his voice, &ldquo;they&rsquo;re gone.&rdquo;The prospective new owner said he will do what it takes to make the Lightning better.&ldquo;This franchise is an absolute disaster,&rdquo; Williams said May 26, the day he introduced himself to the Tampa Bay area. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a franchise with no vision.&ldquo;We had a last-place team. You don&rsquo;t get no lower than last place. Attendance was dropping like a rock. You had an attitude of almost desperation around here. Everywhere I would go, people were making excuses for being sorry. We had a financially bankrupt team.&rdquo;A former small-town high school football coach making $10,700 a year in his native Georgia, the charismat-ic-but-controversial Williams made his fortune selling term-life insurance. He says he is worth more than $1 billion.&ldquo;l&rsquo;ve heard all these things about foreign ownership, team management, last-place hockey team, no money to get good players, no money to do things first class,&rdquo; Williams said. &ldquo;Folks, that day is over.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Responding to a published report out of Toronto. GM Phil Esposito said he has no interest in trading Tampa Bay&rsquo;s No. 1 overall pick in the June 27 entry draft for Colorado center Joe Sakic.. Tampa Bay signed original Lightning left winger Mikael Andersson May 19 to a two-year extension believed to be worth about $1.3-million&hellip;Two days later, the Lightning signed Quebec League defenseman Mario Larocque, its first round pick in the 1996 draft, to a three-year contract that reportedly includes a $900,000 signing bonus&hellip;The Lightning has decided not to pick up the option year on the contracts of veteran defenseman Yves Racine or center Vladimir Vujtek. &#9632;

f0032-04

New owner issues stern ultimatum

<div class="byline">By Damien Cox</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06189/6820739-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="782" height="1227"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mike Murphy</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05225/6820746-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="217" height="218"></div>The Toronto Maple J Leafs&rsquo; coaching saga was wearing on Ken Dryden.No, the team&rsquo;s GM wasn&rsquo;t tired of the process of deciding whether coach Mike Murphy, still under contract for two more seasons, would be back. Rather, Dryden was fed up with people asking him when the verdict on Murphy&rsquo;s fate will come down.&ldquo;Whose timetable are we talking about?&rdquo; said Dryden with an annoyed tone. &ldquo;My responsibility is to make the team better and to do that, we&rsquo;re not going to deal with other people&rsquo;s sense of time.&rdquo;While several other teams have made coaching decisions, Dryden won&rsquo;t be rushed despite the fact Murphy has been left wondering whether he&rsquo;ll be working for the Leafs next season.&ldquo;We have a timetable,&rdquo; Dryden said, &ldquo;and it may well be that the only benefit of being a team that doesn&rsquo;t make the playoffs is that you can use that extra time to improve the team.&rdquo;Adding to Murphy&rsquo;s uncomfortable predicament was the end of Marc Crawford&rsquo;s association with the Colorado Avalanche and the speculation he might be headed to the Leafs. Crawford previously coached the St. John&rsquo;s Maple Leafs, Toronto&rsquo;s affiliate in the American League.While Dryden pondered the issue, Murphy went underground, declining to comment on his status.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think at this time I can say anything that will benefit anybody.&rdquo; Murphy said.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Jason Smith signed a two-year, $2 million deal June 3&hellip;The club did not to sign 1996 draft picks Peter Cava and Brandon Sugden, making them eligible re-enter the draft June 27&hellip;The Leafs have decided to institute a new system of team-wide bonuses in which every player is paid the same for any specific achievement. &ldquo;The point of it is to encourage team cohesiveness and team success,&rdquo; said Bill Watters, assistant to GM-president Ken Dryden&hellip;The Leafs appear set to let unrestricted free agent left winger Wendel Clark test the market before making him an offer this summer&hellip;Ryan Murphy, the son of coach Mike Murphy, played last season at Bowling Green and is eligible for the 1998 draft. &#9632;

f0032-06

Leafs make Murphy wait

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-07162/6820777-1-eng-US/f0032-072.jpg" title="f0032-07" width="217" height="214"></div>In what may be the longest job search in the history of hockey, the Vancouver Canucks rolled into June still without a successor to Pat Quinn, the team&rsquo;s president and GM fired Nov. 4, 1997.Owner John McCaw entrusted the hiring to Steve Bellringer, the president of Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment, and Stan McCammon, McCaw&rsquo;s Seattle-based lieutenant.The duo interviewed a number of candidates in May, among them NHL vice-president Brian Burke, Dallas Stars&rsquo; assistant GM Les Jackson and player agent Mike Gillis. They were also planning to speak to Edmonton Oiler architect Glen Sather.McCammon said the search has been methodical for a reason.&ldquo;First, we had to do an inventory of our organization and assess what we had.&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why it has taken a longer period of time to find a GM than what some people think it should. We had to decide what type of person we wanted to set a tone for the organization. Then we checked the market-place for what we wanted and found there are clearly some people who qualify for our job.&rdquo;Speculation was rife in late May that the Canucks were prepared to offer Gillis the position. The feeling is Orca Bay will have someone in place by the NHL&rsquo;s expansion and entry draft June 26-27 in Buffalo. In the meantime, head coach Mike Keenan is still handling all trade discussions.NOTEBOOK: The Canucks reported a loss of $30 million (Cdn.) last year. Orca Bay president Steve Bellringer said the team won&rsquo;t necessarily cut player salaries, but will try to &ldquo;increase the quality of the team based upon the given payroll level that we&rsquo;re at.&rdquo; The Canucks finished the season at about $32 million (U.S.)&hellip;Right winger Pavel Bure is guaranteed a 1998-99 salary of at least $10.3 million (U.S.) based on the. fact he scored 50 goals and must be paid the average of the league&rsquo;s three highest paid players. Detroit center Sergei Fedorov will make $14 million next season ($12 million bonus payable July 1 plus $2 million in salary) while Philadelphia center Eric Lin-dros and Anaheim left winger Paul Kariya are scheduled to make $8.5 million. &#9632;

f0032-07

Keenan still point man with GM’s iob unfilled

<div class="byline">By Kerry Eggers</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0033-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01813/6820808-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Fourth-year Winter Hawk captain Joey Tetarenko proudly hoists the Memorial Cup.</figcaption></div>SPOKANE, Wash.-From the first day of training camp last August to the exhilarating 4-3 overtime win over the Guelph Storm in the Memorial Cup final, there was only one thing missing in the Portland Winter Hawks: Self-doubt.&ldquo;We knew,&rdquo; said defenseman Andrew Ference, speaking for his 23 teammates after the Winter Hawks&rsquo; dream season culminated with the second Memorial Cup title in the franchise&rsquo;s 22-year history at Spokane, Wash., May 17.&ldquo;We knew we were going to go all the way this season. We knew it would be tough, but from Day 1, we had a tremendous belief in our selves. We knew that nobody was going to outwork us, and if that was the case, nobody was going to beat us.&rdquo;If that sounds like a cliche, well, so be it. This was a team that conjured visions of Horatio Alger and Chip Hilton and all the fairy-tale components that make for a good story and a happy ending.There was talent, to be sure, but character got this team over the top.&ldquo;We were good, but there were other good teams,&rdquo; says coach Brent Peterson, the 11-year NHL veteran who completed his seventh season at the Portland helm. &ldquo;The guys were close, but we&rsquo;ve had other teams that were close.&ldquo;The thing was, they always found a way to get it done. I may never coach another team that put it together like this team did.&rdquo;Portland won the Western League&rsquo;s regular season title with a record of 53-14-5, best in the Canadian Hockey League. Most remarkably, the Winter Hawks had three win streaks of 10 games or more-an unprecedented achievement in WHL history.The Winter Hawks went 12-4 in the WHL playoffs, sweeping the Brandon Wheat Kings 40 for the title. They they rolled through their Memorial Cup opposition 4-0, finishing the postseason on a nine-win tear to claim North American major junior hockey&rsquo;s version of the Holy Grail.Credit GM Ken Hodge, former directors of player personnel Bob Tory and Dale Engel and coaches Peterson, Mike Williamson and Julius Supler for putting together one of the better junior hockey clubs in recent history.A four-year reclamation project began in 1994-95, when Portland went 23-43-6. Rookies on that team included center Todd Robinson, goalie Brent Belecki and defensemen Joey Teta-renko and Kevin Haupt-more on them later.The next season, Portland improved to 30-393. Then in 1996-97, the Hawks won the WHL M West Division title with a 46-21-5 regular season, only to be upset in the first round of the o playoffs by the Prince George Cougars.Last summer, Hodge maneuvered up in the z CHL&rsquo;s import draft to select Marian Hossa of (r) Slovakia, a sleek right winger taken 12th overall in the 1997 NHL draft by the Ottawa Senators. It-was a gamble, because it appeared Hossa might stick with the Senators and indeed, he led them in scoring in the pre-season. But when Hossa faltered in the first seven games of the regular season, he was sent to Portland.While some players-such as Hossa, Tetarenko, Ference and Haupt-came to Portland as highly regarded prospects, others proved diamonds for the rough. Five key veterans during the 1997-98 season Robinson, Belecki, Bobby Russell, Brenden Morrow and Marty Standish-were list players who never were drafted as bantams by WHL team.Robinson became the WHL scoring leader ir 1996-97 and its assists leader this season. Belecki was Most Valuable Player of the 1998 WHL All-Star Game and playoffs. Russell was a clutch player who scored the winner at 6:21 of overtime in the Memorial Cup final game.Throughout the season, the Hawks got critical contributions all up and down their roster.Out front were Belecki, the WHL&rsquo;s top goaltender; Hossa, who scored 45 goals in 53 regular season games and another 17 in the post-season; Robinson, the league&rsquo;s best set-up man and a key penalty killer; and Ference, a third-team CHL all-star and as good as any defenseman in the WHL.Then there were left winger Morrow, a first round Dallas Stars&rsquo; draft choice and a fortress around the net; center Andrej Podkonicky, a countryman of Hossa who had seven goals in the four Memorial Cup games; center Chris Jacobson, the best checking forward in the WHL; the irrepressible Russell; and Standish, a 5-foot-6. 150-pound right winger who ranks among the great pests in WHL history.&ldquo;Somebody always came up big for us-and it seemed like it was somebody different almost every night,&rdquo; Peterson said.When the Winter Hawks faced adversity-such as in a tight seven-game series with Spokane for the WHL West Division title and in the Memorial Cup finale-heroes emerged.In Game 7 against Spokane, it was Russell with a pair of goals and Podkonicky with the third period winner in a 3-2 win.In the Cup final against Guelph, with Hossa in the dressing room with a third period knee injury, it was Russell who threw a 360-spin move on a Guelph defenseman to score the rebound goal in overtime to give all of Portland a fatal case of Hawkmania.What fun it was to be a Winter Hawk this season.There was a rare camaraderie among the troops. Winning breeds that, of course. But there was a genuine feeling of caring that transcended the team&rsquo;s won-loss record.&ldquo;They didn&rsquo;t do it for themselves,&rdquo; Hodge said. &ldquo;They did it for one another. They played arm in arm all year long. They did it for the guy sitting beside them in the dressing room, and for their fans in the stands.&rdquo;What a wild scene it was in Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena in the aftermath of the Memorial Cup title, with the Hawks passing the Cup among themselves as they circled the ice in glee, their fans pouring out their emotion from the stands.Said Williamson, wiping away a tear: &ldquo;I might coach another 30 years and our players might play another 20 years and we might not get another chance to feel like we feel right now.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Even though Marian Hossa&rsquo;s left knee was seriously injured in a third period collision, he remained in uniform and was on the ice after the overtime goal to celebrate Portland&rsquo;s victory. The team&rsquo;s on-ice celebration photo features Hossa sitting on a chair in the middle of the group holding the Memorial Cup. He&rsquo;s expected to be out until late November with a tom anterior cruciate ligament that required reconstructive surgery. He was injured after taking a knee-on-knee hit with seven minutes remaining in regulation time&hellip;Guelph goalie Chris Madden was selected the tournament MVP. &ldquo;In time I guess I&rsquo;ll look back on it,&rdquo; he said of winning. &ldquo;Right now I&rsquo;d give it up for a chance to hold that (Memorial Cup) instead.&rdquo; He made 52 saves in the final and 51 in the semifinal&hellip;The host Chiefs went 2-1 in the round robin, but lost the semifinal 2-1 in overtime to Guelph May 16&hellip;The Vai d&rsquo;Or Foreurs became the first Quebec League team in three years not to win the Memorial Cup. Prior to 1996, the QMJHL had gone 25 years between Cups. The Foreurs were 0-3 in the round-robin. &#9632;

f0033-01

Boys of Winter

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0034-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-01907/6820839-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hnalio Qahaction Charnpntipr holds the Kelly CUD and MVP award.</figcaption></div>Until he went off to play junior hockey at 17, Sebastien Charpentier lived next door to his grandmother. In fact, he practically grew up with Rose Ange Charpentier in Drummondville, Que.So it was no surprise the Hampton Roads Admirals&rsquo; goalie dedicated his playoff MVP award to his grandmother after leading his team to the East Coast League playoff title.Charpentier was spectacular in leading the 16th-seeded team to an unlikely championship. He was stunning throughout the ECHL playoffs, which ended after a 4-1 win May 20 and a 42 series victory over the Pensacola Ice Pilots.Charpentier missed the second and third games of the league semifinal against the Wheeling Nailers to attend the funeral of his grandmother in Drummondville. Que. He was told the bad news just before Game 1 of that series April 22.Charpentier played like a man possessed in that game, stopping 51 shots as the Admirals beat the Nailers 4-3 in triple overtime, the second-longest game in ECHL history.Wheeling won the next two games while Charpentier was away, but after the Washington Capitals&rsquo; fourth round draft pick in 1995 returned, the Admirals won three straight to advance to the Kelly Cup final.After winning the title, Charpentier reflected on the relationship he had with his grandmother.&ldquo;She was always there for everyone,&rdquo; Charpentier told the Norfolk Virginian Pilot. &ldquo;When you were sick, grandmom takes care of you. When I was young, when 1 broke a window, 1 would go hide with grandmom.&ldquo;Rose Ange was a good name for her. It means Rose Angel in English. She was an angel, a real angel. She was so sweet.&rdquo;The Admirals&rsquo; run to the title was the most improbable in the 10-year history of the ECHL. Hampton Roads (32-28-10) had the 19th-best winning percentage and had to win six of its last eight games just to make the playoffs. A 4-3 win over the Chesapeake Icebreakers on the final day of the season (March 29) ensured a playoff spot.Hampton Roads was seeded 16th overall before upsetting No. 2-seed Peoria Rivermen 3-0. No. 3-seed Roanoke Express 3-2 and No. 7-seed Wheeling 4-2. No. 8-seed Pensacola upset No. 1-seed Louisiana IceGators in the other semifinal.&ldquo;This team has more heart and more character than any team I&rsquo;ve ever been associated with,&rdquo; said John Brophy, the only coach the Admirals have had and the winner of nearly 900 games in his pro career. &ldquo;This team could have folded 100 times and didn&rsquo;t. What these guys did was amazing.&rdquo;Charpentier, 21, spent the year in Hampton Roads because Washington&rsquo;s farm team, the Portland Pirates of the American League, was set in goal with veterans Mike O&rsquo;Neill and Martin Brochu. The last time Washington sent a young goalie to the ECHL was in 1990-91 when some guy named Olaf Kolzig was an Admiral. Seven seasons later. Kolzig has led hisCapitals into this year&rsquo;s Stanley Cup final.Charpentier was rated Washington&rsquo;s ninth-best prospect in this year&rsquo;s THN Future Watch. The 5-foot-9, 170-pounder set an ECHL playoff record with a 1.93 goals-against average en route to a 14-4 record and .941 save percentage.Against Pensacola, Charpentier gave up seven goals in the opener while struggling with dehydration. In the next five games, however, he allowed only eight goals as the Admirals won their third title in nine years.&ldquo;We should all thank Sharpy,&rdquo; said left winger Rod Taylor, who scored the winner in the final game against Pensacola. &ldquo;He won the championship. He played above and beyond what any human being could be expected to play.&rdquo;Brophy, 65, said he will return next season, which will likely be the Admirals&rsquo; last in the ECHL. The franchise soon is expected to announce plans to move to the AHL in 1999-2000.It was Brophy and assistant Al Maclsaac who kept the team afloat by finding replacements after it was gutted by injuries and mid-season recalls. Forwards Boris Zelenko and Vadim Epanchintsev were recruited from Russia. Right winger Dominic Maltais came from Europe and defenseman Drew Palmer in a trade.The team struggled for two months as the newcomers adjusted to the league and the holdovers adjusted to the newcomers.&ldquo;We had five Russians, seven Canadians and eight Americans,&rdquo; said center Victor Gervais, who led the Admirals in playoff scoring with 18 points. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never heard of a team like that winning a championship. I&rsquo;ve been here for three championships. But what this team went through, how we did it, makes this the sweetest.&rdquo;The Admirals expect to lose several key players next season. Charpentier is destined for Portland and Gervais to a European club. Top defenseman Alex Alexeev signed a contract with the International League&rsquo;s Las Vegas Thunder immediately after the ECHL final. Taylor, 30, is contemplating retirement.&ldquo;Broph kept saying, &rsquo;Just make it to the playoffs and then we&rsquo;ll make some noise,&rsquo;&rdquo; said Alexeev, the team&rsquo;s captain. &ldquo;He was exactly right.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0034-01

Charpentier leads Admirals to glory

<div class="byline">By Brendan Savage</div>Ryan Black&rsquo;s goal in overtime of Game 7 capped the best final in the seven-year history of the United League.Black scored at 9:08 of OT to give the Quad City Mallards a 3-2 win over the Flint Generals and make them just the second team in UHL history to repeat as Colonial Cup champions. His goal ended a season in which the Mallards tied UHL records with 55 victories and 111 points.&ldquo;This is like a dream come true for me,&rdquo; said Black, acquired in a late-season trade with the Port Huron Border Cats. &ldquo;As a kid, you&rsquo;d see the NHL on TV and a Game 7.&rsquo; &ldquo;As a little kid playing on the pond, you&rsquo;d play &lsquo;last goal wins.&rsquo; That&rsquo;s what happened tonight.&rdquo;The game marked the second straight year Quad City beat Flint in overtime to win the Cup Last year, Fredrik Nasvall&rsquo;s goal in double overtime of Game 6 decided the series.&ldquo;The last one hurt, said Flint captain Stephan. Brochu. &ldquo;But Game 7 in overtime, it doesn&rsquo;t get any closer. This is the worst feeling ever.&rdquo;&rsquo; The Mallards became the first team in UHL history to win the Cup after falling into a 3-2 hole in the final. They joined the Thunder Bay; Senators (1992) as the only other club to win a seven-game final series.There were a record three overtime games in the series. Kevin Kerr&rsquo;s goal in the first overtime of Game 2 gave Flint a 5-4 win and Jeff i: Whittle connected in triple over-no": time of Game 4 to give Flint a 3-2 triumphQuad City center Jim Brown was the playoff &rsquo; MVP after scoring a UHL-high 13 goals and 25 points. Flint&rsquo;s Trevor Jobe was the leading scorer r with 28 points.. &ldquo;All year, we&rsquo;ve had pressure on us,&rdquo; Brown-said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just glad we were able to win it.&rdquo;The final wasn&rsquo;t without controversy as Quad City&rsquo;s Brad Barton was suspended for the final three games and the first 20 games of next season after threatening the life of referee Jerry Pateman following Game 4, when Barton&rsquo;s holding penalty in triple OT led to Whittle&rsquo;s goal.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02634/6820870-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="656" height="344"></div>That marked the fifth major suspension of the UHL playoffs. Rob Maclnnis of the Brantford Smoke was suspended four games i because of a racial slur; Dave Ivaska of p i, the Muskegon Fury got eight games for the same offense; Bob Bell of the Binghamton Icemen received 10 games for a pair of two-handed slashes; and, Brantford&rsquo;s Jason Renard was banned for life for attacking Flint&rsquo;s Chad Grills in the semifinal.GULLS AGAIN: The West Coast League might want to consider renaming its championship trophy the San Diego Gulls Cup.The Gulls won their third straight Taylor Cup April 30 with a 5-3 win over the Tacoma Saber-cats. San Diego took the senes 4-1. The Gulls have won every year since the league&rsquo;s inception in 1995-96.San Diego goalie Sergei Naumov was playoff MVP. The 29-year-old Latvia native had an 11 1-1 record. 2.47 goals-against average and .911 save percentage in the playoffs. He won the same award in 1995-96.Gulls&rsquo; center Brad Belland has been the playoff scoring leader three straight seasons. He had five goals and 24 points in 13 games.COLUMBUS WINS: The Columbus Cottonmouths won the Central League&rsquo;s Levins Cup in just their second year of operation.Columbus beat the Wichita Thunder 4-2 May 4, completing a four-game sweep in the final series. The Cottonmouths were swept in the opening round last season, their first in the CHL.Mike Martens of the Cottonmouths led playoff scorers with 17 goals and 30 points in 14 games and was selected playoff MVP. &#9632;

f0034-02

Quad City repeats as UHL champs

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01862/6820901-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div>Colorado Avalanche GM Pierre Lacroix was all set to bring back Mike Foligno for another season as assistant coach when Foligno came up with another idea.If Bob Hartley is coming to Colorado as coach, who&rsquo;s coaching the Hershey Bears, Foligno wondered.&ldquo;We talked about the past, the present and the future and Pierre said he wanted me to come back in the same role,&rdquo; Foligno said. &ldquo;Then he said, &rsquo;Now you tell me what you want.&rsquo; I said I wanted to be a head coach in the minors.&rdquo;When Hartley was promoted by the Avalanche to replace Marc Crawford. Foligno was named to succeed Hartley in Hershey.An NHL winger for 15 years, Folig-no spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach or pro scout. This will be his first head coaching job.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been coached by some great coaches and I&rsquo;ve coached some great players,&rdquo; Foligno said.Foligno, 39, has a tough act to follow. In Hartley&rsquo;s two years in Hershey, the Bears were 79-58-17 and won the Calder Cup in 1996-97.WORKING OVERTIME: For the first time in league history, the first three games of the Calder Cup final were decided in overtime. Sean O&rsquo;Brien of the Philadelphia Phantoms scored in double overtime to give his team a 3-2 win and a 1-0 lead in the series May 30. Todd Hlushko of the Saint John Flames got the overtime winner in a 3-2 win the next night to even the series. Peter White put the Phantoms ahead with his OT winner in a 4-3 victory June 3.The Phantoms meanwhile, tied a record set by the Adirondack Red Wings in 1992 and 1993, when they won their eighth straight road game June 3.BOULERICE SUSPENSION: AHL president David Andrews ruled left winger Jesse Boulerice won&rsquo;t be able to join the Phantoms until Nov. 15 next season.Boulerice, 19, was suspended one year by the Ontario League after he swung his stick at Guelph Storm right winger Andrew Long while with the Plymouth Whalers. Boulerice joined the Phantoms for the AHL playoffs, but was declared ineligible to play. The suspension amounts to 15-18 games next season. (See pg. 37for more on Boulerice.)Boulerice, a sixth round choice of the Philadelphia Flyers in 1996, would have been eligible to play as an overage in the OHL next season.SOMMER IN: Roy Sommer, an assistant coach with the San Jose Sharks for two years, will take over the team&rsquo;s AHL affiliate, the Kentucky Thoroughblades. Sommer, 40, replaces Jim Wiley. Wiley will remain as director of hockey operations.Before joining the Sharks as an assistant in 1995-96, Sommer coached five seasons in the East Coast League.ROCK ON: The Toronto Maple Leafs ratified a six-year affiliation agreement with St. John&rsquo;s, but the deal is contingent upon the city of St. John&rsquo;s building a new arena.Construction of a new 6,000-seat civic center could begin as early as this summer. The Leafs current deal in St. John&rsquo;s expires after next season. Toronto would be paid $1.1 million per season under terms of the deal.ON THE HORIZON: The Wilkes-Bar-re/Scranton team that begins play in 1999-2000 will be called the Penguins, but the uniform and logo will differ from the NHL parent Pittsburgh Penguins. Jeff Barrett, who was Pittsburgh&rsquo;s vice-president, ticket sales, is president of the AHL Penguins.<h2>AHL PLAYOFFS &#9632;</h2>

f0035-01

MINOR PRO REPORT

<div class="byline">By Kevin Iole</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02622/6820932-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg"></div>A benign tumor removed from the frontal lobe of Kansas City Blades&rsquo; left winger Bill H. Arm-strong&rsquo;s brain may end his career as a player.Armstrong, 31, had the tumor removed May 15 at the London Health Sciences Centre in his hometown of London, Ont. Doctors said it may have been growing for as long as a year. It was discovered May 6, while the Blades were in the midst of a playoff series with the Long Beach Ice Dogs. The tumor had cysts and calcium.Doctors said its location made it easier for them to remove it completely and safely. The biopsy was returned May 22 and showed it to be benign.A few hours after learning the news, Armstrong was on a golf course.Armstrong &rsquo; s fate as a player re-mains uncertain. He is expected to recover completely and be able to live a normal life, but he may experience some left-side weakness, though it is too soon to know for sure.Armstrong, who is no relation to Richmond Hill, Ont.,-bom Bill C. Armstrong of the Providence Bruins in the American League, gained notoriety last season for scoring twice with a lacrosse-style wraparound shot. He said if he was forced to retire he would like to remain in the game, possibly as a coach.HE&rsquo;S THE BEST: Las Vegas Thunder right winger Patrice Lefebvre, who led the league in scoring with 116 points, won the Gatschene Trophy as the league&rsquo;s MVP. The 5-foot-5, 160-pound native of Montreal had 27 goals and 89 assists, the seventh-highest total in league history.His win interrupted a streak of three straight wins by goalies. Prior to Lefebvre, Frederic Chabot of the Houston Aeros, Stephane Beauregard of the San Francisco Spiders and Tommy Salo of Denver Grizzlies were league MVPs.Fort wayne isomers goaue Druce nacine and center Viacheslav Butsayev finished sec-ond and third, respectively, in the voting.OTHER AWARDS: John Torchetti. who led Fort Wayne to the Central Division title and a 37-point improvement over &rsquo;96-97, was named top coach. Torchetti guided the Komets to a 47-29-6 mark, though they lost in the first playoff round.Long Beach&rsquo;s Dan Lambert won the Governor&rsquo;s Trophy as top defenseman, edging Houston&rsquo;s Greg Hawgood, while Todd White of the Indianapolis Ice was named top rookie.VAN BOXMEER RETURNS: John Van Boxmeer signed a two-year contract extension to stay with Long Beach as coach-GM through 2000-01.Long Beach won the regular season title, going 53-20-9 for 115 points, but lost to the Chicago Wolves in the conference final.In three years with the franchise, he has a 139-75-32 record.&ldquo;I work for great ownership,&rdquo; Van Boxmeer said. &ldquo;Barry and Maggie (Kemp) want to make this a premier franchise, not only off the ice, but on it. They&rsquo;ve given me the means to put a good team on the ice.&rdquo;MALARCHUK LEAVES: Clint Malarchuk, who coached Las Vegas for the final 19 games, turned down the Thunder&rsquo;s one-year contract offer to accept a three-year deal as coach and director of operations for the Idaho Steelheads of the West Coast League.Malarchuk said the location was much closer to both his family and his wife&rsquo;s family, which made the move appealing for him.A former NHL goaltender, Malarchuk was one of the original Thunder and is the only player in franchise history to have his number retired. He served Las Vegas as player, assistant coach, assistant GM, broadcaster and coach in his tenure.<h2>IHL PLAYOFFS &#9632;</h2>

f0035-02

Armstrong’s tumor benign, but career still in jeopardy

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-03" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-03504/6820963-1-eng-US/f0035-032.jpg"></div>Southeast Coast Hockey League anyone? The East Coast League has been getting a decidedly southern tilt for years and it was never more evident when the 27-team organization was realigned for 1998-1999.There will be 16 teams in the Southern Conference and only 11 in the Northern Conference next season.Expansion teams in Fort Myers, Fla., (Florida Everblades), and Greenville, S.C. (Greenville Grrrowl), along with two teams that moved south have caused the Southern Conference to be over-loaded. The Louisville RiverFrogs became the Miami Matadors and the Raleigh IceCaps have turned into the Augusta Lynx.The realignment puts eight teams in each the Southwest Division and Southeast Division.The Northwest Division is com-posed of six teams, while the Northeast has five teams.&ldquo;Obviously, we&rsquo;d like to even it out,&rdquo; said ECHL president Richard Adams. &ldquo;Unfortunately, the north-emmost team is Charlotte (N.C.), which has strongties to three teams in South Carolina. What we&rsquo;re looking at is in the next two years we&rsquo;ll have Trenton (N.J.).&rdquo; Reading (Pa.) and Atlantic City (N.J.).&rdquo;<h2>ECHL PLAYOFFS</h2>Trenton is scheduled to join for 1999-2000.&ldquo;That will bring I the north up to 14,&rdquo; Adams said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think you&rsquo;ll ever see the day when we have an equal number of teams in each conference. If we had 18 in one and 14 in the other, we could work with that.&rdquo;ARRESTED, SUSPENDED: J Wheeling Nailers&rsquo; winger Ryan Pisiak was arrested May 3 and charged with assaulting Charlie Doyle, a volunteer for the Hampton Roads Admirals, during a playoff game. The charges were dropped May 7.According to Doyle, Pisiak slashed him with his stick across the right leg as the Nailers were leaving the ice after a 2-1 overtime loss. Doyle, who was treated for an eight-inch bruise on his leg, is suing the Nailers for damages.Pisiak was also suspended indefinitely by the ECHL for threatening referee Jeff Smith.NEW COACHES: Bob Ferguson, who guided the Indianapolis Ice of the International League the past three seasons, was named the first coach of the Florida Everblades. The Everblades will play their first 13 games on the road while a new facility is completed&hellip;John Marks, who led the Charlotte Checkers the past five seasons, moved south to Greenville, where he is coach and director of operations for the expansion Grrrowl&hellip;Former Tallahassee Tiger Sharks&rsquo; coach Terry Christensen was named coach at Miami. &#9632;

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East Coast League looking very Southeast

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>The father of an injured Ontario League player says the sport has displayed a gross inability to regulate itself.David Long, whose son, Andrew, suffered severe facial injuries when struck by a stick, is furious that the American League failed to match the OHL&rsquo;s one-year suspension to Jesse Boulerice.Boulerice, who has graduated from-the Plymouth Whalers, will be eligible to join the Philadelphia Phantoms Nov-15, AHL president Dave Andrews ruled after conducting an independent review.&ldquo;The OHL might as well have given him a 10,000-year suspension,&rdquo; David Long said. His son was still recovering from his injuries, which included three facial fractures and a concussion.Long, 19, a Florida Panthers&rsquo; prospect, also went into convulsions and spent two nights in hospital after Boulerice, 19, brandished his stick in baseball-swing fashion during the final game of the Guelph Storm-Plymouth semifinal.OHL commissioner Dave Branch suspended Boulerice for a year, preventing his return as an overager.Boulerice has signed with the Philadelphia Flyers and was to join the Phantoms for the AHL playoffs. David Long said be-cause Boulerice has signed, he wouldn&rsquo;t have been back next sea-son and because there&rsquo;s no agreement between leagues honoring suspensions, this tells graduating juniors they can commit almost any atrocity knowing they won&rsquo;t have to pay.&ldquo;This is not a penalty at all,&rdquo; Long said. &ldquo;The OHL has done nothing to try and curb this kind of crap.&rdquo;Branch said he didn&rsquo;t ask the AHL to honor the OHL&rsquo;s sus-pension because &ldquo;legal counsel has said various U.S. labor laws and antitrust laws do not permit such an agreement.&rdquo;COACHING MOVES: Paul Theriault has returned to the OHL replacing Dale Dunbar as coach of the Erie Otters. Theri-ault is seventh among OHL coaches with 385 wins. He and Otters&rsquo; GM Sherry Bassin took the Oshawa Generals to the Memorial Cup in 1983 and 1987.The Kitchener Rangers and coach Geoff Ward parted company May 31 after the team chose not to renew the option year of his contract. Assistant coach Brian Hayton, 30, was promoted to head coach. Ward was named coach of the Canadian under-18 team for a world tournament in the Czech Republic this summer.Coach Tom Watt has left the Sudbury Wolves, saying he&rsquo;s seeking a coaching job in the East Coast League.KUDOS: London Knights&rsquo; vice-president Paul McIntosh was named top executive after the Knights went from worst in the Canadian Hockey League two years in a row to first in the West Division. The Knights enjoyed a 57-point improvement.Coach-GM Gary Agnew was previously named top coach. Knights&rsquo; defenseman Jason Metcalfe. 20, was named humanitunon of the year for his work with a special needs student.<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01817/6821001-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="783" height="919"><figcaption class="caption-body">Swift Current&rsquo;s Michal Rozsival was the WHL&rsquo;s top defenseman.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-03466/6820994-1-eng-US/f0036-032.jpg" title="f0036-03" width="1304" height="897"></div> &#9632;

f0036-01

LEAGUES

Player’s father livid at AHL’s Nov. 15 rulina

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstom</div>The Portland Winter Hawks will long remember Spokane.Spokane was the host city for the Memorial Cup-which the Winter Hawks won May 17. Spokane was also Portland&rsquo;s toughest adversary in the Western League playoffs.A hard-fought series win over the Spokane Chiefs in the Western Conference final propelled the Winter Hawks to greater successes.The Winter Hawks proceeded to earn a Memorial Cup berth by sweeping the Brandon Wheat Kings to win the WHL title.&ldquo;That seven-game series brought their game to another level,&rdquo; said Brandon coach Bob Lowes. &ldquo;We weren&rsquo;t at that level.&rdquo;Portland coach Brent Peterson agreed.&ldquo;The Spokane series helped us,&rdquo; Peterson said. &ldquo;Spokane played well and the series could have gone either way. Spokane was working hard and playing at a high level and they pushed us up to where we needed to be.&rdquo;HIGHS AND LOWES: Wheat Kings&rsquo; coach Bob Lowes expects to sign a new contract with Brandon. He is completing his third two-year deal with the team.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;ll take very long,&rdquo; said Lowes, 35. &ldquo;My other contracts took 10 or 15 minutes to negotiate. They&rsquo;ve been fair with me. I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;ll hold them for ransom.&rdquo; The Wheat Kings have posted win totals of 43, 42, 45, 52, 47 and 45 in Lowes&rsquo; six seasons in Brandon.Lowes had hoped to moonlight with Canada&rsquo;s national junior team for the World Junior Championship. But he did not make Canadian Hockey&rsquo;s 10-person short list.&ldquo;I was disappointed,&rdquo; Lowes said. &ldquo;I thought I deserved an interview. You have to have some-body in your comer, I guess.&rdquo;VARLAMOV HONORED: Swift Current Broncos&rsquo; right winger Sergei Varlamov was named the league&rsquo;s player of the year May 10.Varlamov led the league in goals (66) and points. He was also honored as the top scorer. His teammate. Michal Rozsival, was named the top defenseman.Other winners were: Brent Belecki, Portland (top goaltender); right winger Marian Hossa. Portland (top rookie); center Cory Cyrenne, Brandon (most sportsmanlike); Dean Clark, Cal-gary Hitmen (top coach); GM Ken Hodge. Port-land (top executive); defenseman Jesse Wallin, Red Deer Rebels (humanitarian); defenseman Kyle Rossiter, Spokane (scholastic); and Dane MacKinnon, Prince George Cougars (public relations).CHEVY ON BOARD: The Saskatoon Blades hired former NHL goalie Tim Cheveldae as an assistant to coach Willie Desjardins. Cheveldae, 30, finished his pro career this past season with the International League&rsquo;s Las Vegas Thunder.<h2>PLAYOFFS</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-02564/6821039-1-eng-US/f0036-022.jpg" title="f0036-02" width="784" height="922"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rouyn-Noranda&rsquo;s Remi Royer is a QMJHL all-star on defense.</figcaption></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-04354/6821032-1-eng-US/f0036-042.jpg" title="f0036-04" width="1303" height="902"></div> &#9632;

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Road through Spokane helps Winter Hawks

<div class="byline">By Stuart Cowan</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0036-05" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-05298/6821070-1-eng-US/f0036-052.jpg"></div>Vai d&rsquo;Or Foreurs&rsquo; GM Michel Georges is the first to admit his team was in over its head at this year&rsquo;s Memorial Cup.After sweeping the Rimouski Oceanic to win the Quebec League final, the Foreurs lost all three games at the Memorial Cup while being outscored 19-8.&ldquo;When we met the OHL and Western League there was a difference in speed,&rdquo; Georges said. &ldquo;We were too slow in skating and too slow reacting to the play.&rdquo;But despite the team&rsquo;s poor showing in Spokane, Georges is proud of what the Vai d&rsquo;Or franchise has accomplished in the five years since it joined the league as an expansion team.&ldquo;When I started with the Foreurs I said. &rsquo;Hey guys, give me three years. After three years we&rsquo;re going to be real competitive.&rsquo; &ldquo;The third year we finished third overall and I was satisfied with that. The fourth year was about the same and the fifth year we went to the Memorial Cup. I&rsquo;m very proud of that.&rdquo;STILL NOT IMPRESSED: Vai d&rsquo;Or&rsquo;s Jean-Pierre Dumont was playoff MVP and his 31 goals in 19 playoff games broke the league record of 29 set by Mario Lemieux in 1984, but that didn&rsquo;t impress New York Islanders&rsquo; GM Mike Milbury.Dumont, New York&rsquo;s first round pick (third overall) in 1996, finally signed a three-year, $2.6-million deal with the Islanders May 30, but was then traded to the Chicago Blackhawks with a fifth round draft pick for fellow prospect Dmitri Nabokov.&ldquo;It wasn&rsquo;t enough,&rdquo; Milbury said. &ldquo;We scouted this player as much as any since I&rsquo;ve been in the organization. Our staff feels we have a better prospect in Nabokov.&rdquo;SHINING STARS: Rimouski&rsquo;s Vincent Lecavalier was named the center on the league&rsquo;s first all-star team.Also on the team were left winger Ramzi Abid (Chicoutimi Sagueneens); right winger Mathieu Benoit (Chicoutimi); defensemen Derrick Walser (Rimouski) and Remi Royer (Rouyn-Noranda Huskies); goalie Mathieu Garon (Victoriaville Tigres); and coach Guy Chouinard (Quebec Remparts).COACHING CHANGES: Gastron Drapeau, who holds the league record for most wins by a coach, won&rsquo;t be back behind the Drummondville Voltigeurs&rsquo; bench. Drapeau, who has a 442-464-37 overall record, has given up his coaching position to concentrate on his duties as GM. Andre Ruel, a well-known name in Drummondville circles, will take over behind the bench&hellip;Robert Mongrain resigned as coach of the Sherbrooke Faucons after the team missed the playoffs with a 27-40-3 record&hellip;Doris Labonte, the coach of Rimouski, will also be the team&rsquo;s GM next season, replacing Maurice Tanguay, who will remain vice-president&hellip;The Moncton Wildcats have decided not to renew the contract of Bill Riley, the team&rsquo;s director of operations.<h2>PLAYOFFS &#9632;</h2>

f0036-05

Foreurs winless at Memorial Cup, but retain pride

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0038-06" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0038-06240/6821101-1-eng-US/f0038-062.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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June 19, 1998

NHL STATISTICAL REPORT

Johnson makes progress, but return still uncertain

STANLEY CUP PREDICTIONS

GM Clarke ’fesses up to mistakes