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September 25, 1998
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.
GM gets in swing of things by taking care of business
It was business before pleasure for Rejean Houle. Four days before the start of training camp, with seven restricted free agents remaining to be signed, the Montreal Canadiens’ GM skipped his team’s annual golf tournament Sept. 8, electing instead to remain in his office, manning the phones. Four of the team’s unsigned play-ers-Saku Koivu, Martin Rucinsky, Vladimir Malakhov and Brian Savage-joined Houle in missing the tournament and likely will stay away from the opening of camp unless they have new contracts. But Patrice Brisebois, Scott Thornton and Jose Theodore all got their swings in although they, too, remain unsigned. According to one report, 22 NHL teams have said they will bar unsigned players from attending camp. The Canadiens have yet to state their position, but coach Alain Vigneault believes Montreal players will be…
DeBrusk ready for battle
Louie DeBrusk knows he has something to prove. Now with the Phoenix Coyotes-his third NHL team in three years-he says he has entered the “establishing mode” of his career. He knows he may have to be “a little more aggressive than I normally would be, for sure,” to earn a full time spot in Phoenix. Don’t bet against him. He’s on a two-way contract: $500,000 in the NHL, $175,000 in the minors. That’s motivation. Jim Cummins and rookie Sean Gagnon are on one-way deals and will be after the same enforcer’s job. There may not be room in town for all three of them. That’s motivation, too. More importantly, though, DeBrusk is at peace with himself. He has reconciled himself with his role. He says he is in the right frame of…
Granato in; Blake on hold
The Los Angeles Kings announced an intriguing signing a tew days before training camp began, but it wasn’t Norris Trophy winner Rob Blake who stepped to the microphone at the Forum. The Kings’ announced the signing of Cammi Granato, captain of the gold medal-winning U.S. women’s Olympic hockey team, to be their new radio commentator. They could only wish they were as successful in their talks with Blake, a restricted free agent who is seeking a deal worth more than $5 million a season. Negotiations were put on hold when GM Dave Taylor went to Canada the first week of September for his mother’s funeral, but little progress had been made before he left. “We made an offer that would have made Rob the highest paid defenseman in the history of the game,…
Arena feud turns nasty
A day after filing a $10million lawsuit against the managers of Nassau Coliseum, the New York Islanders backed up several trucks to the door of their Uniondale, Long Island home and moved to their Manhattan digs. It looked like a classic negotiating ploy by the club’s new owners to try to jump-start negotiations with Nassau County politicians for a new arena, but club officials said Sept. 10 they were exploring the possibility of playing home games at several arenas, including Madison Square Garden, the Hartford Civic Center, New Haven Coliseum and the Spectrum in Philadelphia. In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, the team said it should be allowed to break its lease, which runs until 2015, because Coliseum manager Spectacor Management Group breached the lease by failing to…
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