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.

September 17, 1999

The Hockey News September 17, 1999

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>Aware of the potential controversy it brings, the International League has still decided to open the Pandora&rsquo;s Box of video replay.This season, the IHL will employ video review in each of its 13 arenas, but only to help referees decide if a puck crossed the goal line. The league expects to have a television monitor and VCR installed in penalty boxes by the time the regular season begins Oct. 1.&ldquo;Installing it in some cities will be tougher than others, but we&rsquo;re going to try it,&rdquo; said IHL vice-president Bob McCammon. &ldquo;Nothing is perfect, but it has got to help us.&rdquo;McCammon said many IHL arenas have jumbo-trons as part of their scoreboards and in most cases, the installation of a review monitor for referees will be easy.&ldquo;If there&rsquo;s an alert video director in the arena, they&rsquo;re going to want to show it to their fans and they do,&rdquo; McCammon said. &ldquo;So why not let the referee see it and as many times as he wants? It&rsquo;s just to tell if the puck is in the net and we think this can make a difference. If not, then go with your gut feeling on the play like you would have.&ldquo;We just want to get it right and with referees, linesmen, goal judges and now this, we think we can get it right most of the time.&rdquo;The decision to go to video review will be exclusively up to the referee.League GMs, at their meetings in late August, endorsed the concept and discussed the rules of its use.&ldquo;Bottom line is if you have the capability, why not use it?&rdquo; said Manitoba Moose GM Randy Carlyle.WORKING ON IT: Officiating was a popular subject at the GMs&rsquo; meetings. Since taking control over its referees and linesmen last season, the IHL has had some growing pains. This season, it has made some personnel changes on the officiating staff, including the addition of at least four new referees.Two, Mark Hicks and Al Kimmel, are from the Ontario League and two others, Scott Hoberg and Wes McCauley-son of former NHL director of officiating John McCauley-worked at lower minor league levels last season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02648/7160047-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="929" height="380"></div>Chicago Wolves&rsquo; GM Kevin Cheveldayoff and Milwaukee Admirals&rsquo; GM Phil Wittliff have been invited to participate in the league&rsquo;s officials training camp Sept. 10-12 in Chicago.The IHL also hired former NHL supervisor Sam Sisco to work with officials on a frill-time basis.&ldquo;I believe we&rsquo;re going to have more supervision of referees and linesmen this year,&rdquo; said Kansas City Blades&rsquo; GM Doug Soetaert. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re looking for some new, younger referees. We have some new blood already. I think it will improve.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t matter what sport you&rsquo;re in, officiating is a problem, but I believe we&rsquo;re headed in the right direction.&rdquo;PLAYOFF FORMAT: The 1999-2000 playoff format will see the top five teams from each conference qualify for post-season play. it the end of the regular season, the fourth and fifth seeds in each conference will play a best-of-three preliminary round series, with the winner then joining the top three seeds in the conference semifinal.After the preliminary round, all series will be best-of-seven affairs.As a concession to the Eastern Conference governors who lobbied for 12 of the league&rsquo;s 13 teams to make the playoffs-all seven of that conference&rsquo;s teams are NHL affiliates-a crossover provision has been included in this year&rsquo;s format. It allows the sixth-place team in the Eastern Conference to replace the fifth-place club in the Western Conference if it has more points.The cross-over does not apply to a sixth-place team in the westESAU RETURNS: Defenseman Len Esau has returned to the IHL, signing a one-year contract with the Cincinnati Cyclones.Esau, 31, spent last season playing in Japan with the Seibu Bears. The veteran of four NHL teams and 240 IHL games played in Cincinnati in 1995-96.The Cyclones are the minor league affiliate of the Carolina Hurricanes. &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Officials to use video replay from monitor in penalty box

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div>After 608 goals, 1,200 points and 1,240 games, the diagnosis finally came true.Yes, Dino Ciccarelli retired on Aug. 31, a mere 21 years after doctors said he would never play again after suffering a broken leg in junior. (See pg. 2 for more on Ciccarelli.) Actually, they said skating would be problematic and even walking might be a chore-thanks to that surgically inserted two-foot steel rod and the 100-plus stitches which served as a graphic reminder.Then, as always, Ciccarelli proved them wrong. His was no quiet determination. He led face-first, giving as good as he got. The amazing thing about Ciccarelli&rsquo;s bad back was that it lasted so long, after all those cross-checks at the net.&ldquo;My heart wants to play, my body is saying enough,&rdquo; Ciccarelli said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve had 19 years.&rdquo;On the ice, at the bargaining table or with the media, Ciccarelli never gave ground. The only time he went backwards was when he was crowding an opponent into the crease.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011538/7159040-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="507" height="654"></div>&ldquo;He made a defenseman&rsquo;s life miserable,&rdquo; said Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; defenseman Larrv Murphy. &ldquo;He liked to park himself in front of the net. I didn&rsquo;t see his face too often. It was always the back of the head.&rdquo; That was always Ciccarelli. Mix in 5-foot-10 inches of sinew, remarkable hand-eye co-ordination and abrasiveness, and you have the ninth-highest goal-scorer in NHL history, two shy of Bobby Hull and active Mark Messier.He added 73 playoff goals. Only Wayne Gretzky, Rocket Richard and Jari Kurri have more than Ciccarelli&rsquo;s six post-season hat tricks. No surprise. Even his regular season goals were scored in gritty playoff fashion, on rebounds and deflections off sticks and body parts.Every day after practice, Ciccarelli would gather pucks and take passes just outside the crease. In one motion he would try to roof the shot, usually succeeding seven out of 10 times, an efficiency that awed younger teammates.&ldquo;I take a lot of pride in the way I played,&rdquo; Ciccarelli, 38, said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a great skater, stickhandler or shooter. I had a knack for going to the net. To have success and score goals, you have to pay a price-especially being one of the smaller guys.&rdquo;Size never mattered much to Ciccarelli. He once beat up an OHL mascot, &rsquo;Alex the Gator,&rsquo; in Brantford, Ont., during a junior game. Another time, he fought London teammate Wayne Thompson-during a game-after Ciccarelli inadvertently cleared the puck into his own bench.Poor judgment and bad behavior led to off-ice problems in Minnesota and Washington. He became the first NHL player to do jail time for an on-ice offense (one day) after delivering a two-hander to the head of Toronto defenseman Luke Richardson in 1989.He was a feud-in-waiting, Attila on skates, a one-man epicenter for bad blood. Fellow Sarnia native Pat Verbeek was merely a descendant. Jay Leno to Ciccarelli&rsquo;s Johnny Carson. When Pat Bums, then coaching Toronto, complained about his helmet flying off during a playoff series with Detroit, Ciccarelli suggested Bums loan him one of his chins to help keep it attached.His angry contract battles with Red Wings&rsquo; senior vice-president Jimmy Devellano had a retro, pre-union feel. He fought coach Scotty Bowman over playing time and perceived slights and cost himself a chance to win a Stanley Cup when he was traded to Tampa Bay.If all these things make Ciccarelli sound like a bad guy, well, you&rsquo;re getting the wrong impression. He was simply Dino. He knew no other way.Fans loved him. Teammates wanted him on their side. Opponents loathed him. But at the risk of ruining an image three decades in the making, know this about Ciccarelli: He had a soft side, too.When anti-government terrorists blew up the U.S. federal building in Oklahoma City, a moved Ciccarelli collected thousands of dollars from teammates to donate to the Red Cross relief effort.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021080/7159033-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="505" height="653"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dino Ciccarelli</figcaption></div>After Detroit lost two games at home to Colorado in the 1996 playoffs, Ciccarelli yelled at teammates hiding in the showers and weight room to talk to the media.He and former teammate Vladimir Konstantinov, confined to a wheelchair from a limousine accident, shared a poignant moment in Florida when Ciccarelli scored his 600th goal as a member of the Panthers against Detroit in 1998. Ciccarelli wheeled Konstantinov into the Florida dressing room and later talked to him briefly.Konstantinov was still battling injuries which damaged his memory, but his wife Irina said he was clear about that night.&ldquo;Oh, he remembered Dino,&rdquo; she said.Most definitely. &#9632;

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COLUMNS

Dino leaves colorful legacy

<div class="byline">By Mario Annicchiarico</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-07107/7159454-1-eng-US/f0021-072.jpg" title="f0021-07" width="217" height="210"></div>For Doug Weight, the 1998-99 NHL season was a kick in the teeth.After being embroiled in a contract squabble that left him sitting out training camp-thus missing all nine preseason games-and the first four regular season contests, Weight suffered a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee Oct. 28.The rehabilitation was a slow and tedious process and he ended up missing 34 games.Then in Edmonton&rsquo;s last game of the season during the first round playoff series against the Dallas Stars, Weight caught teammate Ryan Smyth&rsquo;s skate flush on the side of his face, cutting him for nearly three-dozen stitches and leaving him dazed with a concussion.&ldquo;It feels great,&rdquo; the 28-year-old center said of the knee after his first stint at a conditioning camp in Edmonton. &ldquo;It was my first time on the ice so I was a little off-balance and everything, but I feel great physically.&rdquo;Mentally, Weight, who became a father for the first time in the off-season, is also prepared to lead the Oilers into battle.&ldquo;It was kind of an auspicious ending I think, getting hit like that was the icing on the cake for the year,&rdquo; he said of the nasty bash and resulting gash.&ldquo;It was a rough month afterwards, I had a lot of headaches and couldn&rsquo;t do anything for a month. But that&rsquo;s behind me.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: More than 2,500 fans spent $99 each to take part in the Boys on the Bus Reunion, which celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Oilers in the NHL. The evening was highlighted by Wayne Gretzky, who officially received his Oilumni sweater. The next day, 228 golfers shelled out $399 each in the annual Oilumni golf tournament. Brian Winder spent $11,500 in an auction to be one of Gretzky&rsquo;s partners. Bernie Ferbey bid $11,000 to also join the group, which included Oilers&rsquo; GM-president Glen Sather&hellip;Noticeably absent from the event were Mark Messier and Jari Kurri&hellip;The Oilers still had yet to sign forwards Mike Grier. Bill Guerin and Ryan Smyth and defensemen Roman Hamrlik and Christian Laflamme. &#9632;

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NHL TEAMS

Healthy Weight returns after injury-prone year

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-01917/7160209-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-01880/7160202-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="4557" height="5280"></div> &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

NHL DEPTH CHARTS

<h2>Long-serving leaders done</h2>1. Characters with character Gritty veterans Dino Ciccarelli, Craig Ludwig hang up blades after distinguished careers.2. Super owner After a long negotiation, NHL approves Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s ownership bid for Pittsburgh Penguins.3. Paul Morris Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; P.A. announcer with distinctive voice hangs up mic after 38 years.4. Wild about Doug Expansion Minnesota names Doug Risebrough GM as team prepares to enter NHL in 2000-01.5. Hosts with most Memorial Cup host Halifax Mooseheads have sold more than 5,900 season-ticket packages.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0235/7158499-1-eng-US/c0002-022.jpg" title="C0002-02" width="440" height="624"><figcaption class="caption-body">Craig Ludwig</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0326/7158492-1-eng-US/c0002-032.jpg" title="C0002-03" width="439" height="623"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brent Severyn</figcaption></div><h2>Not a Gillies or Bourne in sight</h2>1. Islanders in deep Expect long season when Brad Isbister No. 1 among left wingers on depth chart.2. Junior brouhaha Quebec League pre-season game between Cape Breton, Bathurst marred by brawl.3. Ranger robber Former Kitchener Ranger GM Bob Ertel admits to stealing money from Ontario League club.4. Too bad his name isn&rsquo;t Hitch NHL won&rsquo;t let Brent Severyn&rsquo;s name on Stanley Cup though he was a Star all year.5. Game-breaker If agent Mark Gandler represented all NHLers, there&rsquo;d be nobody under contract to play games. &#9632;

C0002-02

PLUS MINUS

<div class="byline">By Steve Dryden Editor-In-Chief</div>The retirement of hockey&rsquo;s Y3K Bug deserves to be more than a footnote at century&rsquo;s end.It deserves to be recognized when Dale Hunter, one of five players in NHL history to earn more than 3,000 penalty minutes, becomes eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame. Hunter should be elected to the shinny shrine-if not three years from now when his name is placed on the ballot for the first time, then not long after.The only man in NHL history to collect the triple-300 goals, 1,000 points and 3,000 penalty minutes-has earned the ultimate career achievement award. He should receive hockey&rsquo;s highest honor after a career full of dishonorable conduct.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/c0002-0414/7158530-1-eng-US/c0002-042.jpg" title="C0002-04" width="469" height="583"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Claus Andersen/BBS)</figcaption></div>Over 19 seasons, Hunter ranked among the sport&rsquo;s truly loathsome characters. He was mean-spirited, criminal with his stick and seldom seen when the gloves were dropped. In short, combined with his underrated hands and vision, plus superior defensive work, Hunter was a force to be reckoned with. He was the ultimate team player, a heart-and-souler whose spirit lifted teammates and deflated the opposition. Hunter would and could do just about anything to win. He was a take-no-prisoners player in a league that holds those players in higher regard than those who don&rsquo;t acknowledge hockey&rsquo;s heart of darkness would like.Dale Hunter-and this, for a puck pacifist, is hard to say-was a winner.So, too, was another 5-foot-10 warrior who also entered the NHL in 1980-81 and should exit via the Hall of Fame. Dino Ciccarelli, one of the all-time great scorers, leaves with the ninth-most goals ever (608), two behind two legends, Bobby Hull and Mark Messier. (See pg. 15formore on Ciccarelli.) Ciccarelli, like Hunter, played the role of villain often during his 19-year career. His act was more palatable than Hunter&rsquo;s, but it was Ciccarelli who spent a day in jail for slamming his stick down on Luke Richardson&rsquo;s head. (Hunter received a 21-game sentence by the NHL war crimes commission in 1993.) That Ciccarelli and Hunter both collected so many points proved wrong one of hockey&rsquo;s most trusted maxims: You can&rsquo;t score from the penalty box.Each excelled in the playoffs. Neither suffered from breathing problems when collars tightened around them. Ciccarelli holds the record for most playoff goals by a rookie, 14 in 1981. And consider this about him: Of the top 15 scorers ever, only three have higher goals-per-game averages during the playoffs than regular season. They are Messier, Jari Kurri and Ciccarelli, future Hall-of-Famers one and all. &#9632;

C0002-04

They weren’t nice, but they were all-timers

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-02" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021392/7158568-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Avs must try to find ways to score without superstar center Peter Forsberg, who could be out until December with a shoulder injury.</figcaption></div>It might have been the most electrifying 20 minutes of hockey ever seen in Denver and it didn&rsquo;t matter much to Colorado Avalanche fans their team wound up losing 4-3 to the Edmonton Oilers.There was the promise of better things to come in the March 1 game, especially after the team&rsquo;s newly assembled first line of Peter Forsberg, Joe Sakic and Theo Fleury put on an amazing display of keepaway.With the Avs down 4-0 entering the third period, coach Bob Hartley inserted Fleury-making his debut in Colorado colors-on the same line with superstars Forsberg and Sakic. The trio was so dominant there were shifts when nary an Oiler got within three feet of the puck. The line fired 16 shots at Edmonton goalie Bob Essensa in the final period.&ldquo;That was some kind of tough line to stop,&rdquo; said Essensa, who stood on his head to preserve an Oiler victory.Despite the loss, things looked rosy for the Avalanche. How would anybody beat a team with three top-notch scorers on its first line, not to mention two of the NHL&rsquo;s best rookies further down the forward depth chart, to go along with several established veteran scorers? How could team with that much offensive talent, and with Patrick Roy in net, not win the ; Stanley Cup?But the Avs did not win their second Cup in four years, thanks to a seven-game loss to the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference final. The losses continued to mount throughout the summer. Fleury, left winger Valeri Kamensky and defenseman Sylvain Lefebvre all bolted to the New York Rangers via free agency. Center Dale Hunter, acquired at the March trade deadline, retired. Veteran backup Craig Billington was traded to the Washington Capitals.To make matters worse, Forsberg suffered a severe shoulder injury in Game 4 of the Western final and might not play until December.On the business side, things were no less chaotic. In April, the Avs, along with the Denver Nuggets and Pepsi Center arena, were sold to Wal-Mart heirs Bill and Nancy Laurie for $400 million.But angry shareholders of the team&rsquo;s previous owner, Ascent Entertainment, claimed former CEO Charlie Lyons undersold the properties to cut a , sweetheart deal with the Lauries and remain with the new organization.A judge agreed and soon a public auction was ordered, which turned into another circus. Former NFL great John Elway got in on the bidding. So did a mysterious woman calling herself 1 Princess Thara Saud.The only trouble with the princess was she was no princess at all. She was really a woman from Kansas City with a history of check-bouncing, who was later found to be living not in a palatial manor, but a small apartment in Wilton, Conn.Finally, Denver banking and telecommunications mogul Donald Sturm outbid Elway, the phony princess and the Lauries for the Ascent properties, ponying up $461 million.If only Sturm&rsquo;s check had arrived sooner in me Avs&rsquo; front office, maybe they could have kept Fleury and signed a needed free agent defenseman or two. Maybe then, things would look as bright as they did last March.&ldquo;I think the ownership thing had a lot to do with them not making me an offer,&rdquo; said Fleury, who bolted the Avs for a three-year, $21-million deal with the Rangers. &ldquo;Denver was always my first choice to stay.&rdquo;As a result of the ownership follies, the Avs are now banking on a stable of cheaper, younger substitutes to fill the void. (See accompanying table.)&ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to just work that much harder,&rdquo; Hartley said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s no question we lost a very talented hockey player in Theo Fleury, but we&rsquo;re still going to be a very competitive hockey club.&rdquo;Competitive isn&rsquo;t the word Avs&rsquo; fans want to hear. They&rsquo;ve come to expect more than that since the I am won the Cup in the club&rsquo;s first season in Denver, 1995-96.With the highest average ticket price in a the Western Conference, which will only K get higher in years to come now that they&rsquo;re in a new building, Avs&rsquo; fans have come to expect excellence. Now, they&rsquo;re faced with a bunch of question marks.Not only might Colorado struggle to score goals-at least in the first half in Forsberg&rsquo;s absence-preventing them , might be a problem, too. Even with Lefebvre, the Avalanche were thin at defense. The Avs allowed 30 or more shots on goal in 15 of 19 playoff games and outside of Adam Foote and Aaron Miller, the personnel is shaky.Roy is still an elite goalie, but J he turns 34 on Oct 5. How much longer can he be counted on to shoulder the load?Offensively, captain Sakic will be the leader, but he&rsquo;ll need a ton of help from some youngsters.The club can&rsquo;t afford sophomore slumps from either Calder Trophy winner Chris Drury or finalist Milan Hejduk. In fact, they&rsquo;ll be expected to quickly build on their super rookie seasons.And the Avs are hoping talented 19-year-old center Alex Tanguay can help fill the huge void left by Forsberg&rsquo;s injury.Meanwhile, with Hejduk and Drury assuming bigger roles, holes open up farther down the depth chart.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re still one of the top teams in the league,&rdquo; said one Western Conference GM, &ldquo;but I don&rsquo;t think there&rsquo;s any question they&rsquo;re not as deep or scary as they were last year.&rdquo;Especially on that wonderful F night last March.<h2>AN AVALANCHE OF DEPARTURES</h2>The Colorado Avalanche lost three key contributors and two useful role players during the off-season via unrestricted free agency, trade and retirement. Due to the departures, the Avalanche will be a younger team in 1999-2000, but will they be as good? Below is a look at who has left and who is likely to fill the void.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011739/7158561-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg" title="f0003-01" width="1595" height="1254"></div> &#9632;

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FEATURES

Avs face uphill battle

The smooth, nasal monotone voice, which echoed through Toronto&rsquo;s Maple Leafs Gardens for almost 40 years, has called it a career.Paul Morris, who served as the public address announcer for 1,585 consecutive games since 1961, announced his retirement. The familiar dispassionate voice was recognizable not only to Toronto fans, but millions of Hockey Night In Canada viewers. Morris announced the summary in the same unbiased, uninspired manner.&ldquo;If you could sit beside me during a game, you would see how different I am to what I sound,&rdquo; Morris said.Morris&rsquo; father Doug was an electrician who worked on the construction of the Gardens. Paul Morris started as a sound man for all Gardens&rsquo; events, but lost his job in February when the Maple Leafs moved to their new facility, the Air Canada Centre.He also made the move, but strictly as public address announcer, earning a few hundred dollars a game. At 61, he decided it&rsquo;s not worth his while and instead will spend winters in Florida. &#9632;

Time expires on familiar Gardens’ voice

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div>Ed Kea went straight from the farm in Collingwood, Ont., to pro hockey, but the innocent country charm remained with him even after years in the NHL.&ldquo;He was this big farm kid who was a little naive and always had this big smile,&rdquo; said Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; coach-GM Pat Quinn, who played three seasons in the 1970s with Kea on the Atlanta Flames. &ldquo;He was really a friendly giant.&rdquo;Kea, whose career was ended by a brutal accident in 1983, drowned at his cottage near Parry Sound, Ont., Aug. 31 at age 51.A rugged 6-foot-3, 200-pound defenseman, Kea played nine years in the NHL with the Flames and St. Louis Blues, scoring 30 goals and 175 points in 583 games while accumulating 508 penalty minutes. The 13th of 14 children, Kea was also the first Dutch-born player in NHL history.Kea is best remembered for an accident that cut his career short, changed his life and highlighted the importance of head protection. While playing for the Central League&rsquo;s Salt Lake Golden Eagles March 7, 1983 against the Tulsa Oilers, Kea received a clean but hard hit from George McPhee, the current GM of the Washington Capitals. Kea hit his head on the ledge of the boards before falling face-first to the ice.He sustained severe brain trauma, broke his nose and cheekbones and had blood coming out of both ears. He spent two weeks in a coma and left the hospital two months later, but the damage to his brain was irreparable. He could no longer drive, was constantly on medication, suffered bouts of depression and had problems with short-term memory.Kea was due to be recalled by the Blues the next day. He was not wearing a helmet, despite the fact three years earlier the NHL made them mandatory for players entering the league. Incidentally, Kea was an uncle of former New York Rangers&rsquo; defenseman Jeff Beukeboom, who recently retired after a head injury.To make matters worse, Kea learned that because he was in the minors, he was not covered under the NHL&rsquo;s disability plan and the NHL Players&rsquo; Association came under criticism for not doing enough to help him. Kea sued the Blues and received an out-of-court settlement when they were later sold by Ralston-Purina.&ldquo;He had a very difficult life after the accident,&rdquo; said Kea&rsquo;s brother Gord. &ldquo;It was really difficult on his family, especially his wife (Jennifer).&rdquo;But Gord Kea also said his brother discovered Christianity and was not consumed by resentment. &ldquo;He changed so much, he thought everybody was wonderful,&rdquo; Gord Kea said. &ldquo;He was so thankful he was alive.&rdquo;Kea, who spent winters in St. Louis and summers at his cottage, is survived by his wife, three daughters and one son. Funeral services for Kea were held in Beaverton, Ont., Sept. 4. &#9632;

‘Friendly giant’ Kea drowns at cottage

<div class="byline">Compiled by THN staff</div>Mario Lemieux officially rescued the Pittsburgh Penguins from bankruptcy Sept. 3-a day before training camp opened-when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Bernard J. Markovitz endorsed the deal.Markovitz had approved the deal June 24, but Lemieux&rsquo;s group went into overtime tying up loose ends with lenders, creditors, Fox Sports Pittsburgh and, especially, with Civic Arena landlord SMG.On Sept. 2, Lemieux struck a deal with SMG and was approved by the NHL&rsquo;s Board of Governors in New York. That left only the formality of Markovitz sealing the deal and thereby ending a drama that began Oct. 13, when the Penguins filed for bankruptcy.&ldquo;I had no idea it was this difficult to put a deal together,&rdquo; Lemieux said. &ldquo;But there were so many elements throughout the life of this deal. There were a lot of moving targets on a daily basis.&rdquo;Lemieux said he and his group of investors, numbering more than a dozen, have put together $52 million (U.S.) so far and hope to raise more. He said the market value of the Penguins is $85 million, or the price of an expansion franchise.Lemieux has a $25-million equity stake in the franchise-mostly in deferred salary from his playing days-making him the team&rsquo;s largest investor. All 28 teams, plus next year&rsquo;s expansion teams in Minnesota and Columbus, approved Lemieux&rsquo;s ownership bid. GM Craig Patrick cast the Penguins&rsquo; vote.This much is certain: Lemieux won&rsquo;t make any more money from playing the game. The NHL ha? a rule prohibiting owners from playing. Lemieux was asked if he&rsquo;d be tempted to lace up the skates il the NHL waived that rule.PUCK BRIEFS&ldquo;Nope, the belly&rsquo;s too big,&rdquo; he said with a laugh.WILD IN MINNESOTA: Doug Risebrough has been a winner throughout his 25 years in the NHL And when the expansion Minnesota Wild were shopping for a GM, he stood out.Risebrough won four Stanley Cups as a player in Montreal, one as a Calgary assistant coach and ha? missed the playoffs only three times in 25 years.&ldquo;The common characteristic with Doug is he is t winner and a fierce competitor,&rdquo; Wild chief executive officer Jac Sperling said in announcing the hiring of Risebrough Sept. 2.Risebrough, 45, signed a five-year contract. He will direct all ice-side operations for the team thatwill play its first game in October, 2000.Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman, who was Risebrough&rsquo;s coach in Montreal, said the.former center is a perfect choice for the Wild.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s qualified,&rdquo; Bowman said. &ldquo;He has coached, played and is a respected hockey person. He&rsquo;s young and he has a lot of energy.&rdquo;Risebrough promised to bring passion to the job.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s my goal to build a team that will be passionate about hockey,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It will be a fun, intense, winning environment. My philosophy is not short-term goals, but trying to build a long-term winner.&rdquo;His first priority is to hire a scouting staff. The Wild waited longer than any of the other three expansion teams in naming a GM, but Risebrough said the delay won&rsquo;t damage the hiring process.The biggest blemish on Risebrough&rsquo;s career is a trade he made while Calgary&rsquo;s GM. He sent Flames&rsquo; star Doug Gilmour to Toronto in a 10-player deal. The Flames went downhill while Gilmour had a Maple Leafs-record 127 points in the 1992-93 season and 111 in 1993-94. Risebrough was fired by the Flames in 1996 and has spent the past three years working as vice-president of hockey operations under Glen Sather in Edmonton.&ldquo;(The Gilmour-trade) was what probably shaped me the most, because of the fast rise 1 had had from player to coach and GM,&rdquo; Risebrough said. &ldquo;It taught me that as an ex-player, you have to look at the players differently.&rdquo;-With files from Joe Starkey and John Millea &#9632;

Lemieux’s Pen purchase endorsed PUCK BRIEFS

There&rsquo;s a new TV ad for the Pittsburgh Penguins featuring a masked goalie. Career stats are then flashed across the screen: 613 goals, 881 assists, two Stanley Cups&hellip;and one save.The goalie makes a glove save, then lifts his mask. A serious Mario Lemieux shows his face. Saving the Penguins from bankruptcy became official Sept. 3 when it received court approval and was endorsed by all 28 NHL teams.Fact of the matter is, Lemieux saved a floundering Pittsburgh franchise in 1984 when he arrived as an 18-year-old wunderkind. He guided the Penguins to two Stanley Cup titles during a 12-year Hall of Fame career before retiring in 1997.The Hockey News is making a deposit each issue to our Millennium Tune Capsule to mark the final year of the millennium. This week THN deposits a glove save in Pittsburgh. Here&rsquo;s a list of recent submissions.July 2 Atlanta Thrasher Jersey &rsquo;46 new players in two daysJuly 23 Neil Smith&rsquo;s CheckbookRanger GM signs free agentsAug. 20 Harry Sinden&rsquo;s ShoesBruin GM walks away from dealAug. 27 Ken Dryden&rsquo;s AddressSpeech sets tone for summitSept. 3 Glove Save In PittsburghMario Lemieux rescues Pens<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011676/7158695-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg" title="f0005-01" width="772" height="1013"><figcaption class="caption-body">Mario Lemieux</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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THN’s Millennium TIME CAPSULE

In response to the letter &ldquo;Attack deserved&rdquo; (THN, Sept. 10), I would like to ask the author what century he is living in.No matter what Jeff Beukeboom may have done to another player, he did not deserve to have his career ended by a cheap, blind-sided sucker punch from a goon like Matt Johnson. The only reason Johnson is in the NHL is because of his fighting skills. No player deserves to have his career ended by vigilante justice. That thinking should have ended years ago.Charles H. Claus Jr., Cropseyville, N. Y.<h2>Bathgate better</h2>The listing of Rod Gilbert as one of the three all-time best New York Rangers&rsquo; forwards (THN 1999-2000 Yearbook) is a travesty. A very good player like Gilbert cannot compare with a truly great player like Andy Bathgate.Gilbert was a first team all-star once, a second team all-star once and never won any other league honors. (Editor&rsquo;s Note: Gilbert won the Bill Masterton Trophy in 1976.)Bathgate was a first team all-star twice, a second team all-star twice and he competed against right wingers like Gordie Howe, Maurice Richard, Bernie Geoffrion, Tod Sloan and Eddie Litzenberger. He won the Hart .Trophy in 1959 and was second in scoring in 1962 and 1963-no Ranger has come that close since Bryan Hextall won the Art Ross Trophy in 1942.Bathgate finished among the NHL&rsquo;s top four scorers eight times; Gilbert was in the top 10 four times, never higher than fifth.The key is Bathgate&rsquo;s statistics were achieved against the original six teams, while Gilbert did his best work in an expansion league.Bruce Sykes, New York<h2>Picture imperfect</h2>What&rsquo;s with the picture of new NewYork Ranger Theoren Fleury wearing a white cowboy hat (THN, August)?How dare Fleury wear the western symbol of friendship and hospitality and how dare THN run that photo.For more than a decade, Calgary fans idolized Fleury and the Flames gave him a chance when everyone said 5-foot-5 was too small for the NHL. But after signing with New York, Fleury criticized Calgary, saying he was never fully appreciated. Is he kidding?The day the Flames retire Fleury&rsquo;s No. 14 and put it up with Lanny McDonald&rsquo;s No. 9 is the day (and probably the only day) I cheer for the Edmonton Oilers.Barry Costello, Calgary<h2>Slap Sen with lawsuit</h2>I agree with Pete Bauer&rsquo;s letter (THN, Sept. 3): Ottawa should sue Alexei Yashin for breach of contract. He would certainly be entitled to sue the Senators if they did not fulfill their part of the contract.What is Mr. Yashin thinking? That he can sign for security (and a lot of money) one moment and then, when it doesn&rsquo;t suit him any longer, hold all of Ottawa and the Senators hostage? This is blackmail, pure and simple.It&rsquo;s also fair warning to any team foolish enough to trade for him. Mr. Yashin may have talent, but I would never pick him to play on my team.He&rsquo;s just not worth it.Erik Jacobson, Flagstaff, Ariz.<h2>Get rid of Yashin</h2>I hope the Ottawa Senators trade Alexei Yashin.He did have a sensational, career-high season last year and helped the Senators become contenders, but they could have done just as well with, say, Nelson Emerson and Ted Donato two players who left the organization over the summer.Trading Yashin would yield at least two good players and probably a decent center as well. They could also get a lot of young prospects.Not to mention, Yashin is not very well-liked in Ottawa anymore. I think he is greedy both on and off the ice. And his arrogance in believing he carries the team is disturbing.I wonder how many teams are going to want Yashin after three holdouts (beside the New York Rangers, who seem to have an infinite source of cash).Derek Cheng, Nepean, Ont.<h2>Goalie stats padded</h2>I am tired of all the talk about how goalies are dominating today&rsquo;s game.While the goalies may be better trained and conditioned today, I don&rsquo;t think they are superior to Ken Dryden, Bernie Parent or Billy Smith. Those three netminders won 10 straight Stanley Cups from 1974 through 1983.Dominik Hasek, Patrick Roy and Curtis Joseph are all great competitors, but get a huge boost from the size of their equipment. Watch an old game on TV and you won&rsquo;t believe the amount of netting you see around the goalies. Now, with a huge catching glove, blocker and leg pads, Hasek can flop around and still stop pucks. If he played with the same equipment as his predecessors, his highlight reel saves wouldn&rsquo;t be possible.If the NHL really wants to increase scoring, reduce the width of pads, gloves and blockers. Attempt to increase scoring in the only way that makes sense: Let the shooters see some of the net!Bob Haynes Jr., Rapidan, Va.<h2>Rule is offside</h2>Why doesn&rsquo;t the NHL get rid of the two-line offside pass rule? It would create more breakaways, increase scoring chances and ultimately lead to more goals.Andrew Wienke, Forestville, Wis.<h2>Big &rsquo;D&rsquo; too deep</h2>As much as I hate to admit it-being a jilted Minnesota North Stars&rsquo; fan-the defending champs from Dallas are still loaded and I think they&rsquo;ll repeat.The Stars&rsquo; greatest challenge will be Colorado, a talent-heavy team who&rsquo;d love to get at least one more StanleyCup for Patrick Roy. It&rsquo;s possible one club will win the President&rsquo;s Trophy and the other will skate with the Cup.Age has caught up with Detroit in a big way. The Red Wings&rsquo; management should seriously consider dealing some of their veterans to give their younger players a greater role.Buffalo would love to send off Dominik Hasek with a Cup, but they&rsquo;re not nearly as deep as Colorado or Dallas.As for the rest of the league, most teams have the same dilemma: One or two stars, but not enough of a supporting cast to be serious contenders.Joshua Truax, Platteville, Wis.<h2>All for 4-on-4</h2>The whining on this page about the new overtime 4-on-4 rule must stop. These &ldquo;fans&rdquo; seem to think it&rsquo;s great a pro sport has its games end in ties. Wise up. No other pro sport allows ties. Going the traditional route in hockey results in about 150 ties each regular season, with some teams having as many as 20. Forget that.The league implemented a rule to end the plethora of ties without going to the dreaded shootout. The NHL should be applauded. Quit complaining. Enjoy 4-on-4. Hockey is entertainment, not the constitution or religion.Larry VanDeSande, Mason, Mich.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. E-mail us at&nbsp;mccaigs@trans-continental.ca Include hometown as well as home and business phone numbers.&nbsp;THN&nbsp;reserves the right to edit submissions. &#9632;

No place in game for vigilante justice

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0006-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-011864/7158750-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

<div class="byline">By Mike Gibb Staff Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0007-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-011697/7158788-1-eng-US/f0007-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Murphy led the Sharks with 25 goals, but can&rsquo;t score a contract.</figcaption></div>Joe Murphy&rsquo;s second go-around at unrestricted free agency has not been as pleasant-and likely won&rsquo;t be as lucrative-as his first.Three years ago, Murphy, then with the Chicago Blackhawks, became an unrestricted free agent (UFA) July 1.&ldquo;July 2 the (St. Louis) Blues came after me,&rdquo; Murphy said. &ldquo;And July 3 I had a contract. Now, (it&rsquo;s) the beginning of September this year and I&rsquo;m still waiting.&rdquo;Murphy was among a large group of capable UFAs still available on the. brink of training camp. That list includes forwards Joe Juneau, Ray Sheppard and Pat Verbeek and defensemen Ulf Samuelsson and Mark Tinordi.Fourteen players who made $1 million or more last season were still looking for work as of Sept. 3. At this time last year, the only significant UFA without a team was goaltender Sean Burke, who ended up with the Florida Panthers.The summer stalemate isn&rsquo;t expected to end anytime soon.&ldquo;For the majority of prominent players, this will drag well into the regular season,&rdquo; said one player agent. &ldquo;This is something that will get done much later instead of sooner.&rdquo;Why the freeze-out?Money, of course.Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; assistant GM Jim Nill said teams don&rsquo;t have the budget to take chances on veteran players who come with high price tags.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a shakedown financially,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Teams are looking at their organizations and deciding whether to go with a 24-year-old guy who has been in the organization for a while or taking a chance on an older player.&ldquo;Chances cost three to four million dollars nowadays and teams can&rsquo;t afford to take chances.&rdquo;The Red Wings took a chance on Uwe Krupp last year when they signed the defenseman to a four-year, $16.4-million deal.Krupp, 34, played just 22 games for Detroit because of a back injury that may be a career-ender.Murphy understands why teams are reluctant to take risks and knows he won&rsquo;t make anywhere near the $3.8 million he earned last season. But Murphy, 31, still possesses the ability to score-he led the Sharks with 25 goals in 1998-99-a commodity that should be in high demand in an offense-starved league.&ldquo;I understand they want to keep salaries down,&rdquo; said Murphy, who&rsquo;s reportedly seeking a three-year pact. &ldquo;But some of these teams have to win, too, or they&rsquo;re going to be in trouble.&ldquo;GMs just can&rsquo;t go out and pick a 25-goal scorer off the street. It&rsquo;s frustrating. All I want to do is play hockey and I can&rsquo;t do that until somebody makes a move.&rdquo;The one hot spot in the free agent freeze-out has been New York. The Rangers committed more than $67 million to Theoren Fleury, Valeri Kamensky, Stephane Quintal, Tim Taylor, Sylvain Lefebvre and Kirk McLean.When The Hockey News ranked off-season winners and losers (THN, August), the Rangers were the only one of the five winners that went the free agent route to improve their organization.But the writing is on the wall for Murphy and the remaining UFAs: Dave Andreychuk accepted a 50 percent pay cut when he signed for $1.2 million with the Boston Bruins and Bill Ranford&rsquo;s salary was cut from $3 million to $455,000 when he joined the Edmonton Oilers.For now, the UFAs can do little but wait. Juneau went on a week-long fishing trip as the start of training camp neared.&ldquo;This time of season, my mind and body is geared to going to play,&rdquo; Murphy said.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of sad. I think good things will happen. It&rsquo;s just a question of when.&rdquo;<h2>Still Homeless</h2>New York Rangers notwithstanding, unrestricted free agents have played the waiting game this summer. Here are the most prominent still without contracts entering training camps. Dmitri Khristich is not listed because the Boston Bruins retain the right to match offers worth less than 80 per cent of his $2.8-million arbitration award. Information includes age, position, last year&rsquo;s team and salary.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0007-021135/7158781-1-eng-US/f0007-022.jpg" title="f0007-02" width="843" height="2937"></div> &#9632;

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No miracles for Team UFA

<div class="byline">By Mike Gibb Staff Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0008-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-011757/7158826-1-eng-US/f0008-012.jpg"></div>Keith Tkachuk may one day become the No. 1 goal-scoring American-born player of all-time. And that would be great. But right now, the only record the Phoenix Coyotes&rsquo; captain is focusing on is a birth certificate.Tkachuk and his wife, Chantal, are expecting the arrival of their second child mid-September. They have no idea whether son Matthew, 20 months, will have a baby brother or sister, which is just the way they like it.Tkachuk&rsquo;s philosophy on goal-scoring coincides with the decision not to know the gender of the unborn child. Good things come to those who wait.&ldquo;The puck&rsquo;s going to get to the net eventually,&rdquo; Tkachuk said. &ldquo;So why not go to the net and wait for it?&rdquo;This theory has helped Tkachuk Hg| score the majority of his 272 career W NHL goals and gives him a legitimate W chance to surpass U.S.-born Joe Mullen&rsquo;s mark of 502.Tkachuk is sixth among active players behind Jeremy Roenick (344 goals), Ed Olcyzk (340), Kevin Stevens (315), Mike Modano (311) and Phil Housley (302). But at 27, Tkachuk is still in his goal-scoring prime and figures to usurp those ahead of him in the coming seasons. Also in the j mix are 30-year-old John LeClair &ldquo; (269) and 29-year-old Tony Amonte (248).Of the eight players mentioned, ] Tkachuk has played the fewest games (526), is the only one to average more than 30 goals a season (34) and is the only one, at each player&rsquo;s current pace, that will score 502 goals in less than the 1,062 games it took Mullen. Tkachuk is on pace to score 502 goals in 970 games, which leaves him about 5 1/2. healthy seasons away.Brett Hull, who skates for the U.S. in international competition, is not on the list because he was born in Canada (Belleville, Ont.). Hull has 586 career goals.&ldquo;I never thought I&rsquo;d get one goal, let alone 100 or 272,&rdquo; Tkachuk said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s just hard work that&rsquo;s got me this far. Going to the net, sacrificing, getting the garbage goals.&rdquo;This season marks the first in the past three that Tkachuk has been in Phoenix and ready to attend the start of training camp. He&rsquo;s so gung-ho, he showed up at 6:30 a.m. on a Monday morning for an informal workout, a full week before camp began.In each of the previous two seasons, Tkachuk was a camp no-show because of contract holdouts. He refused to report last year until his deal was renegotiated; a new contract was finally signed a week before the season started.Originally scheduled to earn $3 million in 1999-2000, he will now make $4.3 million this season and $8.3 million next year.&ldquo;The money hasn&rsquo;t changed my outlook,&rdquo; Tkachuk said. &ldquo;But it may change the way that some people see me. The more you get paid, the more pressure that&rsquo;s put on you.&rdquo; And not being in camp until the final stages has hurt Tkachuk. His goal totals the past two seasons (40 and 36) follow back-to-back k 50-goal campaigns. True, injuries have limited him to 68 and 69 games in 1997-98 and &rsquo;98-99, respectively, but his goals-per-game average has declined as well.&ldquo;It feels weird, I&rsquo;m lost right now,&rdquo; joked the left winger about being in training camp so early. &ldquo;But it feels good because I&rsquo;m in camp and there&rsquo;s no worries in my mind. It&rsquo;s nice to relax and concentrate on just playing hockey. Coming in a week before the season starts is tough.&rdquo; Being in Phoenix for the start of training camp and focusing on 1999-2000 has allowed Tkachuk to put the nightmarish end to last season behind him. The Coyotes blew a three games-to-one lead over the St. Louis Blues in the first &rsquo; round of the playoffs. Tkachuk was held to one goal and four points in the series as the franchise bowed out in the first round for the fourth straight year.&ldquo;It was difficult to swallow,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We became a better hockey team last year, but we let it slip in the playoffs.&rdquo;A native of Melrose, Mass., Tkachuk says passing Mullen would be a rewarding milestone, but it&rsquo;s not foremost in his mind.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s definitely an honor,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But if I don&rsquo;t get 500 goals, it&rsquo;s not going to break my career. My goal has always been to win the Stanley Cup.&rdquo;<h2>Setting their sights on Mullen</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0008-021340/7158819-1-eng-US/f0008-022.jpg" title="f0008-02" width="2476" height="976"><figcaption class="caption-body">Joe Mullen 502 goals</figcaption></div> &#9632;

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Tkachuk gung-ho and ready to go

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy</div>Bob Probert didn&rsquo;t always treat hockey and the NHL with the highest regard. His foolish, self-destructive behavior and struggle with booze and drugs early in his career is legendary.But that doesn&rsquo;t excuse the Chicago Blackhawks for treating him like he was still lodged in the gutter from which he so miraculously pulled himself.Late in the off-season, Probert received the hockey equivalent of a Dear John letter in the mail. It was a request-make that a threat-from management that he either tear up his contract and play for less or he&rsquo;d find himself riding the buses in the East Coast League the next two years. For the record, the Hawks can&rsquo; demote Probert to the East Coast League. The Collective Bargaining Agreement between the players and NHL recognizes the minors as the American and International Leagues.Welcome to today&rsquo;s NHL economics. Not only do players (that&rsquo;s you, Alexei Yashin) feel they can walk away from a contract on a whim, but now teams think they have that right, too.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-011662/7158864-1-eng-US/f0009-012.jpg" title="f0009-01" width="505" height="652"></div>&ldquo;Bob simply has not played well the last two years,&rdquo; said Chicago GM Bob Murray. And that&rsquo;s exactly what Murray told Probert when the two sat down to lunch in June as the GM broached the subject of a pay reduction. Probert didn&rsquo;t bite.Although Probert has not spoken to the media about this issue, the message he has sent, through his agent Pat Ducharme, is: &ldquo;We have a deal and we&rsquo;re sticking to it.&rdquo;The Blackhawks signed Probert to a four-year, $6-million contract (he didn&rsquo;t play in the first year when he was in rehab because of substance abuse) and then gave him an extension late in the 1997-98 season that is good through 2000-01. He&rsquo;s scheduled to earn $1.7 million this season and $1.8 million next year.Now Chicago is trying to get rid of him just like when they put him on waivers in March. The Hawks also left him exposed in June&rsquo;s expansion draft and they even gave Ducharme a 10day window of opportunity to make a deal with any other NHL team this summer, but Probert wants to stay put.He scored just seven goals and 21 points with 206 penalty minutes in 78 games last year. That&rsquo;s a far cry from his most productive season, 1987-88 in Detroit, when he fired 29 goals and 62 points in 74 games and led the league with 398 penalty minutes.Probert has lost his zip and it has become increasingly obvious the 6-foot-3,225-pound left winger no longer has the fire to do what made him most famous-fight. Although he tied for fifth in the NHL with 20 fights last season, he seemed uninterested in most of his bouts and won only a handful.In Murray&rsquo;s letter, the Blackhawks presented Probert with three options:? Accept a one-year contract for $1 million with a club option for a second season at the same salary. The Blackhawks would pay Probert $200,000 if they failed to exercise the option.? Sign a three-year contract for $400,000 a season. Throughout the life of the deal, Probert would be able to shop his services to other teams during the off-season.? Keep his current contract and play in the minors.? Ducharme countered with a proposal to tear up Probert&rsquo;s contract and reduce his salary as the Blackhawks wished, but to lengthen the deal as Probert, 34, wants to play beyond the next two seasons.The Blackhawks scoffed at that notion, so Ducharme informed them Probert would not budge.&ldquo;My main concern and Bob&rsquo;s concern is that he continue playing hockey and his wish is to stay in Chicago,&rdquo; Ducharme said. &ldquo;When Bob became a free agent, he had offers from teams that greatly exceeded the money that was offered to him by the Blackhawks but Bob loved the city of Chicago and that&rsquo;s where he wanted to go. He still loves it and still wants to play there.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0009-021158/7158857-1-eng-US/f0009-022.jpg" title="f0009-02" width="503" height="651"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Probert</figcaption></div>The Blackhawks could have avoided this entire mess. They could have bought out Probert for two-thirds of his salary before July 1. Now they&rsquo;re on the hook for his full salary this season and will likely buy him out of the final year of the deal next summer.Murray said he will never again take the letter-writing approach though he intended for it to be a private matter between he and Probert. He should have known better.This is not a good beginning to the season for the Hawks, who played well down the stretch last year despite missing the playoffs.It doesn&rsquo;t matter if Probert isn&rsquo;t a dependable contributor anymoreIt doesn&rsquo;t matter if the Blackhawks have a budget that is out of whack because they have committed so much money to older players.All that matters is Probert has a contract. And the way this was handled was wrong. &#9632;

f0009-01

Probert affair goes postal

<div class="byline">-Brian Costello</div>Alert to coaches.Have you been injured by a lack of clutch goaltending? Wrongful dismissal from the playoffs? No one to stop pucks in those optional malpractices? Is your GM thinking divorce?Consider the firm of Blackbum, Blackburn & Blackbum.They understand what you&rsquo;re going through. They&rsquo;ll fight for your rights. Thing is, they&rsquo;re goalies, not lawyers, they practise in creases, not courts and they wear masks, not barrister wigs.Joe and Josh play for rival teams in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association. Dan is a 16-year-old rookie with the Kootenay Ice in the Western League. Although they&rsquo;re not related and haven&rsquo;t talked to one another, they all answer to &rsquo;Blackie.&rsquo;&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a third Blackbum goalie?&rdquo; asked Josh, a sophomore natural resources student with the Michigan Wolverines. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s pretty funny.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-021267/7158933-1-eng-US/f0010-022.jpg" title="f0010-02" width="360" height="418"><figcaption class="caption-body">Josh Blackbum (Glenn James/SA)</figcaption></div>Joe, 20, was the first on the scene with the Michigan State Spartans in 1997-98. Last season, he led the CCHA in goals-against average (1.55) and save percentage (.928). Josh was second in GAA (2.28) and fifth in save percentage (.905).Josh, 20, is the better NHL prospect because of his 6-foot-l frame. He was drafted in the fifth round by the Phoenix Coyotes in 1998 and as a freshman last season replaced NCAA career victories leader Marty Turco.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s as good or better than Turco was as a freshman,&rdquo; said Michigan coach Red Berenson.The son of an Air Force jet engine mechanic, Josh was born in Delrio, Tex., grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, and calls Choctaw, Okla., his home. He played junior in the U.S. League in Iowa (Dubuque) and Nebraska (Lincoln). &#9632;

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Goalie roll call features three Blackburns

<div class="byline">By Mike Brophy Senior Writer</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011731/7158902-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div>Winning the Stanley Cup can have the strangest effect on the strangest people.Take Ed Belfour, for example.To those who don&rsquo;t know him well, Belfour can come across as cranky, reserved and unapproachable.Belfour has made great strides in the past year at being able to better relate to the rest of the human race, but who could have ever imagined the normally standoffish goalie stepping off the plane upon the Dallas Stars&rsquo; return home from Buffalo with the Stanley Cup in his hands, then prancing across the runway to the delight of 500 of the Stars&rsquo; faithful? With the Cup held high over his head, Belfour ran up and down the length of the fence letting the fans touch the prize.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll tell you, there wasn&rsquo;t a happier play-on the plane ride back to Dallas,&rdquo; said Stars&rsquo; director of player personnel Craig Button. &ldquo;Eddie was hugging the Cup, taking it up and down the aisle of the plane getting people to drink out of it and to kiss it. It was great.&rdquo;His celebration didn&rsquo;t stop there. While players from the winning team each get the Cup for one 24-hour period, Belfour NR worked out a deal with the NHL and Hall of Fame for an extra day. First he brought it back home to Carman, Man., July 30 where it was put on display for four hours. More than 2,000 people had their picture taken with it. Later, at a banquet attended by 400 people, the soft-spoken Belfour gave an impassioned half-hour speech describing his journey from minor hockey player to Stanley Cup champion.The next day, Belfour and the Cup went to the University of North Dakota, his alma mater, where both were special guests at a sod-turning ceremony for a new arena. From there, Belfour boarded a Lear jet and it was off to Chicago-he spent his first nine NHL seasons with the Blackhawks-for another party with old friends.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know how anybody could measure it, but I&rsquo;m certain Eddie was the happiest guy on the team when the Stars won,&rdquo; said Buddy Voth, Belfour&rsquo;s longtime friend and business associate. &ldquo;I could tell from the look on his face when they won, it was pure bliss. It was, &rsquo;Finally, we won it! The pressure&rsquo;s off. Let&rsquo;s party!&rsquo; &ldquo;And party he did.&ldquo;It was a blast,&rdquo; Belfour said. &ldquo;I grew up in a farming community and a lot of people helped me along the way. The same thing in Chicago. I have a lot of really good friends there that I keep in touch with. I wanted them to share in the celebration of winning the Cup.&rdquo;There were those convinced Ed Belfour would never play for a Stanley Cup champion; that, because of his fiery temperament, he would self-destruct and take his team down with him.Belfour has had his share of individual glory. He was the NHL&rsquo;s rookie of the year in 1991; won the Vezina Trophy as the best goalie in the NHL in &rsquo;91 and &rsquo;93; won the William Jennings Trophy for having the lowest goals-against average in &rsquo;91, &rsquo;93 and &rsquo;95; and was named to the NHL&rsquo;s first all-star team in &rsquo;91 and &rsquo;93 and was a second team all-star in &rsquo;95.He also helped the Blackhawks reach the final in 1992, where they lost four straight to the Pittsburgh Penguins.Yet, partly because of his reputation as a loose cannon, he has rarely received the respect he may have deserved. Even The Hockey News has changed its tune since Belfour won the Cup. A year ago, Belfour failed to make the grade when THN published its annual list of the top 50 players entering the 1989-99 season. It&rsquo;s not as though he didn&rsquo;t have the credentials-he led the NHL in goals-against average in 1997-98 (1.88), was second in wins (37), third in shutouts (nine) and tied for seventh in save percentage (.916).This time, we have him ranked 30th overall and fourth ** among goalies behind Dominik Hasek (third), Patrick Roy (19th) and Curtis Joseph (22nd). And get this: In THN&rsquo;s Ultimate Fantasy Guide, we predict Belfour will establish a new league record with 48 wins. Bernie Parent set the standard, 47, in 1973-74 with the Philadelphia Flyers. Now that&rsquo;s respect.Belfour&rsquo;s critics point to the low number of shots the Stars allow and say an average performer would shine in Dallas&rsquo; crease.If that&rsquo;s the case, then perhaps the St. Louis Blues or Flyers should have won the Cup last season. The Blues allowed the fewest number of shots, an average 22.8 per game, but were knocked out of the playoffs by Dallas in the second round. The Flyers were No. 2 in shots against (22.9), but were bounced from the playoffs in the opening round by the Toronto Maple Leafs. The Stars were No. 3 at 24.0.Rest assured, Belfour&rsquo;s opponents respect his ability.&ldquo;When I was in Vancouver and my first year in Buffalo, I was asked in a bio to name the goalie who is hardest to play against and Eddie&rsquo;s the guy I put,&rdquo; said Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; captain Michael Peca, who scored once in the six-game final. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know what it is about him. He plays that butterfly style when he likes to get low and spread out which should favor a guy like me because I like to get in tight and go high. But I have never had good luck scoring against him. I think the thing that makes him so good is his competitive spirit. He&rsquo;s a guy who wants to win.&rdquo;Winning, though, doesn&rsquo;t always want Belfour. He did not play well in the playoffs the year before when the Stars were eliminated by the Detroit Red Wings in the conference final.Though Belfour and the Stars went to great lengths during his first season in Dallas to promote the idea it was a cozy working relationship, there were problems. Belfour was in conflict with his shot-blocking defense early on, insistent they stay out of the way to let him have a clear view of the puck.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0011-011556/7158895-1-eng-US/f0011-012.jpg" title="f0011-01" width="1521" height="1641"><figcaption class="caption-body">Eddie Belfour says the Dallas Stars&rsquo; approach to the game has helped him rein in his fiery emotions.</figcaption></div>Stars&rsquo; coach Ken Hitchcock, who himself underwent something of a personality alteration last year, becoming easier to deal with, was determined to tear down the barriers he felt Belfour had put up to insulate himself.&ldquo;Ed is a real genuine, caring individual,&rdquo; Hitchcock said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s no cuddly bear, but those qualities are there. We saw that with the way he interacted with his his family and friends. We thought, &rsquo;If he&rsquo;s like that with them, can we get him to be that way with us?&rsquo; There were some battles along the way and some areas of concern, but we worked through them. I&rsquo;d say the trust that developed was one of the big reasons for the team&rsquo;s success.&rdquo;Belfour said there were a couple reasons for the change in his temperament. For starters, the Stars&rsquo; ownership and management have gone out of their way to accept him. Also, Dallas has a different makeup than the Blackhawks, with whom Belfour spent the majority of his NHL career.&ldquo;In Dallas, our style isn&rsquo;t so much in-your-face,&rdquo; Belfour said. &ldquo;We have an older team, a bunch of guys that trust each other and we play with composure. In Chicago, our team played more of a dump-and-chase game and hit everything in sight. It was high energy and I was one of the energy players. If we got behind by a couple of goals, everybody knew Chelly (Chris Chelios), me or (Mike) Peluso would take a run at somebody to try to stir things up. Here, I don&rsquo;t have to.&rdquo;That is not to suggest Belfour has gone all soft and mushy on _ the ice. Get too close to his crease in a game and you&rsquo;ll find out otherwise. His 26 penalty minutes last season-fourth-highest among goalies-is testament his competitive fire still bums. But clearly, Belfour has made strides in controlling his emotions.And now it&rsquo;s time to clear the runway. Eddie&rsquo;s about to take off again. &#9632;

f0010-01

Sweet times for Belfour gets vindication, respect

<div class="byline">By Mike Gibb Stall Writer</div>Wayne Gretzky is Canadian hockey&rsquo;s poster boy. But even he had a few choice words for the state of the game before the puck was dropped at the Open Ice Summit.&ldquo;We need a lot of changes,&rdquo; Gretzky said. &ldquo;Where do you want me to start?&rdquo;The 100 delegates at the Summit took Gretzky&rsquo;s cue, identified problem areas and concluded the three-day event in Toronto by making 11 recommendations Aug. 27 they viewed as pivotal in improving player development and continuing the evolution of hockey in Canada.Of the 11 conclusions, three are seen as integral: 1. Create a system of mentor/master coaches for every minor hockey association; 2. Even out the practice-to-game ratio; and 3. Examine the age determination date.&ldquo;If we can make headway on the first two, the rest will easily follow,&rdquo; said Ken Dryden, the Toronto Maple Leafs&rsquo; president and Open Ice advisory board member. &ldquo;If we don&rsquo;t get the first two, the next 50 don&rsquo;t matter.&rdquo;The first recommendation is for the Canadian Hockey Association to examine establishing a mentor/master coaching program. CHA president Bob Nicholson said some minor associations have already introduced a variation of this concept, but the CHA doesn&rsquo;t know who or how many.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011687/7158971-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg" title="f0012-01" width="481" height="712"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wayne Gretzky</figcaption></div>One master/mentor was recommended tor every minor association. That&rsquo;s close to 3,000 coaches, covering 31.000 minor hockey teams. The idea was for the master/mentor to be a paid professional, but Nicholson said that just isn&rsquo;t feasible yet.&ldquo;We&rsquo;d like to work towards getting one full-time coach for the 13 provincial associations,&rdquo; Nicholson said. &ldquo;The rest would be either paid via honorariums or just be a volunteer.&rdquo;The master/mentor would advise, direct and support coaches in his jurisdiction and help with player development and plan practices.It&rsquo;s hoped the master/mentor&rsquo;s influence would make coaches more accountable for the development of their players.&ldquo;This is an important step because this is doable, it has potential,&rdquo; said former CHA president Murray Costello. &ldquo;If this is done properly, there will be a lot more coaches with some direction.&rdquo;The second recommendation, improving the practice-to-game ratio, was probably the most oft-mentioned issue at the summit.In Canada, it&rsquo;s customary for a team to have a ratio of one practice for every two games before Christmas; one to every three after. In Europe, it&rsquo;s the other extreme-three practices to every game.Nicholson knows it&rsquo;s an impossible task to legislate the practice-to-game ratio, but believes if parents, roaches and administrators buy into lie concept, more emphasis on practice would result.&ldquo;There is no doubt this is going to be a challenge,&rdquo; Nicholson said. &rsquo;Our goal is to put the information in the right package and change people&rsquo;s minds.&rdquo;Successful implementation depends upon the players as well-practices are often met with groans bf disapproval, while games are anxiously anticipated.&ldquo;You have to tell the parents their child is not getting a chance to improve by playing all those games,&rdquo; Costello said. &ldquo;It might take some time and some convincing, but I think it has to be done.&rdquo;The final crucial recommendation is the examination of the age-determination date. Currently, ill divisions of minor hockey abide by a cutoff date of Dec. 31. This gives a decided advantage to players born in the early months of the year. In fact, studies have shown 40 per cent of all NHL players are born in the first quarter of the calendar.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-021341/7158964-1-eng-US/f0012-022.jpg" title="f0012-02" width="477" height="706"><figcaption class="caption-body">Ken Dryden</figcaption></div>Alternatives bandied about at the summit involved a rotating quarterly date which would ensure, at least once in players&rsquo; minor hockey careers, they would be the oldest and youngest in a division.If the cutoff this year was Dec. 31, for example, it would be March 31 next year and June 30 the following year.&ldquo;We no longer question the validity of the Dec. 31 cutoff date problem,&rdquo; Costello said. &ldquo;This will be a bit of an administration headache and the only way it will succeed is through trial and error.&rdquo;Also discussed was paring the age range within minor hockey divisions from two years to 15 months, again to give players the experience of being the oldest and youngest.The CHA has begun to develop discussion papers on all of the recommendations.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a priority to get the ball rolling,&rdquo; Nicholson said.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve got people who are ready to set the table, we just have to deliver.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0012-01

Focus shifts to implementation

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0014-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011675/7159002-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Johnny Bower (Photo from THN Archives)</figcaption></div>TORONTO-Hockey stars of yesteryear pilgrimage to a square, two-story, semi-detached home on a dead-end, working-class street in the north of the city. They come to polish their memories.They enter through the basement door, walk past two bookshelves crammed with videotapes and are invited to sit on the flower-patterned sheet covering the sofa in the next room. Then they stare at the 35-inch RCA and eagerly wait for Paul Patskou to hit &rsquo;play&rsquo; on the VCR.The pictures roll. The legends see themselves as they were 30, 40, 50 years ago, in their NHL primes-hair thicker, torsos leaner. Frank Mahovlich has been three times. Red Kelly and Bobby Baun have come, too. So have rank-and-file men such as Gary Aldcom and Eddie Chadwick-brief flickers in the span of eight NHL decades , but the heroes of Patskou&rsquo;s childhood.Patskou, a 44-year-old computer technician, owns what is almost certainly the biggest private collection of early era and Original Six hockey tapes in the world. He has film from Europe dated 1923 that claims to show the first moving pictures of &ldquo;the world&rsquo;s fastest game.&rdquo; That would be quite a coup indeed if not for those grainy shots filmed by Thomas Edison, also on an outdoor rink, of course&hellip;in 1889.Patskou lives the dream of the anonymous majority of Canadian boys who never made the bigs. His hobby allows him to shoot the breeze with those who did and listen to them reminisce as they watch themselves play.Sid Smith&rsquo;s visit was one of the best. The former defenseman was a member of the 1951 Stanley Cup-winning Toronto Maple Leafs. When tape of the final series against the Montreal Canadiens clicked on, Smith&rsquo;s eyes began to twinkle.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s telling me exactly what&rsquo;s happening on the ice,&rdquo; Patskou says. &ldquo;To me that&rsquo;s outstanding, being able to relive that with him.&rdquo;Sometimes Patskou even makes house calls. Johnny Bower and Billy Harris were thrilled he came.The players all ask him what he wants in return for his kindness. He wants nothing. Many later send him signed pictures or portraits, which he keeps in a scrapbook or hangs on the wall.1 never ask them for an autograph, never. They&rsquo;ve got to trust you because they&rsquo;ve been ripped off so much.&rdquo;Aldcom trusted him so much he took Patskou as his guest to the last game at Maple Leaf Gardens.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s a very hospitable and endearing guy,&rdquo; Aldcom says. &ldquo;He makes available his tapes to everybody and he does it pretty well at his own cost. Nobody else has the content that he has and is so giving with the information. It&rsquo;s just an opportunity that doesn&rsquo;t exist anywhere else.&rdquo;Patskou doesn&rsquo;t know how many tapes he has-"hundreds and hundreds&rdquo; he says&mdash;although he could show at least parts of a Leaf game from every season at the Gardens since the beginning in 1931. He also has tapes of Frank Boucher and Bun Cook from the original Madison Square Garden. He can show Auriel Joliat getting hit by Red Homer at Toronto&rsquo;s Mutual Street Arena; he has Oxford vs. Cambridge, wearing rugby shirts and shorts (1926); and he has John Wayne in that 1938 hockey classic, Idol of the Crowds. Not a bad flick, he says, except John Wayne couldn&rsquo;t skate.Incidentally, he also has every copy of The Hockey News since 1963.A visit to Patskou&rsquo;s place makes names from tattered pages of old hockey books come alive for the first time. Listening to Foster Hewitt call the play as Charlie Conacher, Ace Bailey and Harvey &rsquo;Busher&rsquo; Jackson rush up ice on the screen felt like the first news footage from inside Russia after the fall of communism. A new world opening.Patskou likes to say the actual moving image is the best way to understand hockey&rsquo;s changes through the eras.He shows a snippet of a game where an unidentified player skates in alone and shoots from a 20-foot diameter circle painted on the ice in the high slot-the penalty shot circle. It existed from 193435 until 1939-40.In 1920s&rsquo; games, the goal judge is standing behind the net on the ice. On faceoffs, the two centers face the boards, not the opposing goal.A few minutes of film from the 1930s show plenty of open-ice hits-and not a single dump-in. There is little passing between the bluelines and almost no play or hitting along the boards, a stylistic hangover from earlier decades when side boards on outdoor rinks were only ankle high. Forwards take off on individual rushes; opposition defensemen wait in a rigid tandem at the defending blueline to break up the play. A forward picks up the puck and off they go again.A sampling of other video highlights, which Patskou assures are but the tip of the iceberg:&#9633; In the last game for Boston Bruins&rsquo; famed Kraut Line before going off to war in 1942, Bobby Bauer, Milt Schmidt and Woody Dumart are presented with cheques and ID bracelets in an on-ice presentation. At game&rsquo;s end, the visiting Montreal Canadiens join the Bruins in carrying the trio off the ice on their shoulders.&#9633; Bobby Orr&rsquo;s first NHL shift was in 1966 against the Detroit Red Wings and, as it happened, one Gordie Howe. After retrieving the puck in his own comer, Orr, sporting a blond brushcut, tries to lay a cross-check on Howe&rsquo;s back. Howe senses him coming and lays out the upstart rookie with an elbow to the jaw.&#9633; In 1949, Leafs&rsquo; goalie Turk Broda was fighting &ldquo;The Battle With the Bulge"-an ultimatum from Leafs&rsquo; GM Conn Smythe that he had to lose weight or lose his spot on the team. That would explain the off-ice footage of dinner at the Broda household. The rest of the family gets the meat and potato treatment, but when the cover is lifted off Turk&rsquo;s plate, one piece of celery and one tomato is all there is.&#9633; In a nationally televised interview with Ward Cornell on a Hockey Night in Canada game in 1968, Maple Leaf defenseman Tim Horton senses an opening and dives in. He thanks the kind people of Hamilton and Kitchener-Waterloo, Ont., for supporting his fledgling donut business and asks for their continued patronage. Tim Horton&rsquo;s is now the biggest donut shop chain in Canada.Patskou started his hobby in the 1970s as a way to rekindle the memories of his own Toronto youth. His first recollection of hockey was of the 1959 Leafs, watching on Saturday nights with his father. He remembers those images, etched forever in his mind like a flash of light on film paper. His father passed away later that year.Since then he has spent thousands of hours and dollars tracking down and converting film in U.S. and Canadian film houses, in the National Archives in Ottawa, the National Film Board, at the CBC, anywhere he can find it Some of the footage is off old news reels shown by Paramount and others in the 1930s and &rsquo;40s before the main feature in movie theaters. He buys what he can and catalogues the rest. When networks or documentary filmmakers or the Hockey Hall of Fame can&rsquo;t find a piece of footage, they give him a call. If anyone knows if it exists, where it is, who owns the copyright and how to get it, it&rsquo;s Patskou.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care for the modem stuff, but if I see something old, I still go for it,&rdquo; he says.He figures if he can track it down, eventually others will get to see it and enjoy it.Garry &rsquo;Duke&rsquo; Edmundson can attest to that. Over 13 pro seasons Edmundson played 43 NHL games: one for the Montreal Canadiens in 195152 and 42 for the Leafs in 1959-60 and 1960-61. He met Patskou at the Gardens&rsquo; closing last season and was curious. Was there a chance he&rsquo;d have something? Patskou said he&rsquo;d have a look.Edmundson stopped by for a visit, sat on the flower-patterned sheet and waited. The tape rolled. Edmundson hollered and jumped to his feet. In front of him was Garry Edmundson going end-to-end for the Leafs against Jean Beliveau, Doug Harvey and the rest of those legendary Canadiens. Edmundson&rsquo;s grown son was with him. He had never seen his father play. What a rush. &#9632;

f0014-01

Image is everything

<div class="byline">By Cammy Clark</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-021125/7159071-1-eng-US/f0016-022.jpg" title="f0016-02" width="786" height="1382"><figcaption class="caption-body">Guy Hebert</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011458/7159078-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="214" height="214"></div>Seven years ago, goalie Guy Hebert attended the first Mighty Ducks of Anaheim training camp, calling the group &ldquo;a bunch of rag-tag guys trying to prove to people we belonged in the NHL.&rdquo;When Hebert looked around the dressing room at DisneylCE Aug. 31 after an informal workout of early camp arrivals, he saw a &ldquo;legitimate team.&rdquo;&ldquo;We&rsquo;re no longer an expansion team,&rdquo; Hebert said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re now a legitimate team. But it really has taken all of those years to get to this point.&rdquo;So when it appeared the Ducks were on the verge of becoming an upper-level team, Hebert didn&rsquo;t want to bolt. After Patrick Roy re-signed with the Colorado Avalanche last January, Hebert became the top goalie eligible for unrestricted free agency in 1999. But Hebert never tested the market, resigning with the Ducks Feb. 4 instead.The biggest reason was Hebert liked the direction the team was going under new GM Pierre Gauthier and new coach Craig Hartsburg. And at 31, after going through all the bad times with the franchise, Hebert wanted to be part of the team when it becomes a con tender to win the Stanley Cup.With Paul Kariya, Teemu Selanne. Steve Rucchin and himself all signed through the next three seasons and just hitting their primes, the foundation is there for playoff success.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s good for the team when you have four of your leaders happy with their situations,&rdquo; Hebert said. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t be standing here today if during last year I didn&rsquo;t feel confident Pierre was doing the right thing. And I wouldn&rsquo;t be here if this wasn&rsquo;t a group of guys I wanted to play with.&rdquo;Hebert&rsquo;s confidence in the team only improved over the summer, with the additions of Russian defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky, Swedish defenseman Niclas Havelid and veteran winger Ted Donato, who was acquired to fill the void left by Tomas Sandstrom. Sand strom plans to end his hockey career playing in his native Sweden.&ldquo;I spoke to Pierre five or six times on the phone this summer, just chewing the fat about how the team is looking,&rdquo; Hebert said. &ldquo;Pierre is very excited about the moves he made. Thai helps promote positive attitudes with the guys. It filters down to the players.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m realistic enough to know that he&rsquo;s not going to go out and buy a couple of huge-priced free agents. But we keep getting a player here and there that makes us better.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Ducks signed defenseman Pavel Trnka to a two-year deal Aug. 27, leaving defenseman Ruslan Salei as the only unsigned restricted free agent&hellip;Defenseman Pascal Trepanier is still recovering from reconstructive surgery to repair his anterior cruciate ligament of his right knee. He injured the knee playing a pickup basketball game in April. Trepanier said he&rsquo;s skating at about 85 per cent, but wasn&rsquo;t able to play any summer hockey. He has scrimmaged lightly and is hoping his knee will be strong enough to play by the start of the regular season. &#9632;

f0016-02

After years of frustration, Hebert is ready to let the good times roll

<div class="byline">By Jell Schultz</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-02998/7159109-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="774" height="1374"><figcaption class="caption-body">Patrik Stefan (Bruce Bennett/BBS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011309/7159116-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="216" height="215"></div>As the Atlanta Thrashers approached their inaugural training camp, they also drew closer to their first significant contract problem. Not that you would hear it from GM Don Waddell.With camp opening Sept. 4 in Orlando, 1999 first overall draft pick and franchise poster boy Patrik Stefan remained unsigned because of differences over his contract&rsquo;s bonus structure. But neither Waddell nor Stefan&rsquo;s agent, Steve Kotlowitz, appeared too concerned.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not going to worry about it,&rdquo; Waddell said. &ldquo;We want him in camp on time. That&rsquo;s our goal. But to overpay him just to get him in camp on time doesn&rsquo;t make any sense. The main thing we&rsquo;re looking at is what kind of player he will be five years from now.&rdquo;Kotlowitz said it&rsquo;s still possible Stefan will be in Orlando in time for the start of training camp.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re inching our way closer,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think we&rsquo;ll get it done. We&rsquo;re both trying to be reasonable and well-reasoned.&rdquo;Kotlowitz wants to exceed the incentive package held by 1998 first overall draft pick, Tampa Bay Lightning center Vincent Lecavalier. Lecavalier&rsquo;s three-year deal has a base salary of $975,000 per season, but has the potentially most lucrative bonus structure ever given to a first-year player. He can earn up to $3 million annually and/or $8 million over the life of his contract in &rsquo;Individual A&rsquo; bonuses, which cover six categories: Rookie of the year (ice time in years two and three), goals, assists, points, points per game and plus-minus rating.Lecavalier&rsquo;s deal-and that of other top rookies in recent years-also includes &rsquo;Individual B&rsquo; bonuses that cover major awards and cumulative scoring totals.Waddell has asked the amounts of the secondary bonuses, which could total another several million dollars, be linked to the team&rsquo;s success: More if the Thrashers make the playoffs, less if they don&rsquo;t.No other rookie contract has individual bonuses linked to the team&rsquo;s success, leading Waddell to smile and say: &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I don&rsquo;t know if it will fly.&ldquo;At some point, there has to be a compromise. If the dollar amounts are where we want them to be, we don&rsquo;t need (the team incentive plan). But if (Stefan is) trying to set the bar at new heights (on &rsquo;A&rsquo; incentives), as every No. 1 pick tries to do, we need this.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Scott Langkow. the probable fourth goalie on the depth chart, was unsigned as camp neared. Langkow has been offered a three-year contract, but agent Michael Barnett was asking for a one-year deal. The reason: If Langkow plays 23 or fewer NHL games in 1999-2000, a near certainty, he would become an unrestricted free agent after the season. GM Don Waddell, though, is not quick to let go of assets without compensation&hellip;Goalie consultant Andy Moog. who signed a six-month contract to advise Atlanta on goalies leading up to the expansion draft, has signed with Vancouver. &#9632;

f0017-02

No. 1 pick Stefan still unsigned, but sides confident deal will net done

<div class="byline">By Nancy Marrapese-Burrell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011131/7159147-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="219" height="217"></div>It appears for the second year in a row, the Boston Bruins will have key players holding out for contracts at the start of training camp.Last year, it was Jason Allison, Kyle McLaren and Anson Carter. This year, it appears the club will be without their best player-goalie Byron Dafoe. He is reportedly seeking $4 million a year while the Bruins are said to be offering $3 million.After some initial progress in late June, the sides hunkered down into their respective positions for the next two months. On Aug. 31, Dafoe sat down with GM-president Harry Sinden in a face-to-face meeting for half an hour. It was initiated by coach Pat Bums, though Bums wasn&rsquo;t in attendance.&ldquo;Hopefully something will come in the next couple of days,&rdquo; Dafoe said. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a little bit of communication going on so that&rsquo;s a good sign. It was just a quick meeting to kind of hear each other out. Obviously we didn&rsquo;t talk numbers because I don&rsquo;t want to do that without (his agent Ron Salcer), but Harry explained why they are there (in their offer) and I explained why I am here (in his demands).&rdquo;Sinden&rsquo;s past meetings with players has often led to a resolution. Sometimes it took a while, but often, such was with Cam Neely, it at least started the ball rolling in the right direction.Sinden was also pleased there is communication, something that has been rare this summer.NOTEBOOK: It appears defenseman Hal Gill could be headed for a lengthy holdout. GM-president Harry Sinden said Gill&rsquo;s agent, Mark Witkin told him Gill was going to go live with the bears in Maine, because of how difficult Sinden was being, and Sinden said he resented that. &ldquo;He said dealing with the black bears was not as bad as dealing with me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I resented that because had there been grizzly bears in Maine. I would&rsquo;ve accepted that."&hellip;Sinden said the club has talked to Neil Abbott, the attorney for free-agent PJ. Axelsson, but rejected Abbott&rsquo;s latest proposal&hellip;The Bruins came close to reaching a deal that would&rsquo;ve garnered them something for free-agent forward Dmitri Khristich, but it fell through. &#9632;

f0020-01

Deal for Dafoe no closer as sides still $1M apart

<div class="byline">By Jim Kelley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03529/7159178-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="463" height="606"><figcaption class="caption-body">Dominik Hasek</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02773/7159185-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="217" height="216"></div>Maxim Afinogenov, by , some estimations the best forward not currently playing in the NHL, signed a contract and will report to the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; for training camp.Terms of the deal were not immediately available, but the speedy Russian forward is said to be near the $925,000 cap figure for his draft year (1977) plus bonuses that would make him the highest-paid Sabres&rsquo; rookie ever.He could well prove to be a bargain at any price.Afinogenov was somewhat lightly regarded when the Sabres took him in the third round of the &rsquo;97 entry draft, but he has developed into a superb player, one that appears to have first round talent. A right winger for Moscow Dynamo last season, Afinogenov made a name for himself on the international scene when he won best forward honors at the 1999 World Junior Championship. It&rsquo;s an honor that in the past has gone to players such as Peter Forsberg and Pavel Bure. Afinogenov has often drawn comparisons to Bure and Alexei Kovalev because of his speed and his ability to execute plays at a very high level.&ldquo;When he has the puck it&rsquo;s almost impossible to get it away from him,&rdquo; notes his agent, Mark Gandler.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s smart and creative with the puck and he sees the ice extremely well,&rdquo; Gandler said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s an area on the ice that (Wayne) Gretzky has defined and Maxim knows how to play back there.&rdquo;Despite his talent, Afinogenov is looked upon as a player who has a lot to learn about playing without the puck and adapting to the NHL style of play, but any sort of power play expertise would be a plus for the Sabres who have been weak in that department since the trade of another standout forward, Pat LaFontaine.NOTEBOOK: Goalie Dominik Hasek is expected to arrive late to training camp. He is recovering from groin surgery and attending to family business in his native Czech Republic&hellip;Several players remained unsigned, including: Miroslav Satan. Vaclav Varada, Rhett Warrener. Stu Barnes and Jay McKee. McKee and Warrener were the Sabres&rsquo; No. 2 defensive pairing last season and at season&rsquo;s end were vying for No. 1 status as the club&rsquo;s best pair of defensive defensemen&hellip;Warrener likely would not be on the ice even if he did have a deal. He&rsquo;s still recovering from a broken ankle suffered in Game 5 of the Cup final against Dallas. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s coming along,&rdquo; Warrener said, &ldquo;but I haven&rsquo;t been able to skate yet. It will need a little more time.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0020-03

Top prospect inks contract; now ton-paid Sabres rookie

<div class="byline">By Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-04336/7159216-1-eng-US/f0020-042.jpg" title="f0020-04" width="218" height="213"></div>It was a long summer for Calgary Flames&rsquo; coach Brian Sutter.&ldquo;Too long,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;When you play so hard at the end of the year like we did, it made the summer even longer when you don&rsquo;t make the playoffs. &ldquo;In missing the playoffs for the third consecutive year, the second with Sutter at the helm, the Hames stayed in contention until the final week last season before the Edmonton Oilers nipped them out for eighth place in the Western Conference standings.So for the first time since 1989, they will start a season without star Theo Fleury in the line-up.Life after Fleury will give a handful of emerging players-Jarome Iginla, Cory Stillman and Valeri Bure-a chance to step out of the shadows on a more permanent basis. The aforementioned trio collected 81 goals amongst themselves and will be obliged to duplicate that for the Flames to challenge for a playoff position this season.Sutter characterized his mood as &ldquo;cautiously optimistic&rdquo; on the eve of training camp.&ldquo;Everybody says we&rsquo;ve been in a growing phase for three years,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;I wouldn&rsquo;t really say it&rsquo;s been that for three years because two years ago, we had some young players, but probably half or two-thirds of the team were older players.&rdquo;If anything, the Flames will be younger still after losing a quartet of veterans-Andrew Cassels, Ed Ward. Ken Wregget and Bob Bassen. The oldest forward under contract is center-left winger Steve Dubinsky, at 28.&ldquo;The question is not just how much better we want them to be, it&rsquo;s how much better do they want to be,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;Vai (Bure) had 26 goals, Cory Stillman had 27, Iggy (Jarome Iginla) had 28-they&rsquo;re just scratching the surfaces of their capabilities. I expect Mo (Derek Morris) to get more involved in the offense this year.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Only 64 players-down from 84 last September-were invited to Flames&rsquo; training camp, including just two tryout players. One is Pavel Torgajev, who played 41 NHL games for Calgary in the 1995-96 season&hellip;One player who&rsquo;ll get a legitimate chance to win a spot in the lineup is center Benoit Gratton, who played 16 games for Washington last season. Gratton was acquired for the rights to Princeton grad Steve Shirreffs, the last player chosen by Calgary (233rd overall) in the 1995 draft&hellip;Defenseman Robyn Regehr is on the Flames&rsquo; training camp roster and will be in town for a visit with the medical staff in early September, but he will not go on the ice with the team. He was in a summer automobile accident. &#9632;

f0020-04

Summer finally over for Sutter

<div class="byline">By Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-06143/7159247-1-eng-US/f0020-062.jpg" title="f0020-06" width="460" height="609"><figcaption class="caption-body">Bob Probert</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-05183/7159254-1-eng-US/f0020-052.jpg" title="f0020-05" width="217" height="216"></div>Rarely does a rookie make the jump from junior to the NHL, but the Chicago Blackhawks went to training camp hoping Mark Bell was one of those special cases.The Hawks were planning to give their 1998 first round draft pick every opportunity to make the club either as a center or left winger.&ldquo;He deserves the opportunity, but he&rsquo;s got to be ready,&rdquo; said coach Lome Molleken. &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t play him 15 to 18 minutes a night he won&rsquo;t get any better.&rdquo;The 20-year-old Bell spent most of the summer working out in Chicago and came to training camp with every intention of staying.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ve thought about it all summer,&rdquo; Bell said. &ldquo;A lot of people have been asking me the same question about whether I can make the team. I feel there&rsquo;s no better time than now.&rdquo;Bell had 29 goals and 55 points in 44 games for the Ontario League&rsquo;s Ottawa 67&rsquo;s last season, capping the year by winning the Memorial Cup.If winning the Cup was the highlight of Bell&rsquo;s year, then the lowlight came in May in Ottawa when he was involved in an altercation with a cab driver and arrested.Bell said he can&rsquo;t talk too much about what happened because the case is still in court, but said the incident opened his eyes.&ldquo;I was very embarrassed by it,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not that kind of person, but it happened and I have to learn from it.&rdquo;J-P Dumont, Bell, Ty Jones and Kyle Calder were the four rookie forwards given the best chance to make the club.&ldquo;To stay at this level coming out of junior you have to stand out,&rdquo; said assistant coach Denis Savard, who made the jump from junior to the NHL in 1980. &ldquo;You have to play the best hockey of your life and keep building on that.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Bob Probert refused GM Bob Murray s request to take a pay cut in order to remain with the club. Murray has threatened to send Probert to the minors to earn his $1.7 million salary for this season. He asked Probert to play for $1 million in 1999-2000&hellip;Goalie Jocelyn Thibault signed a new two-year contract Sept. 1 worth $4.3 million&hellip;It was looking more and more like restricted free agent defensemen Boris Mironov and Anders Eriksson would be training camp holdouts. Eriksson&rsquo;s holdout could be lengthy; He was asking for $2 million a season after earning $700,000 last year&hellip;Murray admitted he had an interest in Boston free agent left winger Dmitri Khristich, but the GM needed to free up some money. &#9632;

f0020-06

Hawks see Bell as rookie who can make junior jump

<div class="byline">By Todd Graff</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-07127/7159285-1-eng-US/f0020-072.jpg" title="f0020-07" width="216" height="213"></div>It Carolina Hurricanes center Keith Primeau does not sign a contract by the Oct. 2 season opener at Boston, GM Jim Rutherford said the club would begin to reduce its offer.The Hurricanes reportedly have offered the 6-foot-5,220-pounder a deal worth just over $4 million per season.&ldquo;Keith&rsquo;s had long enough time now to be a free agent,&rdquo; Rutherford said. &ldquo;And a long enough time to review our contract offers. We&rsquo;re not going to change the salary structure of our team just for one player.&rdquo;When camp opens Sept. 6, Primeau plans to remain in Toronto, and it appears the sides are as far apart as they have been all summer.The Hurricanes, who have lost more than $55 million in the last two years since moving operations from Hartford, have shown throughout the summer they are intent on shaving some of the payroll.Management decided very early not to attempt to re-sign unrestricted free agent Ray Sheppard, who was second in goals last year with 25. Rutherford also would not offer longtime Hurricane/Whaler Kevin Dineen a contract approaching the $800,000 he made last year, and eventually lost the free agent to the Ottawa Senators.Two other restricted free agents, Marek Malik and Mike Rucinski, were made qualifying offers of $440,000 each. Both refused and Rutherford said the next offers would be for less money.NOTEBOOK: The Hurricanes still aren&rsquo;t revealing season-ticket sales, although CEO Dean Jordan indicated that the number is between 4,000 and 6,300 with a little more than a month left before Carolina&rsquo;s home-opener. &ldquo;We could finish in the top-20 in the NHL,&rdquo; Jordan said. &ldquo;I can tell you that we will be many slots from the bottom.&rdquo; The Hurricanes sold only 3,000 season tickets during their first season in North Carolina, and the numbers were fairly similar last year. The new arena will seat 18,711 for hockey&hellip;The Hurricanes signed four free agents in defenseman Eric Dandenault and forwards Jeff Daniels, Gilbert Dionne and Todd Simon. Daniels returns to the Hurricanes after spending last season with Nashville. &#9632;

f0020-07

Offer to Primeau will drop if deal not done by opener

<div class="byline">By Adrian Dater</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-01894/7159316-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="216" height="214"></div>The Colorado Avalanche hope Alex Tanguay is just the tonic for what might ail them in the upcoming season.With superstar Peter Forsberg expected to be sidelined for possibly the first three months of the season to recuperate from shoulder surgery, Tanguay knows he couldn&rsquo;t ask for a better chance at starting the season with the big club.&ldquo;It definitely is encouraging when you see there are some openings this year,&rdquo; said Tanguay, the 19-year-old center taken with the first (12th overall) of Colorado&rsquo;s four first round draft picks in 1998. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been working out and trying to relax this summer. I need to get a lot stronger and a lot faster.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s probably a stretch to think Tanguay will spend the entire season on the Avalanche roster.He almost made the squad at the start of last season, but a contract squabble forced the Avs to send him back to the Quebec League. He later signed a three-year, $2.925-million deal with Colorado.With the Halifax Mooseheads, Tanguay produced 27 goals and 61 points in 31 games, but missed three months of the year with a concussion.&ldquo;It was a weird season,&rdquo; Tanguay said. &ldquo;Things started off great. I came here and didn&rsquo;t know what to expect at training camp. Things went extremely well and I got a chance to play. Then I went back to junior and things didn&rsquo;t go as well as I wanted. But that&rsquo;s all in the past. 1 have to focus on what&rsquo;s happening now.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Colorado signed rookie forwards Christian Matte and Serge Aubin to two-way contracts. Both players spent the majority of last season with Hershey of the American League&hellip;The Avs also picked up defenseman Jason Bowen from Edmonton. Bowen was drafted 15th overall by Philadelphia in 1992&hellip;The Avalanche began rookie training camp Aug. 29 at their practice facility in suburban Denver. Twenty-five rookies attended the week-long camp&hellip;Avalanche GM Pierre Lacroix sent a letter of condolence to former 1998 first round draft choice Robyn Regehr, who was seriously hurt in a summer auto accident. Regehr&rsquo;s rights were traded to Calgary last season in the Theo Fleury deal. &#9632;

f0021-01

Forsberg’s long recovery gives Tanguay center shot

<div class="byline">By Mike Heika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03299/7159347-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="456" height="601"><figcaption class="caption-body">Grant Marshall</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02517/7159354-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="215" height="214"></div>The hardships of Grant Marshall&rsquo;s hockey life have been daunting, to say the least.He was almost paralyzed in junior hockey, couldn&rsquo;t find a niche after being drafted in the first round by the Toronto Maple Leafs and missed last season&rsquo;s Stanley Cup final with a torn groin muscle.Good luck, it seems, doesn&rsquo;t know where to find the 26-year-old Dallas Stars winger. But judging by the contract he signed, the bad-luck bug may be passing.Signed on with the defending Stanley Cup champions for the next three seasons at $850,000, $935,000 and $1 million, Marshall realizes the Stars see in him exactly what he&rsquo;s always dreamed of-the potential to be a key player in the NHL.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to get ahead of myself, but I do feel my role expanding,&rdquo; Marshall said. &ldquo;I think this could be a year where I get the chance to do a few more things.&rdquo;With the Stars deciding not to re-sign winger Pat Vetbeek, an opening has presented itself on the right side. Sure, Marshall still is penciled into his familiar third line spot next to Guy Carbonneau and Mike Keane. But with Verbeek gone, Marshall is now expect ed to get significant power play time and could serve as a replacement in the event of injury.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re obviously going to take a look at a lot of people, but Grant is definitely in that group,&rdquo; said coach Ken Hitchcock.&ldquo;Grant proved last season he can take on offensive responsibilities.&rdquo;Marshall last season played in 82 games and tallied career-highs of 13 goals and 31 points. That was up considerably over the 19 points he scored the previous season.Marshall is expected to miss some training camp with the groin injury, but will likely be in the opening night lineup Oct. 1.NOTEBOOK: Defenseman Craig Ludwig announced his retirement Sept. 2 and said he will join the Stars in an as-yet determined capacity. Ludwig will likely serve as a scout and a player liaison&hellip;With Pat Verbeek leaving No. 16 behind, Brett Hull has quickly snapped up his old number. &ldquo;I never did like No. 22,&rdquo; he said&hellip;The NHL ruled Brent Severyn, Doug Lidster and Brad Lukowich do not qualify to have their names on the Stanley Cup. The Stars appealed to include Severyn, who was with the team since training camp. The NHL denied the appeal&hellip;The Stars continue to be at least $500,000 a year apart in negotiations with restricted free agent Richard Matvichuk, who is seeking a contract around $2.4 million a season. &#9632;

f0021-03

New deal means Marshall able to shine for the Stars

<div class="byline">By Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04217/7159385-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="214" height="210"></div>Darren McCarty always tries to look on the positive side.That philosophy remains intact even as he struggled with the realization he would likely miss a significant part of the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; training camp because of gridlocked contract negotiations.&ldquo;At least I&rsquo;ll have a good chance to work on my golf game,&rdquo; McCarty said.A joke, of course. But even McCarty admitted the strangeness of the situation. For as long as he can remember, McCarty would pick up his stick and skates and head to the rink in September. Not this year though, at least not yet.Negotiations have been limited at best, with the Red Wings having faxed proposals ranging from one to four years to McCarty&rsquo;s agent, Pat Morris. The Red Wings and McCarty are about $750,000 a year apart on a long-term deal, although numbers have not been discussed beyond the one offer.&ldquo;I made multiple offers three weeks ago and have not heard back since then,&rdquo; said GM Ken Holland. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re a ways apart. There&rsquo;s not a whole lot to talk about.&rdquo;His backers point to the right winger&rsquo;s toughness and leadership skills in making a case that he should be paid among the top young power forwards. McCarty, 27, has scored 63 goals the past four years, but has never scored more than 19 in a season.Therein lies the problem. The Red Wings aren&rsquo;t willing to boost McCarty&rsquo;s salary and then be faced with having to do the same for Slava Kozlov and Martin Lapointe and even Tomas Holmstrom. One compromise might be a one-year contract, although both sides indicate the stalemate could be lengthy.&ldquo;Everybody knows I love being a Detroit Red Wing and I hope everything works that I can continue to be one,&rdquo; McCarty said.NOTEBOOK: The Wings signed defenseman Steve Duchesne to a one-year, $1-million contract. He&rsquo;s expected to be paired with Chris Chelios. Duchesne split last season between Philadelphia and Los Angeles&hellip;One thing Detroit wanted was a healthy Brent Gilchrist in training camp. That hope is over early. Gilchrist underwent hernia surgery Aug. 31. The word from doctors, according to GM Ken Holland, is Gilchrist will be out two to four weeks. &ldquo;This is minor surgery,&rdquo; Holland said. But nothing seems like minor surgery to Gilchrist. The 32-year-old had two surgical procedures last season that limited him to just five regular season games. In 11 NHL seasons, Gilchrist has yet to make it through one injury-free. &#9632;

f0021-04

McCarty prepared for long wait

<div class="byline">By David J. Neal</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-06125/7159416-1-eng-US/f0021-062.jpg" title="f0021-06" width="456" height="602"><figcaption class="caption-body">Robert Svehla</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-05155/7159423-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="213" height="212"></div>Asked how much mass he was carrying on his chunky 5-foot-ll frame, Florida Panthers&rsquo; defenseman Robert Svehla shrugged with a smile, &ldquo;I&rsquo;ll know Saturday.&rdquo;Svehla was sure only that on Saturday, Sept. 4, he wouldn&rsquo;t weigh in for training camp five, 10 or 13 pounds overweight. Somewhere in those hefty numbers lay the start of a dismal 1998-99 season for Svehla.Murmurs around the Panthers&rsquo; camp suggest Svehla is chiseled and ready to redeem himself after two poor seasons that came just as he was starting to gain a reputation as one of the NHL&rsquo;s top defensemen. Svehla said only that he spent the summer training with Dukla Trencin, his first professional team.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy because I feel very good this season,&rdquo; Svehla said. &ldquo;I forgot everything about last season. Right now, I know what they want from me.&rdquo;If you had a pound for every time somebody quipped that Svehla had gotten fat off the lucrative contract he signed during the 1998 summer, you&rsquo;d be the winner of a Turk Broda lookalike contest. Svehla swore it was just natural physical growth of a man in his late 20s.But there was also a benching following an October 5-0 loss at home; a benching after showing up late for practice; and enough repeated public censurings from Panthers&rsquo; coach Terry Murray that some players thought Svehla would quit on him.&ldquo;It hurt because that was the first time that happened in my hockey career,&rdquo; Svehla said.&ldquo;But Terry was right. If I play well this year, it&rsquo;ll prove Terry wasn&rsquo;t wrong because I did everything he said this summer. I understand him. Because he&rsquo;s the coach, he&rsquo;s responsible for the team and he needs me to play better.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Fans with night jobs had it made in South Florida recently. Several current and former Panthers (right winger Ray Sheppard, defenseman Ed Jovanovski) had early-morning skates in Coral Springs, a city in northwest South Florida. Later on the northeast side, Pavel Bure. Alexei Yashin and about 20 other Russian-speaking NHLers worked out. Several fans went to the Russian camp to get autographs, drove to Coral Springs to catch the end of the Panthers&rsquo; workout, then swung back to watch the Russians finish&hellip;The Panthers entered the final days before training camp with center Viktor Kozlov, defenseman Bret Hedican and defenseman Jaroslav Spacek unsigned&hellip;(See pgs. 2 and 15 for stories on Dino Ciccarelli&rsquo;s retirement.) &#9632;

f0021-06

Two poor seasons weigh heavily on Svehla’s mind

<div class="byline">By Sacha Terrill</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011023/7159485-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="215" height="214"></div>A missing piece of the Kings&rsquo; puzzle last season was 22-year-old defenseman Aki Berg.One of Los Angeles&rsquo; top prospects, Berg opted before the 1998-99 season to play in his native Finland when he couldn&rsquo;t come to terms with the Kings.But on Aug. 30, Berg decided to return to sunny California.&ldquo;I want to play in the NHL, everybody knows that,&rdquo; said Berg, who signed a one-year contract. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re working it out. I&rsquo;m excited to be back.&rdquo;Kings&rsquo; GM Dave Taylor and Berg&rsquo;s Ottawa-based agent, Larry Kelly, put together the foundation for a deal and then after a period of negotiating bonuses, the contract was signed Sept. 2.Berg reportedly accepted the Kings&rsquo; offer of a one-year deal worth $762,500. He had been seeking a one-year contract worth $900,000.&ldquo;I needed to sign and prove I can play in the NHL,&rdquo; the 6-foot-3, 205-pounder said.&ldquo;The most important thing is to play in the NHL.&rdquo;Berg said he had considered playing another season in Europe and had received a &ldquo;fair&rdquo; offer from a team in Sweden. But he reportedly was not offered another contract in the Finnish Elite League after scoring eight goals and 15 points and finishing minus-5 in 48 games last season.Berg is ready to put the contract dispute behind him.&ldquo;I want to play for L.A. and forget about what happened (last year),&rdquo; said Berg, who has appeared in 164 games in three seasons with the Kings, totaling two goals and 23 points.NOTEBOOK: Center Eric Belanger underwent surgery Aug. 30 to remove a rib and resolve a circulatory disorder which had caused a blood clot in his right arm. Belanger, one of the Kings&rsquo; top prospects, has been troubled by injuries over the last year. Kings&rsquo; GM Dave Taylor said Belanger will miss training camp, but could be playing within three months&hellip;Kings&rsquo; captain Rob Blake has donated his luxury suite at Staples Center to disadvantaged children so they may attend Kings&rsquo; games for free. &#9632;

f0022-01

Bern’s return after one-year stalemate means bigger, better defense

<div class="byline">By Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02714/7159516-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="219" height="213"></div>The new president of the Montreal Canadiens said he couldn&rsquo;t pass up the opportunity of running hockey&rsquo;s most storied franchise, despite the intense media pressure he now faces.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a decision of the head, but there&rsquo;s a lot of heart in it,&rdquo; said Pierre Boivin, a 43-year-old bilingual Montrealer during a packed Molson Centre press conference Sept. 2, a week after news of his impending appointment was leaked to the media.Boivin replaced Ronald Corey, who resigned July 31 following 18 years as club president.Boivin&rsquo;s background is in the sporting-goods business. He was the president of Canstar Sports, a Montreal company that was purchased in 1994 by Nike. Boivin is a hard-nosed businessman who can make tough financial decisions, but he&rsquo;s also a hockey fan who attended his first Canadiens game at age 6 and has had a lifelong passion for the team.Boivin admitted he has no experience at running an NHL team, but said he has a lot of knowledge of the league. Still, he didn&rsquo;t minimize the challenges he faces, mainly reawakening a moribund franchise and icing a competitive team that missed the playoffs last season. He must accomplish this despite a weak Canadian dollar.&ldquo;Others may aspire to less, not the Montreal Canadiens,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I think with the roster we have, we can be an exciting team. I look for our team to be intense, fun and exciting. Our short-term goal is to be competitive, but we realize that isn&rsquo;t going to be enough in Montreal. Our long-term goal is to bring the Stanley Cup back to Montreal.&rdquo;James Arnett, the president of Molson Companies Ltd., said Boivin&rsquo;s strong business background along with his bilingualism immediately made him a leading candidate for the job. The two met for the first time July 30, and things progressed quickly from there.&ldquo;He possesses valuable knowledge of the NHL and has first-hand experience with many of the issues that affect the NHL today,&rdquo; Arnett said. &ldquo;We have a president who can deal effectively with the issues facing Molson and the Canadiens.&rdquo;Although Arnett repeated that the Canadiens aren&rsquo;t for sale, he announced the brewery would entertain offers for the team&rsquo;s arena, which opened in March 1996 at a cost of $265 million. &ldquo;The building isn&rsquo;t for sale at any price,&rdquo; Arnett cautioned.NOTEBOOK: Hard-luck left winger Benoit Brunet, who has been plagued by more than his share of injuries, will miss the start of the regular season with a back injury. The same malady sidelined Brunet for the final 12 games of the 1998-99 season and he didn&rsquo;t respond to treatment over the summer. He has been ordered to rest for at least two months to allow a tear in the fibrous tissue between the vertebrae in his lower back to heal. It could be early November before he&rsquo;s given clearance to resume playing&hellip;Defenseman Patrice Brisebois, who had back surgery following the season, still hasn&rsquo;t fully recovered. He&rsquo;ll attend training camp, but his activity will be limited. &#9632;

f0022-02

Businessman Boivin new president as Molson nuts arena un for sale

<div class="byline">By Jeff Legwold</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03506/7159547-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="216" height="210"></div>The Nashville Predators opened training camp Sept. 5, but barring an unexpected negotiating breakthrough, goaltender Mike Dunham will not be on the ice anytime soon.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re apples, they&rsquo;re oranges right now,&rdquo; said Preds&rsquo; GM David Poile. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not even close.&rdquo;Besides Dunham, center Sebastien Bordeleau, left winger Patrick Cote and defenseman Drake Berehowsky are the team&rsquo;s most high-profile unsigned restricted free agents. Bordeleau is still recovering from back surgery, so signing him soon is not imperative and deals for Cote and Berehowsky were well into the negotiating process.Dunham is another matter. Agent Bob Murray is looking for a significant raise for the 27-year-old. Dunham was the first player Nashville selected in the 1998 expansion draft and finished 16-23-3 with a 3.08 goals-against average and .908 save percentage last season.&ldquo;It would be hard for me to say anything will happen anytime soon,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had absolutely no change since June 30.&rdquo;Poile points to Dunham&rsquo;s health struggles last season-most notably a nagging groin injury-that limited him to 44 games. Murray, meanwhile, trumpets his client&rsquo;s dedication: Dunham spent the off-season in Nashville and participated in informal workouts with some of the team.&ldquo;Mike has been there, he has been working,&rdquo; Murray said. &ldquo;He wants to get something done.&rdquo;Dunham made $800,000 last season and with the tone of the talks these days, if an agreement is reached, it will be on a one-year pact.&ldquo;Both sides get hurt this way,&rdquo; Poile said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think it is an exaggeration for me to say this year is the most important year of Mike Dunham&rsquo;s career, just like last year was the most important of his career up to this point.&ldquo;Last year he had the opportunity to get out from Martin Brodeur&rsquo;s shadow. This year he would have the opportunity to show he can be a reliable, No. 1 goaltender in the NHL.&rdquo;Tomas Vokoun and off-season acquisition Corey Hirsch would start the season should Dunham remain unsigned after Oct 1.Vokoun, 23, was 12-18-4 with a 2.95 GAA and .908 SP last season. He was praised for his play in place of the oft-injured Dunham. Hirsch, 27, was 3-8-3 with a 3.13 GAA and .890 SP with the Vancouver Canucks.NOTEBOOK: Center Randy Robitaille, acquired in a trade with Atlanta for left winger Denny Lambert, agreed to a two-year deal that will pay him $475,000 if he spends both years in the NHL&hellip;Left winger Jonathan Schill impressed at the team&rsquo;s rookie camp with two goals in his first game against St. Louis freshmen. He is on a tryout basis and had 32 goals and 59 points in 68 games for Kingston of the Ontario League last season&hellip;Another rookie, Jonas Andersson, played well enough to earn an invitation to training camp. He struggled a bit in the early going on the smaller ice, but showed tremendous speed. The 6-foot-2, 189-pound right winger is slated for North Bay (OHL) this season. &#9632;

f0022-03

Dunham primed for long negotiation after little action on contract front

<div class="byline">By Rich Chare</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-01993/7159578-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="221" height="219"></div>A proposed youth movement by the New Jersey Devils didn&rsquo;t worry aging veteran defenseman Ken Daneyko in the least.Ready to begin his 16th season with the organization, Daneyko welcomed the infusion of new blood while he displayed confidence in his own job security following his best season in the NHL.&ldquo;You have to believe in yourself and 1 have confidence,&rdquo; Daneyko said. &ldquo;I had my best season at age 34. I&rsquo;ve had a long career and I know what I bring to a team. I feel confident that I&rsquo;m a better player at this age.&rdquo;Coach Robbie Ftorek confirmed a youth movement would not affect blueline stalwarts like Daneyko or Scott Stevens. Both are 35.The Devils, who lost defenseman Kevin Dean in the expansion draft, have a defense corps built around veterans Stevens, Daneyko, Lyle Odelein and Scott Niedermayer. Returning youngsters Sheldon Souray and Brad Bombardir were expected to fill two spots while Colin White, Willie Mitchell,Lucas Nehrling and Josh DeWolf were among those challenging for jobs. Another candidate is Brian Rafalski, a 25-year-old American-born defender signed in the off-season after having spent last season with IFK Helsinki in the Finnish Elite League. He was THN&rsquo;s choice as the best pro not playing in the NHL last season.All were anxious to learn from Daneyko, who had two goals and 11 points and 63 penalty minutes in 82 games last season.NOTEBOOK: Jason Arnott, an unsigned Group II free agent, kept a low profile and did not return calls all summer&hellip;Coach Robbie Ftorek said the loss of winger Dave Andreychuk would hurt because of his scoring touch, but the coach was confident a younger player could help fill the gap&hellip;GM Lou Lamoriello inquired about a veteran forward and defenseman Lyle Odelein remained as possible trade bait&hellip;Assistant coach Larry Robinson was awarded $255,889 after a Quebec Superior Court judge ruled the owner of a chain of restaurants. Cage aux Sports Quebec reneged on a deal that would have given the former Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; defenseman half ownership of a franchise in Pointe Claire. &#9632;

f0024-01

Daneyko remains stalwart on defense for the Devils

<div class="byline">By Marc Berman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-03445/7159609-1-eng-US/f0024-032.jpg" title="f0024-03" width="459" height="602"><figcaption class="caption-body">Al Arbour</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-02676/7159616-1-eng-US/f0024-022.jpg" title="f0024-02" width="218" height="216"></div>Hall-of-Famer Al Arbour, who retired as the consultant to the GM after the 1997-98 season, is being courted for a high-profile front office position by the ownership group that has signed a letter of intent to buy the New York Islanders.Bob Gutkowski, the group&rsquo;s frontman, interviewed Arbour, 67, for two hours over lunch in mid-August. Gutkowski wants Arbour back in the fold to consult with the coaching staff-headed by Arbour&rsquo;s former player Butch Goring-and evaluate talent and be involved in trades.It&rsquo;s reported Gutkowski also wants to bring in former Islander left winger Clark Gillies as a consultant.Meanwhile, GM Mike Milbury met with Gutkowski and two members of the new ownership group last month. A source said Gutkowski, the former president of Madison Square Garden, wanted Milbury&rsquo;s opinion on some of the moves he&rsquo;s made in recent years and asked why Arbour, who coached the Isles to four straight Stanley Cups from 1980-83, was phased out.Although Arbour&rsquo;s retirement was said to be mutual, the coaching legend told newspaper writers last winter Milbury&rsquo;s crew virtually never consulted with him during the 1997-98 season.When Arbour retired, Milbury offered the position to Bobby Nystrom, but he turned it down.When Goring was hired in May, he said he consulted with Arbour-with whom he has remained very close-before accepting the position.What Arbour&rsquo;s potential hiring would mean for Milbury is unclear. His status surely will be re-evaluated if the Gutkowski group that is financially backed by Charles Koppelman takes over. One thing in Milbury s favor is he still has four years left on a five-year deal that pays him $750,000 annually.NOTEBOOK: With the league&rsquo;s lowest payroll and youngest team, GM Mike Milbury refused to put the Islanders in the mix for a playoff spot. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m bullish about the future and uncertain about the present,&rdquo; he said&hellip;The lone unsigned restricted free agent, center Mats Lindgren, was offered a 20 per cent raise on last season&rsquo;s $650,000 salary. Agent Mike Barnett is apparently seeking $1 million per season for the projected first-liner&hellip;Milbury is encouraging coach Butch Goring to go with an attack system like he&rsquo;s used in Utah in the International League&hellip;Goaltender-of-the-future Roberto Luongo is expected to play with Lowell (AHL) rather than Chicago (IHL) because Milbury considers the AHL a better developmental league. &#9632;

f0024-03

Potential owners eye Arbour for kev post in front office

<div class="byline">By Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-04288/7159647-1-eng-US/f0024-042.jpg" title="f0024-04" width="219" height="214"></div>Manny Malhotra is a smart kid. So coming into training camp, the New York Rangers&rsquo; 19-year-old sophomore center knows very well there is a big opportunity awaiting him.With the retirement of Wayne Gretzky and the draft-day trade of Marc Savard, the Rangers have only one legitimate offensive center with NHL experience, Petr Nedved. So Malhotra put two and two together and realized he has a chance to be the No. 2 center.&ldquo;I see that the No. 2 spot is left open,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;But I just have to go into camp with the same attitude and work ethic and if I work hard and it turns into the No. 2 spot, great.&rdquo;Last season, Malhotra didn&rsquo;t get much opportunity to shine as coach John Muckier brought him along slowly. Most nights, he had a handful of shifts. And on a few occasions, he didn&rsquo;t dress at all.And while Muckier has said Malhotra might be the No. 2 center, he has hinted he might not be, saying: &ldquo;Remember, he is only 19.&rdquo;Also remember Malhotra is big and strong and fast and young on a team that, in recent years, has been small and soft and slow and old. If Nedved starts the season with newcomers Theo Fleury and Valeri Kamensky, Malhotra could realistically fill the middle of a line with wingers Adam Graves and Todd Harvey.&ldquo;Obviously, it&rsquo;s there,&rdquo; Malhotra said of the possibility. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve kind of put it in the back of my mind. After last year, I was told that in my second year I&rsquo;d have more responsibility and be looked at to contribute more.&rdquo;Malhotra is mature enough to appreciate what happened last season.&ldquo;I understood for the most part,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I was told that playing time would be sporadic and sometimes I would not play at all, or not even dress. But it could still get frustrating. We&rsquo;re all here because we want to play. But it helped me in my development, and made me appreciate my ice a lot more.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: New York was close to signing one of their two first-rounders, center Jamie Lundmark. who will likely go back to junior after camp. The Rangers were also negotiating with right winger Pavel Brendl, projected as a regular this season&hellip;Rangers&rsquo; assistant GM Don Maloney was in the running for the GM&rsquo;s job with the expansion Minnesota Wild, but the post went to Edmonton vice-president of hockey operations Doug Rise-brough&hellip;The Rangers signed three minor league free agents: defenseman John Namestnikov and forwards Mike Harder and Brad Smyth. Smyth was re-obtained from Nashville this summer after the Predators signed him as a free agent from the Rangers a summer earlier. &#9632;

f0024-04

Malhotra to get look as No. 2 pivot

<div class="byline">By Lisa Burke</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-06157/7159678-1-eng-US/f0024-062.jpg" title="f0024-06" width="462" height="607"><figcaption class="caption-body">Wade Redden</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-05192/7159685-1-eng-US/f0024-052.jpg" title="f0024-05" width="216" height="216"></div>While the start of training camp usually signifies summer&rsquo;s end, it will only get hotter in Marshall Johnston&rsquo;s office.With camp set to start, the Ottawa Senators&rsquo; GM faces the difficult task of signing five key restricted free agents while maintaining a modest payroll.Adding to Johnston&rsquo;s woes is captain Alexei Yashin&rsquo;s threat to hold out unless the team renegotiates the final season of his five-year contract.But before Johnston can deal with Yashin, he must come to terms with defensemen Jason York and Wade Redden, wingers Bruce Gardiner and Magnus Arvedson and center Radek Bonk.Johnston received a little relief in early August when an NHL arbitrator awarded York $1.4 million (U.S.) for next season. While the ruling nearly doubled York&rsquo;s 1998-99 salary of $750,000 (U.S.), it&rsquo;s within the Senators&rsquo; range.With York&rsquo;s situation under control, Johnston&rsquo;s attention turns to Redden, who was a bargain at $850,000 (U.S.) last season, Bonk ($850,500 U.S.), Arvedson ($450,000 U.S.) and Gardiner ($283,500 U.S.). All are looking for raises after playing important roles in last year&rsquo;s regular season success.While signing them all is high on Johnston&rsquo;s list, Redden is the No. 1 priority. The 22-year-old is the Senators&rsquo; top defenseman.And with the average NHL salary at 1.3 million (U.S.) last season, Redden can look forward to a hefty raise in his new contract.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to ask for anything I don&rsquo;t think I&rsquo;m worth,&rdquo; he said.As for Bonk, Arvedson and Gardiner, Johnston will have his hands full trying to appease all three without disrupting Ottawa&rsquo;s finances.Last year, the Senators ranked in the bottom third of the league with a pay-roll of about $20 million (U.S.).Notebook: Ottawa signed 36-year-old Kevin Dineen Sept. 2 to a one-year deal worth $450,000 (U.S.) with a club option for a second season at $550,000 (U.S.). An unrestricted free agent, the hard-nosed right winger scored eight goals and 18 points for Carolina last season&hellip;The Sens signed three other free agents-center Kevin Miller, defenseman Kevin Grimes and right winger Bob Prier-to multi-year deals. Miller, 34, split last season between the Islanders and Chicago of International League. An Ottawa native, the 20-year-old Grimes played for Kingston of the Ontario League, where he scored five goals and 25 points in 56 games last season. The 23-year-old Prier spent the last four years with St Lawrence of the ECAC. &#9632;

f0024-06

Yashin holdout issue aside, KM Johnston’s plate still full

<div class="byline">By Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-07133/7159716-1-eng-US/f0024-072.jpg" title="f0024-07" width="217" height="213"></div>There are three stalls tor goalies in the Philadelphia Flyers&rsquo; dressing room, but only one, which belongs to veteran John Van-biesbrouck, has a nameplate above it.Technically, the backup position is vacant, but rookie Brian Boucher plans to have his nameplate on locker No. 2 by the time the regular season starts.Boucher, late of the American League&rsquo;s Philadelphia Phantoms, hopes to fill the spot left by the release of Ron Hextall-and GM-president Bob Clarke has given no indication he&rsquo;s looking to bring in an experienced replacement.Should Boucher earn the backup assignment, he will likely get about 25 starts to prove he can take over when Vanbiesbrouck&rsquo;s tenure comes to an end. Vanbiesbrouck, who just turned 36, has only an option year left after this season.&ldquo;Unless he (Boucher) lays an egg in training camp, it&rsquo;s his,&rdquo; Clarke said of the No. 2 role.Jean-Marc Pelletier, taken 30th overall by the Flyers in 1997 and minor league veteran Neil Little are next on the depth chart.Boucher, the Flyers&rsquo; top pick (22nd overall) in 1995, believes his career is on schedule despite a setback last season when he needed a pair of minor knee operations to repair cartilage.&ldquo;You want to set goals and everyone wishes he could be there the day after he was drafted,&rdquo; Boucher said. &ldquo;But the reality is there are plenty of things to learn and I&rsquo;m still learning.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Eric Lindros experienced some discomfort in his lower back while skating in the Toronto area during the off-season and went in for tests. No structural damage was found and Lindros is participating in an exercise program to rehabilitate the injury. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not much to worry about, it&rsquo;s an inflamed disc,&rdquo; Lindros said. &ldquo;We worked out really hard this summer and (I) feel strong. I&rsquo;m getting a lot of massage and trying to keep the inflammation to a minimum."&hellip;GM Bob Clarke criticized Mark Gandler, the agent for left winger Valeri Zelepukin, for stalled contract negotiations. Clarke said it would be a mistake on the part of Zelepukin to engage in a lengthy holdout as competition for jobs up front promises to be intense. &#9632;

f0024-07

Boucher aims to secure backup goalie position

<div class="byline">By Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-02571/7159747-1-eng-US/f0025-022.jpg" title="f0025-02" width="773" height="1381"><figcaption class="caption-body">Teppo Numminen</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0025-01889/7159754-1-eng-US/f0025-012.jpg" title="f0025-01" width="217" height="215"></div>The Iron Finn doesn&rsquo;t intend to bend like cheap aluminum when it comes time to his next contract. And as a result, there is a good chance the Coyotes might lose the best defenseman in franchise history.Teppo Numminen, who has appeared in 297 consecutive regular season games, the second-longest active streak in the NHL, confirmed he fully intends to test the open market when he becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, possibly severing ties with the club after 12 long seasons.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really think (the Coyotes) can afford me and if that&rsquo;s the case, they&rsquo;ll probably move me in March (at the trading deadline,&rdquo; said Numminen, 31, the Coyotes&rsquo; career leader in points (383) and assists (307) by a defenseman. &ldquo;If they can&rsquo;t pay me, it doesn&rsquo;t make any sense to lose me for nothing at the end of the season.&rdquo;Numminen and his agent, Don Baizley, entered negotiations last fall with GM Bobby Smith regarding a multiyear contract extension to lock up the highest-scoring, Finnish-born blueliner in NHL history. The talks cooled considerably by mid-November, however, and Smith did not reopen discussions during the remainder of the season.Numminen said he would like to remain with Phoenix if the Coyotes can make a competitive offer. But because of reported annual losses of close to $7 million by owner Richard Burke and the uncertainty hinging on a November election concerning a new 18,000-seat arena, Numminen isn&rsquo;t sure if the team can afford him beyond the 1999-2000 season. The Coyotes already are locked into paying captain Keith Tkachuk $8.3 million the following season, a jump in pay from $4.3 million this season.&ldquo;For sure I&rsquo;d like to stay because I&rsquo;ve been with this team for so long, but the way things look, I think it&rsquo;s going to be tough to do,&rdquo; Numminen said. &ldquo;If a trade is there, they&rsquo;re going to do it. They&rsquo;re not going to be stupid about it.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s going to be a tough situation, but next summer, I get a chance to know what my market value is, so in that way, it&rsquo;s a good situation for me if things don&rsquo;t work out here. If not, then I know what it is and that&rsquo;s what it is.&rdquo;Numminen, who led all Phoenix defensemen last season in goals (10), assists (30), points (40) and shots (156), said he plans to give the Coyotes every chance to sign him before next summer and as of yet, he has no plans to put a deadline on negotiations, if and when they begin.NOTEBOOK: The Coyotes re-signet right winger Shane Doan to a two-year deal worth $1.6 million. The team also signet defenseman Stan Neckar to a similar deal Sept. 3&hellip;Former coach Jim Schoenfeld fired after last season, is working as a volunteer assistant coach at nearby Arizona State helping Mikey Volcan coach the Sun Devils in the America College Hockey Association&hellip; Finnish prospects Juha Gustafsson and Ossi Vaananen will remain in Europe despite initial reports by the Coyotes the pair would attend training camp. &#9632;

f0025-02

Numminen will test market, begins possible last season as Coyote

<div class="byline">By Joe Starkey</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-01984/7159785-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="216" height="214"></div>Pittsburgh Penguins&rsquo; GM Craig Patrick has offered defenseman Darius Kasparaitis, a restricted free agent, a one-year contract worth roughly $1.2 million. That would make Kasparaitis the team&rsquo;s second-highest paid defenseman and its sixth-highest paid player overall.Everyone agrees on that. What they don&rsquo;t agree on is whether the offer constitutes a compliment or an insult.Kasparaitis and his agent, Mark Gandler, see it as an insult. They are looking for about a million dollars more than what the Penguins are offering. Kasparaitis was a likely candidate to sit out the beginning of training camp, which opened Sept. 4.&ldquo;Nobody wants to rob anybody, but I risked my career playing without an (anterior cruciate) ligament last season,&rdquo; Kasparaitis said. &ldquo;They couldn&rsquo;t give me any more than a qualifying offer (a 10-per cent raise over last season)? That&rsquo;s no respect.&rdquo;Patrick defended his offer.&ldquo;He was sixth in ice time among our defensemen and we&rsquo;re willing to make him the second-highest paid (behind Kevin Hatcher at $3.1 million),&rdquo; Patrick said. &ldquo;That shows that we think he&rsquo;s a special player.&rdquo;Kasparaitis doesn&rsquo;t buy Patrick&rsquo;s logic.&ldquo;We have low-paid defensemen on our team,&rdquo; Kasparaitis said. &ldquo;Only one guy (Hatcher) makes a lot of money. You can&rsquo;t make examples with our team.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Penguins&rsquo; marketing crusade hit the streets Sept. 3, the day Mario Lemieux officially assumed ownership. The team had sold the equivalent of 8,000 full season-ticket packages to that point, which put it on pace to surpass last season&rsquo;s total of 8,300&hellip;Right winger Alexei Kovalev is thrilled with his new boss. &ldquo;Who wouldn&rsquo;t want to play for a team that he owns?&rdquo; Kovalev said. &ldquo;He did so much for hockey in Pittsburgh. You couldn&rsquo;t ask for anything better."&hellip;Among the veterans invited to training camp: forward Bob Errey; defenseman/right winger David Wilkie and winger Tom Chorske.. Winger Dan Kesa, an unrestricted free agent who played for the Penguins last season, was expected to decline their invitation to camp. &#9632;

f0026-01

Offer insults Kasparaitis as sides still $1M apart

<div class="byline">By Dave Luecking</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03524/7159816-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="456" height="599"><figcaption class="caption-body">Larry Pleau</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02662/7159823-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="217" height="214"></div>Although the Center ICE arena in Traverse City, Mich., might not be Kiel Center, or United Center, or Joe Louis Arena, or Nashville Arena, the Blues hope it serves as an appropriate backdrop to set the stage for future battles at those venues.The Blues participated with division rivals Chicago, Detroit and Nashville in the second annual Central Division rookie camp in Traverse City from Aug. 30 through Sept. 2. The camp pits the Blues&rsquo; rookies against rookies from Chicago, Detroit and Nashville in a round-robin tournament.Although the main purpose of the tournament is to evaluate prospects against their age-group peers, Blues&rsquo; GM Larry Pleau believes the rivalries are just as important.&ldquo;You like to see your prospects play against their own age group, but it also starts to develop rivalries within the division,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Some of these kids will play against each other in the NHL in two or three years. You get a good look at your kids and you start to create dislikes for the future. Those are important things.&rdquo;Pleau, assistant GM John Ferguson Jr., chief scout Ted Hampson, pro scout Bob Plager, coach Joel Quenneville and the Blues amateur scouts evaluated personnel. Worcester coach Greg Gilbert and assistant Steve Pleau coached the Blues&rsquo; rookies.The Blues took 25 players to the rookie camp-16 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies. Of those 25 players, 12 already had been invited to the Blues&rsquo; training camp that starts on Sept. 6. As many as four or five rookies in the camp on a tryout basis will earn invitations based on their play in Traverse City.&ldquo;The doors are open,&rdquo; Pleau said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a matter of whether they get in.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Minor league defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick was the last restricted free agent remaining to be signed by the Blues&hellip;Center Stephane Roy also is a restricted free agent, but the Blues probably won&rsquo;t bring him back this season&hellip;Now that goaltender Roman Turek has been signed, the Blues may look to move either veteran Grant Fuhr or backup Jamie McLennan&hellip;The Blues reported for training camp Sept. 4. Their first day on the ice was Sept. 6, with their first pre-season game coming up Sept. 12 against Chicago at Kiel Center. They will also play home pre-season games against Atlanta (Sept. 14) and Nashville (Sept. 21), and will take on Boston in Worcester, Mass (Sept. 22). &#9632;

f0026-03

Rookies try to make grade against future division foes

<div class="byline">By Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04370/7159854-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="214" height="211"></div>With the days of mass u_ confusion far in the rear view mirror, the San Jose Sharks arrived at training camp seemingly sei to embark upon their first winning season since joining the NHL in 1991.Unlike in most of the club&rsquo;s first eight years, the roster appears virtually set. Unlike last season, when key performers Jeff Friesen, Owen Nolan. Mike Ricci and Mike Rathje missed training camp, there are no contract hassles. Everyone appears to be healthy, though that variable can change in an instant.&ldquo;The focus is much better than the last two years,&rdquo; said coach Darryl Sutter. &ldquo;We have enough continuity with the team in terms of carryover.&rdquo;The Sharks reached the Stanley Cup playoffs in each of Sutter&rsquo;s first two seasons, but had to scratch and claw to get there. While everyone seems to believe this year should be different, there are some issues to resolve before the season begins.The biggest question mark is veteran defenseman Gary Suter, who missed all but one game last season because of a tom triceps tendon that required three surgeries. Everything appears to &rsquo;be on track in Suter&rsquo;s comeback bid, but until he proves he can withstand a constant pounding, no one will know for sure.&ldquo;That&rsquo;s huge, in terms of rounding out our defense,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to need time on the ice, contact, the system and direction. Hopefully, it&rsquo;s all there.&rdquo;The continued development of talented young players such as Friesen, Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm and Alex Korolyuk will be another key. Injury-plagued veterans Tony Grana-to and Murray Craven, meanwhile, must prove they can still contribute.More than anything, though, it is San Jose&rsquo;s middle-aged players that will make or break this season. That group includes Nolan, Ricci, Rathje, Marcus Ragnarsson, newly acquired Niklas Sundstrom and goaltender Steve Shields.NOTEBOOK: Former San Jose center Bernie Nicholls, who retired last season before becoming an assistant coach, opted not to return this year. Nicholls wanted to take at least a year away from the game to spend more time with his family, said GM Dean Lombardi&hellip;The Sharks signed winger Teemu Riihijarvi, their so-far ill-fated 1995 first round draft pick, to a two-year contract. The deal includes &ldquo;escape clauses,&rdquo; in case he doesn&rsquo;t prove worthy of a minor league assignment&hellip;Relatively deep in goaltending, San Jose traded Michel Larocque to Chicago for a fifth round selection in next year&rsquo;s draft. Larocque, a sixth round selection in 1996, played the past four seasons at Boston University. &#9632;

f0026-04

Sharks look to regain lost bite

<div class="byline">By Tim Buckley</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-06222/7159885-1-eng-US/f0026-062.jpg" title="f0026-06" width="456" height="600"><figcaption class="caption-body">Pavel Kubina</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-05271/7159892-1-eng-US/f0026-052.jpg" title="f0026-05" width="213" height="214"></div>New Tampa Bay Lightning gm Rick Dudley firmly believes that the best offense an NHL team can have is, you guessed it, a good defense.&ldquo;If you know one thing,&rdquo; Dudley said, &ldquo;it&rsquo;s that if you don&rsquo;t have goaltending and defense, you&rsquo;re in trouble.&rdquo;So to avoid more misfortune in Tampa Bay, and not spend a third straight season at the bottom of the NHL standings, Dudley has gone to great lengths fortifying a porous defense.How far? Even Zarley Zalapski, an 11-season veteran who was out of the NHL last season, will be in camp.But the biggest move is a deal that sent highly regarded winger Niklas Sundstrom to San Jose for a four-player package that included veteran Bill Houlder and 1996 Sharks&rsquo; first round draft choice Andrei Zyuzin, both of whom figure to join holdovers Petr Svoboda and Pavel Kubina among the Lightning&rsquo;s top four this season.Cory Cross and Sergey Gusev are top candidates to form Tampa Bay&rsquo;s third pair. With new coach Steve Ludzik planning to keep only one spare defenseman, that leaves the likes of Drew Bannister and Jassen Cullimore battling for what may be the final roster spot.Where, then, does that leave highly regarded prospect Paul Mara, Tampa Bay&rsquo;s first round pick in 1997 and a player many have penciled into the lineup for this season?With a great camp, he may make the team. Otherwise it&rsquo;s off to International League affiliate Detroit, which is where Mario Larocque, a first-round pick in 1996, and Mike McBain, a second-rounder in 1995, may also start the season.Winning work on the Lightning defense may not be the cakewalk it once was. &ldquo;People won&rsquo;t be handed jobs any more,&rdquo; Dudley said.NOTEBOOK: The Lightning hired Brad Shaw as an assistant to new coach Steve Ludzik. Shaw spent of parts last season in the NHL with Washington and St Louis&hellip;Tampa Bay has hired a &ldquo;special skills coach&rdquo; to work on skating strength and conditioning of players throughout the organization. Paul Vincent, 52, was skating coach for Fort Wayne (International League) in 1997-98 and has worked as a consultant for minor league and college teams&hellip;The Lightning will not retain scout Angelo Bumbacco. a longtime member of the organization with ties-to&rdquo; former GM Phil Esposito&hellip;Forwards Matt Elich, Sheldon Keefe and Fedor Fedorov, the younger brother of Detroit center Sergei Fedorov, all stood out at prospects camp. &#9632;

f0026-06

Bolts want out of cellar, better backline will help

<div class="byline">By Ken Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-07194/7159923-1-eng-US/f0026-072.jpg" title="f0026-07" width="215" height="212"></div>After playing for a total of four teams last season, Adam Mair would like to get that number down to a more manageable size in 1999-2000.One would be nice and Mair knows exactly which one he wants it to be.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m definitely here to play for the Toronto Maple Leafs,&rdquo; said the 20-year-old rookie. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not even thinking of going anywhere else at this point.&rdquo;Mair is the Leafs&rsquo; prospect that is most ready to make the jump to the NHL.He has several qualities the Leafs lack in that he plays with grit and shows a willingness to battle along the boards.The Leafs ultimately envision Mair as a third line center, but he will likely play one of the wings this season, He played right wing last year with the Owen Sound Platers of the Ontario League. The Platers, though, were just the main stop on an odyssey that also saw him play for the Leafs, the St. Johns Maple Leafs of the American League and Canada&rsquo;s team at the World Junior Championship.An interesting twist to the story is Mair&rsquo;s connection to Leafs&rsquo; coach-GM Pat Quinn. As it turns out, Mair&rsquo;s mother, Nancy, grew up two doors down from Quinn in Hamilton, Ont., and Quinn&rsquo;s mother, Jean, is Nancy Mair&rsquo;s godmother. Mair&rsquo;s father, David, roomed with Quinn&rsquo;s brother, Guy, when the two played football at Youngstown State University in Ohio.NOTEBOOK: The Leafs will open training camp without defensemen Bryan Berard and Dmitri Yushkevich. Both are restricted free agents and coach-GM Pat Quinn said both weren&rsquo;t welcome at camp without contracts. Yushkevich will play for his former team Torpedo Yarslavl in Russia&hellip;Growing speculation is that center Nikolai Antropov, the Leafs first round pick in the 1998 draft, will play in the Ontario League this season. The only question is where. Antropov was supposed to return to Moscow Dynamo, but that thinking has changed now that associate GM Mike Smith and assistant GM Anders Hedberg are gone. Antropov&rsquo;s rights are owned by Brampton, but the Battalion already have two import players. &#9632;

f0026-07

Mair looks to settle down after multi-team season

<div class="byline">By Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-01934/7159954-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="215" height="214"></div>For the first half of last season, Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; right winger Bill Muckalt was the consensus top rookie in the NHL. He led first-year players in a number of offensive categories and was a Calder Trophy favorite.Then, in February, the University of Michigan product hit the so-called &rsquo;college wall.&rsquo; Muckalt, 25, managed just one goal in his last 27 games before spraining an ankle and missing the final nine contests of the regular season. He finished with 16 goals and 36 points in 73 games and disappeared from Calder contention.&ldquo;Let&rsquo;s face it, the last third of the year was really tough for me,&rdquo; said Muckalt, who never played more than 46 games at Michigan. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a long year in the NHL and you go up and down. I think definitely I was tired at the end. I&rsquo;m going to try and pace myself a little better this year. I didn&rsquo;t go quite as hard every day this summer and I tried to get a little more rest.&rdquo;Vancouver was impressed enough with Muckalt to sign him for three years at an average salary of nearly $1 million (U.S.) per season. He will make $850,000 this season, followed by $975,000 next year and $1.1 million in 2001-02. He is coming off a one-year deal worth $775,000 (U.S.).&ldquo;Bill Muckalt is an NHL player and there is no danger of this guy turning into a minor-leaguer,&rdquo; said Canucks&rsquo; assistant GM Dave Nonis, who negotiates all player contracts. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s true he had a poor finish, but he still finished right up there in the rookie scoring race and he showed enough during the first three-quarters of the season.&rdquo;Muckalt is capable of playing anywhere on the depth chart. He has an excellent shot and can finish. And, at 205 pounds, he isn&rsquo;t adverse to dropping the gloves.The native of Surrey, a Vancouver suburb, played Jr. A in the British Columbia League before going to Michigan.&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t want to be anywhere else but Vancouver,&rdquo; Muckalt said. &ldquo;Both sides are happy with the deal and I&rsquo;m looking forward to going out and playing some hockey now.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Swedish native Markus Naslund. who emerged last season as the Canucks&rsquo; top forward, signed a three-year, $7.2-million (U.S.) contract Sept. 1 and should be around when his neighbors from Om-skoldsvik, Sweden, Daniel and Henrik Sedin, join the team next season. The 26-year-old right winger will earn $2.25 million this season, $2.35 in 2000-01 and $2.6 million in 2001-02&hellip;The Canucks will play eight pre-season games, including home-and-away dates with fellow Canadian clubs the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ottawa Senators and Montreal Canadiens. Their exhibition opener is in Spokane, Wash., Sept. 12 against the San Jose Sharks&hellip;The Canucks were not expecting key restricted free agent defensemen Ed Jovanovski and Adrian Aucoin to be signed in time for training camp. Their absence, coupled with the trade of another young rearguard, Bryan McCabe, to the Chicago Blackhawks in the draft-day deal that helped net the Sedin twins, may force the team to acquire another blueliner. &#9632;

f0027-01

Three-quarters of a good year enough to get Muckalt new deal

<div class="byline">By Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02596/7159985-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="213" height="213"></div>If initial returns are any indication, the Washington Capitals will go into training camp Sept. 7 in tip-top condition.&ldquo;The guys are coming back in the best shape I&rsquo;ve seen since I&rsquo;ve been here,&rdquo; said strength coach Frank Costello, who has been with the team for 15 years.But will that translate into an improvement in their on-ice performance this season?&ldquo;If you look back, everybody was saying the same thing last summer they&rsquo;re saying this summer: &rsquo;Geez, the guys are in great shape,&rsquo; &ldquo; said coach Ron Wilson. &ldquo;Everybody&rsquo;s focused, everybody&rsquo;s ready to play, then everything gets tainted by the type of season you had.&rdquo;The Capitals started slowly in 1998-99 and finished the same way, a season shredded by 511 man-games lost to injuries. Nobody played in all 82 games as the club missed the playoffs one year after playing in the Stanley Cup final.&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve had an extra two or three months to do the physical conditioning things and when you do that, it goes a long way towards preventing injuries,&rdquo; Wilson said. &ldquo;But conditioning has nothing to do with spraining an ankle or blowing out a shoulder, things like that.&rdquo;Nearly a dozen players were taking part in unofficial workouts in early August, several mentioning that summer had been awfully long this year. But it was the same thing two years ago when Washington missed the post-season for the first time in 15 seasons.&ldquo;Right now I think the guys feel better about themselves because they haven&rsquo;t lost a game in five months,&rdquo; Wilson said.&ldquo;Another factor is guys who didn&rsquo;t have good seasons last year will be more focused and want to improve on the type of seasons they had. What I sense now is more of an attitude the way it was two years ago when they were coming off a non-play-off season. We hadn&rsquo;t made the playoffs and everybody was looking to make an impression. I think that&rsquo;s the attitude that will be in evidence during this camp.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: Center Adam Oates, entering his 15th season, has been named captain, replacing Dale Hunter, who was traded to Colorado last March and retired in the off-season. Oates becomes only the 10th captain in the 26-year history of the franchise. &ldquo;With our team sort of in transition, we&rsquo;re hoping (Oates) will be able to take on the responsibilities that are left over from Dale&rsquo;s regime,&rdquo; said coach Ron Wilson. &ldquo;I think it&rsquo;s going to take someone like Adam to bridge that gap as we move forward.&rdquo; Washington had the oldest roster in the league last season and is trying to get the average age below 30. Many feel the Caps missed the playoffs last year because Oates was out for more than two months with a groin injury, missing 23 games. He recorded fewer than 50 assists in a season (not counting the lockout year, 1994-95) for the first time since 1987-88&hellip;The team and agent Rich Winter are deep in contract talks. The two sides hope to ensure wingers Richard Zednik and Yogi Svejkovsky are in camp on time. Both are restricted free agents. &#9632;

f0027-02

Caps in shape after long summer and look to rebound into playoffs

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>For the younger generation of hockey fans in Quebec City, the Montreal Canadiens have always been the enemy. If you liked the Quebec Nordiques, then you despised the cross-province NHL rivals from Montreal.But now the ownership group of the American League&rsquo;s newest Canadian franchise, the Quebec Citadelles, must convince their target audience of 20-and 30-somethings the Canadiens are the good guys.Montreal ended a nine-year run in Fredericton after last season, pulling the AHL franchise out of the small New Brunswick city and transferring it to Le Colisee in Quebec City.&ldquo;People were happy we were bring back pro hockey, but a lot of far don&rsquo;t like the Canadiens,&rdquo; said Nicole Bouchard, the media relations director for the Citadelles. She held a similar position with the Nordiques for 15 seasons.&ldquo;I worked against them for 15 years, I never liked them. The go was always to beat Montreal. It always a war. Between the players, coaches, even the people who worked for the teams.&rdquo;Which is one reason fans have taken a wait-and-see attitude when it comes to buying tickets. The club&rsquo;s season-ticket goal is 3,000, but they still hadn&rsquo;t reached 2,000 at the end of August.&ldquo;Some fans say they will never go to a game because it&rsquo;s the Canadiens,&rdquo; Bouchard said. &ldquo;But if they wanted to have pro hockey back, it had to be this way. If this doesn&rsquo;t work, then there probably won&rsquo;t be a team here again.&rdquo;The Citadelles are confident this brand of hockey will thrive once fans become familiar with the developmental league. The AHL hasn&rsquo;t been in Quebec City since 1970-71, when the Aces left after 12 seasons.&ldquo;Nobody knows what kind of product we&rsquo;ll have,&rdquo; said Citadelles&rsquo; GM Raymond Bolduc. &ldquo;Maybe 70 per cent of the people hated the Canadiens when the Nordiques were here. You can hate an organization, but not a player and we think the fans will like what they see.&rdquo;Unlike the Fredericton franchise, the Citadelles won&rsquo;t be fully reliant on Montreal. To create their own identity, they have designed their own uniforms (dark blue, white, yellow and silver) and will have seven or eight of their own players, such as left winger Pierre Sevigny, who skated in the International League last season. They also will pay the minor league salary of players such as Francis Bouillon and Dave Morissette if they aren&rsquo;t in Montreal.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-01972/7160016-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="566" height="568"></div>While trying to convert former Nordiques&rsquo; fans to the Canadiens&rsquo; way of life won&rsquo;t be easy, Bolduc said the residue from the failed International League franchise, the Quebec Rafales, is a bigger roadblock.&ldquo;They killed the business of hockey in Quebec City,&rdquo; Bolduc said of the poorly run franchise that left in 1998 after two seasons.Said Bouchard: &ldquo;The IHL was not a good experience. I know, I worked for the :am and they didn&rsquo;t run the team the right way.&rdquo;The Citadelles hope to average 5,000 fans at the 15,000-seat arena. The top seat is $16 and kids can get in for $6. Since the ownership group also operates the Queec Ramparts of the Quebec League, ; can buy season tickets for both teams for as low as $750 for 82 games.PACK ATTACK: The New York Rangers were active in the NHL&rsquo;s free agent market during the off-season, but they didn&rsquo;t forget about their AHL team in Hartford.Center Mike Harder, the third-leading scorer for the Rochester Americans with 31 goals and 79 points in 79 games last season, signed with the Rangers in August.Also, Brad Smyth, a 68-goal scorer four years ago for the Carolina Monarchs, was re-signed. The right winger joined the team in a mid-season trade and had 25 goals and 44 points in 36 games.AHL TIDBITS: The Florida Panthers resigned three players who are targeted for the expansion Louisville Panthers: Left winger Chad Cabana, center Ryan Johnson and defenseman Jeff Ware&hellip;Florida named former Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; forward Gerard Gallant the assistant coach for Joe Paterson in Louisville. He was an assistant with Fort Wayne of the IHL last season&hellip; Eric Lavigne was hired as a second assistant coach for Quebec City, joining Gerry Fleming on Michel Therrien&rsquo;s staff. Lavigne coached at Trois Rivieres last season. &#9632;

f0028-01

Citadelles’ fans taking time warming up to parent Habs

<div class="byline">By John Packett</div>When he was fired as coach by the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks after a disastrous 1997-98 season, Terry Christensen never thought he&rsquo;d be back. But he didn&rsquo;t harbor any ill feelings toward the team that gave him a pink slip.&ldquo;A lot of people will ask, &rsquo;Did you hold a grudge?&rsquo; &ldquo; Christensen told the Tallahassee Democrat. &ldquo;The day you&rsquo;re told you&rsquo;re not going to come back again, are you upset? If it means anything to you, absolutely, you&rsquo;re upset.&ldquo;But the bottom line is both (co-owners) Dave Elmore and Donna Tuttle paid me to do something I love for four years. Why would you hold a grudge against something like that?&rdquo;Sixteen months after being let go by the Tiger Sharks, Christensen was re-hired to guide Talla hassee for 1999-2000. Christensen went Mill 4-23 during his first stint, advancing to the East Coast League semifinal his first two years and winning the South Division title in 1996-97. His contract was not renewed after a last-place ( finish (24-44-2) in 1997-98.Tallahassee was a bust on the (27-34-9) and at the box office (3,898 average) last season under Jeff Brubaker, who left in June to join the expansion Greensboro Generals.&ldquo;There is a comfort zone coming back,&rdquo; said Christensen, who spent last season nursing the now-defunct Miami Matadors to a 28-32-10 record. Christensen&rsquo;s upbeat personality and community involvement were key reasons new GM Larry Kish brought him back.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03462/7160078-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="506" height="526"></div>&ldquo;The biggest reason was the community,&rdquo; Kish said. &ldquo;It was something I always thought (was important), but didn&rsquo;t think it was as significant as it turned out to be. We have to win more &ldquo;ff the ice than on the ice. We need to get back acquainted with people and get people thinking they want to come here and be a part of it.&rdquo;NOREN BACK: Center Darryl Noren, the most prolific scorer in ECHL history, will return for a sixth season in Charlotte and 10th pro season. He will also serve as the Checkers player/assistant coach a second straight year.Noren, 31, became the league&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer last season, finishing the year with 648 points. Entering 1999-2000, he is only four assists from becoming the ECHL&rsquo;s all-time assist leader and 16 goals from becoming just the fifth player in league history with 300 goals.&ldquo;He has shown longevity and consistency throughout his career,&rdquo; said Charlotte coach Shawn Wheeler. &ldquo;You can say he&rsquo;s the ECHL&rsquo;s version of Cal Ripken.&rdquo;COAST LINES: Former ECHL MVP Vadim Slivchenko, who spent the past three seasons in Austria, has returned to the Wheeling Nailers. Slivchenko, 29, was the league&rsquo;s MVP in 1994-95 when he scored 37 goals and 76 points in 49 games.The Nailers lost their all-time leading scorer when right winger Darren Schwartz, 31, announced his retirement to sign a two-year contract to serve as coach and director of operations for the Saskatchewan Junior League&rsquo;s La Ronge Ice Wolves. &#9632;

f0028-03

Tiger Shark Christensen proves you can go home again

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>The Ontario League has been looking to lock up the New York state player market and it appears it will get that opportunity. Two groups have banded together in an attempt to bring an OHL franchise to Elmira, N.Y.The joint effort of Afr Enterprises of Rochester Hills, Mich., and Toronto-based Lauridon Sports Management Inc. is being called a marriage of money and marketing expertise.Mostafa Afr, who owns the Port Huron Border Cats of the United League and is joint-owner of the American League&rsquo;s expansion Louisville Panthers, has pledged $7.25 million (U.S.) toward the new Coach USA Center in Elmira, which is a two-hour drive southeast of Buffalo.Cost of the arena, being developed by Lauridon, is $15.5 million (U.S.). Afr would own the team and Lauridon would manage the arena.Lauridon operates the Sarnia Sports and Entertainment Centre, which opened a year ago and is home to the Sarnia Sting.It&rsquo;s not known whether Afr will apply for an expansion franchise or buy an existing team and move it to Elmira.OHL commissioner Dave Branch said he was contacted by Lauridon regarding Elmira, but &ldquo;the discussion has been of an informal nature.&rdquo;It&rsquo;s expected OHL governors will set the next expansion fee at $2 million. League policy states the fee is payable in the currency of the new franchise&rsquo;s country. It cost the Brampton Battalion and the &rsquo; Mississauga IceDogs each $1.5 million to enter the league in 1998-99.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01866/7160109-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="942" height="317"></div>The OHL wants to expand further into the U.S. and doesn&rsquo;t foresee any expansion in Ontario for the next five years. The 20-member league has a team in Plymouth, Mich., and Erie, Pa., which locks up players in those two states for the OHL.&ldquo;We have not yet defined any expansion plan for the near future,&rdquo; Branch said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve just gone through quite an ambitious expansion the last four years (adding Barrie, Toronto St. Michael&rsquo;s, Brampton and Mississauga) and it was unprecedented when we added two teams in one year. We want to make sure we have our own house in order before we take many more bold steps in terms of expansion.&rdquo;CHARGE DROPPED: A fraud charge against former Kitchener Rangers&rsquo; GM Bob _ Ertel was ordered with drawn by an Ontario Superior Court judge.The crown claimed Ertel, 60, had, between 1993 and 1996, defrauded he team of more than $6,000 by falsifying expense accounts and changing receipts.The jury trial was into its&rsquo; ninth day when the judge called the prosecution and defense into chambers Aug. 26.When the parties emerged, assistant crown attorney Mike Murdoch announced Ertel &rsquo;admits&hellip;he received money to which he was tot entitled and he will pay $4,000 to the Kitchener Rangers hockey club on or before Oct. 1.&rdquo;During testimony, Ertel, who later worked briefly for the North Bay Centennials, said under oath the Rangers broke the OHL salary cap by paying Russian forward Bogdan Rudenko $35 more a week than rules allow.Dave Branch said he has been advised of Ettel&rsquo;s testimony.&ldquo;I want to get an accurate sense of what was said before deciding whether it will result in the league wanting to do an investigation to see if that allegation is (true),&rdquo; Branch said.WHERE&rsquo;S THE BEEF: Jason Spezza already has his eye on the 2001 NHL draft.Drafted first overall by Mississauga after playing last season in Brampton, Spezza hired a trainer for the summer. The center has sprouted two inches (he&rsquo;s now 6-foot-3) and added 12 pounds (he now weighs 200) since last season.Spezza, 16, is projected as the No. 1 pick of the 2001 entry draft. He became the youngest player to play in the OHL All-Star Game last season. &#9632;

f0033-01

Elmira, N.Y., expresses interest in landing OHL franchise

<div class="byline">By Gordie Sutherland</div>The Halifax Mooseheads are well on their way to delivering on their promise of a Memorial Cup sellout.When training camp opened in August, the Mooseheads had already sold more than 5,900 season-ticket packages as fans scurried to guarantee their seats for May&rsquo;s Canadian Hockey League championship.As hosts, the Mooseheads automatically qualify for the Memorial Cup.The team&rsquo;s office has been bombarded with inquiries since the Mooseheads were awarded the 2000 tournament last April.&ldquo;It has been hectic and busy, Mike Rothenburg, Halifax&rsquo;s c tor of ticket sales. &ldquo;I never drear I would be selling season tickets in the upper bowl. Now, in some sections, I&rsquo;m half way up the upper bowl.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02587/7160140-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="702" height="640"></div>About 1,500 tickets at the 9,815-seat Metro Centre had to be set aside to meet with CHL requirements, including spots for sponsors and dignitaries.Halifax capped season-ticket sales at 6,000 to insure the general public would still get a crack at seats. The tickets will be awarded through a lottery. Applications went out Aug. 22 and the draw is in late October.GUNNER SIGNS: Sharpshooter Mathieu Benoit scored 62 regular season goals last year, was the league&rsquo;s playoff MVP and went to the Memorial Cup with the Bathurst Titan.His impressive 1998-99 campaign paid off Sept. 3 when the 20-year-old winger landed his first pro contract, signing on with the New Jersey Devils. No terms were released.&ldquo;A lot will depend on how he does in training camp,&rdquo; said Allan Walsh, Benoit&rsquo;s agent. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a uniquely structured deal, but he&rsquo;s definitely going to be playing pro. He&rsquo;s very happy.&rdquo;The Devils originally took Benoit in the seventh round of the 1997 draft, but the sides couldn&rsquo;t agree on a deal, so he went back into the draft in June, but was left untouched.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s a long list of Quebec League players who have scored a ton of goals and a ton of points who have never been able to make it at the NHL level,&rdquo; Walsh said. &ldquo;So it&rsquo;s up to Mathieu to show again that he can score at any level he plays at.&rdquo;The knock against Benoit, 6-feet and 205 pounds, is he&rsquo;s small for an NHL winger and plays a small game. But Walsh contends he&rsquo;s comparable in size to most scorers.EVERYTHING&rsquo;S EYE-OK: A freak preseason accident put a scare in center Christian Larrivee and the Chicoutimi Sagueneens.Chicoutimi&rsquo;s third overall pick this past June , sustained an eye injury during an Aug. 29 exhibition game against the Montreal Rocket. An errant stick slipped under Larrivee&rsquo;s shield and struck him near the right eye. There was immediate concern for his sight.&ldquo;He was yelling, &rsquo;I can&rsquo;t see. I &rsquo;can&rsquo;t see,&rsquo; &ldquo; said Chicoutimi coach Martin Daoust.An eye exam revealed no damage and he was scheduled to return to action in a week.&ldquo;He might have a bone broken under his eye, but his sight will be OK,&rdquo; said Daoust, who was waiting for the X-ray results.ANGRY RIVALS: The bad blood is flowing again between the Bathurst Titan and the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.There had already been four fights when an Aug. 30 exhibition game turned ugly at 18:14 of the third period. Everyone on the ice paired off after Cape Breton&rsquo;s Norman Doucette came in contact with Bathurst goalie Philippe Ozga, who was out of his crease trying to cover the puck.One player from each team left the bench to join the brawling. Suspensions were pending and each team was automatically fined $1,000 for surpassing the league&rsquo;s maximum of five fights in a pre-season game.The mutual dislike stems from last year&rsquo;s bitter first round playoff series. Winning Bathurst coach Roger Dejoie wouldn&rsquo;t shake hands with Cape Breton coach Bruce Campbell afterwards. &#9632;

f0033-02

Halifax fans jump on board Memorial Cup bandwagon

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div>Dylan Gyori was overlooked in the NHL draft, but his numbers could not be ignored.The 20-year-old center, who led the Tri-City Americans with 53 goals and 118 points last season, signed a three-year free agent contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins in late August.The free agent deal virtually guarantees Gyori will not return to Tri-City for a fifth Western League season. He joined Pittsburgh after skating with the Americans during the first week of Tri-City&rsquo;s training camp.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s kind of funny,&rdquo; Gyori said. &ldquo;I was talking to some of my (Tri-City) teammates and I said, &rsquo;All the years I worried about the draft and it was all for nothing.&rsquo; It just goes to show you that the draft doesn&rsquo;t mean too much&ldquo;I&rsquo;m really excited about the way things have worked out.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03439/7160171-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="516" height="522"></div>The 5-foot-11, 190-pound Gyori entertained offers from Pittsburgh and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Six other NHL teams offered tryout contracts.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m happy for him,&rdquo; said American&rsquo;s coach-GM Don Hay. &ldquo;He did everything we asked of him last year and played both ends of the rink. We were disappointed he didn&rsquo;t get drafted, but we&rsquo;re excited he got a contract&ldquo;Our goal is to get these guys to the next level. When you give as much to our organization as Dylan has, you deserve to get rewarded.&rdquo;Gyori showed steady offensive progress in each of his four WHL seasons. His point totals rose from 25 to 56 to 87 to 118. He and linemate Scott Gomez finished third and fifth, respectively, in league scoring last season. Gomez, who had 108 points (including a league-high 78 assists) in 58 games, may crack the New Jersey Devils&rsquo; lineup this season. He was the Devils&rsquo; first round pick (27th overall) in 1998.Another high-scoring American, 37-goal man Ken McKay, has exhausted his junior eligibility.&ldquo;When we looked at what we had in the summer, we always had Dylan in there,&rdquo; Hay said. &ldquo;We felt pretty comfortable with that name. He gave us a very solid offensive forward who could get you 100 points.&ldquo;Now we&rsquo;ll have to get offense by committee instead of relying on one or two guys. We have to have a passion for defense and that&rsquo;s what I&rsquo;m trying to sell them on.&rdquo;MOVIN&rsquo; ON UP: A year ago, Pavel Brendl made an immediate impact as a WHL rookie.Calgary Hitmen coach Dean Clark expects Brendl to enjoy another breakthrough as a fresh-man-with the NHL&rsquo;s New York Rangers.The Rangers picked Brendl fourth overall in the June 26 NHL entry draft after he recorded WHL-leading totals of 73 goals and 134 points.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re approaching it like he&rsquo;s not going to be back,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not 100 per cent sure we won&rsquo;t get him back, but the Rangers said they&rsquo;ll give him every chance. You&rsquo;ve got to assume that&rsquo;s the case.&rdquo;If the18-year-old Brendl is to make the jump, he will have to allay concerns about his defensive play.&ldquo;Is he good enough to play in the NHL? Offensively, he is,&rdquo; Clark said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s as good an offensive player as a lot of players in that league.The question is whether he can do it defensively. His work ethic has to get a bit better and he recognizes that.&rdquo;NOTEBOOK: The Spokane Chiefs hired Bill Peters as an assistant coach. He replaces Mike Pelino. who left to become an assistant with Canada&rsquo;s national team&hellip;Daniel Bohac, who led Spokane with 26 goals last season, is expected to miss most of the pre-season. Bohac, 19, remained in his native Czech Republic to complete academic requirements&hellip;Center Jason McKee, 20, left Michigan Tech after two seasons and is in camp with the Seattle Thunderbirds. The 5-foot-9, 145-pound McKee, from Irma, Alta., had a goal and three assists in 27 games last season&hellip;Center Eric Bowen, a native of Canoga Park, Calif., was at camp with the Portland Winter Hawks. He spent last season with the U.S. under-18 team&hellip;The community-owned Lethbridge Hurricanes announced a profit of $ 1 20,000 on their 1998-99 operations. &#9632;

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Gyori may avoid fifth year after signing with Penguins

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1999-2000 NHL SCHEDULE

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September 17, 1999

Officials to use video replay from monitor in penalty box

Dino leaves colorful legacy

Healthy Weight returns after injury-prone year

NHL DEPTH CHARTS