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.

November 9, 2001

The Hockey News November 9, 2001

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Nicholas J. Cotsonika</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-011020/7853111-1-eng-US/f0021-012.jpg" title="f0021-01" width="227" height="249"></div>They said he&rsquo;d never be back. But after missing 223 games over a period of almost three years, Uwe Krupp is in uniform with the Detroit Red Wings again.Krupp played 15:40 and led the team with five hits in a 3-2 win over Los Angeles Oct. 20.&ldquo;I think he&rsquo;ll only get better,&rdquo; said coach Scotty Bowman.Krupp last played for the Wings on Dec. 19, 1998, at Boston. He pulled out of warmups Dec. 22,1998 with back problems, before the Wings faced Phoenix.Krupp was 22 games into a four-year, $16.4 million contract. What followed was a bizarre battle. In short, Krupp claimed he couldn&rsquo;t play, the Wings claimed he compromised his recovery by dogsledding and suspended him.But he showed up for training camp in September and the Wings lifted the suspension. They have to pay his $4.1 million salary this season, but the battle rages over the $8.2 million he was to receive over the past two seasons.But courtroom issues aren&rsquo;t dressingroom issues, both parties insist.&ldquo;If he can stay healthy,&rdquo; Bowman said, &ldquo;he can help us.&rdquo;NET RESULTS The Dominator has been everything he was advertised to be. Dominik Hasek, whom the Wings acquired from Buffalo in the off-season, was 7-1 with a 2.26 goals-against average and .917 save percentage through eight games. But that doesn&rsquo;t tell the story of how he helped the Wings to an 8-1 start. Most nights, his teammates started slowly, and Hasek kept them in the game with sharp saves until they turned it around.MINUTE MUNCHER The Red Wings added Brett Hull in the off-season, but lost Doug Brown, Martin Lapointe and Pat Verbeek, leaving them with holes at right wing. So Bowman moved Kris Draper from fourth line center to second line right winger on a line with Brendan Shanahan and Sergei Fedorov. Draper has used the extra ice time well, recording six points through nine games. He&rsquo;s averaging 14:15 per game this season compared to 13:26 last season.NOTEBOOK The Wings never had won eight of their first nine games. Their best nine-game starts were 7-0-2 in 196263 and 7-1-1 in 1999-2000&hellip;Left winger Brendan Shanahan had a point in each game and was leading the league with 15 points. Team Canada GM Wayne Gretzky scouted Shanahan Oct. 24 against Edmonton, calling his a &ldquo;great story&rdquo; but stopping short of saying he would make the Olympic team. &#9632;

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NHL TEAM REPORTS

Krupp with Wings on ice, against them in litigation

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0041-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0041-01514/7854449-1-eng-US/f0041-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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HOCKEY’S BEST STATS

NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

<div class="byline">By Jim Cressman</div>Defense wins games, the experts say. If that&rsquo;s true, the Kitchener Rangers should come out on top a lot this season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-011104/7854173-1-eng-US/f0034-012.jpg" title="f0034-01" width="395" height="217"></div>The Rangers surrendered only 27 goals in their first dozen games-2.25 per game. They were off to a 6-3-3-0 start after allowing the Ontario League&rsquo;s fifth-highest goals-against total last season-247- and missing the playoffs.The turnaround is not luck, it&rsquo;s by design-the design of Rangers&rsquo; new coach-GM Peter DeBoer and assistant coach Steve Spott.DeBoer moved to Kitchener this summer after six seasons with the Plymouth Whalers. The Whalers were the OHL&rsquo;s best defensive team the past two seasons and went to the league final both years. It has been reported that if DeBoer earns all of the playoff bonuses available over the life of his five-year contract, he&rsquo;ll make $2 million.Spott, who worked with DeBoer in Plymouth, reportedly is making $55,000 a season, unheard of until now for an assistant coach in the OHL.&ldquo;There&rsquo;s nothing complicated about it,&rdquo; said DeBoer of Kitchener&rsquo;s defensive system, following a 9-3 win over the London Knights Oct. 21. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s all based on man-to-man. But it has to be a total team effort or it breaks down. And everybody has to buy in. It revolves around a lot of little things, like blocking shots.&rdquo;Third-year goalie Scott Dickie, 18, had a 2.21 goals-against average in more than 600 minutes, with a .924 save percentage.Surprisingly, Dickie said, in some ways the new system has made his job more difficult.&ldquo;Last year, where I had five or six scoring chances a period, this year I&rsquo;m seeing only that many a game,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a lot easier staying in the game when you have a ton.&ldquo;But this is unbelievable coaching,&rdquo; added Dickie, who was invited to the Boston Bruins&rsquo; rookie camp this year. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s exactly like the way they are in the pros.&rdquo;AGELESS WONDER While elderly golfers are happy to shoo their age, the Ottawa 67&rsquo;s Brian Kilrea is happy to be coaching his age. Kilrea, the second-oldest bench boss in the OHL, celebrated his 67th birthday with a gift from his team, a 7-4 victory over the Mississauga IceDogs Oct. 21. The win improved Kilrea&rsquo;s 25year Canadian Hockey League record total to 928.IceDogs coach-GM Don Cherry didn&rsquo;t made it back in time for the game due to a Hocke Night In Canada assignment in Calgary the previous night. Cherry also is 67, but was born nine months earlier than Kilrea.Asked if he&rsquo;ll coach long enough for his 1,000th victory, Kilrea replied, &ldquo;It&rsquo;ll be health that decides it. I&rsquo;m certainly not going to stick around for a number.&rdquo;GOALIE OK Barrie Colts&rsquo; goalie David Chant returned to the ice Oct. 22 for the first time since collapsing during a game 10 days earlier. Following a battery of tests, doctors weren&rsquo;t able to determine why the 20-year-old blacked out during the third period of a game against the Belleville Bulls Oct. 10. &#9632;

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DEPARTMENTS

DeBoer’s stingy Rangers shutting down oppositior

<div class="byline">by Kevin Allen</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0012-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0012-011828/7852497-1-eng-US/f0012-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">CRACKDOWN&nbsp;High hits to the head, such as this collision between Edmonton&rsquo;s Ryan Smyth and Colorado&rsquo;s Dan Hinote, will be closely monitored by the NHL this season. (Dale MacMillan/BBS)</figcaption></div>If Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; GM Brian Burke were the hockey czar, he would undoubtedly order video of Scott Stevens&rsquo; devastating hit on Eric Lindros and use it as a how to primer for aspiring players. It would be similar to the U.S. Navy&rsquo;s use of the graphic video called Learn or Burn to illustrate the dangers of a shipboard fire. The navy shows novice crew members real footage of an out-of-control fire with sailors becoming seriously injured in the hope devastation can be avoided.&ldquo;My son is a defenseman and I showed him that hit and said that&rsquo;s how you hit a forward who has his head down,&rdquo; Burke says. &ldquo;That was a great hit. Let&rsquo;s not talk about taking that hit out of the game. Let&rsquo;s talk about getting forwards to keep their heads up.&rdquo; In a hockey world where there is increasing and necessary vigilance being paid to the protection of the head and prevention of concussions, there&rsquo;s also a growing and more vocal movement afoot to make sure the desirable drive for a safer game doesn&rsquo;t evolve into an undesirable transformation into a game void of physical confrontations.&ldquo;Where in the rulebook does it say we don&rsquo;t want players to get hurt?&rdquo; Burke says. &ldquo;We don&rsquo;t want to see senseless injuries, needless injuries, but this is a man&rsquo;s game and people get hurt playing it. That shouldn&rsquo;t change.&rdquo;In today&rsquo;s world that statement may be considered politically incorrect, but it appears to be the majority viewpoint about the high check to the head.You know the play: a forward cutting across the middle doesn&rsquo;t see the incoming defenseman, who brings up his arms and catches said forward about chin-high and pancakes him to the ice.Colin Campbell, the NHL&rsquo;s director of operations, seems to be making it his mission to make sure this kind of hit doesn&rsquo;t go extinct as the hockey world becomes more safety conscious. On one hand, Campbell wants to punish those assailants who recklessly disregard the rules of the game in an attempt to hurt a player. On the other hand, Campbell doesn&rsquo;t want to create a &ldquo;play nice&rdquo; environment where players are afraid to check an opponent with as much fury and force as Bill Gadsby did in the 1940s, or Bobby Baun did in the 1960s, or Denis Potvin did in the 1970s and 1980s or Scott Stevens is doing each time he&rsquo;s on the ice in today&rsquo;s game.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s difficult because any time there is an injury we are looking for a suspension now,&rdquo; Campbell says. &ldquo;We are looking for a guilty party. Very seldom will the announcer say, &lsquo;That guy had his head down or he should have known better or that he took a sucker pass, blah, blah, blah.&rsquo; What the announcer does is slice it and dice it and decide whether he crossed the legal line.&rdquo;With concussions on the rise, there&rsquo;s more pressure to vilify heavy hitters.&ldquo;Players are going to be afraid to hit people,&rdquo; Campbell says. &ldquo;If we took high hits out of the game we would be telling players: &lsquo;Don&rsquo;t worry, you won&rsquo;t get hit.&rsquo; And that&rsquo;s the wrong message.&rdquo;Campbell can predict that kind of reaction because he has witnessed a change in players ever since the NHL has cracked down on hits from behind.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&lsquo;Let&rsquo;s talk about getting forwards to keep their heads up&rsquo; &ndash;Brian Burke</blockquote>He says he sees players, when struck from behind, faking injuries to-draw penalties and, of greater concern, he sees players &ldquo;legitimately getting hurt because they put themselves in awkward positions.&rdquo;Most players are traditionalists when it comes to the open-ice hit.&ldquo;Most of the hits I see are clean,&rdquo; says Los Angeles Kings&rsquo; center Jason Allison. &ldquo;You can&rsquo;t take that out of the game. It&rsquo;s part of the game.&rdquo;What did Allison think when he saw the Stevens&rsquo; hit? &ldquo;Stevens has been doing that for more than 15 years. Keep your head up around him.&rdquo;Florida Panthers&rsquo; GM-president Bill Torrey says what the game actually needs is more players like &bull; Stevens delivering more blows in the open ice.&ldquo;Do you know why we talk about those hits so much?&rdquo; Torrey says. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s because they are so infrequent. Hitting isn&rsquo;t a part of the game any more.&rdquo;Of course not everyone sees Stevens as a symbol of what hockey should be about.&ldquo;As long as you don&rsquo;t (try to hurt people) intentionally, I don&rsquo;t have a problem with the hits,&rdquo; says former NHLer Dino Ciccarelli. &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s where I differ with a lot of people on Stevens. People say his hits are within the boundaries of the rules, but I disagree. He&rsquo;s a tremendous competitor and we had plenty of battles during my career, so I can speak from experience. He hits to hurt people. That&rsquo;s his objective. There&rsquo;s a difference between hitting someone and hitting to hurt someone. That&rsquo;s intent to injure and I think the league has to find a way to draw the line somehow.&rdquo;The Stevens-Lindros hit fell within the rules of the game and Stevens wasn&rsquo;t penalized. Had his elbow come up, however, it would have been called an unnecessary head shot this season. Igor Ulanov and Dale Purinton of the Rangers were each suspended seven games early this season for high crosschecks against Washington players Steve Konowalchuk and Stephen Peat.&ldquo;If you&rsquo;re talking about head shots, leading with the elbow is the single biggest factor,&rdquo; Stevens says. &ldquo;Like (Tie Domi&rsquo;s hit on Scott Niedermayer). You can&rsquo;t tolerate those types of hits. Elbows are a big thing.&rdquo;Domi missed the first eight games of the season for his sins in last season&rsquo;s playoffs. He returned Oct. 23.Neither Campbell, who administers supplemental discipline, nor Burke, who used to have that job, has trouble drawing that line. &ldquo;What Domi did to Niedermayer was over the line and what Stevens did to Eric Lindros or Stevens did to Ron Francis (in last year&rsquo;s playoffs) is part of the game,&rdquo; Campbell says.Burke says the hit has to be &ldquo;simultaneous with puck possession&rdquo; or immediately after the puck has been dished off.&ldquo;If you hit three seconds late, that&rsquo;s a cheap shot,&rdquo; he says.Gadsby agrees with Torrey&rsquo;s assertions that the lack of bodychecking has created a false sense of security for players. &ldquo;Guys today get up off the ice and they are mad if they got hit,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;We got up and we were embarrassed.&rdquo;That kind of open-ice hit, insists most of the hockey world, can be as entertaining as any goal scored.&ldquo;When (Florida) got to the Cup. final (in 1996), Ed Jovanovski caught Lindros with a very similar hit and that&rsquo;s what everyone was talking about,&rdquo; Torrey says. &ldquo;When Denis Potvin came up, he was known as much for his hip check. Now no one does that. (Darius) Kasparaitis gets singled out because he&rsquo;s one of the few guys who hits anybody. He&rsquo;s a throwback to the way the game used to be played.&rdquo;Each time Campbell goes to an All-Star Game he is reminded about the importance of bodychecking.&ldquo;People say it&rsquo;s a travesty because there is no hitting,&rdquo; Campbell says. &ldquo;People say they don&rsquo;t like it. What they are saying is that what makes players like Jaromir Jagr and Joe Sakic great is they can do what they can do while trying to avoid being hit.&rdquo;What do you do to help minimize injuries and keep heavy hitting? Here&rsquo;s some thoughts that arise in any discussion on the subject:&#9633; Retrain players to keep their heads up more and to not be looking for their protection to come from the rulebook. &ldquo;Lindros is a good hockey player, but one thing he doesn&rsquo;t do well is avoid getting hit,&rdquo; Campbell says.Former NHLer-turned-agent Tom Laidlaw has a theory. &ldquo;(Lindros) was always the biggest guy and the most intimidating guy in every league he played in. Nobody ever hit him because they were afraid of him. He was even intimidating when he came in the NHL. He never worried about carrying the puck in the middle of the ice and he hasn&rsquo;t adjusted to the NHL.&rdquo;&#9633; Return to the era when players didn&rsquo;t make passes that make teammates vulnerable to big open-ice hits.&ldquo;Players don&rsquo;t mean to do it, but we have enough guys who don&rsquo;t have hockey sense,&rdquo; says former NHL coach Jacques Demers. &ldquo;They just pass to the open guy and don&rsquo;t see the defenseman moving into position to make the hit.&rdquo;&#9633; Re-establish the center of the ice as a no-fly zone, meaning making sure that skaters enter that zone at their own peril.&ldquo;You look at Joe Sakic and remember the way Wayne Gretzky played. Those guys didn&rsquo;t come through the middle,&rdquo; Demers says. &lsquo;They moved around the side where they could see everything develop. Look at a guy like Adam Oates. He holds on to the puck longer than anyone because he sees the ice well.&rdquo;&#9633; Teach more bodychecking at the younger age levels to restore its prominence. &ldquo;When Denis Potvin came up we talked as much about his hip checking as his offense,&rdquo; Torrey says.&#9633; Downsize equipment. &ldquo;What should be taken out of the game is the larger equipment and unsafe surroundings,&rdquo; says Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; GM Darcy Regier. &ldquo;The elbow pads that we had were soft on the inside and outside. Now they have become hard.&rdquo;Campbell has listened to the arguments and believes a balance can be struck between safety and the desire to have a game that carries risks.&ldquo;Some doctors who don&rsquo;t play the game want to get rid of all hits to the head and that would simply change the whole fabric of the game,&rdquo; Campbell says. &ldquo;This is a tough game and I don&rsquo;t buy how players have less respect for each other. Those of us who played in the 1970s know there wasn&rsquo;t much respect back then, either.&rdquo;Campbell has mulled over why the attitude about hitting has changed, but hasn&rsquo;t reached a conclusion. One theory is the shift in attitude on hitting results from mixing players from so many different cultures and developmental backgrounds. The thought is the melting-pot effect has helped created a new hybrid hockey style that doesn&rsquo;t include the pride factor that used to come with accepting crunching smacks.Campbell wants players to be proud when it comes to being hit. &ldquo;Even in the 1980s you used to blame yourself when you got hit,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;You felt like you let your team down and you would go home and your dad would give you grief for allowing yourself to be hit. Now players want to blame everyone else when they&rsquo;re hit.&rdquo;Burke&rsquo;s message is even stronger. He doesn&rsquo;t want players who whine about heavy checking.Says Burke: &ldquo;If you don&rsquo;t want to get hurt, don&rsquo;t play this game. Swim, go into crew (rowing), do something else. This is a contact sport. When contact occurs with enough velocity, people get hurt. When you take the contact out of the game, it&rsquo;s not hockey any more.&rdquo; &#9633;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-011676/7852490-1-eng-US/f0013-012.jpg" title="f0013-01" width="880" height="1060"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-021166/7852483-1-eng-US/f0013-022.jpg" title="f0013-02" width="879" height="1067"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0013-03857/7852476-1-eng-US/f0013-032.jpg" title="f0013-03" width="880" height="1084"><figcaption class="caption-body">HEAD HUNTING&nbsp;NHL officials are mandated to look out for unnecessary and illegal shots to the head this season and other recommendations passed down by the safety and injury committee.</figcaption></div><h2>New safety standards</h2>The NHL&rsquo;s board of governors approved recommendations by the league&rsquo;s safety and injury committee to adopt several guidelines this season. Here are some of them:&#9633; A crackdown on illegal blows to the head delivered by an extended hand, elbow, forearm or stick, both in terms of more penalties and stiffer suspensions.&#9633; Players are encouraged to wear visors and must play with a tightened chin strap.&#9633; Safer standards for the cushioning of hard shells on shoulder and elbow pads.&#9633; Ensuring boards and glass in NHL arenas are fitted with shock-absorbing systems, which will provide more give for players checked into them. &#9632;

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COVER STORY

HEADS UP!

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0003-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-011869/7852104-1-eng-US/f0003-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">(COVER: Lemieux: Matt PolWSA; Jagr: Steve Babineau/SA; Domi: BBS; Alison: Scot Audete)</figcaption></div>The only thing better than one Bryan Trottier is a team of Bryan Trottiers. The current Islanders salute the franchise great by wearing his number at a pre-game ceremony.<blockquote class="pullQuote">&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care if I get a black eye or a broken nose, whatever. It&rsquo;s me. I&rsquo;m already pretty ugly. I&rsquo;m not here for the chicks. Chicago youngster Kyle Calder on his gritty style. Pg 19</blockquote> &#9632;

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IN THIS ISSUE

Now that’s a team!

<div class="byline">Jason Kay Managing Editor</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0003-021496/7852135-1-eng-US/f0003-022.jpg" title="f0003-02" width="289" height="352"></div>In no particular order, the great hockey scourges of the 1990s were Gil Stein and his non-game day suspensions, the New York Islanders&rsquo; fishsticks logo and the proliferation of salary hassles.Fatalists say everything happens for a reason and, while I still haven&rsquo;t heard plausible arguments for &lsquo;Franken&rsquo; Stein and the monsters he created or Captain Highliner, there is at least one positive spinoff from the dollar-daze malaise: The emergence of bad blood.The NHL has long thrived on rivalries and thanks to the germination of contract-related problems last season, we&rsquo;ve got a bumper crop of grudge matches this year. Here are just a handful of payback dates you&rsquo;ll want to circle on your calendars or punch into your Palm Pilots with that little pencil-like thingamajig:Dec. 21: Capitals vs. PenguinsThe Event: Jaromir Jagr blows back into Pittsburgh to face the Penguins and Mario Lemieux.THN Predicts: No longer wanting to be known as Mario Jr., Jagr announces he has legally changed his first name to Mick. Lemieux, meanwhile, comes to the realization he no longer has a pain in the back.Dec. 27: Islanders vs. SenatorsThe Event: Alexei Yashin returns to Ottawa with more dollars than Sens.THN Predicts: Yashin scores two first period goals, then holds out for more money in Periods 2 and 3. He reappears physically for overtime, but is invisible, as usual, at crunch time.Jan. 12: Rangers vs. FlyersThe Event: Eric Lindros makes the trek from Broadway to Broad Street.THN Predicts: Bobby Clarke, 52, comes out of retirement and breaks Lindros&rsquo; ankle with a slash. The NHL&rsquo;s first bench-clearing brawl in more than a decade ensues. THN bills it as &ldquo;Revenge of the Nords.&rdquo;March 10: Wings vs. SabresThe Event: &ldquo;No goal&rdquo; adversaries Brett Hull and Dominik Hasek return to the scene of the crime as teammates.THN Predicts: Hasek scores the game-winner when his attempted clearing pass sails down the ice, takes a funky hop and eludes Martin Biron. The Sabres protest because Hasek&rsquo;s feet are in the crease-his own.All Coyotes&rsquo; home gamesThe Event: Nikolai Khabibulin, Jeremy Roenick, Keith Tkachuk, Keith Carney, Robert Reichel and the rest of Phoenix&rsquo;s prodigal sons take turns at coming home.THN Predicts: Wayne Gretzky&rsquo;s master plan pays off as program sales-to identify players on both teams-go through the roof, thereby giving the Coyotes the cash to finance the new roof over their heads they so badly desire. &#9632;

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Playing grudge and jury in season full of paybacks

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Denis Gibbons</div>The image of Jean-Paul Parise, with his stick raised menacingly over the head of West German referee Josef Kompalla, is etched in the minds of fans who saw the 1972 Summit Series.Parise, a native of Smooth Rock Falls, Ont., was ejected from Game 8 after protesting a penalty call by Kompalla. Team Canada went on to defeat the Soviet Union 6-5 in the final game. &ldquo;It just seemed to me that in his mind we all were sinners,&rdquo; Parise said. &ldquo;I had never had a misconduct in my life.&rdquo;Parise, 59, played mainly with the Minnesota North Stars, but also was on the New York Islanders&rsquo; team that rebounded from a 3-0 deficit to oust Pittsburgh in seven games in the 197475 playoffs. He scored 238 goals and 594 points in 890 NHL games.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0004-011807/7852166-1-eng-US/f0004-012.jpg" title="f0004-01" width="246" height="295"><figcaption class="caption-body">J-P Parise (THN Archives)</figcaption></div>After serving as an assistant coach with the North Stars for eight years and selling insurance for another eight, he became director of hockey at Shattuck-St. Mary&rsquo;s private school in Minnesota.One of his sons, Zach, 17, has accepted a scholarship to the University of North Dakota and should be a high selection in the 2003 NHL draft. &#9632;

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Parise threatened referee in 1972 Summit Series

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0005-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-011809/7852221-1-eng-US/f0005-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brian Rolston Boston Bruins (Dale MacMillan/BBS)</figcaption></div>It was assumed by many the longer Jason Allison was out as an unsigned free agent, the better it would be for fifth-year center Joe Thornton.Thornton, after all, is a rising stud in the NHL and the Boston Bruins&rsquo; No. 1 center of the future. But as long as Allison, the NHL&rsquo;s fourth-leading scorer last season, was on the scene, Thornton would be relegated to No. 2 at best. Still, in the nine games Allison sat out before being traded to Los Angeles Oct. 24, Thornton played virtually the same minutes as last year.It was Brian Rolston, in his eighth season, who benefited the most from Allison&rsquo;s absence. The 6-foot-2,205-pound center&rsquo;s ice time was up about two minutes per game, to 22:02, and he responded with six goals and 10 points in 10 games. He was skating on the Brums&rsquo; top line with left winger Sergei Samsonov and right winger Bill Guerin.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s in great shape so he&rsquo;s able to handle the extra duty,&rdquo; said teammate P-J Axelsson.Rolston is a strong skater who plays a regular shift, kills penalties and mans the right point on the power play. He broke into the NHL with New Jersey as a left winger, but was switched to center last year by then-Boston coach Mike Keenan and had a career-best 59 points. He was fifth on the B&rsquo;s in goals with 19, five off his single-season high.&ldquo;There was definitely an adjustment period last year,&rdquo; said the Flint, Mich., native. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a lot more responsibility in the defensive zone. But I&rsquo;m 100 per cent used to it now and I love it.&rdquo;Allison, a restricted free agent, demanded to be traded after he failed to come to terms with Boston and the Bruins finally obliged him, moving him to Los Angeles, along with left winger Mikko Eloranta for a pair of ex-Bruins, center Jozef Stumpel and right winger Glen Murray.Rolston, who joined the Bruins from the Colorado Avalanche March 6,2000, in the Ray Bourque deal (his playing time increased from 16:17 in Colorado to 19:09 in Boston), said it likely wouldn&rsquo;t have had an adverse affect on him had Allison returned.&ldquo;I can&rsquo;t see it affecting my ice time,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I play the point on the power play and Jason doesn&rsquo;t play the point. He may kill penalties, too, but that would affect me much.&rdquo;What remains to be seen is whether Stumpel will eat into Rolston&rsquo;s ice time. In Stumpel&rsquo;s first game with Boston, Rolston&rsquo;s ice time was 18:19, nearly four minutes below his season average. Still, Axelsson thinks Rolston will keep producing. &ldquo;He has a lot of speed on his shot,&rdquo; Axelsson said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a bomb.&rdquo;Rolston, 28, wasn&rsquo;t invited to the U.S. Olympic orientation camp, but if you ask his coach, Robbie Ftorek, he&rsquo;ll be in Salt Lake in February. &ldquo;He definitely should be on that team, for sure,&rdquo; Ftorek said. &ldquo;But that&rsquo;s just my opinion.&rdquo; &#9632;

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FEATURES

Rolston conies to the rescue

NHL on-ice officials are giving the Montreal Canadiens a run for their money in terms of man-games lost to injury. Veteran refs Paul Stewart (bad back) and Mick McGeough (high blood pressure) and linesmen Lyle Seitz, Darren Gibbs and Tim Nowak, each with knee problems, opened the season on the injured list.Nowak and McGeough returned to action, but then referee Bernard DeGrace broke his leg in his first game after being hit by a shot. The result is an increased workload for healthy refs and NHL action for linesmen Steve Barton, David Brisebois and Angelo D&rsquo;Amico, who otherwise would have have been in the American League.FLASHBACK Ten years ago, when player salaries were first disclosed, just 16 players earned $1 million or more per season. Wayne Gretzky led the way at $3 million. The average salary this season is $1.5 million; only five players made that much a decade ago. According to the NHL Players&rsquo; Association, 351 players will earn $1 million or more this year.BRUSH WITH TERROR Former NHLer Frank Bathe was interviewed by the FBI after two of the suspected Sept. 11 terrorists, Mohammed Atta and Abdulaziz Alomari, stopped at a gas station Bathe owns in Portland, Me., to ask directions to Wal-Mart. The pair was caught on the gas station&rsquo;s security video tape. Bathe played 224 NHL games with Detroit and Philadelphia from 1974-75 through 1983-84.ONCE A JET, ALWAYS A COYOTE Defenseman Teppo Numminen played his 951st NHL game (all with the Winnipeg/Phoenix franchise) Oct. 18 to become the franchise&rsquo;s all-time leader in games played. Among active players, only Detroit center Steve Yzerman (1,319) and New Jersey defenseman Ken Daneyko (1,153) have played more games with their original teams.<h2>Olympic Watch</h2><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-021277/7852266-1-eng-US/f0005-022.jpg" title="f0005-02" width="582" height="109"></div>Fifteen of 23 berths for Team Canada are still open, while eight of 23 remain up for grabs for Team USA. Here&rsquo;s a progress report on some of the North American candidates vying for spots. Arrows indicate whether a player is helping or hurting his chances based on this year&rsquo;s performance.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-03820/7852259-1-eng-US/f0005-032.jpg" title="f0005-03" width="559" height="482"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0005-04502/7852252-1-eng-US/f0005-042.jpg" title="f0005-04" width="566" height="475"></div> &#9632;

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THN ONE-TIMERS

<div class="byline">Eric Duhatschek&nbsp;Columnist</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-012018/7852304-1-eng-US/f0006-012.jpg" title="f0006-01" width="343" height="351"></div>First, a brief personal disclaimer. In September, when The Hockey News&rsquo; 2001-02 Yearbook was released, there on the predictions page was an unusual and controversial forecast: The Calgary Flames, coming off five consecutive years outside the playoffs, would sink even further in the NHL standings. They would sink so far, in fact, that they would bring up the rear in the Western Conference, behind even the two newest expansion teams, the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild.I didn&rsquo;t make that pick, but as the publication&rsquo;s long-time Calgary correspondent, I got blamed for it until senior writer Mike Brophy graciously &lsquo;fessed up to making the selection in consultation with the Toronto-based staff.Now, let me add that I wasn&rsquo;t predicting a playoff spot for the Flames either, but deep down, I figured they would eventually improve as their blueline began to mature.You can generally predict that if a team wallows near the bottom of the league for an extended period, it will eventually start to move ahead again-if only because of the sheer volume of high draft choices a mediocre team eventually inherits.But Calgary, the league&rsquo;s leaders through the first three weeks, appear to have made a quantum leap here. The easy answer is to put it all on the shoulders of Roman Turek, the goaltender acquired from St. Louis in the draft-day deal for Fred Brathwaite and prospects Daniel Tzachuk and Sergei Varlamov. Turek has stabilized a position that has been in flux for years.&ldquo;Turky&rsquo;s unbelievable. He&rsquo;s a good goaltender,&rdquo; assessed former Blues&rsquo; teammate Pierre Turgeon, now with Dallas. &ldquo;I think they were a little hard on him in St. Louis. You can see now he&rsquo;s having a chance to play and just having fun and he&rsquo;s showing it.&rdquo;Turek&rsquo;s steadiness is a major contributing factor to the Flames&rsquo; success, but it&rsquo;s more than just goaltending.Collectively, it&rsquo;s the emergence of a young defense corps the Flames have been patiently assembling for years now. It&rsquo;s also a commitment to team defense from a group of forwards who, after Jarome Iginla, have never scored regularly at the NHL level. And it&rsquo;s a little bit of puck luck too-goals that maybe shouldn&rsquo;t go in are suddenly finding a way of eluding netminders.Too bad the people responsible for putting defensemen Derek Morris, Robyn Regehr, Denis Gauthier and Toni Lydman into the Flames&rsquo; line-up are no longer with the organization. They paid the price for growing pains. But that&rsquo;s how on-the-job training goes. For every two steps a player takes forward, he sometimes takes one-and-a-half back.The errors that plagued all four players a year ago have been replaced by a more consistent game. Regehr, sluggish out of the gate last season, stepped up his physical play and, combined with Gauthier and Bob Boughner, has made the front of the Flames&rsquo; net a difficult place to get to.Morris, who had the benefit of a full training camp after missing the first two months last season in a contract dispute, possesses oodles of hockey sense and is making fewer giveaways than a year ago. He broke in as a 19-year-old and showed so much promise in an exceptional rookie season. Then, unhappily, he plateaued. For three years, he didn&rsquo;t get any better and he didn&rsquo;t get any worse either. He was a good player, sometimes a very good player, but the thinking when he first arrived was he could eventually evolve into a Norris Trophy-candidate one day.Now that doesn&rsquo;t seem so far-fetched. Their evolution is reminiscent of the Dallas Stars in the mid-1990s when they were working in Derian Hatcher and Richard Matvichuk. They were not overnight success stories, either.The Stars missed the playoffs in four of Hatcher&rsquo;s first five seasons, but eventually, the franchise turned around after the defense suddenly figured out how to play Ken Hitchcock&rsquo;s system. The organization&rsquo;s patience was ultimately rewarded and that&rsquo;s how it is in Calgary now. Players who struggled at 21 are steady at 24.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-021345/7852297-1-eng-US/f0006-022.jpg" title="f0006-02" width="1506" height="2097"><figcaption class="caption-body">Derek Morris Calgary Flames (Dale MacMillan/BBS)</figcaption></div>The names remain the same, but their act is different.Can they keep it up? At their early-season pace, it&rsquo;s hard to imagine they can. Still, those early points are like money in the bank. In the past four Octobers, the Flames have been so far behind that to make up ground seemed like an insurmountable hurdle. This year, the focus is on taking it one game at a time and they&rsquo;ll see where they&rsquo;re at in April.&ldquo;As a team, we have to battle hard in our own zone,&rdquo; said coach Greg Gilbert. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not a stats guy, but somebody brought it up to me the other day: We had the lowest goals-against in the league and we&rsquo;re also third or fourth in fewest shots given up in the league. We have to continue to do that.&ldquo;We&rsquo;re not a team that can get into a horse race with anybody or go end-to-end and play river hockey. That&rsquo;s not our style. If we get ourselves into that situation, we&rsquo;ll be in trouble.&rdquo;Gilbert could be one of the next great coaches. He has the credibility that comes from being an ex-player who has won championships (with the New York Islanders), but he is also smart enough to establish a system that plays to the strengths of what he&rsquo;s got.And on paper, it&rsquo;s not really all that much.Calgary went on its early-season run with a center-ice corps that consisted of Craig Conroy, Clarke Wilm, plus two players who spent all of last season in the minors, Scott Nichol and Steve Begin.If you&rsquo;d have known that in the summer, you&rsquo;d understand why this publication picked Calgary where they did.Of course, we&rsquo;ve been wrong before. &#9632;

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Last place? Huh? Take this!

FLYING WITH THE WINGS Newcomer Luc Robitaille overcomes a slow start by scoring goals in six straight games for Detroit.LIFE OF BRYAN After the healing of old and nasty wounds, Bryan Trottier is finally honored by having his No. 19 retired by the Islanders.TONY THE TIGER Few players accomplished so much with so little as the fiery Tony Granato, who retires after 773 NHL games played at full tilt.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-03787/7852342-1-eng-US/f0006-032.jpg" title="f0006-03" width="363" height="609"><figcaption class="caption-body">Luc Robitaille</figcaption></div>ALLEY CATS The Florida Panthers, topped by Jason Wiemer&rsquo;s 40 penalty minutes, lead the NHL with 30.7 PIM per game-which may explain their lousy start.DECLINE THE PENALTY The Rangers, whose power play ranks 29th, give up a goal to San Jose&rsquo;s Vincent Damphousse while holding a two-man advantage.BLUE JACKET IN THE RED Columbus defenseman Mattias Timander is minus-11 after three weeks, the worst mark in the league.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0006-04482/7852335-1-eng-US/f0006-042.jpg" title="f0006-04" width="359" height="611"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Wiemer</figcaption></div>For Mike Brophy&rsquo;s daily Cheers & Jeers visit <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a> &#9632;

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PLUS MINUS

I think all the points Mario Lemieux earns during his comeback should be recorded with an asterisk, indicating that he has the distinct advantage of playing if and when he feels like it, against whatever teams he picks.Lemieux has an enormous advantage over other players, who have no such choice. They play, period, even when they are tired or hurt.He&rsquo;s playing only for the record books and is exploiting his owner&rsquo;s position to that end.Marilyn Hutchison, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii<h2>Send Blackburn to junior club</h2>When the New York Rangers selected goaltender Dan Blackburn in the entry draft this summer, he immediately became their goalie of the future.The Rangers have kept him around to be Mike Richter&rsquo;s backup, but it would be much more beneficial for him to be playing more games with his junior team, the Kootenay Ice of the Western League.This 18-year-old goalie may have the talent to be in the NHL, but he&rsquo;d be better off trying to win the Memorial Cup and the world junior championship than wasting his time on the bench in New York.Luc Villeneuve, Aylmer, Que.<h2>Global flavor good for hockey</h2>Can we get over this Canadian/American/European content issue? (THN, Oct. 26).Twenty-nine years ago, North Americans discovered an abundance of NHL-caliber Europeans when the Canadian-born NHL all-stars went only 5-3-3 in September contests against the Russians, Swedes and Czechoslovaks (the Summit Series plus three exhibition games). Since then, the NHL&rsquo;s rise in European content and drop in Canadian was inevitable.Canadian hockey players have not become worse. Simply, European and American players have improved and grown in number. There&rsquo;s nothing wrong with that. It&rsquo;s great for the fans. Let&rsquo;s move on.Ken Shier, Pembroke, Ont. &#9632;

Lemieux’s return tainted

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0010-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0010-011875/7852397-1-eng-US/f0010-012.jpg"></div> &#9632;

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ELSTON

Toronto needs defense. Why don&rsquo;t the Leafs give Tomas Kaberle what he deserves? The team has proved it can score goals. Let&rsquo;s help Curtis Joseph stop some. Coach-GM Pat Quinn should worry about signing Kaberle before his own contract extension.John Van Ham, Windsor, Ont.Peter Bondra scored seven goals in his first eight games. Does that mean THN was wrong in saying he would flop in a noncontract year and with Jaromir Jagr on the team?Jim Firnbach, Chantilly, Va.It&rsquo;s only October, but Ottawa&rsquo;s poor start combined with management&rsquo;s failure to learn from past mistakes means it&rsquo;s getting late early in Canada&rsquo;s capital.Jean-Pierre Allard, Orleans, Ont.Vancouver enforcer Donald Brashear is a disgrace to hockey. His taunts and his tendency to skate away from fights are disgusting. I&rsquo;d rather have Marty McSorley on my team than Brashear any day.Daniel Coburn, WinnipegTo the Toronto media: There&rsquo;s only one set of &lsquo;Bruise Brothers&rsquo; and it&rsquo;s definitely not Darcy Tucker and Shayne Corson. It&rsquo;s Bob Probert and Joey Kocur from their Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; days, circa 1990.Mike Osborne, Hamilton, Ont.<h2>READERS&rsquo; ONE-TIMERS</h2>This is your place for quick comments on current hockey events. Reader&rsquo;s One-Timers accepts opinions of 60 words or less, so please be concise. &#9632;

Maple Leafs’ blueline needs Kaberle

Wake up, Islander fans! The team started out 6-0-0-1, but were only supported with a little more than 9,000 fans I in their second home game.The Islanders are playing great hockey. Sure, Nassau Coliseum isn&rsquo;t the best place to see a game. But the on-ice product is worth the effort. Alexei Yashin, Michael Peca, Chris Osgood, Mark Parrish and others have the team looking like a contender&hellip;but they can&rsquo;t attract 15,000 fans?What a sad state of affairs when a storied franchise such as the Islanders can&rsquo;t draw a crowd, despite having the NHL&rsquo;s best record in the early going.Cheers to those loyal Islander fans who are seeing a wonderful rags-to-riches story unfold.James White, Baxley, Ga.<h2>Think big, NHL</h2>When I think of the NHL, I dream of an international league that people from all over the globe can watch.Nearly a month into the NHL season, coverage in Britain has been limited to two hours-about half-a-game, shown a week or so after it was played. And at 4 a.m. on a Wednesday, at that.If the NHL ever is going to become truly international, we need more coverage, more often.Alistair Ross, Manchester, England<h2>Don&rsquo;t forget CIS</h2>I like the way The Hockey News combines in-depth journalism with statistics to present an all-encompassing picture of hockey But I have observed that coverage of CIS (formerly CIAU) hockey is lacking.Last season&rsquo;s THN issues carried stats for leagues all over the world, but not once did I see stats for players on Canadian university teams.I live in Kingston, Ont., and am a fan of the Queen&rsquo;s University men&rsquo;s team. I find the hockey to be every bit as good as major junior.Many readers would be interested in tracking former junior stars who are pursuing their education while continuing to play hockey at a high level.Kevin Mills, Kingston, Ont.<h2>Got something to say?</h2>MAIL: U.S.A.: Letters, THN, R.O. Box 904, Buffalo, N.Y, 14240-9947.Canada: Letters, THN, 25 Sheppard Ave. W, Suite 100, Toronto, Ont., M2N 6S7E-MAIL:&nbsp;<a href="mailto:mccaigs@dranscontinental.ca">mccaigs@dranscontinental.ca</a> or visit <a href="http://www.thehockeynews.com">www.thehockeynews.com</a>. Include name, hometown, province/state and phone number. Submissions will be edited. &#9632;

Islanders deserve support

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-011817/7852549-1-eng-US/f0014-012.jpg" title="f0014-01" width="408" height="390"><figcaption class="caption-body">Tom Wheatly&nbsp;Lemieux</figcaption></div>Mario or Mario Jr.? The better choice to lead his team to the Stanley Cup is spelled out in that anagram for Jaromir. Why settle for Junior when Senior is still on the job?Mario Lemieux is still the maestro who can best lead any orchestra. That&rsquo;s why he&rsquo;s the captain of Canada&rsquo;s Olympic Team, which faces a mandate to put success over sentiment.Jaromir Jagr is the rock star, the mercurial master of flash and dash and as such has his share of swooning fans. That adulation does not stand hard scrutinyLet&rsquo;s take the case point by point.Age Mario Jr. is 6-1/2 years younger. By a handy coincidence, that is also the age that the Czech prima donna often acts when representing his team. Mario Sr., back from a 3-1/2-year retirement, is older but savvier in all demands of the job, from public relations to private leadership in his team&rsquo;s dressing room.Health Mario Jr. has never had a long-term injury, unless you count the cobwebs in his head, leading to his mope-a-dope act last season. Mario Sr.&rsquo;s aching back will be relieved at not having to carry a 6-foot-2,235-pound whiner around the rink.Speed Mario Jr. would have a big edge here on the nights he feels like playing hard. That mood has never struck him 60 minutes per game for 82 games. Mario Sr. is slower, but hardly molasses-especially after a training program left him fit and capable of more than one burst per period.Talent Granted, Mario Sr., while among the elite, is not its best player any more. Despite nose-ring hype to the contrary, neither is Mario Jr.-at least not when two-way dominators such as Colorado&rsquo;s Joe Sakic and Dallas&rsquo; Mike Modano and Detroit&rsquo;s Steve Yzerman and St. Louis&rsquo; Chris Pronger are ambulatory.Heart Mario Sr. has one. Mario Jr. could be typecast as the Tin Man if the Czech film industry remakes the Wizard of Oz.Incentives Washington guaranteed Mario Jr. some $88 million over most of this decade. That&rsquo;s a lifetime of hair gel. What does he have left to play for?Mario Sr. is the only lifeguard on duty as his team sinks in red ink. As captain-owner, it&rsquo;s up to him to safeguard his precarious franchise, for his family&rsquo;s financial future and for the fans in his adopted hometown.The lifeline is a new arena. The best way to get public and political support for that necessity is to earn another Cup banner to hang from its rafters.Mario Sr. is on a mission that transcends individual hockey honors, which seem to be the key motivator for Mario Jr. Mario Sr. is doing more than just protecting his investment, although that is a powerful incentive. He belongs to The &lsquo;Burgh. He lives there. The team is his legacy. Mario Jr. may want a Cup, as the old saw goes, but Mario Sr. has to have it.Don&rsquo;t be misled by the razzmatazz of Mario Jr. The NHL is not a figure skating show-well, not yet. Points are not awarded for artistry and technical merit, although when Mario Sr. has the puck the fans still go &ldquo;Ooooh!&rdquo; But the game is played at both ends. Fifteen years ago, who would have guessed Mario Sr. would campaign for a coach and system that stressed defense?Let&rsquo;s be honest here. Mario Sr. and Mario Jr. play for teams that are Cup favorites only in the misty eyes of their hometown fans.But if Mario Sr. and Mario Jr. face off in an either-or, me-or-you playoff showdown, remember this: With the Cup on the line, you don&rsquo;t send a boy to do a man&rsquo;s job.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-021371/7852542-1-eng-US/f0014-022.jpg" title="f0014-02" width="1301" height="1513"></div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-03944/7852535-1-eng-US/f0014-032.jpg" title="f0014-03" width="345" height="369"><figcaption class="caption-body">Damien Cox&nbsp;Jagr</figcaption></div>Don&rsquo;t know why, but for most every year since he has been part of the NHL scene, Jaromir Jagr has either left folks wanting more or adoring somebody else more.How else to explain just one Hart Trophy? Even back when he was drafted in 1990, NHL talent scouts figured four others-Petr Nedved, Mike Ricci, Owen Nolan and Keith Primeau-were more attractive. There were some specific reasons for that, like the political divisions that still separated Eastern bloc countries from the West, but Jagr&rsquo;s idiosyncrasies, real or just perceived have detracted from his overall status.It&rsquo;s not surprising, then, that despite winning four straight scoring titles, Jagr might not be at the top of everyone&rsquo;s office pool.Specifically, given the choice between Jagr and his former comrade-in-arms, Mario Lemieux, many would select Lemieux as the player who would bring the most to the table this season.What an interesting debate. Jagr or Lemieux? The guy who scored more points than anyone else in the NHL last season, or the player who un-retired in December when Jagr was 17th in league scoring and fueled his drive to the top of the scoring parade?Clearly, the sentimental choice is Lemieux, but Jagr would be the smarter choice.Maybe, at the end of the day, it just comes down to age. At 29, Jagr is in his prime production years, a thoroughbred set to run faster. At 29, Lemieux sat out a full season for health reasons. But when he returned at age 30 for his 11th season, he registered a 161-point campaign. That&rsquo;s essentially where Jagr is right now. Primed and poised to hit a new level of excellence.Lemieux might stun people with the quality of play he can deliver at 36. With 76 points in 43 games last season, he produced at a higher points-per-game rate than did Jagr. But the physical challenges can only become more difficult for No. 66, not easier. By midway through the second round of the post-season last year he was a spent force. Yes, that was after shaking off three years of rust, but it was also after a half-season of play.But really, choosing Jagr over Lemieux has less to do with Lemieux&rsquo;s obstacles than Jagr&rsquo;s gifts right here, right now. Time marches on for all and the combination of Jagr&rsquo;s ability and age adds up to a more powerful poison than that of Lemieux. While Jagr has often been viewed as a selfish, offense-first player, the reality is he led the Penguins quite effectively in Lemieux&rsquo;s absence. Moreover, despite scoring only one goal in six games for the Czech Republic at the 1998 Olympics, he played within a team concept and was his team&rsquo;s leader.Perhaps he has been disruptive at other times. But as the Penguins were changing coaches from Bob Johnson to Scotty Bowman to Eddie Johnstone to Kevin Constantine to Herb Brooks to Ivan Hlinka over the past decade, it was often difficult to determine who was running the show. Jagr might have had a legitimate beef or two.They are two wonderful players, and fans of hockey were blessed to see them play together for a considerable period of time. But today, for right now, Jagr stands above his former teammate.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0014-04649/7852528-1-eng-US/f0014-042.jpg" title="f0014-04" width="1213" height="1497"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Lemieux: Andy Marlin/BS; Jagr: Greg Fiume/BS)</figcaption></div><h2>You decide who wins</h2>They&rsquo;ve been mentor and pupil, owner and employee and superstar linemates. On Dec. 11 in Washington, they will open a new chapter as foes. So we&rsquo;ve asked our dueling columnists to answer the relevant question: Who would you rather have this season-Mario Lemieux or Jaromir Jagr? You can vote on whose argument is more convincing. Cast your ballot at <a href="http://thehockeynews.com">thehockeynews.com</a>, or e-mail <a href="mailto:soeterikd@transcontinental.ca">soeterikd@transcontinental.ca</a>. The final tally will appear on the website and in our Nov. 23 issue. &#9632;

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SHOOTOUT

No. 66 vs. No. 68

<div class="byline">By Scott Burnside</div>In every NHL rink, every night, at least one player wonders: Are they watching? Did they see? Am I good enough to earn a spot? And in many ways, the Canadian Olympic brain trust is like Big Brother, always watching, ever vigilant.It has to be.In less than two months, the Olympic management team must make the agonizing decision on 23 names who will carry the formidable weight of a nation&rsquo;s hockey expectations. Eight players have been selected, leaving 15 spots up for grabs.From the moment the 37 players invited to a preseason camp in Calgary scattered to their own teams&rsquo; training camps, executive director Wayne Gretzky and his staff began the complicated task of monitoring the play of those players and perhaps a dozen more whose early season play might earn them a trip to Salt Lake City in February.&ldquo;I think we knew it was going to be an intricate process. I think we&rsquo;re pretty methodical in our plans,&rdquo; said assistant coach Wayne Fleming who, along with player personnel director Steve Tambellini, has been criss-crossing the continent keeping tabs on the Canadian hopefuls. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re not just winging it.&rdquo;With the Olympic clock running, here are five players who may give Mssrs. Gretzky, head coach Pat Quinn et al reason to pause.Brendan Shanahan, Detroit Shanahan, the last man in the shootout in 1998 in Nagano, was an afterthought at the Calgary mini-camp, invited only after injuries left the squad undermanned.All Shanahan has done is put up 14 points in his first nine games. And among his eight goals were three shorthanded efforts. Red Wings&rsquo; coach Scotty Bowman said he felt Shanahan&rsquo;s early season surge is directly linked to his initial snub.&ldquo;When the selection time comes it&rsquo;s going to be hard. We know that,&rdquo; said Quinn. &ldquo;But it sure doesn&rsquo;t hurt a guy to get off to a great start like Brendan has.&rdquo;Anson Carter, Edmonton Carter looked out of place at the mini-camp, but has been instrumental in the Oilers&rsquo; surprising October ascension to the top of the Northwest Division. Being a right-handed shot is a bonus and he could well find himself alongside another talented Edmonton youngster, linemate Ryan Smyth.Jeff O&rsquo;Neill, Carolina Before the minicamp, Gretzky acknowledged O&rsquo;Neill was one of the toughest names to leave off the list of invitees. O&rsquo;Neill&rsquo;s strong play early on (13 points in 10 games) will continue to cloud what is already a murky situation at center where Canada has an embarrassment of riches. O&rsquo;Neill is a natural center, but has been playing left wing this season with the Hurricanes.Derek Morris, Calgary Quinn has said mobility and the ability to think quickly will be crucial considerations. If so, Morris, who was solid during the mini-camp, must remain high on the depth chart. The Flames are off to a torrid start and Morris&rsquo;s steady play (10 points in 11 games) is a significant factor.Joe Thornton, Boston With Jason Allison gone, Thornton will likely be called on to fill an even bigger role. Fleming acknowledged one of the reasons he and the rest of the management crew visited Toronto for a Bruins-Leafs tilt in late October was to take a better look at the big center, who had nine points in his first 10 games.&ldquo;I haven&rsquo;t thought about it at all,&rdquo; Thornton said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve been just playing hockey and let the pieces fall where they may. I&rsquo;m with the Bruins right now, I&rsquo;ve got to concentrate on that.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-021174/7852587-1-eng-US/f0015-022.jpg" title="f0015-02" width="913" height="1217"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brendan Shanahan</figcaption></div>And then there are the goaltenders. Management has conceded selecting a No. 1 netminder will be their most difficult decision, based on the assumption that Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur and Curtis Joseph will all be performing well. So much for assumptions.With an early 4-3-0 record, Roy ranked 28th amongst NHL netminders-and he was the best of the three.Joseph, with a save percentage of .864, was 36th (although he did sparkle in a 30-shot shutout of the Bruins in front of Gretzky and company), while Brodeur&rsquo;s 3.36 goals-against average was 38th.Dallas&rsquo; Ed Belfour, the fourth goalie at the fall minicamp, was off to a better start with a 2.22 GAA and .918 save percentage.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s one thing to look at stats. But if you look at the games, it&rsquo;s a little different, right?&rdquo; said Joseph, who, in uncharacteristic candor, acknowledged he wants the Olympic job desperately. &ldquo;I want to play. I want to play badly,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d like to be the guy I&rsquo;d like to win something and with that kind of team you&rsquo;ve got a pretty good chance.&rdquo; &#9633;<h2>Olympic Series</h2><div class="container"><div class="figure-block image-float"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0015-011658/7852580-1-eng-US/f0015-012.jpg" title="f0015-01" width="110" height="67"></div>This is the first in a series of stories examining how countries are shaping up for the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake. The United States will appear next week. The other countries to follow are the Czech Republic, Finland, Sweden and Russia. &#9632;</div>

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Battle on for Team Canada

<div class="byline">By Wayne Karl</div>Patrik Elias is turning heads this season for a couple reasons.The New Jersey left winger is off to a strong start, collecting five goals and 13 points in seven games.Opponents are already familiar with the offensive talents of the flashy Czech, who finished third in NHL scoring in the 200001 season. But now they notice him for his crunching skating stride. Elias is one of only two NHLers wearing a new type of skate technology called t&rsquo;blades, which feature an unusual looking blade holder and replaceable stainless steel runners. The other is Jochen Hecht of the Edmonton Oilers.They&rsquo;re also loud. Elias laughed when asked if the noise strikes fear in the minds of opponents. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know, but there&rsquo;s no question they&rsquo;re louder than regular skates.&rdquo;The German-developed technology is 35 per cent lighter than conventional skate blades. The edges last five times longer than conventional runners and when they go dull the blades are replaced rather than sharpened. They can-also be changed to adjust to different ice conditions.&ldquo;They&rsquo;re better for gliding and turns,&rdquo; Elias said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing well with them so I&rsquo;m happy.&rdquo;Two NHL officials and several players in the Canadian Hockey League are also using t&rsquo;blades, according to Scott McCrory, a distributor and pro team representative.SKATING FOR GOLD Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve. Team Canada so badly wants to win in Salt Lake, that captain Mario Lemieux&rsquo;s golden aspirations will be visible on his feet.Lemieux will be the marquee member of a handful of players from Canada and the U.S. who will wear special limited edition gold skates from Nike during the Olympic hockey tournament in Salt Lake.Cassie Campbell and Therese Brisson of Canada&rsquo;s women&rsquo;s team will wear them, as will Cammi Granato, Krissy Wendell and Tara Mounsey from the U-S. women&rsquo;s side.Special editions of Nike&rsquo;s new Quest model, the skates will also feature colors of the flag of the player&rsquo;s home country.Lemieux&rsquo;s Nike skates, for example, will include a red Canadian maple leaf and will have his name embroidered in the boot.All of the special edition skates will be signed and auctioned off, with proceeds going to a charity of the players&rsquo; choice.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s just a one-time deal for Salt Lake,&rdquo; said Duke Stump, vice-president of brand management for Nike Hockey. &ldquo;We will not be bringing this to retail.&rdquo; &#9632;

Elias literally making noise on ice

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Jim Benton</div>Colorado Avalanche center Peter Forsberg, taking time off to let his battered body heal, recently bashed his own play and called himself &ldquo;useless.&rdquo;&ldquo;The last two years, I&rsquo;ve played well in one game, against Los Angeles in the playoffs last season,&rdquo; said Forsberg to the Swedish newspaper Allehanda.&ldquo;Otherwise, I&rsquo;ve been completely useless and those who see me train and play see that I haven&rsquo;t performed.&rdquo;The 28-year-old, who is resting at home in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden, stomped the speculation he wants to quit hockey&ldquo;I want to play hockey, but I know I will get hit in the future, too, so I have to be well-trained,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;My body can&rsquo;t handle heavy training yet and I still have stomach pain from the spleen surgery.&rdquo;Forsberg had his ruptured spleen removed after Game 7 of last season&rsquo;s Western Conference semifinal against Los Angeles. In previous seasons, he has had shoulder surgery, a concussion, a hip pointer, torn rib muscles and ankle surgery.He has not ruled out playing for Sweden in the 2002 Olympics, but insisted he won&rsquo;t play unless he has returned to the Avalanche. &ldquo;I can&rsquo;t play in the Olympics if I don&rsquo;t have games under my belt first,&rdquo; Forsberg said.He was scheduled to make $11 million this season in the final year of his contract with the Avs. &#9632;

‘Useless’ Forsberg still recovering

<h2>U.S. on a roll</h2>The Americans gained the upper hand on Canada in national women&rsquo;s action. The U.S. twice beat Canada 4-1 as the nations gear up for the 2002 Olympics. Tricia Dunn scored a pair for the U.S. Oct. 23 in San Jose and Katie King scored twice Oct. 20 in West Valley City, Utah. Hayley Wickenheiser replied for Canada in both games. The U.S. withdrew from the Four Nations tournament in Finland in November due to world tensions.<h2>Work stoppage?</h2>Two-thirds of hockey fans expect a work stoppage when the NHL&rsquo;s collective bargaining agreement expires in 2004, according to a survey by the NHL Fans&rsquo; Association. The fourth annual NHLFA poll showed 63.2 per cent of respondents expect a strike or lockout. Only 18.7 per cent thought there wouldn&rsquo;t be a work stoppage, while the rest weren&rsquo;t sure. Full results of the 64 poll questions can be viewed at <a href="http://nhlfa.com">nhlfa.com</a>.<h2>Dumart dies</h2>Woody Dumart, a member of Boston&rsquo;s famed &lsquo;Kraut Line&rsquo; in the 1930s and 1940s died of heart problems Oct. 19 at age 84. The Hall of Fame left winger teamed with Milt Schmidt and Bobby Bauer and the three finished 1-2-3 in league scoring in 1939-40. Dumart helped Boston win the Stanley Cup in 1939 and 1941 and finished with 211 goals and 429 points in 772 games. His career was interrupted for three years when he served for Canada in World War II.<h2>Morenz auction</h2>The 1927-28 Hart Trophy won by legend Howie Morenz is being auctioned off by Morenz&rsquo;s son, Howie Jr. Sport Collectors Ltd., of Orland Park, Ill. will take bids by fax or phone until Dec. 5. Also for sale is Morenz&rsquo;s Chicago Black Hawks&rsquo; crest from his 1934-35 sweater. The auction company recently sold Hart Trophy plaques of Bobby Hull and Bernie Geoffrion. Morenz is No. 15 on THN&rsquo;s list of the top 50 NHL players of all-time.<h2>Japan qualifies</h2>Japan qualified for its fifth straight appearance in the World Championship by beating out Korea and China in the International Ice Hockey Federations&rsquo; Far East qualifying tournament in China. Japan beat China 3-1 and tied Korea 1-1 to have the best record. Japan will face world champion Czech Republic, Germany and Switzerland in Group A of the 2002 World Championship, April 26 to May 11 in Jonkoping, Sweden. &#9632;

INSIDE HOCKEY

<div class="byline">By Scott Burnside</div>Jason Allison has happily traded in his ice-fishing gear for a copy of the Hollywood Reporter.The disgruntled former Boston Bruin captain felt he might spend the entire season at his Parry Sound, Ont., cottage playing shinny on the lake. Instead, he got his wish when he was dealt to the Los Angeles Kings for Jozef Stumpel and Glen Murray.Both Murray and Stumpel are returning for second stints with the Bruins, who hope to bolster an anemic offense (20 goals in nine games) while the Kings, who also acquired Mikko Eloranta, fill a giant hole left by the departure of Luc Robitaille.More significantly for the Kings, off to their worst start in seven years, they may have found in Allison the franchise player they lost when Rob Blake was dealt to Colorado at the trade deadline last season.Here is a look at the players involved in the biggest deal of this young season.Glen Murray: The 29-year-old right winger with size (6-foot-3, 225 pounds) should fit in well with the Bruins&rsquo; physical style of play.Murray recorded a career-best 62 points in 1999-2000, but slumped to 39 points in an injury-plagued 2000-01 season that saw him play only 64 games. In acquiring Murray, who led the Kings with 11 points after nine games, the Bruins may already be thinking about having to fill another lineup hole next season. Given Allison&rsquo;s treatment, expect free agent-in-waiting Bill Guerin to bolt Boston as quickly as possible.Jozef Stumpel: This slick center registered a career-best 79 points in 1997-98, but has failed to come close to those numbers since and was off to a slow start in Los Angeles (five points). Although he has been chided for being too soft, Stumpel, 29, gives Brums&rsquo; coach Robbie Ftorek a variety of options when you throw in top-liners Joe Thornton, Brian Rolston, Martin Lapointe, Sergei Samsonov and Guerin.Jason Allison: The jewel of this deal, Allison&rsquo;s 95 points last season left him tied for fourth in NHL scoring. At 6-foot-3,215 pounds, Allison, 26, is a thoroughbred and will be the Kings&rsquo; No. 1 center, taking pressure off Bryan Smolinski. Beyond his on-ice toughness, Allison is a leader and fills an important void for coach Andy Murray.And let&rsquo;s not forget the incentive issue-Allison was snubbed by the Bruins and then snubbed by Wayne Gretzky, who opted not to invite the North York, Ont., native to September&rsquo;s Olympic mini-camp in CalgaryLook for Allison to come out of the gate on fire.Mikko Eloranta: The Finnish-born left winger, drafted 247th in the 1999 draft, is the throw-in of the deal. Eloranta, 29, scored 12 times last season, but had yet to find the mark this season.BOTTOM LINE The penny-pinching Bruins obtained two possible front line players for about $4.5-million (U.S.) and all they had to do was give up their captain and best player. Can you say penny-wise, pound-foolish? That the Bruins would pay Martin Lapointe $22 million over four years and low-ball Allison-who signed a three-year, $20-million pact with L.A.-makes little sense. But it sends a message to other Bruins, especially potential free agents Guerin and netminder Byron Dafoe: the Bruins remain content to compete, but not contend. As for the Kings, they have a bona fide No. 1 center and everyone knows Stanley Cups are won in net and down the middle.WINNER The Kings, today and tomorrow.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0016-011608/7852690-1-eng-US/f0016-012.jpg" title="f0016-01" width="733" height="166"></div><h2>Het Mom! I&rsquo;m in the NHL</h2>Weekly report of players making their NHL debuts.Vaclav Pletka, 22, Philadelphia Czech right winger a gritty two-way player; sent down after one game.Justin Kurtz, 24, Vancouver Smallish puck-moving defenseman is an undrafted four-year IHL veteran.Ty Conklin, 25. Edmonton New Hampshire stopper has two wins. .939 save percentage in two starts. &#9632;

f0016-01

Kings big winners in deal

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-021106/7852728-1-eng-US/f0017-022.jpg" title="f0017-02" width="592" height="2539"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-011433/7852735-1-eng-US/f0017-012.jpg" title="f0017-01" width="223" height="249"></div>The defense rests&hellip;just not as often as the forwards. Blueliners were the time on ice leaders for 28 of the NHL 30 teams. The two exceptions are in Florida and Pittsburgh where superstars forwards Pavel Bure and Mario Lemieux led the ice time charge. Here are defense and forward leaders for each team:<h2>Team-by-Team Minute Men</h2><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-03794/7852721-1-eng-US/f0017-032.jpg" title="f0017-03" width="1211" height="1460"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Allison was a King for just one day when he became the time on ice leader among L.A. forwards (see accompanying table). (Scott Audette)</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0017-02

NHL defensemen have time on side

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Dan Wood</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-04582/7852766-1-eng-US/f0017-042.jpg" title="f0017-04" width="223" height="246"></div>Ten games into the season, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim captain Paul Kariya was on pace to score eight goals this season.Unlike in previous seasons, when injuries dogged Kariya, he is in good health. Kariya converted his first shot on goal this year, a backhander from the slot in the second period of an openingnight 4-2 loss at Boston Oct. 4, then went an almost-unbelievable 36 shots without finding the back of the net.A nine-game goal drought that extended through a 3-2 overtime victory Oct. 24 at Phoenix marked the second-longest of Kariya&rsquo;s eight-year NHL career. The only longer dry spell was a 10-gamer in 1999.&ldquo;I feel a lot of pressure, but that&rsquo;s no different from any point in my career,&rdquo; Kariya said. &ldquo;I have to score for our team to win.&rdquo;Kariya scored 33 goals on 230 shots last season when he managed an average 3.5 shots per game. He averaged 3.7 shots per game in 10 games this season.The Ducks averaged just 2.1 goals per game, down from 2.3 per game last season.NET RESULTS Anaheim&rsquo;s two-pronged goaltending tandem of Steve Shields and Jean-Sebastien Giguere was extremely strong early in the season, with each picking up two victories. With Shields and Giguere both playing well, the Ducks were in an enviable situation, considering West Coast travel demands and this season&rsquo;s compressed schedule because of the Olympic break.MINUTE MUNCHER Rugged left winger Kevin Sawyer saw only spot duty during nine games with Anaheim last season, spending most of his time in the American League with Cincinnati. He literally fought his way onto the Mighty Ducks this season and earned an average 7:45 per game, with smart, solid play in the early going. Sawyer led the Ducks with 44 penalty minutes through 10 games.NOTEBOOK Defenseman Ruslan Salei snapped a 48-game goal drought in the win over Vancouver Oct. 21, while right winger Dan Bylsma scored his first goal in 40 games during a 3-2, overtime win at Phoenix Oct. 24&hellip;Left winger Mike Leclerc recorded his first career overtime goal in the victory over the Coyotes&hellip;Right winger Jim Cummins has played only one game this season. He is sidelined indefinitely because of a torn ribcage muscle. &#9632;

f0017-04

Kariya’s long slump nears career worst

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Jeff Schultz</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-05404/7852797-1-eng-US/f0017-052.jpg" title="f0017-05" width="227" height="242"></div>When the Atlanta Thrashers won their season opener in Buffalo, they accomplished something they hadn&rsquo;t in their first two seasons.What followed, however, merely resembled parts of the first two years.A six-game winless streak (03-1-2) did nothing to diminish projections of the team&rsquo;s young players, particularly rookie forwards Dany Heatley and Ilya Kovalchuk and defenseman Brian Pothier. But the team&rsquo;s overall youth and mix of players caused almost expected defensive problems, particularly in the area of poor neutral zone coverage.Atlanta held leads in five of the six games during the skid, but couldn&rsquo;t maintain them. The Thrashers were outscored 19-9 in the final two periods.&ldquo;A lot of what&rsquo;s happened I believe is because of the youth,&rdquo; said GM Don Waddell. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re learning on the job, We knew that coming into it. The first 20 games I knew we would do a lot of good things, but we&rsquo;d do a lot of scary things also.&rdquo;NET RESULTS It wasn&rsquo;t showing up in the win-loss record, but No. 1 goalie Milan Hnilicka (one win and four losses (two in OT) after five starts) was off to a good start this season. The problem wasn&rsquo;t that Hnilicka couldn&rsquo;t make a save, but was seeing too many shots. In a 4-2 loss to Pittsburgh, the Penguins had 31 shots in the first two periods. But Hnilicka hasn&rsquo;t cracked under the pressure.MINUTE MUNCHER Rookie Brian Pothier, who made an impressive NHL debut during a cameo call up last year, has became one of the Thrashers&rsquo; most dependable defensemen, to the extent that coach Curt Fraser plays him in all situations. Through seven games, Pothier led the team in shifts per game (27.57) and ice time (23:10).NOTEBOOK Don&rsquo;t be surprised if No. 1 picks Dany Heatley (1999) and Ilya Kovalchuk (2000), both wingers, end up finishing 1-2 in Calder Trophy voting. Kovalchuk led all rookies in goals (four) and Heatley led in points (six) after seven games&hellip;Second-year winger Tomi Kallio was off to a slow start with no goals through seven games. He scored 14 in 56 games last season. &#9632;

f0017-05

Youth, inexperience taking their toll

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Mike Loftus</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0017-06315/7852828-1-eng-US/f0017-062.jpg" title="f0017-06" width="220" height="244"></div>Unwilling to meet the contract demands of center and captain Jason Allison, the Boston Bruins traded him to the Los Angeles Kings.Mindful of the fact the Bruins scored only eight goals in a six-game (1-3-2-0) road trip, Boston GM Mike O&rsquo;Connell tried to balance the numbers Oct. 24 by acquiring a pair of ex-Bruins, center Jozef Stumpel and right winger Glen Murray. The Bruins also moved left winger Mikko Eloranta, who was pointless through seven games as part of the deal. (See pg. 16 for trade analysis.)Stumpel and Murray played on a line with left winger Bill Guerin in a 2-1 overtime win against Toronto Oct. 25.&ldquo;We felt we had an opportunity to acquire two top-6 forwards,&rdquo; said O&rsquo;Connell, who once coached Stumpel and Murray with Providence of the American League. &ldquo;When that presented itself, we felt we had to move. Jozef&rsquo;s a good 50-, 60-, 70-point center who&rsquo;s strong along the boards, a good set-up man and good on faceoffs. Glen&rsquo;s a winger who&rsquo;s going to score goals for you.&rdquo;NET RESULTS Byron Dafoe was displaying the form that made him a Vezina Trophy finalist in 1998-99. An off-season knee operation, followed by a rigorous training program, has restored the quickness and durability he lacked over injury-plagued 1999-2000 and 2000-2001, and through Oct. 25, his 1.54 goals-against average through nine games was the best among NHL goalies.MINUTE MUNCHER Defense men Hal Gill (18:50 to 22:09) and Don Sweeney (20:00 to 23:04) saw their ice time rise by three minutes or so, but center Brian Rolston&rsquo;s jump from 19:19 per game to 22:09 really stood out. He responded with six goals and 10 points in 10 games.NOTEBOOK Though coach Robbie Ftorek wished they didn&rsquo;t have to show it so often, the Bruins&rsquo; penalty-killers established themselves as the NHL&rsquo;s most efficient by surviving 49 of their first 52 shorthanded situations&hellip;A 2-1 overtime victory over Toronto Oct. 25 left Boston with a 4-0-0-0 mark at FleetCenter as the Bruins faced a stretch in which they&rsquo;d play nine of 11 games at home. The Bruins also won the final three home games of last season. &#9632;

f0017-06

Murray, Stumpel back in Boston

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Bucky Gleason</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-011485/7852859-1-eng-US/f0018-012.jpg" title="f0018-01" width="221" height="252"></div>It didn&rsquo;t take left winger Slava Kozlov long to find his niche in Buffalo, after being overshadowed for years in the star-studded Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; lineup.The left winger was on pace for 46 goals this season after scoring four times in a four-game stretch. The streak qualifies for being hot when it comes to the Sabres.Kozlov was acquired in the trade that sent goaltender Dominik Hasek to the Wings on June 30. He quickly adjusted to the Sabres&rsquo; defensive style while giving them a major boost offensively.The key? Ice time. Kozlov averaged 14:43 last season in Detroit, but has been playing nearly 17 minutes with the Sabres and has been a regular on the power play.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing a lot and that&rsquo;s most important,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing almost every third shift and that&rsquo;s keeping me in the whole game. In Detroit I didn&rsquo;t play power play sometimes or the penalty kill. You sit on the bench for five or 10 minutes, you&rsquo;re not fresh.&rdquo;Kozlov had been playing with center Chris Gratton and speedy, third-year winger Maxim Afinogenov The Sabres love Kozlov&rsquo;s patience with the puck and knack for getting himself in scoring position. He had scored 202 career goals, coming into the 2001-02 season, although he had not scored more than 36 in a season.&ldquo;I keep using the word composure,&rdquo; said Sabres&rsquo; coach Lindy Ruff. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not much rattle in his game.&rdquo;NET RESULTS Goaltender Martin Biron has been spectacular in his first season as the No. 1 goalie. He&rsquo;s very quick in the crease and has a great glove hand, two qualities the Sabres saw for years in Hasek.Twice this season Biron went into the final four minutes with a shutout. His 1.77 goals-against average and .930 save percentage are Hasek-like. The Sabres have no qualms about giving him most of the work, evidenced by his nine starts through 10 games.MINUTE MUNCHER Right winger Miroslav Satan has been gobbling up ice time this season after the Sabres asked him to take a bigger role on the top scoring line and special teams. He averaged more than 23 minutes of playing time, more than three minutes than what he averaged last season and second only to defenseman Alexei Zhitnik. Satan has three goals, six points and a team-leading plus-4 rating to show for the workload.NOTEBOOK The Sabres were atop the Northeast Division through the first 10 games, but had won two in a row only once&hellip;Slender goalie Martin Biron came clean on his weight. He had been listed at anywhere from 154 and 168 pounds. Biron said he&rsquo;s 6-foot-2,165, which makes him the lightest player in the NHL&hellip;Former Sabres&rsquo; netminder Don Edwards was inducted into the Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame&hellip;Defenseman Jay McKee matched a career high with a three-game point streak, all assists&hellip;Blueliner Rhett Warrener&rsquo;s empty-net goal Oct. 23 against San Jose marked the first time in his seven-year career he has scored in consecutive seasons. &#9632;

f0018-01

Increased ice time giving Kozlov plenty of scoring opportunities

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Eric Duhatschek</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-021129/7852890-1-eng-US/f0018-022.jpg" title="f0018-02" width="221" height="250"></div>Even after Rob Niedermayer returned to the lineup, Craig Conroy wasn&rsquo;t giving up his new spot as the Flames&rsquo; No. 1 center.Conroy began the season as the team&rsquo;s No. 3 pivot, but injuries to Marc Savard and then Niedermayer moved the former St. Louis Blue up to the first line.With nine points in his first 10 games, Conroy was second on the Flames in scoring and playing a ton of minutes-20:04 per night to be precise.Conroy was cast as a checking center and defensive specialist after joining the Flames in a trade with the Blues, but coach Greg Gilbert was using him in every situation-on the power play, to kill penalties and at even strength.&ldquo;In St. Louis, I had a role but it was a much smaller role,&rdquo; Conroy said. &ldquo;It was a job I took pride in. But here with Marc Savard being out, just the way things are going, this is the most fun for me-to be able to do everything and have that extra pressure. To have that pressure is fun.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s pressure, but it makes players better.&rdquo;Jarome Iginla, Conroy&rsquo;s new right winger, was wildly impressed with his play.&ldquo;He has been playing unbelievably,&rdquo; Iginla said. &ldquo;He has been in such a defensive role and it&rsquo;s clear that he should never have been just in a defensive role.&rdquo;NET RESULTS Goaltender Roman Turek is off to a start reminiscent of two seasons ago when he topped the NHL with a 1.95 goals-against average and won the Jennings Trophy. At 6-3, he represents a dramatic change from his predecessor Fred Brathwaite, who stands only 5-7. A classic butterflyer who uses his size effectively, Turek was a calm presence in the net and unbeaten in regulation through his first nine starts, with seven wins and two OT losses.MINUTE MUNCHER Conroy&rsquo;s ice time is up almost five minutes per game, but left winger Dean McAmmond has had the most dramatic increase. McAmmond is playing just a shade less than Conroy-he was at 19:41 compared to about 12:00 at the end of last season with Philadelphia. Known primarily for his speed, McAmmond eventually inherited the job of No. 1 left winger after a series of others auditioned for the spot.NOTEBOOK Left winger Craig Berube essentially makes his living not with his hands but his fists. However, a two-goal effort in an Oct. 23 game against Chicago, the first multiple goal game of Berube&rsquo;s 15-year career, gave him three for the season and tied him for second on the team behind right winger Jarome Iginla&hellip;In the first game defenseman Denis Gauthier missed because of injury, the Flames were smoked 6-2 by a Chicago team that had little difficulty getting to the front of the Calgary net and staying there. To replace Gauthier, the Flames elected to call up defenseman Alan Letang from AHL Saint John rather than use Jamie Allison. &#9632;

f0018-02

Former defensive center Conroy delivering as scorer with Calgary

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Luke DeCock</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0018-03807/7852921-1-eng-US/f0018-032.jpg" title="f0018-03" width="227" height="231"></div>Everything was in place for one of those magical moments that come along occasionally in sports.After missing nine games with a training-camp groin injury, winger Chris Dingman made his Hurricanes&rsquo; debut against his former team, the Colorado Avalanche, in the building where he played three seasons, on the day he received his Stanley Cup ring.The ring ceremony was a bit of an anticlimax-the ring was given to him in the hallway before the morning skate-and so was Dingman&rsquo;s night. He played a quiet seven minutes as the Hurricanes gave up five unanswered goals in a 5-1 loss.With that pressure removed and a game under his belt, Dingman had better results the next night. He fed Ron Francis from behind the net for the game&rsquo;s opening goal and his first point with Carolina, then got in a pair of fights to establish his presence on the bench.&ldquo;I felt better,&rdquo; Dingman said. &ldquo;(Colorado) was a real tough game for me, going back to Denver with a lot of emotions. Second game back after missing a month, I felt a lot more comfortable.&rdquo;Dingman was acquired on draft weekend in June for a fifth round pick to give the Hurricanes some much-needed toughness.NET RESULTS For the first time in his four seasons with the Hurricanes, goaltender Arturs Irbe is getting some serious competition for the No. 1 spot.Irbe hasn&rsquo;t played poorly, but veteran Tom Barrasso has showed no rust following a year off. When Barrasso shone in back-to-back games against the Islanders to earn the right to start the next game, it was just the fifth time in Irbe&rsquo;s Carolina career that he has sat out consecutive games.MINUTE MUNCHER Craig Adams was a spot-shifted fourth-line player who was lucky to play four minutes a game last season. But his role has expanded significantly now that he&rsquo;s one of the Canes&rsquo; top six penalty-killers and is averaging more than eight minutes a night. Adams&rsquo; gritty play has encouraged coach Paul Maurice to use him, much-improved Darren Langdon and the rest of the fourth line more frequently.NOTEBOOK Defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh was placed on injured reserve after the Islanders&rsquo; Steve Webb fell on his surgically repaired left knee. As it turned out, there was no ligament damage and Ozolinsh is day-to-day. To make room for Ozolinsh when he returns, the Hurricanes placed center Josh Holden on waivers and he was claimed by Vancouver, his former team. Holden had been pointless in eight games and a healthy scratch in the next two&hellip;Former Phoenix GM Bobby Smith, now a consultant/pro scout for the Canes, got his first live look at the team when they played Colorado&hellip;It was a busy week for the Carolina family. Left winger Darren Langdon welcomed the arrival of triplets, while right winger Sami Kapanen and his wife now are parents of a new daughter. &#9632;

f0018-03

Dingman settles in with Carolina after dim night against old mates

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Tim Sassone</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-021022/7852980-1-eng-US/f0019-022.jpg" title="f0019-02" width="278" height="311"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jarome Iginla Calgary</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-011368/7852987-1-eng-US/f0019-012.jpg" title="f0019-01" width="223" height="251"></div>It would have made a great marketing promotion: Calder for the Calder.But there will be no such rookie-of-the-year push for 22-year-old Chicago Blackhawks&rsquo; left winger Kyle Calder, who was off to a furious start with six goals and 11 points in 11 games. Calder appeared in 43 games last season, making him ineligible for the trophy that bears his surname. Players with more than 25 NHL games aren&rsquo;t considered.Calder&rsquo;s success playing on the top line with Tony Amonte and Alex Zhamnov was one of the key factors in the Hawks&rsquo; impressive 6-3-2-0 start. He was developing into a gritty presence around the net and surviving life in the trenches.&ldquo;I love playing that way,&rdquo; Calder said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t care if I get a black eye or a broken nose, whatever. It&rsquo;s me. I&rsquo;m already pretty ugly. I&rsquo;m not here for the chicks; I&rsquo;m here to play hockey.&rdquo;Coach Brian Sutter&rsquo;s search to find the right fit with Amonte and Zhamnov appears to have ended, thanks to Calder.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of those old-time guys who makes up for people saying he can&rsquo;t skate, he&rsquo;s not big enough, he&rsquo;s not this, he&rsquo;s not that, he can&rsquo;t do this, just by sheer determination and doing the little things good all the time,&rdquo; Sutter said. &ldquo;And it&rsquo;s contagious because other people see it.&rdquo;NET RESULTS The Hawks needed a strong start from Jocelyn Thibault and that&rsquo;s what they were getting. Thibault was 6-2-2 with a shutout. Sutter&rsquo;s commitment to playing team defense was making Thibault&rsquo;s life easier after several seasons of facing one quality shot after another.MINUTE MUNCHER Jon Klemm was thriving in his role with Alexander Karpovtsev as the Hawks&rsquo; top defensive pair. Klemm was being used in all special-team situations and against the opposition&rsquo;s top line, averaging almost 26 minutes of ice time, tops on the Hawks. That&rsquo;s a significant increase in ice time (19:55) and responsibility from last season with Colorado, when he played behind Ray Bourque, Adam Foote and Rob Blake.NOTEBOOK Despite their 4-0-10 start at home, attendance was still down at the United Center. The Hawks announced crowds of just over 10,000 for three of their first four home games. For the Oct. 23 tilt against Calgary the actual attendance was estimated at roughly 6,000.<h2>HEADS OF STATE</h2>Listed are the top three scorers (as of Oct. 25) for each of the six countries that have qualified for the final round at the 2002 Olympics. Asterisk indicates the player already has been named to the Olympic team. Statistics include games played, goals and points.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-03695/7852973-1-eng-US/f0019-032.jpg" title="f0019-03" width="596" height="296"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-04529/7852966-1-eng-US/f0019-042.jpg" title="f0019-04" width="593" height="301"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-05395/7852959-1-eng-US/f0019-052.jpg" title="f0019-05" width="594" height="300"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0019-06293/7852952-1-eng-US/f0019-062.jpg" title="f0019-06" width="281" height="317"><figcaption class="caption-body">Michael Nylander Chicago</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0019-02

Calder fitting in on Hawks’ top line

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Jim Benton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-011265/7853018-1-eng-US/f0020-012.jpg" title="f0020-01" width="219" height="236"></div>Colorado Avalanche coach Bob Hartley spent the first three weeks of the season experimenting with line combinations before reverting back to what was successful last year.Alex Tanguay, who began the season playing on the Avalanche second line with center Chris Drury, was reunited with Joe Sakic and Milan Hejduk on the top line.Sakic, Hejduk and Tanguay were a dangerous line last season accounting for 122 goals and 274 points. In their first four games back together, the trio combined for six goals and 15 points. However, only five of those points came in even strength situations.&ldquo;It takes time,&rdquo; Tanguay admitted. &ldquo;We have to wake up and start playing better. We will.&rdquo;Hartley, however, is comfortable with his No. 1 line.&ldquo;Those guys have played together for so long,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;They like playing together and it seems they find each other very easily on the ice. They are three great skaters with great hockey sense, good vision and they are three guys that can put the puck in the net. That&rsquo;s why they are so tough to stop.&rdquo;NET RESULTS Patrick Roy, starting his 17th NHL season, is smarter and more technically sound than ever, which is why he is still one of the league&rsquo;s top goalies. Colorado hasn&rsquo;t played with the same defensive intensity as last year and the Avalanche&rsquo;s early struggles could have been worse without the stellar play of Roy.The three-time Conn Symthe winner was 4-3-0 with a 2.72 goals against average in his first seven starts this year.MINUTE MUNCHER Ray Bourque retired, Jon Klemm signed with Chicago and Adam Foote started the season on the injured list, so the playing time and responsibilities of defenseman Greg deVries have swelled by over five minutes a game. DeVries, who posted career highs in assists (12), points (17) and was plus-23 last season, averaged 17:06 of ice time in 2000-01 and Colorado is counting on him to have another banner campaign. His average playing time this season was 22:35.NOTEBOOK An interview with Avalanche right winger Dan Hinote will appear in the December issue of Penthouse. &ldquo;Optimistically, you hope some day you&rsquo;ll be in a magazine,&rdquo; Hinote said. &ldquo;Of course, your mom hopes its Sports Illustrated or something like that.&rdquo; The energetic Hinote had a goal and two points in 10 games this season&hellip;Colorado gave goaltender Patrick Roy three days off and he didn&rsquo;t dress for two games because of an ailing hip. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m playing it safe,&rdquo; Roy said. &ldquo;There is no need in October to push it. I had X-rays and a MRI and they found a bit of fluid on my hip. The good thing about it is we know exactly where we have to work. I&rsquo;m not concerned.&rdquo; Backup David Aebischer had played in three games this season, two wins and a loss, and had a 2.00 goals-against average with a .919 save percentage. &#9632;

f0020-01

Coach Hartley’s line tinkering results in trip down memory lane

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Aaron Portzline</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-02898/7853049-1-eng-US/f0020-022.jpg" title="f0020-02" width="216" height="251"></div>Through the first two weeks of the season, coach Dave King made repeated references-some vague, some pointed-to a surprising lack of effort and energy shown by the Columbus Blue Jackets.It was a disturbing sign, because grit and guile is what carried Columbus to a surprising 28-win, 71-point inaugural season. In Year 2, they&rsquo;ve tried to match opponents&rsquo; skill and they&rsquo;ve wound up looking like, well, a second-year expansion team, totaling one win in their first nine games.King kept his cool, though, until a 7-1 home loss to Los Angeles Oct. 23, when the Blue Jackets fell behind 5-0 in the first period. They were roundly booed in Nationwide Arena for the first time.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a new experience to watch a team just become unraveled and lose their poise and composure and start to almost surrender, and that was a very poor sign,&rdquo; King said. &ldquo;The first period was lack of effort, and then, the second period, I think stupidity jumped into the picture.&rdquo;Players and coaches insist there are no issues and they swear it&rsquo;ll turn around quickly. GM-president Doug MacLean has sworn himself to patience, but look for some roster jumbling if the tide doesn&rsquo;t turn.NET RESULTS Ron Tugnutt remains the Blue Jackets&rsquo; No. 1, but if the current trend continues he may share or relinquish that title to 24-year-old Marc Denis. Tugnutt allowed 11 goals in back-to-back losses to Los Angeles and Colorado. Early in the season, he complained of a sore neck, but said that&rsquo;s no excuse for his current slump.His fellow Blue Jackets aren&rsquo;t playing great in front of him and he&rsquo;s not-in goaltender lingo-seeing the puck very well right now.&ldquo;When it turns around, it&rsquo;s going to turn around fast and this will all be a distant memory,&rdquo; Tugnutt said.MINUTE MUNCHER Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre stayed in Columbus for most of the summer, working out with Blue Jackets&rsquo; strength and conditioning coach Mark Casterline. As a result, he&rsquo;s noticeably stronger, faster and more physical.Grand-Pierre&rsquo;s playing time has grown from 12:51 per game last season to 14:35 this season, and the Blue Jackets have moved him up to play on a wing for a few games.NOTEBOOK Scary thought in time for Halloween. The Blue Jackets leading scorer through nine games was defenseman Lyle Odelein, with one goal and four assists. The 11-year veteran&rsquo;s single-season high for goals is 11, set in 1993-94 with Montreal, and his best for points is 40, established the same season. His highest goal total since then is five and highest points 31. In other words, if he continues to lead the Blue Jackets in scoring, they&rsquo;re in trouble&hellip;It was expected left winger Ray Whitney&rsquo;s chest injury will cost him more than the original diagnosis of 10 days. &#9632;

f0020-02

Blue Jackets lose focus in Year 2, win just once in first nine outings

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Chuck Carlton</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0020-03636/7853080-1-eng-US/f0020-032.jpg" title="f0020-03" width="235" height="241"></div>The Dallas Stars are having trouble scoring goals.And when they do get a couple, the Stars seem unable to handle the good fortune. In nine games, the Stars have just 19 goals despite summer moves designed to make scoring an easier process.Even worse, they&rsquo;ve lost their reputation as the ultimate front-runners that could turn an early lead into two points with methodical precision and frustrating defense.The Stars were a league-best 36-4-5-0 last season when scoring first. This season: 0-1-2-1.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s always been a mainstay of our team,&rdquo; said center Joe Nieuwendyk. &ldquo;We get a lead, we&rsquo;re tough to play against. We&rsquo;re not doing the things necessary to stick with it and win the game. That&rsquo;s most disappointing. There&rsquo;s been spurts of good play and good consistent effort, but when the game is critical, we&rsquo;re making mistakes that cost us.&rdquo;Frustration rose after a 3-2 loss Sept. 23 to Pittsburgh in an ESPN national telecast. The Stars had a two-goal lead after the first 7:29 and then lost to a team that had played the night before in Atlanta.A frank, emotional players-only meeting followed. &ldquo;There was real anger and frustration,&rdquo; said coach Ken Hitchcock. &ldquo;I was angry just like the players were. The reason the players are taking such strong ownership is that we all care. We all want to have success. The players really want to be productive.&rdquo;NET RESULTS Ed Belfour is 36, he&rsquo;s in a contract year and he&rsquo;s desperate to prove to the Canadian Olympic team brain trust that he should be one of three goalies in Salt Lake City. Facing that pressurized situation, Belfour has responded with a 2.22 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage. With the exception of two soft ones against Pittsburgh, the bad goals that bothered him last season haven&rsquo;t materialized. Belfour and coach Ken Hitchcock have seemed to reach an understanding about the number of starts he&rsquo;ll receive.MINUTE MUNCHER The 12 minutes a game that center Shaun Van Allen is receiving this season don&rsquo;t look that impressive until you consider the context. He has played every single game, anchoring a fourth line and moving up as necessary when injuries struck. Last season, he played just five of the first 21 games and didn&rsquo;t find a niche until late in the season. He&rsquo;s also win nearly 54 per-cent of his faceoffs after being 47 per-cent successful last season.NOTEBOOK Center Mike Modano failed on a penalty shot against Pittsburgh&rsquo;s Johan Hedberg in the third period and is now 0-for-2 for his career&hellip;Despite priding themselves on 5-on-5 play, the Stars had just four plus players through nine games&hellip;A charity softball game organized by center Joe Nieuwendyk in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist acts in New York and Washington helped raise nearly $100,000 for the 9-11 Firefighters Relief Fund. &#9632;

f0020-03

Slumping Stars grow frustrated at inability to score more often

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Rob Tychkowski</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-02632/7853142-1-eng-US/f0021-022.jpg" title="f0021-02" width="221" height="254"></div>The owners of the Edmonton Oilers have drawn a financial line in the sand.It is $13,875 million, the amount the Edmonton Investors Group had to dig out of its pockets and sink into the team this week to keep it afloat until 2004, when they hope a new collective bargaining agreement will change the economic landscape.Cal Nichols, chairman of the EIG blamed a skyrocketing salaries and a sagging Canadian dollar for the cash call and warned that if things don&rsquo;t improve after the War of 2004, the Oilers are in big trouble.&ldquo;Our goal is just to get to 2004,&rdquo; Nichols said. &ldquo;This thing, just simply, has to be fixed. If it&rsquo;s not, I suspect that ourselves and other teams in this country are just not going to be able to play the game.&rdquo;The EIG, which number 38 members, many of them in for $1 million or $2 million each as an act of community spirit, say they&rsquo;ve given about all they can give. And with one of the lowest payrolls in the league (less than $28 million), there&rsquo;s precious little room for cost cutting.NET RESULTS Tommy Salo was as sharp this year as he was a year ago when he shared Oiler MVP honors with center Doug Weight. He had a 2.16 goals-against average and .915 save percentage. Salo has great anticipation, always knows where the dangerous shooters are on the ice and is quick to square himself when they have the puck.That anticipation, coupled with his being so fundamentally sound, makes a lot of the sensation saves look routine, which is why he remains one of the underrated goalies in the league.MINUTE MUNCHER Sean Brown wasn&rsquo;t even in the lineup down the stretch and in the playoffs last year. After three weeks this season he led the team in plus minus (plus-8) and in goals among defensemen (two). His 13:51 a game was up from the 11:07 he played-when he played-last season.NOTEBOOK Coach Craig MacTavish tried unsuccessfully to convince defenseman Jason Smith to wear a visor for a while after being cut through the eyelid by Nashville center Greg Johnson Oct. 22. MacTavish, of course, was the last player in the NHL to go without a helmet. &ldquo;I guess it&rsquo;s a case of do as I say, not as I do,&rdquo; MacTavish said. &#9632;

f0021-02

Oiler owners predicting doom, gloom until 2004

<div class="byline">&#x2013;David J. Neal</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-05194/7853173-1-eng-US/f0021-052.jpg" title="f0021-05" width="816" height="876"><figcaption class="caption-body">CAT&rsquo;S MEOW Florida&rsquo;s Roberto Luongo was the victim of a lack of production by the Panthers. (Lisa Meyer/BBS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-03389/7853180-1-eng-US/f0021-032.jpg" title="f0021-03" width="219" height="247"></div>Don&rsquo;t pull out the sympathy violins for the Florida Panthers who lost Valeri Bure until possibly January.They have their own. Panthers&rsquo; management appear to be fiddling while the season is burning.&ldquo;If you have an opportunity to improve your team, you always want to do that,&rdquo; said assistant GM Chuck Fletcher. &ldquo;However, I think the most important thing right now for our organization is for management to show confidence in our players and coaches.&ldquo;If you look over the last 12 months, we have new ownership, new management, new coaches, about 10 new players. I think as an organization we have to show some patience and allow chemistry to form on and off the ice.&rdquo;Bure&rsquo;s knee surgery, to repair a torn meniscus, left the Panthers with only four forwards with 100 NHL points in their entire careers. After nine games, the Panthers had scored more than two goals only twice.NET RESULTS Before missing four games with a lacerated forearm, Roberto Luongo lost decisions because the offense couldn&rsquo;t convert numerous scoring chances (3-0 loss to the Islanders), then won by icing a shutout (5-0 over Tampa Bay). Rust helped account for a 43 overtime loss to Washington in his return.MINUTE MUNCHER Despite lacking a physical game and having a shot that couldn&rsquo;t break glass, defenseman Jeff Norton is up to 23:25 per game. Norton gets the power play time that used to go to Robert Svehla because he can skate with the puck.NOTEBOOK The Panthers game in Edmonton Oct. 20 had a little more meaning for rookie right winger Niklas Hagman. His father, Matti Hagman, was a center for the Oilers from 1980-82. Niklas plans to obtain game tapes of Matti playing with Edmonton and send them back to Finland for Christmas. &#9632;

f0021-05

Panthers standing pat through Bure’s injury

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Matt McHale</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0021-04284/7853211-1-eng-US/f0021-042.jpg" title="f0021-04" width="222" height="242"></div>After of years of searching for a power forward to take them to the next level, the Los Angeles Kings think they found one in Jason Allison.Allison and left winger Mikko Eloranta were acquired from Boston Oct. 24. They didn&rsquo;t come cheap. The former captain of the Bruins cost the Kings Jozef Stumpel and Glen Murray, not to mention $20.5 million over three years. (See pg. 16 for trade analysis.)But for a team hoping to build on last season&rsquo;s playoff run that ended within a game of the Western Conference finals, Allison might have the tools to get them back there and beyond.&ldquo;What is appealing about Jason and why he was probably our first choice is his combination of size, skill and ability as well as the fact he is only 26,&rdquo; said GM Dave Taylor.Not only did Taylor pull off the biggest Kings trade since Wayne Gretzky was acquired 13 years ago, he shattered the perception of a cheap organization that failed to reach agreements with cornerstone players Rob Blake and Luc Robitaille in the past nine months.NET RESULTS After a slow start, Felix Potvin regained the form that led the Kings to within a game of the Western Conference final. He started the first eight games of the season, extending his streak with the Kings to 36 (23 regular season, 13 playoff, eight this year).Potvin allowed several bad goals early in the season and there was some concern he was reverting to the fragile goalie that was dumped by the Canucks, Islanders and Leafs. His glove hand was particularly shaky. But the turnaround began in mid-October during a 1-0 loss to Tampa Bay. His reflexes were sharp and he was cutting down the angles like last season. He was solid in late October.MINUTE MUNCHER Defenseman Philippe Boucher benefitted the most from the Rob Blake trade. He is paired with Mathieu Schneider at even strength and has gotten most of Blake&rsquo;s minutes on the power play. He did not have any goals through the first three weeks, but his hard shot from the point resulted in several rebound goals. His 22 minutes per game were up from 17:26 last season.NOTEBOOK After not recording a point in seven games, rookie right winger Jaroslav Bednar was assigned to Manchester of the American League. Bednar, the Kings&rsquo; third choice in June&rsquo;s draft, played two games on the first line before being demoted. &#9632;

f0021-04

Acquisition of Allison could take Kings higher

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Tom Jones</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-011146/7853242-1-eng-US/f0022-012.jpg" title="f0022-01" width="225" height="233"></div>Wild goaltender Dwayne Roloson is used to playing second-fiddle.For two seasons in Buffalo, he served as mop-up man behind superstar goaltender Dominik Hasek At age 31, Roloson spent last season touring the outposts of the American League. He has never felt secure in the NHL, despite playing parts of five seasons.Roloson signed with the Wild over the summer and took the backup goaltending job away from one of the team&rsquo;s most pop ular players, Jamie McLennan.Now he has become more than just a backup, having split time with Manny Fernandez in the early going. And that&rsquo;s quite an achievement considering he wasn&rsquo;t even sure he would make the team.&ldquo;Basically I just wanted to do my job,&rdquo; Roloson said. &ldquo;Whatever it took to stay here, that is what I tried to do.&rdquo;NET RESULTS Roloson has been splitting time with Fernandez, who eventually is expected to play the majority of games.The Wild&rsquo;s defense hasn&rsquo;t been as tight in the early going as last season, but Fernandez and Roloson have been more than carrying their weight. Both have a save percentage well over .920.MINUTE MUNCHER Last sea son, Stacy Roest was a third and fourth line center, playing about 11 minutes a game when he wasn&rsquo;t scratched from the lineup.This season, though, Roest has found a scoring touch the Wild always believed was there. Because of it, Roest is chewing up the ice at the time of more than 18 minutes a game. He had five goals in the Wild&rsquo;s first six games.NOTEBOOK Right winger Ravil Gusmanov, a free agent signed by the Wild over the summer, was granted his release so he could return to play in his native Russia. Gusmanov was unhappy about playing for the Wild&rsquo;s minor league affiliate in Houston. He follows Czech center Pavel Patera and Slovak left winger Peter Bartos as Wild players who returned to Europe after being sent to the minors. &#9632;

f0022-01

Backup Roloson pleasant surprise

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Herb Zurkowsky</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-04430/7853273-1-eng-US/f0022-042.jpg" title="f0022-04" width="586" height="1060"><figcaption class="caption-body">GOAL TROUBLE Usually reliable left winger Martin Rucinsky has scored only once in eight games for Montreal. (Andre Pichette/BBS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-02827/7853280-1-eng-US/f0022-022.jpg" title="f0022-02" width="217" height="224"></div>The Montreal Canadiens&rsquo; dreaded injury bug has struck again.Ravaged by injuries in each of the last two seasons, the Canadiens lost Oleg Petrov, the team&rsquo;s first-line right winger, and goaltender Jeff Hackett to a pair of fluke injuries within a 24-hour period.Petrov suffered a severely bruised left shoulder when he slammed into the boards during a game at Washington, Oct. 19. He is expected to miss two to three weeks.The next night, only 13 seconds into a game against Buffalo, Hackett suffered a dislocated left shoulder when he dove after a puck and had Sabres winger J.P. Dumont run into him. Hackett, the Canadiens&rsquo; best player through the early portion of the season, could miss six to eight weeks.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a huge loss for us because Jeff was playing really well,&rdquo; said Habs coach Michel Therrien. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s not much more to say when one of your best players is hurt like that.&rdquo;Hackett missed 55 games last season due to a broken right hand. In each of the last two seasons Montreal players missed more than 500 man-games to injury.NET RESULTS The Canadiens had been alternating Hackett and Theodore, but Theodore, 25, will now receive extensive playing time while Hackett recovers. Theodore proved last season he could be a first-string netminder, but has struggled this year.,MINUTE MUNCHER When Yanic Perreault played for Toronto, he was a third-line center with limited offensive opportunities. Now he&rsquo;s playing about 18 minutes per game on the top line, kills penalties and takes most of the crucial faceoffs.NOTEBOOKCenter Doug Gilmour made his debut Oct. 19, at Washington. The next night, against Buffalo, he played on the second line and logged 20:21 of ice time, the most by a Montreal forward. &#9632;

f0022-04

Hackett, Petrov first on the shelf

<div class="byline">&#x2013;David Boclair</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0022-03611/7853311-1-eng-US/f0022-032.jpg" title="f0022-03" width="240" height="225"></div>The broken hand suffered by defenseman Cale Hulse has created a troubling lack of depth along the Predators&rsquo; blueline.Every game so far, Nashville has gone with five defensemen who had fewer than 200 games of NHL experience at the start of the season. Among those who have been plugged are Marc Moro (15 games), Pavel Skrbek (nine) and 28-year-old Rich Brennan (39).Unwilling to rely on youngsters on special teams, coaches have turned to veterans Kimmo Timonen, Karlis Skrastins and Bill Houlder for heavy ice time.Hulse is second only to Houlder in terms of experience but second to none among that group in physical play. Without him, the Predators allowed 30 goals in the first 10 games, eight more than at the same time last season.In their first two seasons-without Hulse-the Predators allowed 31 and 30, respectively.NET RESULTS Mike Dunham&rsquo;s rise to the No. 1 spot in goal started slowly. He was shaky in two of his first three starts and played consecutive games just once in the first 10. He was responsible for all three of the team&rsquo;s victories in that stretch, but has not made the number of spectacular saves he has in previous seasons. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m sure it&rsquo;s unfair, but&hellip;I expect him to be on every night,&rdquo; said Houlder.MINUTE MUNCHER Defenseman Kimmo Timonen set a franchise record of 31:41 in a tie with St. Louis on Oct. 6 and has maintained a prominent presence in every game (nearly 28 shifts per night). As usual, he is a key part of the power play. However, because of the overall inexperience on the Preds&rsquo; defense, he has been a regular on the penalty kill, in addition to a member of the first defense pairing.NOTEBOOK With four goals in his first 10 games, center David Legwand was off to the best offensive start of his career. Even more appealing to the Predators&rsquo; coaches, he was a plus-4&hellip;Two other Nashville players have enjoyed early success as snipers. Defenseman Andy Delmore scored four goals in the first 10 games, one short of his career-high and second year right winger Scott Hartnell contributed three goals in the first nine games, one more than he produced in his entire rookie season with Nashville. &#9632;

f0022-03

Preds rely on vets for heavy ice time

<div class="byline">By Mark Brender</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0023-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0023-011032/7853349-1-eng-US/f0023-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">John Mahnic spent roughly 4,000 hours working on his masterpiece. (Mark Wilson)</figcaption></div>Ten years ago, while teaching art at a Canadian military base school in Germany, John Mahnic became intrigued by the work of the Renaissance masters and so was drawn to Rome, home of Michelangelo&rsquo;s magnificent Sistine Chapel ceiling frescoes. The visit changed his life. As he stared up at the 479-year-old masterpiece, his wife Val by his side, a seed was planted. A new life direction began to take hold. Awestruck yet undaunted, this indefatigable, semi-delusional, puck-crazy ex-junior goalie and Philadelphia Flyer fan from Regina knew he had found his calling: He would be the Michelangelo of the ice wars.Yes, John Mahnic looked up 60 feet to where the angels and prophets danced above and thought: I can do that. I can do that to hockeyHis wife thought he was crazy She might have told him that when the good Saint Ambroise (circa 340-397) wrote in a letter to St. Augustine, &ldquo;When in Rome live as the Romans do,&rdquo; this is not what he meant. It wouldn&rsquo;t have mattered. Others see the crowning achievement of one of the western art world&rsquo;s most influential figures. Mahnic saw only a template.Where Michelangelo drew the prophets Jeremiah and Daniel, Mahnic would put Mark Messier and Bobby Clarke. Where Michelangelo depicted the ancestors of Christ, Mahnic would bless the world with visions of Eddie Shore and Jacques Plante and Ted Lindsay Where Michelangelo joined the creation of Adam with the hand of God, Mahnic would create the hand of God alongside Bobby Orr, the great Bruin flying horizontally triumphant as in that most famous of hockey photographs.&ldquo;God gave life to Adam,&rdquo; Mahnic says. &ldquo;I like to think Orr gave life to hockey&rdquo;He stayed in Rome eight days, returning to the Chapel often. He probably spent four hours studying the details of the ceiling. He took notes. He started his project on a piece of 3-1/2-foot by 9-foot canvas the day he returned home.His two kids went in and out of puberty His 30s came and went. He ran with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, and emerged unscathed. He moved to Inuvik, NWT, and then to Guelph, Ont., and got a teaching and guidance job at a local high school. He started his own company, Original Six Hockey Art. The painting changed as well. By the late 1990s, Tiger Williams, Peter Stastny and Kirk Muller had been replaced by Chris Pronger, Teemu Selanne and Paul Kariya.&ldquo;Stastny should still be there. I feel bad that he&rsquo;s not,&rdquo; Mahnic says. He originally painted Don Cherry with his dog Blue, but later decided against it. &ldquo;I thought how bad is that, having a dog in there. I took Blue out and put in Danny Gallivan.&ldquo;You kick yourself for guys you left out,&rdquo; he continues. &ldquo;I&rsquo;d put Terry O&rsquo;Reilly in there, but you can&rsquo;t justify it. I&rsquo;d love to have my Flyers all over the place.&rdquo;Mahnic finally finished The Canadian Game in May, 2001, after spending some 4,000 hours on the project-roughly one hour per day for the past decade. The result is a minutely detailed, intricately designed wonder unprecedented in the annals of Canadian sports art and perhaps sports art anywhere in the world. (See pgs. 24-25.) He has put down so many layers of color to get the proper tones that no paint visible today was there even a year-and-a-half ago. Some spots have been brushed 10 times over.According to Mahnic, there are no fewer than 167 identifiable faces in his masterpiece (goalie masks included). He says all NHL team logos since 1917 are there (that would be 52, but we haven&rsquo;t counted), plus the logos of all 14 pre-NHL Stanley Cup winners, plus one more: the Charlestown Chiefs of Slap Shot fame. So are all NHL first- and second-team all-star goalies between 1965 and 2000, except Roman Turek. Mahnic was sure Curtis Joseph would be a second-teamer in 2000, but voters chose Turek instead. He&rsquo;s not changing it now.If there was any doubt this is the work of a man gone completely shinny-mad, consider this: The number of cracks in the marble architecture around each of the 12 main players is the number of Stanley Cups the player has won. And those hard-to-see numbers on the pucks beneath those players? Well, Dominik Hasek&rsquo;s goals-against average during the Nagano Olympics was 0.98; Bobby Hull won seven scoring titles; Phil Esposito once had 550 shots in a season; and Wayne Gretzky was on the ice for 3,439 of his team&rsquo;s goals during his career and so on. But you knew that alreadyAll the classic moments are there, too: Paul Henderson&rsquo;s goal, the Miracle on Ice, the Rocket and &lsquo;Sugar Jim.&rsquo; Mahnic admits to pulling a few fast ones. He drew himself, his dad and son Michael into an Ottawa Silver Seven panel. Val and their daughter Tiffany are also included. So is his favorite fan, Philly Bob, excitedly watching Bill Barilko&rsquo;s 1951 Cup. See that kid goalie playing road hockey? That&rsquo;s Mahnic about 34 years ago.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0024-011105/7853342-1-eng-US/f0024-012.jpg" title="f0024-01" width="6074" height="2334"><figcaption class="caption-body">(Mark Wilson)</figcaption></div><blockquote class="pullQuote">That&rsquo;s not something you look at, it&rsquo;s something you study.</blockquote>Ontario lottery executive Ron Barbaro, whose $200,000 offer for the painting was refusedA place of prominence in the center panel is reserved for the Stanley Cup-with Ray Bourque&rsquo;s name on it. Before Colorado won the Cup last season, that was Mahnic revisionist history at work. Now that Bourque&rsquo;s name is on the real thing, Mahnic is considering replacing his name with Mike Gartner&rsquo;s.So how much is something like this worth: A thousand bucks? Ten thousand? Guess again. Mahnic has already toned down $200,000 (Cdn.) and is holding out for half a million. According to Toronto art dealer Walter Moos, should Mahnic get his price, The Canadian Game would be one of the most expensive works-perhaps behind only those of internationally renowned Quebec painter Jean Paul Riopelle-ever sold by a living Canadian artist. For anyone interested, Mahnic is open to $50,000 installments paid over 10 years-plus a guarantee it will reside one month a year in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He&rsquo;ll throw in the three pages of trivia questions for free.Ron Barbaro, chairman of the Ontario Lottery and GamingCorporation, was in negotiations to buy the painting for display in Casino Niagara in Niagara Falls and was prepared to pay in the $200,000-range. Barbaro said he couldn&rsquo;t go higher because there wasn&rsquo;t enough promotional value attached. To make a poster for mass-marketing would require the approval of representatives of every identifiable figure in the painting, living or dead: Barbaro was sad to see this opportunity fall through his fingers.&ldquo;We looked at it, if it is possible, but it is pretty rich,&rdquo; said Barbaro, a serious art collector who owns more than 90 Inuit paintings. &ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t mean I don&rsquo;t like it. I think it&rsquo;s just a marvelous piece of work, a once-in-a-lifetime kind of thing. That&rsquo;s not something you just look at, it&rsquo;s something you study. Myself, I&rsquo;d have a tough time giving it up.&rdquo;Here&rsquo;s the catch: This is Mahnic&rsquo;s dress rehearsal. The painting just completed was intended to be a model only. When he thought, &ldquo;I can do that,&rdquo; he meant a full-scale Sistine Chapel reproduction on par with the size of the real ceiling. That&rsquo;s 44 feet by 132 feet, more than half the width of an NHL rink and as long as the distance from one blueline to the far goal line. He only kept on going with the small version because he realized it was turning into something good. Now he wants to use proceeds from its eventual sale to provide the seed money for his grand symphony of color: a 60-by-140 foot behemoth reproduction he one day envisions on epic display at Toronto&rsquo;s Pearson International Airport. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s your introduction to Canada, right?&rdquo;The big one will be in relief, making use of the same German marble Michelangelo used in his David sculpture. The platforms that support the small goalies will be made of real oak. The goalies will be life-sized.To pull it off he needs corporate sponsors. Someone could purchase naming rights. Mahnic is prepared to sell advertising spots in and around the painting if that&rsquo;s what it takes. He would quit his job at the high school. With four full-time assistants to layer paint, he figures it would take 10 years to finish-just in time for 2012, the 500th anniversary of the Sistine Chapel ceiling.&ldquo;I know I&rsquo;m going to do the big one. It will be completed somehow,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;It pretty much has to because it&rsquo;s in my head. It has got to get out.&rdquo;Heaven help the soul who stands in his way. The hockey gods-and Michelangelo-will be watching.John Mahnic can be reached at <a href="mailto:jmahnicart@home.com">jmahnicart@home.com</a>.<h2>An Ocean of Trivia</h2>As long as it took to do the painting, John Mahnic has spent many more hours cultivating his love of hockey. Among his trivia questions: The top two draft picks in a draft year are represented only once. Who are they? (A: Guy Lafleur and Marcel Dionne, 1971). And, who is the painting&rsquo;s post-expansion Hall of Fame goalie who never made an all-star team? (A: Gerry Cheevers). &#9632;

f0023-01

CENTER ICE

Michelangelo or the Ice Wars

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Rich Chere</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-011110/7853380-1-eng-US/f0026-012.jpg" title="f0026-01" width="224" height="256"></div>The departure of free agent Alexander Mogilny last summer and the unwillingness to replace the veteran sniper transformed the New Jersey Devils into a one-line team.That was the Devils&rsquo; overwhelming concern as they struggled to get any offensive production from forwards other than the Patrik Elias-Jason Arnott-Petr Sykora line.In their first seven games, the Devils scored 20 goals, 13 of which were scored by the Arnott line. Excluding the four goals scored by defensemen, the Devils got a total of three goals from all their other forwards.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m a little bit concerned,&rdquo; said coach Larry Robinson. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s not that this is a one-line team. I know that&rsquo;s not true. It&rsquo;s just that right now only one line is playing well, playing the way they are capable of playing.&rdquo;The lack of offensive production prompted Robinson to look for new wingers for center Scott Gomez, who had just one assists through seven games. Robinson said he liked the way Jay Pandolfo and John Madden complemented Gomez.&ldquo;Sure I miss (Mogilny),&rdquo; Gomez said. &ldquo;He&rsquo;s one of the best in the league, but he&rsquo;s gone.&rdquo;NET RESULTS Although Martin Brodeur stopped 73 of 77 shots during a three-game winning streak, it was the timeliness of his saves that proved most important. Brodeur was unbeatable late in games, especially when Ottawa outshot the Devils 13-3 in the third period Oct. 20 and still came up short.MINUTE MUNCHER A knee injury to Turner Stevenson and the need to generate offense prompted Pandolfo&rsquo;s shift to the Gomez line. Combined with his role on the penalty-killing unit, the Boston University left winger&rsquo;s minutes were up to 14:35 from 13:45 last year.NOTEBOOK Defenseman Scott Niedermayer responded to comments by Toronto enforcer Tie Domi, who suggested Niedermayer embellished the severity of his head injury during last year&rsquo;s playoffs. &ldquo;The issue died for me a long time ago,&rdquo; Niedermayer said. &ldquo;I guess if (Domi) wants to keep talking about it, he can. It is sad.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0026-01

Team of one-liners no laughing matter

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Peter Botte</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-04441/7853411-1-eng-US/f0026-042.jpg" title="f0026-04" width="975" height="681"><figcaption class="caption-body">BACK ON TOP Chris Osgood was run out of Detroit, but he&rsquo;s starring in the Islanders&rsquo; crease.</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-02773/7853418-1-eng-US/f0026-022.jpg" title="f0026-02" width="225" height="251"></div>The changes the New York Islanders made over the summer came in both big and small packages.Big-ticket imports Alexei Yashin, Michael Peca and Chris Osgood have received much of the credit for the Isles&rsquo; early worst-to-first turnaround in the Eastern Conference. But a less heralded newcomer, Shawn Bates, also contributed to the Isles&rsquo; 6-0-1-1 start, which tied for the most points (14) through eight games in team history&ldquo;You just notice him,&rdquo; said coach Peter Laviolette. &ldquo;Every game he does something to make you notice him. You notice his speed, his scoring opportunities, you notice him on the penalty kill. He has been a great surprise for us, and even a surprise to me, because he&rsquo;s playing better than even I thought he could.&rdquo;Laviolette coached Bates, 26, in the American League at Providence in 1999 and as an assistant coach with the Bruins last season. The Isles signed Bates to a two-year, $1.05-million contract as a free agent over the summer. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just glad to be out of there and getting a shot here,&rdquo; Bates said.NET RESULTS Chris Osgood stood out in every way imaginable, right down to the Detroit-red pads he continued to wear nearly one month after his arrival. Osgood carried a 5-1-1 record with a 1.81 goals-against and a .934 save percentage through seven appearances.MINUTE MUNCHER Czech rookie Radek Martinek, a 25-year-old puck-rushing defenseman, averaged about 22 minutes through eight games. Playing mostly with fellow Czech Roman Hamrlik, Martinek quickly earned Laviolette&rsquo;s trust at both ends of the ice. He logs serious minutes on the power play and in late-game defensive situations.NOTEBOOK The Islanders retired former captain and Hall of Famer Bryan Trottier&rsquo;s No. 19 in a pre-game ceremony Oct. 20 against San Jose. &#9632;

f0026-04

Bates contributes with two-way play

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Rick Carpiniello</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0026-03621/7853449-1-eng-US/f0026-032.jpg" title="f0026-03" width="221" height="252"></div>The New York Rangers may be closing the file on the unsolved mystery that is Michal Grosek.The highly skilled right winger, whom the Rangers obtained on waivers from Chicago last October, was sent to Hartford of the American League Oct. 20 to clear space on the NHL roster for returning defenseman Tomas Kloucek.&ldquo;I think the guy should be a player,&rdquo; said Rangers&rsquo; coach Ron Low. &ldquo;I think he should be a really decent player and I don&rsquo;t know why he isn&rsquo;t better. Blame me. I didn&rsquo;t push the right buttons. He has all the talent, all the tools. All of them.&rdquo;Grosek, who averaged 8:48 of ice time in five games, doesn&rsquo;t think he got a legitimate shot.&ldquo;Fair chance?&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I got a fair chance. It&rsquo;s only five games. I played three of them, really. In two of them I played six and three minutes. I think I played well those three games. After that, I don&rsquo;t know what happened.&rdquo;The 26-year-old Grosek, who had a goal and two points in the five games, is in the final year of his contract. If he doesn&rsquo;t catch on with another NHL team after this season or get traded, he said he&rsquo;d return to Europe.NET RESULTS Mike Richter&rsquo;s comeback from reconstructive right knee surgery is progressing well. He has controlled rebounds better and isn&rsquo;t overplaying shooters, as he did for stretches last season. He has been victimized by some shoddy defensive play in front of him, particularly as the Rangers&rsquo; penalty killing sunk to the bottom of the NHL for the second year in a row. Also helping is 18-year-old Dan Blackburn, who has provided solid relief.MINUTE MUNCHER Radek Dvorak&rsquo;s development as a two-way player has allowed him to pile up 20:22 of ice time per game, which is right there with the team&rsquo;s top forwards Eric Lindros (20:50) and Theoren Fleury (20:46). The Rangers love Dvorak&rsquo;s speed on the penalty kill and use him in all situations.NOTEBOOK The Rangers allowed the rarest of goals, a 3-on-5 shorthanded marker, to San Jose center Vincent Damphousse Oct. 22. In fact, Damphousse and Brad Stuart, two of the three Sharks on the ice, had a 2-on-0 break after a giveaway by center Eric Lindros. &#9632;

f0026-03

End of Ranger days for skilled Grosek?

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Bruce Garrioch</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-011059/7853480-1-eng-US/f0027-012.jpg" title="f0027-01" width="227" height="245"></div>While the weather turned cold in October, the heat on Ottawa Senators&rsquo; coach Jacques Martin was rising. With the Senators off to one of their worst starts since 1995-96, GM Marshall Johnston was forced to come to Martin&rsquo;s defense Oct. 25 by giving the club&rsquo;s bench boss a vote of confidence.&ldquo;Absolutely,&rdquo; said Johnston when asked by reporters if Martin&rsquo;s job was safe. &ldquo;I look at the success this team has had and the only success it has had is when he has been here. Right now, I&rsquo;m sure everybody is working as hard as they can to fix the problem.&ldquo;Right now, he&rsquo;s part of the solution, not part of the problem.&rdquo;Martin, who is in his seventh season behind the club&rsquo;s bench, has one-year plus an option remaining on his contract. Pulling the plug on him would mean the Senators would owe him more than $1 million. Martin said he didn&rsquo;t need Johnston to give him a vote of confidence.&ldquo;I&rsquo;m not looking for endorsement,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m not panicking. We&rsquo;ve gone through this before and we&rsquo;re going to find answers. We have to do the job ourselves. We&rsquo;ve had success here in the past and we can get the job done.&rdquo;NET RESULTS Struggling to find his game, Patrick Lalime didn&rsquo;t get off to the kind of start anybody expected. Handed a three-year contract after a standout season last year, Lalime wasn&rsquo;t coming up with the big saves and was in goal for a three-game losing skid. His save percentage was hovering around .860.MINUTE MUNCHER Center Todd White was getting to play a big role while the Senators search for a No. 2 center. The trade of Alexei Yashin to the Islanders left a big hole in the middle that Martin is trying to fill. White, who has mostly been a minor-leaguer during his career, was averaging 18:37 per game.NOTEBOOK The players rolled out the red carpet to welcome assistant coach Roger Neilson on the ice for his first practice Oct. 23. Following a ceremonial faceoff, captain Daniel Alfredsson handed the puck to Neilson while the players banged their sticks on the ice. Neilson has been troubled by cancer treatment and wasn&rsquo;t strong enough to skate. &ldquo;All things considered, I&rsquo;m doing pretty good,&rdquo; Neilson said. &#9632;

f0027-01

Martin’s job safe despite poor start

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Wayne Fish</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-02698/7853511-1-eng-US/f0027-022.jpg" title="f0027-02" width="225" height="227"></div>When he stepped in front of the television lights the morning of March 27, 2000 to be announced as the Flyers&rsquo; new captain, Eric Desjardins hardly looked in a celebratory mood.The hockey &lsquo;C&rsquo;, perhaps the most significant letter in all of professional team sports, had just been symbolically ripped off the No. 88 jersey of Eric Lindros and was about to be sewn onto that of his No. 37.At times, the unwanted pressure and added responsibility took something away from his game. This year, Desjardins got off to a slow start. He had just three assists to go along with a minus-6 in nine games. On Oct. 23, the 32-year-old Desjardins voluntarily stepped down as captain and was replaced by veteran center Keith Primeau.Desjardins helped get the Flyers through one of the most difficult periods in their history. But he&rsquo;s a quiet perfectionist, not a locker room rah-rah guyPrimeau is, in Paul Ranheim&rsquo;s words, more of an &ldquo;in-your-face&rdquo; guy, which is what this current group of star personalities might need.NET RESULTS Roman Cechmanek got off to a slow start for a second straight season. Despite a 3-1-2 mark, his goals-against average was 3.09, far above last year&rsquo;s league-leading 2.01. Cechmanek said he has been giving up too many rebounds. He was pulled from an Oct. 25 game against Ottawa trailing 5-1. Cechmanek indicated he has been working harder on his game preparation and expects improvement.MINUTE MUNCHER A pair of newcomers on defense-Eric Weinrich and Kim Johnsson-have lightened the load somewhat for veterans such as Luke Richardson and Chris Therien. Against Ottawa oct. 25, Weinrich and Johnsson each played more than 22 minutes, the most of any backliner on the team.Desjardins, who seems to get rundown at the end of the season, might benefit from this new distribution of playing time.NOTEBOOK Right winger Rick Tocchet disclosed he has a partially ruptured patella tendon in his left knee and will need a minimum of a month more rehabilitation time before he tries another comeback. The 37-year-old Tocchet, who hasn&rsquo;t ruled out retirement, needs just 50 points and 56 penalty minutes to become only the second 1,000/3,000 man in NHL history. Dale Hunter is the other. &#9632;

f0027-02

Desjardins hands ‘C’ to assertive Primeau

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Bob McManaman</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0027-03480/7853542-1-eng-US/f0027-032.jpg" title="f0027-03" width="226" height="275"></div>Sergei Berezin said it felt like getting traded again.&ldquo;This is the first time I put this jersey on and I still don&rsquo;t know everybody yet,&rdquo; said the left winger after finally making his Phoenix debut Oct. 20 against the Vancouver Canucks.Berezin, acquired from Toronto in June for Mikael Renberg, missed the entire pre-season and the first seven games of the season after suffering stretched medial collateral ligaments in his knee when he was checked into the boards during a scrimmage.On his second shift against the Canucks, he picked up an assist.&ldquo;It was just nice to finally get out there and play,&rdquo; Berezin said. &ldquo;It was pretty tough, though. I played my last game six months ago. I did a lot of off-ice work and all that, but it&rsquo;s different out there. The game&rsquo;s so fast. My timing still isn&rsquo;t there and my legs aren&rsquo;t there and everything feels a little weird.&rdquo;Berezin spent his first two games playing on a line with center Daymond Langkow and right winger Claude Lemieux.&ldquo;It doesn&rsquo;t really matter who they put me with,&rdquo; Berezin said, &ldquo;because everybody&rsquo;s new to me.&rdquo;NET RESULTS Sean Burke said focus and repetition are the most instrumental facets to his game and as the No.l goalie in Phoenix, he couldn&rsquo;t avoid either if he tried. Facing an average of 30.4 shots after his first eight starts, the 6-foot-4 veteran has had to stay on his toes. He has been the Coyotes&rsquo; most valuable player to date, with a goals-against average of 2.20 and a save percentage of .926.MINUTE MUNCHER The offense-starved Coyotes are hoping center Daniel Briere can infuse his power play spark into even-strength situations. Briere was averaging 13:14 per game, up from the 7:41 he got in spot duty last season.NOTEBOOK Rookie center Krys Kolanos, the team&rsquo;s first round pick in the 2000 draft, was the target of some good-natured hazing by his teammates, who shaved off the sides of his hair and left him with a Mohawk. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know who did it,&rdquo; said alternate captain Claude Lemieux, &ldquo;but it was either that or he&rsquo;d have to take the whole team out to dinner, and him being the only rookie, it would be unbelievably expensive. Rookie dinners run $10,000 to $12,000. I&rsquo;d rather get my head shaved, too.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0027-03

Newcomer Berezin gradually adjusting

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Joe Starkey</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-011096/7853573-1-eng-US/f0028-012.jpg" title="f0028-01" width="225" height="241"></div>The Penguins executed an about-face under new coach Rick Kehoe. After starting 0-4 under Ivan Hlinka, who was fired, Pittsburgh earned nine of a possible 10 points in its first five games with Kehoe behind the bench.&ldquo;We wanted to get back to .500 as quick as we possibly could-before the 10-game mark,&rdquo; said winger Kevin Stevens.Kehoe broke up all four lines. He also had his club playing a simpler game with shorter shifts. With Jaromir Jagr traded to Washington and Alexei Kovalev (knee surgery) on the sidelines, the Penguins cut back a bit on their freewheeling ways.&ldquo;We need to take care of the defensive end first,&rdquo; Kehoe said. &ldquo;The rest will take care of itself.&rdquo;It helped that captain Mario Lemieux and goalie Johan Hedberg regained their stride. Lemieux went goal-less in the first five games, his longest drought at the start of a season in his 14-year career.One of Kehoe&rsquo;s first moves was to put Martin Straka and Toby Petersen on Lemieux&rsquo;s wings. Their speed created space for Lemieux.NET RESULTS Goaltender Johan Hedberg regained the form that made him a hero last season. Hedberg allowed seven goals on his first 40 shots, but later went five straight games without allowing more than two goals (4-0-0-1).Hedberg switched to a lighter set of pads, which allows him to move more quickly.MINUTE MUNCHER Defenseman Josef Melichar played 18 games in a few stints with the Penguins last season, but didn&rsquo;t see much action in many of them.This season Melichar has averaged more than 16 minutes per game. He has earned those minutes by playing a physical brand of hockey in front of the net and along the boards.NOTEBOOK GM Craig Patrick said his offer of a long-term contract to center Robert Lang was rejected. Now, it seems inevitable that Lang will become an unrestricted free agent next summer. He was awarded a one-year, $2.9 million contract in arbitration last summer&hellip;Center Wayne Primeau returned to the lineup Oct. 24 against Dallas after missing the first eight games with a stress fracture in his heel. He gave the Pens a boost by winning 14 of his first 21 faceoffs. &#9632;

f0028-01

Kehoe kick-starts slumping Penguins

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Derrick Goold</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-02753/7853604-1-eng-US/f0028-022.jpg" title="f0028-02" width="224" height="251"></div>Captain Chris Pronger tossed and turned and fretted and managed to get 15 minutes of sleep, he thinks, after the St. Louis Blues&rsquo; loss to Calgary.The winner for Calgary bounced &ldquo;off my shoulder, off my shin pad, off my skate and in,&rdquo; Pronger said. &ldquo;As tic-tac-toe as you can get.&rdquo; It was a snapshot of Pronger&rsquo;s frustrating start. He called it a funk.&ldquo;Things aren&rsquo;t going his way,&rdquo; said assistant coach Mike Kitchen. &ldquo;Eventually, you wonder how low you can get.&rdquo;Pronger, the Norris and Hart trophies winner in 1999-2000, said he wasn&rsquo;t ready to dart back to zero and &ldquo;go through Hockey 101.&rdquo; He said he was struggling with what is being called this year and what is being let go. He can&rsquo;t find the edge between legal and penalty box and has erred on the side of caution.&ldquo;I feel like I am under the largest microscope in the country,&rdquo; Pronger said.NET RESULTS Fred Brathwaite had the early track on the Blues&rsquo; No. 1 spot with three consecutive starts because of supreme poise. Brathwaite can&rsquo;t fill the net like Brent Johnson, but makes far fewer mistakes with rebounds. Johnson recovered against the Rangers Oct. 25, handling the few shots he faced. Brathwaite drifts when the Blues defense doesn&rsquo;t give up many shots. He needs rhythm. Johnson keeps himself entertained by playing the puck when he doesn&rsquo;t need to.MINUTE MUNCHER Early this season Pavol Demitra has seen a spike in playing time because of his new and needed role. The power play was a clunker until Demitra hopped to its right wing. Yet, the second line needs his presence in the pivot. He has shown the defensive ability to handle center and the spillover effect gives the Blues&rsquo; offense flexibility and balance throughout the lines. He&rsquo;s playing 19:04 per game compared to 18:02 last season.NOTEBOOK Defenseman Rich Pilon broke his left wrist in a collision with New York Rangers&rsquo; right winger Radek Dvorak. The Blues were already down two defensemen when Pilon slid into the boards and then raced off the ice in the second period. He&rsquo;s out of action until late December&hellip;Right winger Scott Young returned from a bout with back pain for the Blues&rsquo; 5-1 win against the Rangers. &#9632;

f0028-02

Struggling Pronger gets back to basics

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Ross McKeon</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0028-03546/7853635-1-eng-US/f0028-032.jpg" title="f0028-03" width="219" height="247"></div>San Jose Sharks&rsquo; management and ownership denied initial reports of an impending sale, but sources indicate the 11-year-old franchise is at the very least searching for new investors.Majority owner George Gund termed reports the team is for sale as &ldquo;inaccurate&rdquo; and added, &ldquo;someday I&rsquo;ll be able to tell you.&rdquo;Ownership recently expanded to include a pro soccer team, sponsorship of a golf tournament and management of a local rink under its umbrella, but word has it revenue from hockey is supporting everything. And everything is being spread thinly.Reports circulated the team was either already sold, or close to being sold, but Gund and team president Greg Jamison disputed those rumors.&ldquo;I have to go back to my original quote, the Sharks are not for sale, and I expect George Gund to be involved with this team for a long time,&rdquo; Jamison reiterated.NET RESULTS Evgeni Nabokov&rsquo;s numbers after six games-two wins, two losses, two ties, a 2.65 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage-were not breathtaking, but his performance was not too bad. Nabokov was largely responsible for San Jose&rsquo;s outstanding play while shorthanded and didn&rsquo;t appear to be suffering the effects of a swelled head after being named the league&rsquo;s top rookie last season. One of Nabokov&rsquo;s greatest assets is his ability to remain on an even keel and prepare with the same consistency from one game to the next.MINUTE MUNCHER Third year defenseman Brad Stuart was averaging almost 21 minutes per game while facing more opposing top-liners than in his first two NHL seasons. With restricted free agent Mike Rathje unsigned, Stuart grabbed some of those extra minutes.Stuart appears in all situations, as he has in the past, and the more physical the game, the more-and better-Stuart plays.NOTEBOOK Left winger Adam Graves was welcomed back to Madison Square Garden with huge pre-game ovations and an emotional video presentation that preceded the opening faceoff Oct. 22. Graves, who spent 10 seasons with the New York Rangers, had an assist in San Jose&rsquo;s 5-1 win over his former team. &#9632;

f0028-03

Management denies Sharks are for sale

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Damian Cristodero</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-01973/7853666-1-eng-US/f0029-012.jpg" title="f0029-01" width="225" height="249"></div>Asked why he wasn&rsquo;t starting goaltender Kevin Weekes against the Kings Oct. 25, coach John Tortorella&rsquo;s answer was simple and straight to the point.The organization, the coach said, is committed to getting Nikolai Khabibulin back to the elite level he enjoyed two seasons ago with the Coyotes.If that means giving him the bulk of the work, then that&rsquo;s the way it will be. The question came up because Weekes had been spectacular in shutting out the Kings 1-0 Oct. 13 and had not played since.There was no questioning the decision after Khabibulin stopped 28 shots in a 3-0 win at the Ice Palace. That gave the Lightning four wins and a tie in its last nine games after opening with three straight defeats.Khabibulin&rsquo;s first shutout of the season gave him a 3-4-1 record and a sizzling .923 save percentage.&ldquo;When you go out there, you try to stop every puck, but you never expect a shutout,&rdquo; Khabibulin said. &ldquo;The players are making every effort to help the goalie and if there is a breakdown, I&rsquo;m going to make every effort to stop the puck. It makes you feel so much better to see that kind of effort.&rdquo;NET RESULTS Khabibulin has taken giant steps since the beginning of the season. He came into camp in excellent shape, but playing in game conditions has improved his stamina and his technical abilities. His angles have sharpened, his anticipation is superb and his glove hand is as quick as ever.MINUTE MUNCHER Martin St. Louis averaged 15:14 of ice time last season. That has risen to 19:24 this season and it may go higher if he keeps playing at such a high level. After nine games, St. Louis led the team with nine points, including five goals. He was also plus-5.NOTEBOOK Tampa Bay allowed only seven goals in a six-game stretch Oct. 13-25, a team record&hellip;The Lightning had not been .500 since opening last season with a 3-3 tie against Vancouver. The team had not been .500 this late in a season since the 14th game of 1998-99&hellip;Third-year center Vincent Lecavalier was struggling. Through seven games he had no goals and just two assists. The top pick in the 1998 entry draft was also minus-2. &#9632;

f0029-01

Khabibulin rules Lightning crease

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Paul Hunter</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-02648/7853697-1-eng-US/f0029-022.jpg" title="f0029-02" width="223" height="262"></div>Unsigned restricted free agent Tomas Kaberle returned to Toronto, but not to the Maple Leafs.Kaberle arrived from the Czech Republic in late October to tend to some personal business.The defenseman&rsquo;s presence in town brought him no closer to re-signing with the club as negotiations turned increasingly rancorous. The Leafs have offered Kaberle, who is two seasons away from arbitration, $4.8 million in a three-year package. The 23-year-old is seeking $6 million over that same time frame.In an effort to expedite his client&rsquo;s return to the NHL, Kaberle&rsquo;s agent Jay Fee held exploratory talks with Islanders&rsquo; GM Mike Milbury Oct. 25, but there was no indication a contract offer would be forthcoming from New York.Bill Watters, the Leafs&rsquo; executive who handles contract negotiations, was heartened by Fee&rsquo;s initiative. &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve maintained all along if they feel he&rsquo;s worth what they&rsquo;re asking, then go get an offer sheet,&rdquo; said Watters. &ldquo;We want to sign him, but we can&rsquo;t match Fee&rsquo;s demand, so he&rsquo;s trying to get someone who will pay him.&rdquo;NET RESULTS Curtis Joseph, the club&rsquo;s most valuable player, got off to a horrible start this season, allowing five goals against in three of his first seven starts as his save percentage dipped to .864. But Joseph was very much back in form Oct. 23, shutting out Boston with a brilliant 30-save performance.MINUTE MUNCHER Coach Pat Quinn is remarkably consistent and egalitarian when it comes to doling out ice time, but defenseman Dmitry Yushkevich, Toronto&rsquo;s most utilized player, is playing even more. Yushkevich was averaging 25:23 a game this season compared to 24:14 last year.NOTEBOOK Right winger Chris Murray, who played 242 NHL games with Montreal, Hartford, Carolina, Ottawa, Chicago and Dallas, announced his retirement Oct. 24 because of a lingering wrist injury. &#9632;

f0029-02

Leafs, Kaberle still at impasse

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Elliott Pap</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-04310/7853728-1-eng-US/f0029-042.jpg" title="f0029-04" width="696" height="1032"><figcaption class="caption-body">TWO-WAY THREAT Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; enforcer Donald Brashear is proving he can do more than fight, scoring three goals in his first 11 games. (BBS)</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0029-03439/7853735-1-eng-US/f0029-032.jpg" title="f0029-03" width="225" height="266"></div>The Crow won&rsquo;t be flying from the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; nest.Marc Crawford, the Canucks&rsquo; coach since replacing Mike Keenan Jan. 24, 1999, signed a two-year contract extension that will carry him through the 2003-04 season.Under Crawford, the Canucks improved from 58 points to 83 and then 90, although they did get off to a very rocky start this season.&ldquo;I think the most important decision a general manager makes is who coaches the team and I think we hired the right coach in Marc Crawford,&rdquo; said GM Brian Burke.&ldquo;I want to make a strong statement to our players and to the fans in Vancouver that Marc Crawford is coaching our hockey club and, in the opinion of the GM, he&rsquo;s doing an outstanding job despite our troubles right now.&rdquo;Crawford, 40, spent his entire playing career with the Canucks and expressed happiness at staying in Vancouver.&ldquo;My family loves it here in Vancouver and I like this team,&rdquo; Crawford said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m really pleased and I&rsquo;m most excited about where we can take this team in the future.&rdquo;NET RESULTS Dan Cloutier has been good, but not great, in his first season as a No. 1 goalie in the NHL. He stole a game against Dallas with 38 saves and shut out the defending Stanley Cup-champion Colorado Avalanche, but also surrendered a couple of soft goals in losses to Detroit and Toronto.MINUTE MUNCHER Although his ice time isn&rsquo;t up dramatically over last season, left winger Donald Brashear was making the most of his minutes early in the new campaign. Brashear had seven points, including three goals, in his first 11 games while playing a third line role for the Canucks.NOTEBOOK The Canucks lost No. 1 center Andrew Cassels until at least late November when he sprained his right knee against the Nashville Predators Oct. 23. &#9632;

f0029-04

Crawford signs on for two more years

Canada&rsquo;s top hockey province is Ontario with 143 NHLers, including Jeff O&rsquo;Neill. Massachusetts leads all U.S. states with 21 players, one of which is Marty McInnis. Listed are each country&rsquo;s top 10 areas and the number of NHLers from that province/state.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-011093/7853787-1-eng-US/f0030-012.jpg" title="f0030-01" width="284" height="310"><figcaption class="caption-body">Marty McInnis Anaheim</figcaption><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-02734/7853780-1-eng-US/f0030-022.jpg" title="f0030-02" width="858" height="281"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-03519/7853773-1-eng-US/f0030-032.jpg" title="f0030-03" width="854" height="281"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-04359/7853766-1-eng-US/f0030-042.jpg" title="f0030-04" width="279" height="310"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jeff O&rsquo;Neill Carolina</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0030-01

REGIONAL RANKING

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Dave Fay</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0030-05267/7853818-1-eng-US/f0030-052.jpg" title="f0030-05" width="223" height="257"></div>With the schedule compressed to squeeze in the all-star and Olympic breaks and back-to-back games more the rule than the exception, backup goalies are probably going to see more action than ever.The Washington Capitals&rsquo; Craig Billington is ready. He backs starter Olaf Kolzig.&ldquo;I&rsquo;ll do whatever they want-play 10,20,30, it&rsquo;s up to them,&rdquo; said the 35-year-old veteran after earning a 1-1 tie in Tampa Bay Oct. 23. It was his third appearance in the team&rsquo;s first nine games, but one thing didn&rsquo;t change over previous appearances-he got very little offensive support.Billington has made 22 starts-in two-plus seasons for Washington with his mates scoring one or fewer goals in half of them. The Caps have managed just 43 goals in his 22 starts, the primary reason he is left with a 6-12-4 record. His goals-against average of 2.32 is a much better barometer of his play.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s something you can&rsquo;t control and I don&rsquo;t have a hard enough shot to help out (on offense),&rdquo; Billington said. &ldquo;I just worry about giving the team a chance to win.&rdquo;NET RESULTS Kolzig might not lead any statistical category at season&rsquo;s end, but he&rsquo;ll be close in many. What he does is give his team a chance to win almost every night through a combative attitude that translates into motivation for his teammates. He keeps the opposition within reach until he can deliver one of his impassioned, colorful and descriptive instructional talks between periods, urging his teammates to follow his example.MINUTE MUNCHER At times last season it looked as though veteran defenseman Sylvain Cote was on his way out. In 68 games he averaged 17:47 ice time. This year, though, his playing time was up to 22:01 and he was in the lineup all 10 games.NOTEBOOK Left winger Peter Bondra was closing in on Mike Gartner&rsquo;s all-time club record for goals (397). With nine goals in 10 games this season, Bondra had 391. There&rsquo;s a chance he&rsquo;ll set the mark before Gartner enters the Hall of Fame Nov. 12. Bondra scored the winner in both Cap overtime victories&hellip;Thirty-nine-year-old center Adam Oates doesn&rsquo;t slow down, either. As of Oct. 25, he was just 30 helpers shy of his personal goal of 1,000 assists for his career. &#9632;

f0030-05

Billington ready when called upon

<div class="image-hero"><img title="f0031-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0031-011011/7853849-1-eng-US/f0031-012.jpg"></div>NHL depth charts are latest line combinations and defense pairingsIncluded are restricted free agents (**).Rookies are denoted on team scoring page. &#9632;

f0031-01

NHL DEPTH CHARTS

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Rumun Ndur is a big man, a strong man. His 6-foot-2 frame is a hulked-up 240 pounds, with muscle on top of muscle.On the ice with the Norfolk Admirals, it&rsquo;s his job not only to play sound defense, but also to play with a mean streak. After eight American League games, he had one assist and 43 penalty minutes.Playing with toughness has been Ndur&rsquo;s game since he turned pro in 1995-96 in the Buffalo Sabres&rsquo; organization. In 236 minor pro games, Ndur has 942 penalty minutes. He also has 137 PIMs in 69 NHL games with the Sabres, New York Rangers and Atlanta Thrashers.But last spring, he wasn&rsquo;t feeling tough. The lingering effects of a concussion left him frightened. During a Jan. 4 fight with Rochester&rsquo;s Sasha Lakovic, they inadvertently butted heads (without helmets), then Ndur dropped forehead-first to the ice and was knocked out.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-011078/7853880-1-eng-US/f0032-012.jpg" title="f0032-01" width="282" height="353"><figcaption class="caption-body">Rumun Ndur</figcaption></div>&ldquo;There were days I couldn&rsquo;t stay awake; I&rsquo;d just sleep,&rdquo; said Ndur, 26. &ldquo;There were days and nights when I was almost in tears, thinking this might be it for my career.&rdquo;One doctor said it should be over and predicted it would end and there could be motor function problems-if he sustains another concussion. That&rsquo;s how bad the first diagnosed concussion of his career turned out to be.But Ndur says there&rsquo;s no reason to change his game. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve turned the page, I don&rsquo;t think about it any more,&rdquo; he said.Over the summer, doctors for the paren Chicago Blackhawks examined him and ruled him fit to play.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a new year and everything&rsquo;s good,&rdquo; Ndur said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m just doing what I have to do to get back to the NHL, playing physical and keeping it simple.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0032-01

Ndur puts concussion scare to rest

<div class="byline">By Kevin Oklobzija</div>Two weeks into the American League season, Chicago Wolves&rsquo; rookie Jeff Dessner heard the five words every offense-minded defenseman loves to hear from his coach:&ldquo;You are free to roam.&rdquo;Dessner, who turned pro after a four-year career at the University of Wisconsin, didn&rsquo;t need to be told twice by Wolves&rsquo; coach John Anderson. Through late October, he led all AHL rookies in assists with five in five games.&ldquo;The points are coming so far, but it&rsquo;s early, so I&rsquo;m not getting too carried away,&rdquo; said the 24-year-old native of Skokie, Ill. &ldquo;The coach just said whenever I see an opening, take it. You have to pick your spots.&rdquo;Dessner was an eighth round pick (185th overall) by the New York Rangers in 1996. He was traded to Atlanta for an eighth-rounder in 2001. He scored 18 goals and 45 points in 79 games in his last two years of college.EXORCISING PHANTOMS For four years, whenever Syracuse visited Philadelphia, the Crunch knew coming home with two points was unlikely. From Oct. 3,1997, through the end of last season, Syracuse was 0-12-5 in Philadelphia.But the extended drought ended Oct. 21 when goalie J-F Labbe made 22 saves and Brett Harkins scored a pair of goals in a 3-0 win over the Phantoms.Harkins&rsquo; first goal of the game came on a power play, ending Philadelphia&rsquo;s remarkable streak of 52 straight kills that covered the entire season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-02729/7853918-1-eng-US/f0032-022.jpg" title="f0032-02" width="245" height="246"></div>OUCH, THAT HURTS With Robbie Tallas, a veteran of 99 NHL games on the roster, it&rsquo;s easy for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach Glenn Patrick to choose a goalie.His decision was made easier when second year goalie Sebastien Caron wasn&rsquo;t able to stop much of anything in the early stages of 2001-02.In Caron&rsquo;s first start, Oct. 7, he gave up seven goals on 19 shots to Philadelphia before leaving in the second period. In his next start, Oct. 13, he was lit up for four goals on 12 shots. That&rsquo;s a 10.00 goals-against average and .645 save percentage.PENALTY RAMPAGE Hershey defenseman Jeff Paul had 41 penalty minutes against Worcester Oct. 19, including three fights and a match penalty for attempt to injure.A year ago, 74 skaters who played at least 50 AHL games didn&rsquo;t have 41 penalty minutes for the season.<div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-03523/7853911-1-eng-US/f0032-032.jpg" title="f0032-03" width="1325" height="1904"><figcaption class="caption-body">The Syracuse Crunch was unbeaten through seven games thanks in part to right winger Matt Davidson, who had a goal and four points.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0032-02

Rookie’s green light leads to red lights

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-04367/7853956-1-eng-US/f0032-042.jpg" title="f0032-04" width="458" height="369"></div><h2>WORCESTER ICECATS</h2><h3>NHL AFFILIATION</h3>St. Louis Blues<h3>ARENA</h3>Centrum Centre, cap. 12,316 Worcester, Mass.Tickets: 508-798-5400<h3>HISTORY</h3>The IceCats and Blues have had a working relationship since Worcester entered the AHL in 1994-95. The IceCats have won just three of nine playoff series.<h3>COACH</h3>Dan Granato, 2nd year<h3>GENERAL MANAGER</h3>John Ferguson Jr., 5th year<h3>NOTABLE PROSPECTS</h3><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-05282/7853949-1-eng-US/f0032-052.jpg" title="f0032-05" width="441" height="194"></div><h3>2001-02</h3>The IceCats have four solid defense prospects who should be NHL-ready inside of two seasons. &#9632;

f0032-04

AHL TEAM PROFILE 3 of 27

<div class="byline">By Rob Mueller</div>What happened when a faulty fax zapped the Atlanta Thrashers? Well, the Florida Everblades got Zepped. Confused?So was goaltending prospect Rob Zepp on the eve of the 2001 NHL entry draft.Selected by Atlanta in the third round (99th overall) in 1999, Zepp had agreed to a three-year deal worth $1.3 million with a $600,000 bonus. But his contract with the Thrashers was nullified because the fax arrived in the NHL office six minutes past the 5 p.m. deadline on June 1.So Zepp re-entered the 2001 draft and Atlanta&rsquo;s loss was a gain for the Carolina Hurricanes and the East Coast League&rsquo;s Everblades. Carolina selected the Plymouth Whalers&rsquo; star 110th overall and assigned him to Florida. He was brilliant in his pro debut, turning aside 41 shots in a 4-1 win over Augusta Oct. 19.&ldquo;He&rsquo;s going to be a tremendous goalie,&rdquo; said Florida coach Gerry Fleming. &ldquo;He does the little things well and is poised for such a young kid.&rdquo;SUPER START Goalie Dan Murphy had the Trenton Titans off to their best start ever with six straight victories.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0032-06235/7853987-1-eng-US/f0032-062.jpg" title="f0032-06" width="203" height="210"></div>Murphy, who took over the starting job following the departure of ECHL goalie of the year Scott Stirling, was 4-0-0 with a 1.67 goals-against average.The Titans, last year&rsquo;s Kelly Cup finalists, are led by new coach Peter Horachek.CHIEFS ON FILM NHL Productions announced the Johnstown Chiefs will be on The NHL Network in a segment featuring life in the minors. 1 he show will air later this year on the new digital network, which is broadcast on cable across Canada and <a href="http://NHL.com">NHL.com</a>.COAST LINES After making its ECHL debut Oct. 13 with a 4-3 shootout loss at South Carolina, Macon won four straight under coach Gord Dineen&hellip;New Orleans coach Ted Sator shook things up with three trades after his club opened 02-0. The Brass acquired winger George Awada from Richmond, defenseman Patrick Rochon from Mississippi and defenseman A.J. Begg from Reading. &#9632;

f0032-06

After Thrashing around, Zepp ends up a Blade

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div>Milson Botterill has been a lot of places in the last year, but thinks more about the he didn&rsquo;t visit.The 25-year-old left winger, a first round aft pick (20th overall) of Dallas in 1994, on a Calder Cup with Saint John in 2000, but for the first season as a pro, didn&rsquo;t end at least some time in the NHL.Botterill had 13 goals and 33 points in 60 american League games last season, but didn&rsquo;t add to his total of 48 NHL games split over four seasons. The Calgary Flames acquired Botterill from Atlanta two years ago, but have called him up just once.Injuries were part of last year&rsquo;s equation, complicating the second-guessing and self-doubt Botterill tries to avoid.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s easy to do that,&rdquo; Botterill said. &ldquo;I did that in Dallas quite a bit, even in Atlanta some. I think it really took a toll. I had injuries last year, too, and it was the first year I didn&rsquo;t get to go up and play in the NHL.&rdquo;<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-01980/7854018-1-eng-US/f0033-012.jpg" title="f0033-01" width="283" height="351"><figcaption class="caption-body">Jason Botterill</figcaption></div>A championship, though, rejuvenated his love to play.&ldquo;The game got fun in the second half for the first time in a couple years,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;You always play better when the game is enjoyable. We had a great team, The excitement of this town was unbelievable.&rdquo; Botterill has two goals and four points in six games for Saint John this season and hopes he&rsquo;s a candidate for NHL recall. He&rsquo;s looking forward to watching his sister, Jennifer, one of Canada&rsquo;s most accomplished female players, skate for her country at the Olympics.&ldquo;It has been so great watching her develop the last five years or so,&rdquo; Botterill said. &ldquo;She&rsquo;s a great ambassador for the game, too. I always enjoy watching her interviews. She has put a lot into the game, working hard off the ice and it shows.&rdquo; &#9632;

f0033-01

Botterill having fun on the farm again

<div class="byline">By Tim Campbell</div><div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-02670/7854056-1-eng-US/f0033-022.jpg" title="f0033-02" width="247" height="244"></div><div class="figure-block image-bleed"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-03514/7854049-1-eng-US/f0033-032.jpg" title="f0033-03" width="1332" height="1898"><figcaption class="caption-body">Hamilton&rsquo;s Michael Henrich is looking to improve upon a five-goal, 15-point rookie season. He had a goal and four points through seven games.</figcaption></div> &#9632;

f0033-02

Baby Leafs shut out in Mile One debut

<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-04403/7854094-1-eng-US/f0033-042.jpg" title="f0033-04" width="349" height="470"><figcaption class="caption-body">Brooks Orpik</figcaption></div>VITAL STATISTICSBorn: Amherst, N.Y.Age: 21.Size: 6-3, 217LAST AMATEUR CLUBBoston College (HE)POSITION Defense2001-02 SEASONWilkes-Barre/Scranton<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0033-05337/7854087-1-eng-US/f0033-052.jpg" title="f0033-05" width="415" height="116"></div>NHL AFFILIATIONPittsburgh PenguinsNOTEWORTHYDrafted 18th overall by Pittsburgh in 2000&hellip;Helped Boston College win NCAA title last season as a junior, then turned pro forgoing senior season&hellip;Ranked No. 21 prospect outside NHL by THN&rsquo;s Future Watch 2001.BOTTOM LINEDefensive defenseman plays aggressive, hard-hitting style. He skates well, but is often unsure when it comes to moving the puck. Transition to pro has been difficult, but his upside as a No. 3 D-man is solid. &#9632;

f0033-04

AHL SCOUTING REPORT

<div class="byline">&#x2013;Don Ruiz</div>Two weeks into the new season, the West Coast League was looking for a new president after Mike McCall resigned. McCall made the announcement effective Oct. 29. He accepted a position with Mandalay Sports Entertainment. A decision on a new league president isn&rsquo;t expected for several months. Until then, league affairs will be administered by the executive committee, comprised of owners Ron Hahn, Charles Davenport and Barry Kemp. McCall became WCHL president in August, 1997. &ldquo;It is always with some regret when you leave behind a situation that has been very good to you both personally and professionally,&rdquo; McCall said. &ldquo;The league is well-positioned to maintain the momentum which has been generated the past several seasons.&rdquo; &#9632;

WEST COAST LEAGUE

<div class="byline">&#x2013;David Henry</div>There was only one matter remaining to be resolved as the Central League began its 10th season and the Oklahoma City Blazers took care of it on opening night. The defending CHL champions hosted the three-time defending former Western Pro League champion Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs Oct. 19. CHL officials wanted to showcase the top two teams in the newly merged CHL-which joined with the WPHL-and finally bring closure to the former rival leagues. Oklahoma City captured bragging rights, at least for the time being, with a 6-5 victory. Blazers&rsquo; right winger Joe Burton, the CHL&rsquo;s all-time leader in goals and reigning league MVP, scored the winner with 1:02 to play. The two teams meet three more times this season. &#9632;

CENTRAL LEAGUE

<div class="byline">By Willy Palov</div>Danny Groulx is playing like he has something to prove.The Victoriaville Tigres&rsquo; defenseman, who was scoring at an outrageous clip through his first 13 games (seven goals and 29 points), attributes his success to being on a mission to earn a decent pro offer for next season.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0034-02758/7854204-1-eng-US/f0034-022.jpg" title="f0034-02" width="391" height="289"></div>&ldquo;I went to the Detroit Red Wings&rsquo; camp this year, but I didn&rsquo;t get any kind of offer there,&rdquo; Groulx said. &ldquo;After that I went to camp with the Toledo Storm (East Coast League) and all they offered me was a one-year contract there, so I decided to come back to junior because I wanted to get one more year of exposure here.&rdquo;If Groulx drew anything positive from his training camp auditions, it was that he realized his defensive deficiencies would hurt him in the pros.&ldquo;For sure my offense will still be important, but I think people that have watched me are already familiar with what I do offensively,&rdquo; said Groulx, who has 249 points in 286 career Quebec League games. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s why I think defensively I&rsquo;ve got to show them something new.&ldquo;This league is a good place to do that because I will get a lot of ice time and I always get to play against the other teams&rsquo; big lines. If I can do a good job defensively on those players, then maybe that will help for next year.&rdquo;The other advantage of returning to junior for a fifth year is that Groulx could get one more shot at the Memorial Cup. He made it to the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s championship tournament in 1998 with Val-d&rsquo;Or and in 1999 with Acadie-Bathurst, but neither team won a game.ON THE BLOCK Jean-Michel Boisvert is on the move after leaving the Halifax Mooseheads for personal reasons.The high-scoring 19-year-old center, acquired from the Montreal Rocket in June in a package for goaltender Pascal Leclaire, went home to Boucherville, Que., after just 11 games in Halifax.The Mooseheads will trade him to a team closer to the Montreal area as soon as the right deal presents itself.&ldquo;The thing we want to do is have the best hockey team possible, as soon as possible,&rdquo; said Halifax GM Marcel Patenaude.&ldquo;But we won&rsquo;t rush if the situation&rsquo;s not right. Everybody in the league knows he&rsquo;s a very good player, so we won&rsquo;t give hit away. We&rsquo;ll make a move when we can get something that make sense for us.&rdquo;QUICK CHANGE The Sherbrooke Castors didn&rsquo;t waste any time finding a new coach.They hired former NHLer Jean Pronovost just six days after firing former Canadian national junior coach Joe Canale. Pronovost, who scored 391 goals in 13-plus seasons with the Pitts burgh Penguins, Atlanta Flames and Washington Capitals, has QMJHL head coaching experience with the Shawinigan Cataractes (1994-96) and Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (1997-2001).He has a 176-117-29 career record and was named the league&rsquo;s coach of the year in 1996. &#9632;

f0034-02

Veteran Groulx lights it up, but seeks better ‘D’ game

<div class="byline">By Rob Vanstone</div><div class="image-hero"><img title="f0035-01" src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-011036/7854242-1-eng-US/f0035-012.jpg"><figcaption class="caption-body">Lethbridge&rsquo;s Nathan Barrett leads the Western League in scoring for the suddenly powerful Hurricanes.</figcaption></div>The Lethbridge Hurricanes, who used to have a popgun offense, have become one of the Western League&rsquo;s top guns.Last season, Lethbridge scored a mere 200 goals in 72 games-2.78 per game. Only the Saskatoon Blades, with 193, scored fewer.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0035-02728/7854235-1-eng-US/f0035-022.jpg" title="f0035-02" width="399" height="273"></div>But after 12 games this season, the Central Division&rsquo;s Hurricanes boasted a league-high 57 goals-4.75 per game-and a 92-1-0 record and were 10th in the Canadian Hockey League&rsquo;s rankings. It&rsquo;s the first time the team has been ranked since its WHL championship season of 1996-97.&ldquo;It&rsquo;s our depth,&rdquo; said Hurricanes&rsquo; center Nathan Barrett. &ldquo;A lot of the better teams in the division lost a lot and we didn&rsquo;t. We got a lot of guys back and it&rsquo;s our turn to go.&rdquo;Barrett was leading the WHL in goals (13) and points (26) as of Oct. 24. Teammates Tomas Kopecky (23 points) and Riley Layden (20) were second and fourth, respectively, in the scoring derby.Barrett&rsquo;s offensive prowess isn&rsquo;t anything new. He scored 46 goals last season and 44 the previous winter.He rejoined Lethbridge as a 20-year-old after attending the Vancouver Canucks&rsquo; training camp. Vancouver picked him in the eighth round (241st overall) of the 2000 draft.&ldquo;This is my final year in the (WHL),&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;If things don&rsquo;t work out in Vancouver, I&rsquo;ll be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, so I thought it was important for me to play every game and have the best season I could.&rdquo;ICE STORM Kootenay Ice center Marek Svatos is out indefinitely with a dislocated shoulder. Svatos, who had 12 goals after 12 games, was injured Oct. 17 during a 1-1 tie with the Red Deer Rebels.The Ice already was missing center Jarret Stoll, out until mid-November with a lacerated hand. Stoll, who had 106 points last season, was hurt in a Sept. 24 kitchen accident.Not only that, 18-year-old goaltender Dan Blackburn has spent the first month of the season in the NHL with the New York Rangers.BOOGAARD&rsquo;S BOO-BOO Prince George Cougars&rsquo; left winger Derek Boogaard received a four-game suspension for his actions during a 10-4 victory over the Calgary Hitmen Oct. 14.The league disciplined Boogaard for making an inappropriate gesture-giving the finger-to referee David Rost.The 6-foot-7, 250-pound Boogaard had just served a seven-game suspension for steamrolling Portland goalie Lanny Ramage after a playoff game last season.HOT KETTLES Kyle Kettles was an instant hit in Moose Jaw. Kettles. Obtained from the Medicine Hat Tigers for fellow goalie Sean Connors Oct. 12, Kettles was undefeated in our starts with the Warriors.Kettles had a 1.45 goals-against average and a .955 save percentage in those games. He did not allow a goal in his first two appearances at the Moose Jaw Civic Centre. &#9632;

f0035-01

Hurricanes wreak havoc with new-found offense

<div class="byline">By Paul Harris</div>Michigan State coach Ron Mason became the first coach in U.S. college hockey history to reach 900 career wins when the Spartans defeated Ferris State 2-0 Oct. 20.&ldquo;Longevity and consistency are two things that are tough in coaching today,&rdquo; said Mason, in his 23rd season at Michigan State and 36th as a coach.&ldquo;For many years when I was coaching, you didn&rsquo;t worry too much about wins and losses. Nowadays, it&rsquo;s more of a business. The longevity and consistency I&rsquo;ve had has been fortunate.&rdquo;Mason was at Lake Superior State from 1966-67 through 1972-73 and Bowling Green from 1973-74 through 197879 before becoming a Spartan.<div class="figure-block image-block"><img src="/var/site_2854/storage/images/media2/images/f0036-011001/7854273-1-eng-US/f0036-012.jpg" title="f0036-01" width="392" height="235"></div>&ldquo;He&rsquo;s just as focused as he has ever been,&rdquo; said MSU senior Adam Hall, the Spartans&rsquo; captain. &ldquo;Every single period, every shift he analyzes our team and figures out ways to make us better.&rdquo;Mason passed former Boston College coach Len Ceglarski&rsquo;s mark of 673 wins to become the winningest college coach in U.S. history March 12, 1993. Last season, he won his 600th game as the Spartans&rsquo; bench boss.Mason became the winningest college coach in North America March 18,1994, when he surpassed former University of Alberta coach Clare Drake&rsquo;s total of 697. He got his 800th win Feb. 20,1998.PROSPECT UPDATE Michigan sophomore defenseman Mike Komisarek is proving the Montreal Canadiens knew what they were doing when they took him with the seventh overall pick of the 2001 NHL draft.The 6-foot-4,242-pound Komisarek had two goals and five points in five games this year. He had four goals and 16 points in 41 games last season.Komisarek was also continuing to play the aggressive, hard-hitting style that is tantalizing to NHL scouts. Teamed with freshman defenseman Brandon Rogers, Komisarek is taking on the role of a team leader.SPOTLIGHT Frank Anzalone got the first victory of his second tour of duty as Lake Superior State&rsquo;s coach when the Lakers defeated St. Lawrence 3-2 in overtime Oct. 20.Anzalone originally coached Lake Superior from 1982-83 through 1989-90, winning the NCAA title in 1988.In the interim, Anzalone coached in the American and East Coast Leagues.NOTEBOOK Last season&rsquo;s Central Collegiate Hockey Association scoring champion, Western Michigan&rsquo;s Mike Bishai, was off to a fast start as a playmaker. He had no goals, but eight assists, through four games. Bishai had 23 goals and 68 points in 37 games last season. &#9632;

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November 9, 2001

Krupp with Wings on ice, against them in litigation

NHL GOALTENDING STATISTICS

DeBoer’s stingy Rangers shutting down oppositior

HEADS UP!