Search for your favorite player or team
© The Hockey News. All rights reserved. Any and all material on this website cannot be used, reproduced, or distributed without prior written permission from Roustan Media Ltd. For more information, please see our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.
September 7, 1990
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.
RIGHT FLANK WOUNDED BY KURRI’S DEPARTURE
Now that Jari Kurri has said arrivederci to the Edmonton Oilers, the task will be to replace the talented sniper. Actually, you can’t replace Kurri. You just try to fill as much as the void as possible. The Oilers lost the NHL’s all-time playoff goal-scoring leader and arguably the finest European ever to play in the league when he signed a two-year deal with the Milan Devils of the Italian League July 27. “We’re losing the best right winger I in hockey, no doubt of that,” said Oilers’ coach John Muckier. “I have no idea how you go about replacing him.” Kurri’s departure leaves the Oilers a little thin on the right side. Glenn Anderson is a given, but he has been I inconsistent the last two years. After Anderson, the Oilers have two…
TAKING CHARGE
As a rookie general manager in the National Hockey League, Mike Keenan doesn’t intend to re-invent the wheel. Perhaps just copy it. Keenan the copy cat? Whatever. The Chicago Blackhawks’ GM-coach has been called much worse. And will be again. Copy cat is just fine with him as long as he’s copying the Edmonton Oilers’ wheel of fortune. Five Stanley Cups in seven years may be a lofty goal that no reasonable man could dream of matching. But then Keenan hasn’t always been considered reasonable. As a coach, he pushed his players to their limit. Some say beyond. Now, since becoming the Hawks’ GM in June, he has taken bold measures in his quest to emulate the success of the Oilers. Keenan sees himself as a man of vision. When he couldn’t see the Hawks…
SMITH LOOKING FORWARD TO SECOND STINT
Seven seasons after the most unpopular trade in Minnesota North Stars’ history sent him packing, 32-year-old center Bobby Smith returned to the Twin Cities to write the finish to a proud career. In a trade rumored for weeks, North Stars general manager Bobby Clarke got Smith from Montreal Aug. 9, sending the Canadiens a 1992 fourth-round draft pick. The deal brings Smith back to Minnesota seven years after he was sent to the Canadiens for Keith Acton, Mark Napier and a third-round pick in the 1984 draft (Ken Hodge). The Oct. 28, 1983, trade has been an albatross around the neck of then-GM Lou Nanne ever since. Smith, the first pick of the 1978 draft, was the most popular of all the North Stars when he asked to be traded. The year before…
FIRST-PLACE DRIVE TOO DRAINING: MALEY
Dave Maley heard all the excuses for the New Jersey Devils’ meteoric exit from the Stanley Cup playoffs last season: The failure of the team’s two Soviets, inconsistent goaltending, a lack of physical play, the willingness to be bullied by the Washington Capitals. None of them satisfied the veteran forward, who claimed the Devils were simply worn out after making a misguided attempt at finishing first in the Patrick Division. “I think the guys on our team were tired,” said Maley. “I don’t know why. I can’t tell you how, when or why it happened. Washington had more jump and you could it see from their first-line down to their fourth-line players. I don’t know, but it might have had to do with busting our humps trying to get to first place…
Made possible with the support of
