_ _ _ _ | | ____ __ | | ____ ___ | | ____ ___ | | ____ ___ | |/ _ / __| | |/ _ / __| | |/ _ / __| | |/ _ / __| | | (_ \__ \ | | (_ \__ \ | | (_ \__ \ | | (_ \__ \ |_|\____\___/ |_|\____\___/ |_|\____\___/ |_|\____\___/ GUIDE TO HOCKEY GUIDE TO HOCKEY GUIDE TO HOCKEY GUIDE TO HOCKEY ================================================================ Five Star - ELECTRONIC EDITION - * * * * * ================================================================ Issue 109 December 9, 1998 325,000 bytes ---------------------------------------------------------------- Visit us on the web at http://www.lcshockey.com/ for all your hockey needs... not really. To subscribe/unsubscribe from the LCS Hockey mailing list contact zippy@lcshockey.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Two LCS Hockey Legends Hang 'Em Up ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Jim Iovino Bernie Nicholls and Johnny Cullen. Both are LCS Hockey heroes and the idols of millions. And both recently retired, but the terms weren't necessarily their own. Nicholls was, for a better word, forced into retirement by San Jose Sharks GM Dean Lombardi after a game against the New York Rangers. The 37-year-old veteran had been reduced to being a fourth-line center for the Sharks this season, recording just two assists in 10 games. Lombardi said he wanted to see Nicholls leave the game "in a certain way, at a certain level." Nicholls will hang up the skates after an impressive 18-year career in the league in which he finished as the 26th highest scorer in NHL history with 1,209 points in 1,127 games. The crafty centerman was one of only eight NHL players to score 70 goals in a season, with 70 and 150 points for the Los Angeles Kings in 1988-89. Nicholls could have tried to sign on with another club, but he chose to remain with the Sharks as either a coach or at a job somewhere else in the front office. Always the free spirit, Broadway Bernie (who once wore pink cowboy boots during his years in the fast-paced Hollywood lifestyle) seemed to be handling the situation well, even if he didn't get to retire on his own terms. His main concern now is figuring out what his role will be with the Sharks organization. "I want a fancy title," he said. Cullen, on the other hand, could care less about fancy titles now that he's retired. He's just happy to be alive. The man formerly known to wear lightning bolts on his pants and the idol of millions from ages eight to eighty, attempted a comeback with the Tampa Bay Lightning after battling cancer for an entire year. Cullen suffered through chemotherapy treatments and a bone marrow transplant before beating the disease. As soon as he was deemed cancer-free, Cullen began the long process of returning to the NHL. "JC" was invited to training camp and made the opening-night roster. However, after just four scoreless games with the Bolts, Cullen was given a choice to either retire and take an assistant coaching position with the team, or accept a demotion to the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the IHL. To many people's surprise, Cullen accepted the demotion and hoped to use the time in Cleveland to get himself back into game shape. A glimmer of hope arose when Cully recorded a seven-point game for the Jacks. But there were still some lingering effects from the cancer treatment, including a weakened conditioning level, and after coming down with bronchitis while in Cleveland, Cullen returned home to the Tampa area and decided enough was enough. He announced his retirement from the game and took the assistant coaching position with the team. "I've been going crazy all week, deciding what to do," Cullen said. "I knew my shot to return was slim. It was a tough decision, but I'm comfortable with it." Cullen retires after nine seasons in the NHL. Some of his best days in the league came as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He entered the league in Pittsburgh and played on the "Option Line" with fellow newcomers Kevin Stevens and Mark Recchi. The line was called the Option Line because all three players were in the option years of their contracts. Cullen scored 92 points for the Pens in 1989-90 and 94 more in 65 games in 1990-91. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to celebrate a Stanley Cup victory with the Pens that year. Although being one of the most likeable fellows in the dressing room, Cullen was traded to the Hartford Whalers with Zarley Zalapski and Jeff Parker for Ron Francis, Ulf Samuelsson and Grant Jennings. While Francis and the Penguins went on to win two championships in Pittsburgh, Cullen never got to celebrate a Stanley Cup as a player. He spent time in Hartford, Toronto, Pittsburgh again, and finally Tampa Bay. Cullen ended his playing career with 550 points (187 goals) in 621 career games. But the legend of Johnny Cullen as a player spans more than just points and goals scored. Johnny Cullen will always be remembered as a player who gave his all every shift on the ice. He was a true team player - someone most guys in the league would love to have on their team. But even more than that, Johnny Cullen was a hero. Not just to those of us here at the offices of LCS Hockey, but to anyone who has an obstacle to overcome in his or her life. Johnny Cullen defines hope, optimism, and courage. He has been a role model for many people afflicted with the terrible disease he overcame and for anyone who has had to face a difficult challenge. "If Johnny Cullen can do it, so can I." And for that reason Johnny Cullen will always be a hero. Congratulations to both Bernie Nicholls and John Cullen on their outstanding careers and we wish them good luck in their future endeavors. ----------------------------------------------------------------- CREDITS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Michael Dell........................Editor-in-Chief Zippy..................................Computer Boy Jim Iovino.............................Ace Reporter Matthew Secosky.......Does Not Have a Police Record Nicole Agostino.....................Finished Fourth Alex Carswell.................Anaheim Correspondent Matt Brown.....................Boston Correspondent Matt Barr.....................Buffalo Correspondent Simon D. Lewis................Calgary Correspondent Scott Pagel..................Carolina Correspondent Thomas Crawford...............Chicago Correspondent Greg D'Avis..................Colorado Correspondent Jim Panenka....................Dallas Correspondent Dino Cacciola.................Detroit Correspondent Aubrey Chau..................Edmonton Correspondent Vacant........................Florida Correspondent Matt Moore................Los Angeles Correspondent Jacques Robert...............Montreal Correspondent Jeff Middleton..............Nashville Correspondent Eric Witzel................New Jersey Correspondent David Strauss...............Islanders Correspondent Alex Frias....................Rangers Correspondent The Nosebleeders..............Ottawa Correspondents Eric Meyer...............Philadelphia Correspondent Bob Chebat....................Phoenix Correspondent Jerry Fairish..............Pittsburgh Correspondent Tom Cooper..................St. Louis Correspondent Al Swanson...................San Jose Correspondent Seth Lerman.................Tampa Bay Correspondent Jonah Sigel...................Toronto Correspondent Jeff Dubois.................Vancouver Correspondent Jason Sheehan..............Washington Correspondent Tricia McMillan...................AHL Correspondent James Clippinger..............College Correspondent Howard Fienberg.......................Correspondent ----------------------------------------------------------------- LCS Hockey - Issue 109 - December 9, 1998. All rights reserved because we, like, called ahead and stuff. Email address: info@lcshockey.com Street Address: 406 Sheffield Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601. Web Address: www.lcshockey.com Direct Address: Something from the meat case, Linda? ----------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- The New Legion of Doom ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Michael Dell After a prolonged absence, the creepy domed headquarters of the Legion of Doom has once again risen from its murky underwater grave. When word reached the outside world, the Hall of Justice was shaken. Could it be true? Could the Legion of Doom be back? "Okay, check this out, check this out," stuttered Aquaman as he puffed nervously on the stub of a cigarette. "I can handle Black Mantis, okay. I'm not complainin' about that. But I just don't think I can stop John LeClair. I mean, I really don't think the fact that I can talk to tuna frightens him." "But what about Eric Lindros?" interjected a drunken Green Lantern. "He doesn't even need a ring to give him strength. Where's his ring? Answer me that... where's his ring?" The green and grey clad hero took a shot of bourbon before continuing. "I... I just feel like less of a man around him, you know?" Aquaman placed his hand on the Green Lantern's shoulder in an attempt to comfort his friend. "It's okay, man. Let it out." "He doesn't even need jewelry to make him strong. And I bet... you know, I bet he isn't even afraid of the color yellow. I'm rendered powerless by a canary and you expect me to stop Lindros? Well, I expect you to kiss my glowin' green ass! How about that, huh? How about that? Apache Chief, pass the medicine..." Yes, even the great Native American warrior was having trouble dealing with the news. He poured himself another glass of fire water and then grudgingly pushed the bottle along. "The Ancestors know I try," he bemoaned. "But last time I faced Lindros and LeClair I nearly went to the Happy Hunting Ground. I even called on the spirit of the Grizzly. They did not care. After they beat me up they stole my loin cloth. I had to walk all the way home hiding my shame." "Well get used to it, Chiefy," warned Green Lantern. "I think I'm gettin' out while I still can. From here on in it's nothin' but an endless highway of honkey tonks and one-nighters and no place to go when the bars close." The room fell quiet. The three heroes looked the picture of despair as they sat around an eerily vacant conference table in a darkened, smoke-filled Hall and silently contemplated their bleak futures. Aquaman, with his right arm trembling, took one final drag of his cigarette and slowly let the smoke seep from his nose and mouth. "I wonder if Sea World is hiring?" These once proud members of the Justice League of America aren't the only ones running scared. A sense of panic has swept the entire National Hockey League. The Legion of Doom is back. And they mean business. First founded by the diabolical genius of Lex Luthor in the mid- 1970s, the Legion of Doom was an attempt to unite super villains everywhere in the common goal of world domination. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of everyone involved, the Legion was never able to bring to life their grand vision of global conquest. A series of defeats at the hands of Superman, Batman, Aquaman and the like rendered the criminal cabal a shell of its original intention. With internal strife at an all-time high and a bad investment in the soy bean market crippling its financial well being, the Legion disbanded in the fall of 1987. The eternal struggle between good and evil was over. Or was it? Philadelphia, February 9, 1995. The Flyers trade all-star right winger Mark Recchi to the Montreal Canadiens in exchange for John LeClair, Gilbert Dionne, and Eric Desjardins. Even though he was considered little more than a fourth-line checker in Montreal, LeClair joins with Eric Lindros and Mikael Renberg to form the most feared scoring line in hockey. Displaying a never before seen combination of size, speed, and skill, the trio devastate the NHL, leaving a trail of battered victims in their wake. As the opposition cowered before their might, one thing was clear... the Legion of Doom was reborn. For the next two years, the new Legion ruled the NHL with an iron fist, crushing any individuals that dared question their authority. Yet just when it seemed that no one could stop their reign of terror, an injury did what no other NHL team could. During a botched attempt at stealing a thermo-nuclear weapon from an Army Air Force base in New Mexico, Renberg suffered a severe lower abdominal strain. Not only did the mishap put an end to their scheme of holding North America hostage for a king's ransom, it also marked the end of the Legion's dominance. Renberg was forced to undergo surgery to correct the problem and never quite regained his old form. Shortly before the 1997-98 season, Renberg was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning. Since two-thirds of a Legion does not a Legion make, Lindros and LeClair were forced to hold open auditions for a new right winger to share in their maniacal mischief. Dainius Zubrus was given first crack at filling the void. At 6'3", 215 pounds, the young Russian had the size and strength to commit brutality in accord with the long standing Legion tradition. However, Zubrus lacked the confidence and killer instinct needed for such a high profile gig. It didn't help that on his first venture into unlawfulness Zubrus was apprehended by Black Lightning, who later referred to Dainius in the press as a quote "jive turkey." The Flyers next looked outside the organization for help, acquiring Alexandre Daigle from the Ottawa Senators. Daigle was expected to use his formidable speed and puck skills to make the Legion as deadly as ever. The expectations were greeted with disappointment. Daigle only lasted a handful of games with the Legion; his career coming to an end when the Wonder Twins' pet monkey Gleek beat him within an inch of his life for no other reason than that he could. With nowhere else to turn, Lindros and LeClair were forced to welcome third-line checking winger Trent Klatt into their company. Klatt was a hard worker that always put forth an honest effort, but he lacked the skill needed to properly compliment his partners in crime. He was later taken to an alley and shot in the back of the head. The search continued into the early part of this season when 25- year-old rookie Mike Maneluk was allowed the opportunity to show his stuff. Lindros was vocal in his support, citing that Maneluk's speed and natural instincts around the net were welcome additions to the cause. Yet Maneluk wasn't perfect. He was too one-dimensional and lacked the size and toughness that had become the Legion's trademark. He, too, was later taken to an alley and shot in the back of the head. By now it seemed that Lindros and LeClair would have to go on forever as a two-man syndicate of destruction. Hope that another terrifying triumvirate could be assembled had all but diminished when Keith Jones arrived in a trade with Colorado on November 12. A six-year veteran of the NHL wars, Jones earned his stripes competing for the Washington Capitals alongside the likes of Dale Hunter and Craig Berube. Those early days saw Jones, now 30, garner the reputation of a tenacious, abrasive winger that thrived in front of the cage. As his ice time increased, so did his numbers. In 1996-97, while playing as a member of the Colorado Avalanche, Jones potted a career high 25 goals and 43 points in 67 games. Sadly, he didn't get much of a chance to build on those numbers in the postseason. After collecting three goals and three assists in an opening round victory for the Avalanche, Jones suffered a serious knee injury that cost him the remainder of the playoffs and all but 23 games the following year. While never known as a brilliant skater, the injury took another step from the staircase and left Jones on the outs in Denver. Willing to sacrifice quickness for grit and a scorer's touch, the Flyers gambled that Jones could be the missing piece to the Legion's puzzle. It was a gamble that paid off. Jones' impact was both immediate and profound. On November 14, in his first game as a Flyer, Jones bagged a goal and an assist in helping defeat New Jersey, 6-1. The revamped Legion of Doom combined for five goals and 10 points on the night, with Lindros notching two goals and three assists and LeClair accounting for two goals and an assist. Afterwards, Lex Luthor called from his secret underground laboratory to offer congratulations. Three more victories followed in quick succession before Philly dropped a 4-2 decision to the Islanders on November 25. But New York didn't have to face the complete Legion. Jones was scratched due to a thigh injury suffered the night before in a battle with the Flash. It's never a good idea to stick your leg out and try and trip someone that can run faster than the speed of sound. Jones was back in uniform the next time out and the Flyers once again prevailed, clipping the Maple Leafs 4-3. It was another larcenous performance by the Legion, as each member skated away with a goal and two assists. Next up was a 6-2 pounding of the Vancouver Canucks. LeClair knocked home four goals, Lindros collected four assists, and Jones chipped in a goal and two assists. It almost didn't seem fair. The carnage was finally halted on December 4 when Dominik Hasek and the Buffalo Sabres posted a 3-0 shutout over the Flyers. But once again the Legion was not at full strength. Lindros was given a game misconduct in the final minute of the first period when he swung his stick at Jay McKee's head. Hey, super villains do that sort of thing. Without their center for the final two periods, Jones and LeClair simply couldn't solve the Dominator. They should have never left the Kryptonite at home. Although the Legion was once again held in check, with LeClair recording a lone assist among the three, the Flyers rebounded the very next night to post a 2-1 victory over the Washington Capitals. Since Jones arrived from Colorado and helped form the new Legion of Doom, the Flyers are an impressive 7-2-0, with both losses coming in games when the threesome was broken up by either injury or infraction. In the seven games they have skated together, their individual statistics are staggering: LeClair - nine goals, five assists, 14 points; Lindros - three goals, 13 assists, 16 points; Jones - five goals, six assists, 11 points. Each man also checks in at a +10. The importance of having Jones in the Legion has not gone unnoticed by LeClair. "Jonesy has brought a lot of good for our line," states LeClair. "I think the chemistry there has really clicked. He does a real good job of protecting the puck down low and that is a big part of our game -- cycling with the puck. I think when he sees the opportunity to take the puck to the net he does. And his style of game really compliments everything." Having another cohort willing to drive the net and work the corners has given LeClair added freedom in the offensive zone. Teams can no longer ignore the line's right winger, thus creating more space for Lindros and LeClair to weave their evil web of corruption. "I think with Keith in the lineup the last couple of games it seems I have been getting a lot more chances on rebounds and in front of the net," confirmed LeClair. "I think a lot of that has to do with us cycling the puck and taking the puck to the net. There have been a lot more opportunities that way." Some observers who have witnessed the Legion of Doom's recent path of plunder are questioning whether or not they can be stopped. With no one answering the phone at the Hall of Justice, is there a group of NHLers willing to take a stand? Or is the rest of the league merely prisoners to the whim of the Legion? "There are certain games where your confidence is high," admitted LeClair. "You get a break there and things start to roll for you in the game and you feel good with the puck. But those come every once in a while. Certain nights when we are on, you get those bounces and it is a great feeling." Not everyone is left feeling great. Just ask the Green Lantern... if you can find him. The news only gets worse for the good guys. Rumors continue to circulate that the Flyers are in the market to land another marquee right winger to further upgrade the Legion of Doom's apocalyptic potential. Theo Fleury, Pavel Bure, and Zigmund Palffy have all been mentioned as possible recruits. So turn on the Bat signal, phone in that distress call to the Daily Planet, and gas up the old invisible jet. The Legion of Doom is on a rampage. And they're not about to go down without a fight. Today the NHL. Tomorrow... the world! ----------------------------------------------------------------- Jagr Adapting to Captaincy ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Jim Iovino For so many years, Mario Lemieux held the captaincy of the Pittsburgh Penguins franchise. Then, when Lemieux retired from the game, it was expected that his successor, Ron Francis, would hold that title until he, too, would hang up the skates for good. But a funny thing happened to the Pittsburgh Penguin organization - something called financial instability - which forced Francis to leave the club through free agency and put a question mark as to who would become the next captain in team history. The logical choice would have been the Penguins' Mario Jr., otherwise known as Jaromir Jagr. Jagr is supposed to lead the Penguin franchise to future glory, just like Super Mario did once before. But as the wild and crazy Czech wonder kid has grown up as the understudy to Lemieux and Francis, many wondered if his attitude had grown up with him. Too many times last season the weight of the Penguin franchise fell on Jagr's shoulders, and too many times the 26-year-old right winger let the team down. The most memorable of those occasions came near the end of the regular season when Jagr fumed and fussed over new head coach Kevin Constantine's defensive system and his line combinations. The attitude Jagr gave off sounded a lot like a whining prima donna hockey player the league has been so inclined to develop over the past couple of years. That's why the naming of Jagr as the new Penguin captain before this season raised more than a few eyebrows. Questions of his leadership ability flooded the Civic Arena like a newly laid sheet of ice. But as the 1998-99 season unfolds, it doesn't look like naming Jagr captain has been a bad move after all. The Pens are near the top of the Eastern Conference in terms of wins and points, and there doesn't seem to be any controversy in the Penguin dressing room. Jagr could give the hockey world a good once-over and say "I told you so." But Jagr's been quite the gentlemen about people questioning his leadership ability. He's even admitted that he might have been a little bit of a pain in the butt in years past. "Well, I was kind of, I would say, the troublemaker; that is what I have to change," Jagr said. "When I didn't play well; when I wasn't happy with myself -- I didn't quit, but I was screaming. I was uninterested in whatever I did on the ice or whatever the team did. "I would say I changed that because a lot of players, a lot of young players, look up to me, and I cannot afford it right now because they look up to me." Jagr was lucky to begin his career with the likes of Lemieux and Francis on his team and in the room everyday. As far as role models go, there just aren't many better in all of sports. Lemieux was a great leader by example. He was quiet and reserved in the dressing room, but on the ice Mario showed his team how to get the job done. Francis, on the other hand, picked up where Lemieux left off in the dressing room and on the bench. He's a vocal leader who always seems to have time to help other players with problems or complaints. He can also get his team fired up and ready to play in a big game. Jagr said he tends to be more like Lemieux and lead by example. And so far this season, he's done just that. He leads the Penguins in scoring with 35 points (eight goals) in 24 games. His 35 points also puts him among the league leaders. "I would say I am more like Mario (as a leader)," Jagr said. "I am not talking too much during the game. I am not talking before the game to the guys. I am trying to lead by example." One reason he might not be talking too much is because of his background. Coming over to Pittsburgh from the Czech Republic at the age of 17 made it hard for him to learn the English language. There was a time, it seemed, when the only words he knew were Kit-Kats and blue jeans. Jagr's English has improved dramatically during his eight-plus seasons in the league, but he still might find it hard to put his thoughts into a rah-rah kind of speech that the likes of Vince Lombardi used to make. It also doesn't help that over a dozen of his teammates speak foreign languages, either. At one time, having Europeans as captains of NHL teams was sacrilege, but times have changed. There's even a European captaining the Toronto Maple Leafs - Super Swede Mats Sundin. Jagr said he doesn't find any added pressure being put on him because he's a European. "I think the North American players and North American fans, they kind of started respecting the European players and it is not like it used to be when I first came here," he said. "When I came here, I was the first European ever to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins and everybody looked at me differently. I couldn't speak English, all that kind of stuff, but I think during the eight or nine years it has changed a lot." Jagr's game has also changed a lot this season from in previous years. The two-time Art Ross Trophy winner said he considers himself as a passer, not a scorer. Statistics are backing him up. He scored 62 goals during the 1995-96 season, 47 the season after that, but he dropped down to 35 last year and has scored just eight goals in 24 games so far this season. Jagr's stats are slowly becoming ironically close to Colorado's Peter Forsberg, who has been known to be more of an assist man over his career despite possessing an incredible shot and excellent moves. But Forsberg has one thing Jagr doesn't - people that can pass to him and create some room for him. Now that both Lemieux and Francis are gone, Jagr said he's found it tougher to score goals. "Of course it is tougher for me," he said. "I was used to skating free on the boards and getting the puck with speed and play one-on-one. I don't have many opportunities this year. The other teams, they cover me very well, but on the other hand, if I am going to play smart -- and I always will -- I should find my teammates and they should be free out there because the other teams, they try to cover me with two guys. If you look around, there should be one guy open always. That is what I am trying to do right now." Players like Martin Straka and Stu Barnes are reaping the benefits of Jagr's new style of game. Straka has 14 goals in 24 games, while Barnes has 12. Straka had a total of 19 goals all of last season. With Jagr leading a resurgent offense including Straka, Barnes, the newly acquired Alexei Kovalev and others, the Penguins seem to have a firm grasp on a playoff spot again this season. A lot of their success has to be attributed to Jagr's fresh outlook on the Penguins and Constantine's style of play. "I think we got a pretty talented team," he said. "I'd say we have a lot of underrated players and the names maybe don't tell anything to anybody, but they are very good players. And all you need is patience and somebody that can score goals." Jagr seems to have found a little bit of both. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Nedved's Wait Is Over ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Michael Dell Our long national nightmare is over. After more than a season long holdout, Petr Nedved is back in the NHL. Oh, what have we done to deserve such riches? On November 25, the Pittsburgh Penguins finally unloaded their problem child by dealing him along with Chris Tamer and Sean Pronger to the New York Rangers in exchange for Alexei Kovalev, Harry York, and $2.5 million in folding green. Incredibly, the deal came just two days before the Rangers were to travel to the Civic Arena to face the Pens. A standing-room- only crowd was on hand to welcome Nedved back to the 'Burgh with a rousing chorus of boos each time he took the ice. Darius Kasparaitis also did some welcoming of his own, pinching in from the left point and destroying Nedved on the prodigal son's very first shift. The crowd went crazy go nuts. It was the loudest ovation experienced at the Igloo since Mario Lemieux's final game. Kaspar followed up the hit on Nedved a few seconds later by racing into the left corner and hammering 6'6" Peter Popovic to the ice. Aw, that's just Kaspar being Kaspar. That's why he is, without doubt, the coolest player in the NHL. While Darius stole most of the early thunder, Nedved and Kovalev each made an impact. Nedved earned his second assist in as many games as a Ranger by setting up John MacLean for a goal late in the second period that put the Blueshirts in front 2-1. But Kovalev wasn't goin' out like no punk. Having already bagged his first point as a Penguin on Aleksey Morozov's first-period tally, Kovalev provided some late heroics to send the faithful home happy. With the Birds trailing 2-1 in the final minute of regulation and Tom Barrasso off for an extra attacker, Kovalev collected the puck in neutral ice and powered his way across the Ranger stripe. Once inside the zone he cut right to left through the high slot and drew two defenders to him before slinging a miraculous no- look pass back the other way to the tape of Robert Lang coming late. Thanks to Kovalev's creativity, Lang had all day to eye up the net and pipe a wrist shot over Mike Richter's glove to tie the game at 19:45 of the third. There was much rejoicing. It seemed both teams were quite happy with the early returns. But what about the long-term results? Hmm, I wish someone was around to analyze the deal for me. Someone who could show the benefits of the trade from both sides, while also describing how it will affect the futures of the clubs involved. What the hell? I'll do it. I mean, I got dressed up and everything... Let's start in New York, where the Rangers desperately needed another scorer to take some of the offensive burden away from Wayne Gretzky. Having finally run out of patience with Kovalev, the Manhattan Millionaires are hoping that Nedved will become a legitimate superstar on Broadway. It should be noted that this is Nedved's second stint with the Rangers. He had a rather forgettable tour of duty in New York during the lockout-shortened 1994-95 campaign, recording a mere 11 goals and 23 points in 46 games. His Big Apple experience was made all the more troubling by the fact that Mark Messier and Colin Campbell, shall we say, disliked him? Shall we say hated him? We shall say hated him. They were of the opinion that Nedved was a soft player that floated too much. He was promptly shipped out of town. Nedved started the next season in Pittsburgh and was turned loose in the Penguins' run-and-gun system. Playing the majority of the time on a line with good buddy Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis, Nedved exploded for career highs in goals (45), assists (54), and points (99). The following year saw Nedved lose his linemates as Jagr and Francis joined Mario Lemieux on Pittsburgh's top unit. Yet despite the change, Nedved still managed somewhat impressive numbers, collecting 33 goals and 71 points in 74 games. Nedved felt so proud of what he accomplished that he refused to sign with Pittsburgh for anything less than $4 million a year. Pittsburgh GM Craig Patrick told him to sit on it. And he did. For almost two seasons. Immediately following his liberation from purgatory, Nedved agreed to a three-year contract with the Rangers that is reportedly worth a little less than $12 million. Back in the day, it was rumored that the Penguins had offered him a three- year deal worth about $8 million. So take into account the year he wasted, and Nedved will just about break even after next season. Which means he pretty much threw away one of his prime playing years for absolutely nothing. Let's hear it for ignorance! So what are the Rangers getting for all that scratch? A damn fine skill player, that's what. Nedved is an exceptional talent. An extremely fluid skater, Petey can roar past defenders with the greatest of ease. And once in the open he can unleash a wicked wrist shot that simply overpowers goaltenders. Nedved's wrister is a thing of beauty. While not quite as devastating as Joe Sakic's, it can at least entertain the debate. The chance of witnessing a Nedved wrist shot is reason enough to tune into a Ranger game. It's just that good. Although the knock against Nedved has always been that he's a soft player, a notion which was definitely aided by his relationship with Messier, it's not entirely true. Nedved will take a hit to make a play and won't shy away from physical contact. Granted, he won't do much in the way of initiating it, but at least he won't back down from it. In the 1995-96 playoffs, Nedved proved his willingness to compete when the Penguins upended the Rangers in the second round. Messier tried every dirty trick in the book to get Nedved off his game, elbowing and slashing his former teammate whenever possible. It didn't work. Nedved took the pounding, persevered, and helped his squad to a five-game victory. In short, Nedved became a man. And he didn't even have to recite from the Torah... But not everything is all cheap wine and roses. Nedved's got his share of flaws. During his final year in Pittsburgh, the Czech center displayed a penchant for taking stupid penalties with the stick. Instead of playing defense with his feet, Nedved would rely on a lazy hook or a needless slash to compensate. That's just silly. It's this lack of commitment to defense and hard work that often places Nedved at odds with his coach. While Nedved was clearly the centerpiece of the deal, GM Neil Smith did some nice work in also prying Pronger and Tamer out of Pittsburgh. Neither one was getting any playing time with the Penguins, but both should prove to be valuable assets to the Rangers. Pronger is a big guy that can handle third or fourth line duty and improve New York's shallow depth at center. Meanwhile, Tamer is a rather steady stay-at-home defender that will drop the gloves and stick up for his mates on every occasion. A team can never have too many guys like that. He's basically a younger, cheaper version of Jeff Beukeboom. Tamer's arrival, along with the acquisition of Stanislav Neckar from Ottawa in a separate deal, will likely mean that Beukeboom will be offered in any package put together to try and land Pavel Bure from Vancouver. When the trade was first made, there was some speculation that Nedved would take over for Kovalev on Gretzky's right wing. But that really didn't make a whole lot of sense, what with the Rangers being so weak up the middle. Instead, Gretzky has taken to centering Kevin Stevens and John MacLean, while Nedved anchors a line with Niklas Sundstrom on his left and Mike Knuble on the right. This allows the Rangers to employ a third unit of Adam Graves, Todd Harvey, and Marc Savard, giving the club three decent lines for the first time in years. This new and improved depth up front has translated into wins. The Rangers have rattled off five straight victories and are 5-1- 1 overall with Nedved in the lineup. Nedved has at least one point in each of those seven contests, racking up a total of three goals and seven assists. That's pretty good for not having played since the Carter administration. Sometimes what comes over in a trade isn't as important as the idea of the trade itself. When Neil Smith pulled the trigger it proved to the men in blue that the organization was still dedicated to putting a winner on the ice. The message was sent loud and clear that losing would not be tolerated. The players have responded. But Smith ain't done. There still might be a Rocket landing at Madison Square Garden in the near future. On the other side of things, the Pittsburgh Penguins seem thrilled to have Alexei Kovalev in black and gold. Everyone knows he's been a colossal disappointment to this stage of his career, but no one can question the raw talent he has at his disposal. Rating on sheer skill alone, Kovalev would be among the top five players in the league. And the Penguins have a history of taking guys that have been disappointments elsewhere and turning them into solid citizens. Nedved was Exhibit A. And if you need anymore examples, just go into the Penguin dressing room and throw a rock. Nearly the entire roster is made up of players discarded by other teams. Despite being one of the most gifted players of his generation, Kovalev has never managed more than 24 goals in a season. Late last year it appeared that the enigmatic winger was on the verge of a breakthrough when he went buckwild down the stretch playing on a line with Gretzky and Sundstrom. The Great One even went so far as to say that Kovalev would score 40 this season. Perhaps the prediction was too much for him, but Kovalev didn't respond well to Gretzky's challenge, stumbling out of the blocks this year for just three goals and seven points in his first 14 games. Pittsburgh wasn't scared off by the lack of production. Kovalev's unlimited upside potential was enough for the Birds to roll the bones. Even though it seems like he's been around forever, Kovalev is still just 25 years old. There's plenty of time for him to reach his full potential. Sure, he failed in New York with perhaps the greatest playmaker in the history of the planet at his side, but that's all he had. Kovalev will be insulated by much more talent in Pittsburgh. He no longer has to be the number two guy, he just has to be one of many. Take a good look at Pittsburgh's roster. Add Kovalev to the mix and the Penguins are suddenly the most exciting team in hockey. No other club in the league can handle the biscuit like the Birds. They could have six of the top 10 stickhandlers in Jagr, Kovalev, Morozov, Lang, Martin Straka, and German Titov. All are exceptionally creative with the rock and are capable of the individual effort or orchestrating a passing play of ridiculous complexity. The Guins have been involved in more tic-tac-toe plays than Paul Lynde. Kovalev also gives coach Kevin Constantine much more flexibility up front. The possible line combinations are endless. Constantine started with a top unit of Jagr, Straka, and Stu Barnes, followed by Lang centering Titov and Kovalev, with Morozov getting worked in on a pretty regular basis. The third line, or the "Thanks, Expansion!" line to its friends, kept on truckin' as per usual with rookie Jan Hrdina between Rob Brown and Kip Miller. However, recently Constantine has decided to spread the wealth throughout the lineup. He's bumped up fourth-liner Dan Kesa, who never met a check he didn't like, to the top line with Jagr and Straka. The second and third lines remained in tact, while Barnes and Morozov teamed up on a fourth unit with defensive specialist Ian Moran. But then there's also the possibility of forming an all Russian trio with Kovalev centering Titov and Morozov. This would free Lang to slide back into the third-line defensive role he thrived in last season. And it's all made possible by Kovalev. Constantine is so confident in Kovalev's versatility that he even employed the rousing Russian at defense late in a game against the Bruins when the Penguins were desperately searching for the tying goal. Kovalev on defense? That deserves a wow... The Penguins are a mediocre 1-1-3 since the trade, but no one's complaining about good ol' number 27. Even though he's still looking for his first goal, Kovalev has notched five assists in the five games. Watching Kovalev work his magic with the puck has been worth the price of admission. He's done some wild, wild stuff. Also coming to Pittsburgh in the trade was the always entertaining Harry York. How can you not like Harry York? All the guy does is hit. It's just a crying shame he never gets playing time. The Penguins are deeper at forward than the Rangers, so York's predicament likely won't change anytime soon. He's only dressed in two games for the Birds, playing a grand total of five minutes and 59 seconds. Yippee. (EDITOR'S NOTE: Just moments before deadline, it was announced that York was claimed off waivers by Vancouver.) But the most important part of the deal may have been the $2.5 million in cash. Without all that mazuma from the Rangers, the Penguins would have been unable to make payroll. Oh boy. How sad is that? A two-time Stanley Cup champion that needs money from other teams to pay its bills. Weak. But get used to it, because it's a sign of things to come. The club is over $120 million in debt. That's just embarrassing. On December 4 in Carolina, Hurricane fans began a chant of "Bankrupt" when the Penguins fell behind early. Oh, those wacky Cane fans. When those two guys put their heads together they can really come up with the comedy. The Penguins are currently trying to score a $20 million loan from some French bank to ensure it can meet payroll the rest of the season. But there's a hitch. Some judge guy is deciding whether or not an organization so far in debt deserves to receive such a substantial loan. If the ruling goes against the team, the Penguins have planned a hoagie sale and car wash to help raise the needed funds. The money problems are only going to get worse. Not only is Jaromir Jagr scheduled to make $10 million in 1999-2000, but Barnes, Kasparaitis, Kovalev, Lang, and Straka will all become restricted free agents after this season. That's trouble. And if it comes down to choosing between those five guys and the Czech Wonder Kid, it doesn't look good for Jags. Provided that they can re-sign Kovalev, who is making $1.5 million this season, the Pens will be pretty solid on right wing for years to come with Morozov inching closer to stardom each day and young Robert Dome waiting in the minors. It's hard to believe, but Jagr could actually be expendable. The Penguins really have only three big ticket players: Jagr, Kevin Hatcher, and Tom Barrasso. The three combined will account for $16 million in salary next season. Of the three, Barrasso is the most likely to stay, since great goaltending can go a long way in today's NHL. Hatcher is already all but gone. Word on the street is that he could be in another sweater by as early as next week. That leaves Jagr. It's hard to imagine him sticking around with that hefty price tag. Look for Los Angeles to make a serious pitch. Um, that's about it. I really don't have a catchy way to end this article, so instead I'm going to create a diversion and then run away from the keyboard. Dude, check out that girl over there in the corner with the blue sweater... ----------------------------------------------------------------- All the Kings' Horses and All the Kings' Men... ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Matt Moore Embarrassing. That has to be the best word to describe the Los Angeles Kings' season so far. The Royalty currently have a 6-17-3 record, good for 15 points and last place in the entire NHL. The Kings finished fifth in the west last season, so expectations were high. And the front office made some moves to improve the team's weaknesses. Steve Duchesne came over from the Blues for his second stint as a member of the Kings. The hope was for him to combine with Rob Blake on the power play like Duchesne did with Al MacInnis in St. Louis. Doug Bodger was also acquired to give some defensive depth and leadership. But the main problem was not addressed: the Kings do not have a high scoring forward. There were opportunities to fill this gap but Dave Taylor and friends weren't able to close the deal. So the Kings came into the season having one of the best goaltending combos and defensive corps, but with no ability to score. That has been a big factor in the Kings stinking up the Pacific, but not the only reason. Injuries have been devastating to the Kings this year, with them losing 114 man games through 26 games, compared with the 35 through the same point last season. They couldn't even get out of the preseason unscathed, with Mark Visheau breaking his hand, and worse, Jozef Stumpel getting a nasty little hip injury. Stumpel, who was the Kings leading scorer last season, has only been able to play in 13 games so far this season, scoring one goal and five assists, far off his point per game rate of last season. Other forwards injured include Russ Courtnall breaking his ankle after getting hit by a shot, and Ian Laperriere, who has partially torn ligaments in his knee and is only a little twist away from being out for the season. Then came the massacre of the goaltenders. In the October 18th game against the Avalanche both Stephane Fiset and Jamie Storr went down with groin injuries from which they are only now returning from. This forced a previously unknown goalie named Manny Legace to become the No. 1 goaltender. He did well, cranking out a .910 save percentage and a 2.35 goals-against average. Unfortunately, he didn't produce many wins, going 2-9-2 during his stay in the big leagues. The Kings blue line has suffered the worst injuries. Doug Bodger got injured in a way that is appropriate for this season: he stepped on a puck in warmups and broke his hand. But most importantly, the defending Norris Trophy winner, Rob Blake, broke his foot and has been out since October 30th. The loss of Blake has been the most devastating since he was a 30 minute per game player, and without him people like Garry Galley and Philippe Boucher are having to play many more shifts than they would normally. Plus, Steve Duchesne has had more pressure put on him to produce. Just not a good thing all around. The failure of certain players to perform like they should is also holding them down. As expected, Yanic Perreault has disappeared as a goal scorer, not scoring since the fourth game of the season. He has to be the most frustrating player on the Kings, since he shows flashes of being a sniper in four or five game bursts, then disappears and is a non-factor the rest of the season. With the emergence of Olli Jokinen, Perreault has been banished to the third or fourth line, with even Laperriere being more of an offensive threat than Yanic. Steve Duchesne has also been a dissapointment. Pushed as being a savior of the power play, Duchesne has only scored one goal and seven assists in 26 games. And the power play has been a total embarrassment, with the Kings only being able to score nine goals in 102 opportunities. This is one of the major reasons why the Kings are sucking it up so badly, since things might have been different if they had scored a stray power-play goal once in a while, particularly in games like those against the Red Wings and the Senators. Also needing to be held accountable are the coaching staff and management. When it is the same problem (or problems) losing games over and over, one has to wonder if the coaching staff is doing its job. But the biggest problem has been the front office. They knew what the team's weaknesses were and did almost nothing to change them. The need of a scorer is still there, with Pavel Bure, Ziggy Palffy and Theo Fleury still waiting to be had. But they are all reportedly a long ways away from making a deal. Hopefully Dave Taylor will realize that making a move for someone who isn't a former King teammate might be a good idea. Okay, now after that negativity there have to be some bright spots. Luc Robitaille is showing why Los Angeles loved him, going out and scoring 22 points (12-10-22) in the first 26 games. He shows maturity that he didn't have during his first run with the Kings, and can actually play defense now. Also showing hustle is the pairing of Laperriere and Eric Lacroix. The two have to be about as pesky of a line as there is in the NHL, and are many times the best forechecking line on the team. Also doing well is Ray Ferraro. He is showing a great deal of class handling his reduced role with the team and plays hard in those games he gets into. Now if only that would rub off on some of the other Kings... The outlook for the Kings? They should receive a boost when Rob Blake returns, hopefully winning a few of those tight games as a result. I can still see them making the playoffs but in order to do that they will need to turn the season around quickly, and pray that all those 3-1 losses didn't ruin the season. But the Kings are only a scorer away from being one of the better teams in the league. Combined with someone like a Theo Fleury (who would be a perfect fit for them) they could actually get as high as sixth in the conference and be able to compete well in the playoffs. But will Dave Taylor pull the trigger on a big trade? I tend to doubt it. ----------------------------------------------------------------- More Stuff... ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Michael Dell SAKIC AND FORSBERG TOGETHER AT LAST God bless Dr. Bob Hartley. The former Chicago psychiatrist and current coach of the Colorado Avalanche finally came to his senses and united Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg on the team's top line. It's a move that I've been calling for since the playoffs last season when the Colorado offense all but disappeared against the Edmonton Oilers. It makes me proud to see my vision become a reality... sort of like that time the local grade school performed my original "ALF" script for its Spring Pageant. The kid that played Willy was excellent. If I listen closely I can still almost hear him force a beleaguered, "Lynn, Brian... get in the car." Hartley's decision to stack his top line was based on the fact that the Avalanche had dropped three of their previous four games and were about to square off with their arch-nemesis, the Detroit Red Wings. Sakic stayed at center, while Forsberg made the shift to left wing. Rookie phenom Milan Hejduk rounded out the line on the right side. The trio immediately clicked. They dominated the Wings all night, with Hejduk and Sakic recording goals in a 4-2 Colorado triumph. Although, to be honest, Sakic's goal came while he was double shifting on a different line, but don't let that take away from their performance. Forsberg set Sakic like a table all night. Joe finished with seven shots on goal and could have easily had a hat trick if not for a few spectacular saves from Norm Maracle. The threesome stayed together the next three games, all of which were won by the Avalanche. During the four games together, Forsberg has a two goals and three assists and Sakic has two goals and four assists. But more importantly the four-game winning streak raised Colorado's record to 12-11-2, marking the first time the club's been over .500 this season. I'll make this as simple as possible. If Sakic and Forsberg play together for 20+ minutes a game, Colorado will not lose. They could very well go 67-0-0 from here on out. No joke. They're just that good. Okay, maybe 66-0-1... but that's only if Forsberg gets the sniffles or something. And there's really no reason to break them up, either. Even with the two superstars on one line, the rest of the Avalanche lineup remains potent with rookie Chris Drury centering Claude Lemieux and Adam Deadmarsh, and Rene Corbet filling in for the injured Stephane Yelle between Valeri Kamensky and Shjon Podein. SCOTT PARKER IS FRIGHTENING Another reason for Colorado's recent winning ways has been the callup of big bad Scott Parker. This kid makes Chris Simon look like a choir boy. Sporting a goatee straight from hell, Parker arrived in time for the victory over Detroit. Proving once again that they're a bunch of homers, the Wings didn't even attempt to stir up any trouble. Try as he might, Parker just couldn't find a fight. First Joey Kocur turned yella. Then Martin Lapointe, who balked at throwing with Aaron Miller earlier in the game, turned mute once Parker stepped between the Detroit winger and Lemieux at the end of the second period. In Colorado's next game against the Blues, Parker called out heavyweight champ Tony Twist a mere 56 seconds into the contest. With Parker showing Twist respect and the Twister not knowing what to expect from the young thug, neither man threw a punch before the linesmen cautiously stepped in to break up their waltz. Round two was held at 6:19 of the first period. Parker acquitted himself quite well, giving Twist all he could handle and then some. Twist wasn't dressed for the following night's rematch, so Parker laid the smack down on Rudy Poeschek instead. Fans in Colorado can finally quit mourning the departure of Simon. Parker is the answer to their prayers. He just has a presence about him that inspires fear. Maybe it's his raw size, or the cold stare, or maybe it's the King Tut goatee? Whatever it is, Parker is something special. HURRICANE RONNIE BLOWIN' Forget why Johnny can't read. Why can't Ronnie score? After signing a four-year, $20-million contract over the summer with the Carolina Hurricanes, LCS hero Ronnie Francis has had a rough time producing offense. In his first 27 games as a Cane, Francis has a mere five goals and 12 points. He's also a team worst -6. Aw, I feel sick... At first I figured he must not be getting much ice time, what with Keith Primeau and Jeff O'Niell also on board. But according to the NHL, Francis is getting 20.96 minutes a game. That's the most of any Carolina forward. Hmm ha. Well, maybe it's who he's playing with? Paul Maurice has been using Francis in more of a defensive role, but Ronnie recently started skating with O'Niell and Gary Roberts. Of course, Roberts promptly left the lineup with a sprained wrist. Far be it from me to tell Maurice how to do his job, even though that whole Forsberg-Sakic thing seems to be working for Bob Hartley, but I'd put Francis between Roberts and Sami Kapanen, and use Primeau with Ray Sheppard and Martin Gelinas. Then I'd just sit and grin, and the points would roll right in. And O'Neill? Screw O'Niell in the ear. I can understand why Maurice would want to use O'Niell on one of the top two lines instead of Francis, since O'Niell pretty much has to serve an offensive role while Francis can excel at either end of the ice. But Ronnie didn't score over 1400 points in this league by accident. I'd go out of my way to make sure he's playing with two of my best scorers. And even though O'Niell has seen quality time, he still has just six goals and 12 points. Those numbers are hardly worth all the trouble. If the kid can't handle third-line duty then use him to try and get the offensive defenseman this club needs to be a contender. Don't try an accommodate the punk by taking away from one of the best to ever play the game. AMONTE IS GREAT Tony Amonte is great. DAFOE DA SHOW Hey, this just in... the Boston Bruins are boring. Unless Sergei Samsonov is on the ice, watching the Bruins can be a painful experience. There's more action in Pat Burns ordering a dozen donuts. "And... one... made... of... jam." Thankfully, goaltender Byron Dafoe does his part to keep things interesting. He jumps around in net like a monkey on a high wire. And the acrobatics have paid off. Dafoe has been one of the season's biggest surprises, posting a 1.72 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. Those numbers are like good and stuff. One of the reasons for the improvement is that Dafoe has corrected a flaw in his game, namely giving up weak five-hole goals. And even though he is spectacular at times, that doesn't mean that Dafoe relies solely on athletic ability to stop the puck. He's been dead on his angles this season, only venturing into the circus world when absolutely necessary. It's still a little too early to welcome Dafoe into the goaltending elite, but a few more months of this and Patrick Roy might have to start sewing another club jacket. LAX ON LINDROS For the second time this season, Eric Lindros has been given the benefit of the doubt from NHL whip Colin Campbell. Lindros, who had already been let off the hook for nearly killing Ottawa's Andreas Dackell, got another free pass on December 4 when he swung his stick at the head of Buffalo defender Jay McKee. Referee Don Koharski gave Lindros a major slash and a game misconduct, but Campbell decided the incident didn't deserve a suspension, electing instead to just fine Lindros $1,000. This whole thing smacks of a double standard. Bobby Clarke threw a hissy fit following the game, complaining that Lindros shouldn't have even been ejected. For his part, Lindros argued that he was merely yanking his stick away from the grip of a defender, and I think we all know how painful that can be, when it accidently came within an inch of decapitating McKee. Whatever. The bottom line is that Lindros was extremely careless with his stick and could have caused a serious injury. That's the kind of thing that can't go unpunished. Would giving him a one-game suspension really bring the entire NHL to a screeching halt? NOLAN'S GOT NOTHIN' What the hell's wrong with Owen Nolan? Remember when he was one of the best power forwards in the NHL? It was just a couple years ago that he stood the hockey world on its ear at the All- Star Game in San Jose, calling his shot over the shoulder of Dominik Hasek to create one of the most memorable moments known to man or chimp. But those days are gone. Solid gone. In 22 games this season, Nolan has two goals and eight points. Granted, his first goal of the year was bad as hell, as he piped a snap shot from about 45 feet out in the slot, but this is one area in life where quality doesn't mean more than quantity. At this pace it won't be much longer before the Sharks offer Nolan a front office job. NHL DOES GOOD The NHL, the NHLPA, and the NHL Officials' Association are all getting together to try and fight cancer. The league is committed to raising money and visibility for local cancer efforts, as well as to support the American Cancer Society and the Canadian Cancer Society national organizations. The NHL Foundation and the NHLPA will each donate $50,000 to establish the Hockey Fights Cancer Fund. The participants hope to donate more than half a million dollars by the NHL All-Star Weekend, on January 23-24, 1999, with continued support planned for the remainder of the season and beyond. "Many current and former members of the NHLPA and their families have experienced the effects of this disease. Players such as Milos Holan, Doug Wickenheiser, Mario Lemieux, and John Cullen have all fought courageous battles against cancer," said Bob Goodenow, Executive Director of the NHLPA. "Our membership is fully committed to this cause and are proud to be able to work in concert with these other organizations to fight this terrible disease." The league and its member clubs will aid the effort in a variety of ways, including filming public service announcements, conducting in-arena fund-raising activities, donating a percentage of proceeds from local ticket sales, and enlisting sponsors to pledge money for team wins between now and the All-Star Game. "As a former NHL player and current referee I've seen a few good fights," said cancer survivor Paul Stewart. "With all of us teamed together, this is one battle we can win. I know too well the ravages of cancer and am thrilled to be a part of the team effort that can help save lives." CULLEN HONORED The IHL has decided to honor LCS Hockey hero and the idol of millions from eight to eighty, Johnny Cullen. The league announced that their Comeback Player of the Year award will be renamed the John Cullen Award. Along with the prestige of the honor, a $1,000 donation will be made by the league in the winning player's name to the charity of Cullen's choice. "John has shown great courage and determination in winning his battle with this terrible illness and has taught us all a valuable lesson in life," stated IHL President and CEO Douglas Moss. "The dedication of this trophy in his name is a way of keeping his spirit and energy in the IHL." As any reader of LCS Hockey should know, Cullen recorded 44 goals and 157 points with the IHL's Flint Spirits in 1987-88, earning him League MVP and Rookie of the Year honors. His IHL career resumed recently when he skated with the Cleveland Lumberjacks before accepting an assistant coaching gig with the Lightning Bolts. "When Doug phoned me and mentioned it, it caught me off guard," said Cullen. "When I hung up the phone and started to think about it, I couldn't believe what an honor it was. It makes me see and realize just how far I've come back from the disease. That trophy is going to be around for a long time and it's a huge honor." In a related story, LCS Hockey has broken into the birth records at local Westmoreland Regional Hospital and renamed all the children born from March 5, 1991, to December 1, 1998, Johnny Cullen. "It was the least we could do to honor our hero and create mass confusion for our bureaucratic government oppressor," said Zippy the Wonder Chimp. ----------------------------------------------------------------- The State of the Panthers ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Eric A. Seiden The Panthers' woes this season are a complex series of problems that date back some time. Since the original flaws were never corrected, but merely patched over, the situation has been allowed to deteriorate. Now there are no easy solutions. The first mistake was the Stu Barnes trade. Yes, it's old history. Yes, it was a bad trade. But it was also the beginning of the end. Teams are rated on many tangible items, such has height, weight, goals, assists, etc. Other items are not so easily measured, such as leadership, grit, and determination. These intangibles made Barnes a key part of team chemistry. His departure alone was not a death knell for the Panthers, but it was a wound that would fester and end up putting the team in Intensive Care. How serious it was became evident in the 1996-97 playoffs when the Rangers wiped the Cats off the map without much difficulty. That off-season a second death blow was dealt to the Panthers with the departure of team captain Brian Skrudland. Skrudland doesn't score many points, which is an obvious fact. His ability in the face-off circle was declining, again this isn't in dispute. But, while Barnes was a key part of the heart of this team, Skrudland was the entire soul. A team that was known for Heart and Soul lost both. The team was on life support. Early on in the 1997-98 season, Doug MacLean was axed as coach after just 18 games. He was made the scapegoat by team owner, and general idiot, H. Wayne Huizenga. While Doug's dismissal was bound to happen later that year, his early departure was a sign of 'quick-fix' management. That's something that just won't work in a team sport. And hockey is, last time anyone checked, a team sport. With Skrudland gone, Scott Mellanby was installed as captain. Most everyone agrees he lacks the qualifications for the job. While he's better on the ice than Skrudland, he's not half the leader Skrudland was. No disrespect meant to Mellanby, I'm sure he's a great guy, but he's not captain material: some people are born to lead -- others are not. The Panthers could fix this with Bill Lindsay who is clearly tailor made for captaincy (as was the departed Tom Fitzgerald). The Panthers' grief was just getting started. Goals were flying in the net at a rapid pace. The goalie was often blamed, but no netminder can stop an onslaught such as what poor John Vanbiesbrouck faced. The defense simply hung him out to dry. The Beezer was very unhappy and management treated him with the same respect they gave a doormat. His departure came as a surprise to no one, but management's total inability to properly fill the goaltending slot makes one wonder why they didn't keep Johnny. Hockey players are people. If you treat them badly, how can you expect them to do their best? Then there is the oft-injured Robbie Niedermayer. Nieds is expected to be a force in the NHL one day. That may be, but it won't be on the Panthers. He's got skill, but he doesn't have that internal fire to make him a star. Any of the nights where he just won't try are offered as evidence of this. A star has to compete every night and make things happen. In nine of 10 games, the only thing Robbie makes happen is a big yawn. Of course, Niedermayer's usually injured, so he doesn't see much ice time. And like Eddie Jovanovski, he's never benched for bad play. It doesn't set a good example for the rest of the team to excuse two of the worst players from punishment. It's not a good policy to bench some guys for performing badly and not others. And it's a worse idea to air your feelings about it all in the press. Does Terry Murray honestly think bad mouthing players by name in the press is the answer? Speaking of Jovanovski, here's the big hole in the Panthers defense that is partly responsible for the shots on net. Eddie will soon be nicknamed 'turnover' if it keeps up. Jovanovski has hockey smarts. He just doesn't use them on the ice. Maybe he's trying too hard? Whatever the case, he needs to concentrate on playing simple, safe defense. He's not doing anyone a favor by forcing plays into turnovers that lead to odd-man rushes. The mistakes will eventually cost the team. The Panthers have some deadweight they should get rid of, but to whom? Kirk Muller is expendable, as are Dave Gagner, Mellanby, Niedermayer, and Jovanovski. Any or all of these guys should be traded. Some could even be traded for a bag of pucks. I'm a big Gagner fan, but he's not working well on this team. He'll be a great asset for a club like the Sharks or Lightning. The Panthers also need to recall Peter Ratchuck, who was sent down instead of Jaroslav Spacek. Ratchuck is incredible and showed the kind of effort the Panthers need every night. On a team where a fan never knows if the Good Cats or Bad Cats are coming to play, a man who gives his all every night is a welcome sight. Ratchuck is our man. The Panthers have a few sparks, but individual performance is not the hallmark of a successful team. A true team is composed of a multitude of individual efforts, not a few random good players. This is the heart of the Panthers' problems. Solving them isn't as easy as saying put Ray Whitney and Lindsay together, nor is any other magical line combination the cure. The Panthers have to make a solid effort each and every night. They need to let go of the past by grasping on to their future. They also need to understand that just because a player is young, doesn't mean he's good. The Panthers can still salvage the season and move on to bigger and better things, and there's not really much to be done. But it all starts with an attitude adjustment. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Team Quebec ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Howard Fienberg Quebec Premier Lucien Bouchard won re-election, but could his hockey team win a bag of pucks? A new report out of Ottawa recommends that Quebec should have its own hockey team to compete on the international stage. Wales and Scotland have teams distinct from the United Kingdom at the World Cup of soccer. Why shouldn't Quebec have one for the World Cup of Hockey? Because it would lose miserably, same as Scotland and Wales always do. Perhaps they were thinking of some by-gone era? Face facts. After you fill the goal, unless Mario Lemieux returned to the ice, Quebec faces a serious drop off in world class talent. Let us look at how we might fill out our prospective Team Quebec if the World Cup were in the immediate future. At forward, who would be the number one center? Pierre Turgeon. Sad, I know. He hasn't exactly been dynamite since he was gooned by Dale Hunter in '93. Still, he is a great set-up guy and legitimate talent. So far, everything's rosy, and this poutine has the making of some good french fries. Also gunning up front would be Vincent Damphousse, Luc Robitaille, Joe Juneau, and Claude Lemieux. Uh oh, trouble: Lucky Luc, Vinny, and Pepe are all on the slide. So let's add a little cheese -- some youth: Alexandre Daigle (underachieving), Pascal Rheaume (at least he's related to Manon), Rene Corbet (no scoring possibilities) and Vincent Lecavalier (unproven). For good measure, add some gravy with Claude Lapointe and Marc Bureau to kill penalties, and Gino Odjick to drop the gloves. Mmm, tasty. Sticks in your throat like a crushed-glass sundae. We find Quebec's real strength in goal. Patrick Roy and Martin Brodeur can fight it out for the starting job, while Felix Potvin waits in the wings. With the QMJHL production line of butterfly goalies, there should be no shortage of superstar Quebecois in this position any time soon. To the blue line. JJ Doughnut and Eric Desjardins are the top two, and that ain't bad. Especially with a cup of coffee and some chocolate sprinkles. But after that, it's so long Tim Horton's and hello Joe's Truck Stop. Sylvain Cote and Sylvain Lefebvre are okay, Garry Galley and Steve Duchesne can still kick in the red light once in a while, and Marc Bergevin, Patrice Brisebois, and Karl Dykhuis can take the ice to play shinny with any old neighborhood kids who happen by. Good old Karl Dykhuis. He used to beat up my friend Valerie, his neighbor in Septs-Iles, on a regular basis when they were young. Then he kindly brought his buddy Big E back years later to knock out her brother's teeth in a bar fight. On the upside, he is physical, and is the best on the Tampa Bay blue line. On the downside, my grandmother could lead the Tampa defensemen. Well, at least at knitting and nagging. If this synopsis causes Quebecois to fear that they are losing their grip on the sport, fine. But remember, in a pinch, they can always declare folks like John LeClair and Rod Brind'Amour must play for Quebec, since they have French names. So get out there and win one for Charest. I mean Bouchard. ----------------------------------------------------------------- AHL News ----------------------------------------------------------------- by Tricia McMillan Writer's Note: My apologies for those interested in events between Dec.2 and Dec. 8. My computer decided to corrupt the disk containing the column and no other computer will touch it, so we will have to live with my column as it existed on Dec. 2, the last time the disk functioned. Player of the Week (Nov. 29): Philadelphia didn't have any trouble putting away all of its opponents during the week, largely due to the fact Richard Park wasn't having any trouble putting the puck away in the net. Park had eight points (3-5-8) in the Phantoms' three games, including a short-handed goal and a pair of three-point games. Park presently stands third overall in AHL scoring but isn't even first on his own team - Jim Montgomery leads the Phantoms and the AHL. Player of the Week (Dec. 6): Maybe he should have his face smashed open on the ice more often. Portland's Jean-Pierre Dumont was slammed into the ice by St. John's Greg Smyth on Nov. 29, but then proceeded to rack up six goals plus a pair of assists in his next three games. Dumont had the assists and a hat trick for a five-point game against Saint John, then posted three more goals in two games against St. John's to finally start to look like the sniper he's reputed to be. Goaltender of the Month (Nov>):Last season Kentucky's Kazakhstani goaltender John Nabokov changed his first name from the less pronounceable Evgeny, but he still couldn't get the hang of North American hockey or of English. This year he has a firm grasp on both. Nabokov was 4-2 in November, including a pair of shutouts against Cincinnati, a sub-2.00 GAA and a greatly improved save percentage. Nabokov's GAA for this season is nearly two goals a game less than last season. Rookie of the Month: Phantom Brian Boucher couldn't have gotten injured at a worse time for him or a better time for Jean-Marc Pelletier. Pelletier was 7-0-1 for November, with a 1.57 GAA and his first professional shutout and was named the rookie of the month. Hope Boucher wasn't expecting his job back soon, because Pelletier is now third in the AHL in GAA, wins and save percentage and almost a lock for the All-Star team. Not bad for a guy who had to quit college to get playing time since he was stuck behind another goaltender - Adirondack's Jason Elliott, who was also nominated for the award. Ka-Boom!: Ya want offense, here's your offense. 14-2 good enough for ya? The Providence Bruins set a new AHL record Nov. 25 when they scored ten - yes, ten - goals...in one period. No team in the history of the AHL had ever gotten more than nine before. And along with Syracuse's measly one goal, the teams were but a goal short of tying the AHL record for combined goals in a period. But this was a night for the P-Bruins - by the end of the first period, six Bruins already had three or more points, Cameron Mann had five points, and Randy Robitaille had a cycle hat trick - he scored at even strength, on the power play and while short-handed. Robitaille would finish the game with five goals, when he entered the game with two on the season, and set a new franchise record. Robitaille and Landon Wilson each had seven points in the game, tying the franchise record, and Wilson had a hat trick. Andre Savage had two goals; Mann and Antti Laaksonen had four assists each in the first period. The Bruins were up 6-0 with just over five minutes gone in the game. Syracuse netminder Mike Valley was yanked after allowing two goals in just over two minutes, but wound up back in the net later the same period after Craig Hillier gave up eight goals during his time before the firing squad. Mann finished the game an amazing plus-six, while Aaron Downey was the only P-Bruin to finish even. Beats being on the other side though - Robert Dome finished at minus-seven, while captain Mark Wotton was at minus-six. Surprisingly, there were but three fights in the rout. Get Out and Vote: This just in, the All-Star Game scheduled for Philadelphia in 1999 has been cancelled and...oh. Sorry. That was the NBA All-Star Game. The AHL All-Star Game is still happening, since the AHL has a vastly superior quality of players and owners who can get along with each other for ten minutes at a time. The AHL began fan balloting for the All-Star Game on Nov. 30. The game will once again be Canada vs. PlanetUSA (aka everybody else), and the top vote getters at each position for each team will start the game. The good news - you can vote online at the AHL's web site as well as at the games, and the ballots will give you a pretty good idea of who's worthy and which team they qualify for. Be careful though - there's at least one Canadian listed for the PlanetUSA team and a Slovakian on the list for Canada. The bad news - you get to vote for one guy. That's it. Not even one for each team. Pick one. The coaches will pick the rest of the teams. Oh yeah, the game is on January 25 (skills competition is January 24), both to take place at the First Union Center in Philadelphia. Use the acronym of your choice for the arena's name. Bill Barber automatically coaches Canada as the leader of the reigning Calder champs; the PlanetUSA team coach will be determined on Dec. 13 by best point percentage. Catch is, the coach with the best point percentage to date is - Barber. Well, second best percentage then. And presently in second is Providence's Peter Laviolette, who would be most appropriate as coach for PlanetUSA since he's American. Other possibilities include Lowell's Frank Anzalone, Albany's John Cunniff, Rochester's Brian McCutcheon and Kentucky's Roy Sommer. And with the 1999 All-Star Game still over a month away, the AHL has named the site for the 2000 Game. Rochester takes the honors with the newly renovated Blue Cross/Blue Shield Memorial Arena. Date still to be announced. Define Fight: Apparently that's what rookie ref Stephane Auger needed to do when he was in charge of Lowell and Hershey Nov. 28. Lowell's Ryan Huska and Hershey's Ted Crowley had been pushing and shoving for most of the shift and when Huska planted himself in front of Marc Denis, Crowley planted his stick in Huska's sunshine. Huska, unamused, dropped the gloves, as did Crowley, and the two had at it for a few punches before both reported to the penalty boxes and five minutes were posted for each player. Not so fast. After conferring with the linesmen, Auger told Huska to go back to the bench - no penalty. And Auger commuted Crowley's sentence to a two minute minor - for tripping. Sure looked like a fight to the rest of us, but... The Almighty Dollar: The Syracuse Crunch thought the Pittsburgh Penguins were going to assign Brian Bonin to them again this season, but instead the Pens loaned him to the IHL's Kansas City Blades. The bankrupt Pens made the move because the Blades were willing to pay Bonin's salary, a whole whopping $75,000 (makes you wonder how they pay Jagr...). The Crunch, desperately needing a player on their roster old enough to shave, called Pittsburgh and offered to pay part of Bonin's salary to get him back in Syracuse. No deal, said Craig Patrick. Then the Adirondack Red Wings called Pittsburgh and offered to pay all of Bonin's salary - and now Bonin plays for one of the Crunch's biggest rivals. The Crunch are unamused, Bonin is baffled and it's a good thing the Penguins weren't going to be in Syracuse next season, because they aren't welcome back now. In Decline: The AHL may have reached the million mark at its earliest point in the season, but that doesn't mean attendance figures are good. Only four teams - Philadelphia, Rochester, Albany and Fredericton - have posted significant gains and Fredericton's gain is strictly a function of a few games at Molson Centre. Meanwhile, nine teams - that's half the league, gang - have seen significant downturns, particularly Portland and St. John's, who are seeing the smallest crowds in their histories, and Kentucky, with a 30% drop in attendance. The AHL as a whole has shown a 3% drop, bolstered only by the addition of Lowell - and the ostensibly successful expansion team is only ahead of Fredericton in average attendance. Jurisprudence: The AHL had to get busy and sit some people down of late. Albany's Scott Daniels picked up a two-game break for sucker-punching Syracuse's Bert Robertsson, while Fredericton's Terry Ryan also got a pair for giving the finger - with both hands - to the crowd in Saint John Dec. 4. Ever notice that all the obscenity/spitting/gross behavior is perpetrated by Fredericton? Springfield's Sean Gagnon got a four-game vacation for slamming Ryan Johnson's head into the glass, but Johnson was injured so badly he won't be back until at least 1999. Gagnon is also being investigated for two incidents against Providence's Marquis Mathieu which could net him more free time. A guy with a ton of free time now is, big surprise here, St. John's Greg Smyth. Smyth would lead the league in penalties if he weren't suspended all the time. This time, he gets the longest suspension doled out by the AHL in some years - ten games - for attacking Portland's Jean-Pierre Dumont with one second remaining in St. John's Nov. 29 loss to Portland. Smyth knocked off Dumont's helmet, then repeatedly slammed Dumont's head against the ice. The Leafs and Smyth appealed the suspension, but the AHL upheld it. Let's face it - when you're cracking down on deliberate attempts to injure and late game incidents, and a chronic offender with a penchant for embarrassing the league in all manner of ways commits both offenses at the same time - Smyth's lucky he gets to play again this season. Minor Penalties: St. John's Shawn Thornton, who needed more than a full season to score his first goal, scored his third in three games to give the Leafs an OT win over Hamilton Nov. 25... Martin Biron picked up his third zero of the season against Adirondack, stopping 30 shots Nov. 25 while Matt Davidson scored both Amerk goals... Also getting a zero that night - for the first time in his pro career - was Worcester's Brent Johnson, who stopped 22 Albany shots while Marty Reasoner picked up three points... The well-traveled Bobby House, now with Springfield, had a three- point night for the Falcons over New Haven Nov. 25... The Hershey Bears still haven't won in division and Philadelphia still hasn't lost in division, as the Phantoms whacked the Bears 5-2 Nov. 25... On Nov. 25, Portland's Mike Rosati came within a goal of a shutout. The next night, he got his goose egg stopping 17 from Fredericton and boosting the Pirates out of the AHL cellar for the first time this season... You know what Providence did on Thanksgiving Eve? On Thanksgiving, they spotted Hartford a goal then scored four goals on eight shots to chase JF Labbe. Then the WolfPack came back to win the game 5-4... Kentucky went up on Lowell 3-1 Nov. 26, but the Lock Monsters picked up three goals in the last period for a 4-3 victory, the winning goal being banked in off of Mark Lawrence's face. John Nabokov faced only 16 shots and stopped only 12 of them... The battle of New Brunswick went Fredericton's way for a change Nov. 27, as Marc Beaucage scored the winning goal with less than two minutes left. Saint John has lost five straight on the road... Mike Harder had three points and Martin Biron stopped 36 of 37 shots against St. John's Nov. 27, all the better since they were playing in front of the largest crowd in Rochester hockey history, 11,065... Turnabout is fair play, so Cincinnati slapped Kentucky 5-1 Nov. 27 in partial retribution for prior defeats and Jamie Ram's first win over his old team... And then Kentucky turned around and shut out Cincinnati the next night on a 27-save performance from John Nabokov... Lowell, one of the league's best teams, just can't beat Hershey, one of the worst. Hershey shut out Lowell in their lone trip to the Tsongas Arena, then held off the Monsters 6-4 at home Nov. 28... Adirondack briefly dipped into last place in the league before Phil Audet racked up three points and the Red Wings beat Hamilton 5-2 Nov. 28... St. John's allowed Springfield to come back from down 4-2 in the third period, giving up the winning goal to Donald MacLean with just eight seconds left in the game Nov. 28. All four of the Leafs' goals were on the power play... Portland scored three power-play goals in the first period, two from Kent Hulst, en route to beating St. John's 3-1 Nov. 29... The Hershey Bears took a 4-1 lead over Springfield into the third period and blew it. Joe Dziedzic finished the Falcons' comeback with the tying, power-play goal in the last minutes of the game... In seven regular season games in the Hartford Civic Center, the Beast of New Haven have never had so much as a lead. On Nov. 30, Bob Errey and Daniel Goneau had goals just 30 seconds apart as the WolfPack remained perfect in division with a 4-3 win over their neighbors... Mark Greig and Richard Park both had three points for the Phantoms as they routed Lowell 7-2 Nov. 30... The Providence Bruins posted the best month in the team's history in November, going 10-2-1... Providence wasn't the only team enjoying November. Kentucky also posted the best month in their history at 8-3... The AHL hit the one million mark on Nov. 28, the earliest date for that mark in the league's history... We know the Phantoms lead the league in attendance. Wanna guess which team is second? How about Rochester? The Amerks are averaging 8,338 per game, up almost a third from their usual average and good enough for second... Meanwhile an ownership change appears to have done the River Rats good. Their attendance average is up over a thousand per game from last season... Hershey led the league in sellouts last year, with 12. They posted two Thanksgiving week for three on the season... New Haven's power play remains the league's best at a 25.4% success rate and accounting for half the team's goals this season. But it's Syracuse who's scored the most power play goals... Fredericton and Portland have both decided to play respectably and both crawled out of the AHL cellar, booting Hershey and Adirondack into it... Saint John defenseman Chris O'Sullivan leads the Flames in scoring, the only blueliner in the league to lead his team. O'Sullivan is also the only d-man in the league's top 20 scoring list and is second in the AHL for assists... Cincinnati has only dropped one game and home, but haven't won and have a whopping one point on the road... Pelletier isn't the only green backstopper having a good time. Albany's Frederic Henry also lost but one game in November and had a .947 save percentage, a 1.82 GAA and his first shutout as well... The Adirondack Red Wings are one of the AHL's oldest franchises, so when the Wings were shut out in consecutive games for the first time in their history, that meant something... Hamilton hasn't won a overtime game yet, in four tries... Rochester's Martin Biron leads the AHL in shutouts with three, and is already third on the Amerks' all-time list. Just ahead of him is some guy named Gerry Cheevers... The Amerks are the AHL's only remaining team without a loss at home... The Rochester Americans are also the only team in the AHL without a minus player... Despite a side trip to Pittsburgh, Syracuse rookie Martin Sonnenberg is topping the AHL with eight power-play goals... The Portland Pirates killed 33 consecutive penalties over eight games, a team record... Rochester's Steffon Walby, who played for St. John's the first three years of his career, returned to the Rock for the first time in three years Dec. 1 and scored two goals including the game-winner. He repeated the performance the next night... The Amerks defeated the Maple Leafs three times in five days... St. John's has now lost 11 straight games at home and it's starting to show up in attendance figures... The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim extended their affiliation agreement with Cincinnati, with options that could keep the team there through 2005. The deal also increases the team's marketing tie-ins with the Disney company... Springfield's Sean Gagnon picked 14 minutes in penalties in 'fights' with Providence's Marquis Mathieu in two games. Both time, Gagnon was hit with an instigating minor and a fighting major, Mathieu got zip... A sample of Fredericton's problems - in their Dec. 2 tilt with Worcester, the young Habs totalled all of three shots against Brent Johnson in the first period. Worcester won 4-1... A battle of division leaders Dec. 2 and Lowell finally got off the schneid and ended their five-game losing streak, defeating Providence 5-3... ----------------------------------------------------------------- College Hockey Report: Chestnuts Roasting in the Zamboni Pit ----------------------------------------------------------------- by James Clippinger Well, after roughly a quarter-season of conference action, the national college hockey landscape is...more clouded than sambuca with water. All four conferences could still be up and dominated by any one team or end in a eight-way tie for first, but there are some definite trends developing. As the schedule is about to get all spotty with breaks for finals and holiday tournaments, let's quickly summarize each league: WCHA So far, Colorado College and North Dakota are running rings around the competition, with the Tigers currently in first but the feared Fighting Sioux holding two games in hand and only a point behind. Minnesota is six points back in third, leading a pack of six teams within four points. Duluth brings up the rear, but are looking resurgent after a sweep of Michigan Tech this past weekend. CCHA Defending national champs Michigan leads Ohio State and surprising Ferris State by a point, but holds at least two games in hand over both challengers. Notre Dame, Michigan State and Northern Michigan are just a few points back. So far, the biggest story in the CCHA this year has been the Battle of the Unrelated Blackburns, with Michigan's Josh and Michigan State's Joe currently 1-2 in CCHA goaltending statistics...none too shabby for a couple of rookie starters. ECAC You want parity? Ten points separate front-running Princeton from twelfth-place Harvard. Travel partners Colgate and Cornell trail the Tigers, with St. Lawrence and RPI rounding out the home-ice slots. But with the congestion in the standings, anything could happen in this league in the new year. As an aside, when will Harvard suck it up and fire Ronn Tomassoni? Tomassoni is a nice enough guy, but you have to wonder about a coach who keeps landing the best recruiting classes in the ECAC and not producing results on or off the ice. Crimson teams of the last few years just haven't done the little things, and this year's 0-8-1 ECAC record and league-worst 45 goals allowed are ample evidence. (Of course, it also shows that J.R. Prestifilippo is having an off year.) Worse, the archetypical Harvard player has gone from skilled and humble Lane MacDonald to goonish and arrogant Steve Martins. This attitude has caused such wonderfully talented players as Craig MacAdams and Ben Storey to play with disdainful indifference during the ECAC regular season, only to get their clocks cleaned in the playoffs. Such problems come from the top, and it's about time Tomassoni be held responsible. HOCKEY EAST Say what you will about Eastern college hockey, it stays interesting. There's a four-point spread between first and seventh in Hockey East, with UNH ahead of Boston College by a point after splitting with the Eagles over the weekend. Maine is lurking just two points back, and with two games in hand the Black Bears are in prime position to take on the leaders. Northeastern is solidly in the cellar with a 1-6-0 league mark, giving Mass Amherst a welcome respite from the dregs. PLAYER OF THE MONTH The ECAC set a new league record for penalty minutes in a game last Friday, as Union and Cornell racked up 217 combined and the Skating Dutchmen set the one-team mark with 116. 185 of those minutes came from a late third-period brawl, in which standard skater-on-skater roughings gave way to a battle royal between Union netminder Leeor Shtrom and Cornell goalie Ian Burt. Shtrom picked up two disqualifications (fighting and leaving the crease to fight) and a misconduct, thus tying the ECAC record for player PIMs in a game. Way to go, Leeor! The two DQs mean that Shtrom will be out of game action until January. ---------------------------------------------------------------- An LCS Christmas Carol ---------------------------------------------------------------- by Michael Dell In order to get everyone in the holiday spirit, here is an LCS Christmas Carol you can sing while getting ripped on egg nog. This is just a sample of some of the wacky Christmas features we've got running on the web site... just another reason to stay away from the web site... "Zippy the Wonder Chimp" (sung to the tune of Frosty the Snowman) Zippy the Wonder Chimp, was a very happy chimp With a spiffy pair of roller skates and a walk with a gangsta limp Zippy the Wonder Chimp, is a computer legend they say He didn't have opposable thumbs, yet could type HTML code all day There must have been some magic in that old bottle of Night Train he found For when he drank it down, he began to stagger around Zippy the Wonder Chimp, was as drunk as he could be And the cops were not amused, when he went to the steps of City Hall to pee Zippy the Wonder Chimp, knew the cops were on his trail So he said "Let's skate and have some fun, before I go to jail." Down to the village with a hockey stick in his hand Skating here and there and everywhere Saying "Catch me if you can!" He led them down the streets of town, on those skates he sure could scoot He only paused a moment when he heard them holler "Stop or we'll shoot!" Zippy the Wonder Chimp, knew he couldn't wait and linger So he climbed a tree and said "Bite me pigs!", as he waved the finger Zippy the Wonder Chimp, was as drunk as he could be And the kids all say he could stagger and sway, just the same as you and me Zippy the Wonder Chimp, knew the cops were on his trail So he said "Let's skate and have some fun, before I go to jail" ================================================================ TEAM REPORTS ================================================================ EASTERN CONFERENCE ATLANTIC DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW JERSEY DEVILS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Rob Ftorek Roster: C - Bobby Holik, Bob Carpenter, Denis Pederson, Petr Sykora, Jason Arnott, Sergei Brylin, Brendan Morrison. LW - Dave Andreychuk, Brian Rolston, Scott Daniels, Jay Pandolfo, Sasha Lakovic. RW - Patrik Elias, Randy McKay, Vadim Sharifijanov, Krzysztof Oliwa. D - Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Ken Daneyko, Lyle Odelein, Kevin Dean, Sheldon Souray, Brad Bombardir. G - Martin Brodeur, Chris Terreri. Injuries: Kevin Dean, d (groin, day-to-day); Dave Andreychuk, lw (bruised sternum, day-to-day). Transactions: None. Game Results: 11/25 at Dallas W 5-2 11/26 at Phoenix L 3-2 11/28 at Colorado W 3-2 12/01 at Washington W 4-0 12/04 Montreal T 1-1 11/08 at NY Islanders W 7-5 TEAM NEWS by Eric Witzel The New Jersey Devils currently have a four-point lead in the Atlantic Division, and will host the second-place Philadelphia Flyers Tuesday night, shortly after this issue's deadline. Robbie Ftorek's boys are looking to avenge a 6-1 spanking the Flyers handed to them in their last meeting. They may have to do so without the services of defenseman Kevin Dean. After missing three games with a groin injury, Dean re-aggravated the condition in his first game back against the Montreal Canadiens last Friday. He is listed as day-to-day. Another ailing Devil is the team's third most productive offensive player, Dave Andreychuk. The rugged left winger is nursing a bruised sternum which he received two weeks ago in a game against the Florida Panthers. The injury doesn't seem to hurt his scoring touch very much - Andreychuk is third on the team with 14 points, trailing only Bobby Holik and Petr Sykora; and second in goal scoring (8), behind Sykora (9). Yet another Devil who isn't quite 100% is center Jason Arnott. After taking a vicious slash on the hand from Islander Claude Lapointe, Arnott sat out the remainder of the game with complaints of feeling nauseous. Still Red Hot The Devils continue to sit atop the Atlantic Division, going 4-1-1 in their last six games. They're winning games the old way, the new way, they are winning every way. For the most part, the more traditional, defense-first system has been working for the Devils. That is until they traveled to New York to face the Islanders. This game was the epitome of the "new" offensive style Robbie Ftorek implemented this season. The Devils posted season highs for goals in a game (7) and goals in a period (5 in the second). Seven different Devils scored goals in this game. More "D" Less "O"? The Devils changed their gameplan from the "trap" of yesterday to the "open style" of today. This being said, one would assume that this would imply MORE goals being scored. Well, that is not the case. The Devils of 1998 have scored 54 goals, which is 13 goals LESS than what they scored at this point last year. This puts to rest the old theory that the best offense is a good defense. Record to Be Broken Defenseman Ken Daneyko tied the team record last Saturday with most games played by a Devil (934), held by beloved John MacLean. Daneyko will own the record when the Devils play the Flyers this Tuesday in the Meadowlands. What About Bure? Nada, nothing, zilch, zip, forget it... say it however you want, he's not coming here. However, The Pavel Bure talks are really heating up with the Islanders and Flyers, and let's not dismiss the possibility of the Russian Rocket wearing a Ranger jersey, either. Unlike these teams, the Devils don't have the money to give. And even if they did have the cash, they wouldn't use it on him anyway. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW YORK ISLANDERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Mike Milbury Roster: C - Robert Reichel, Trevor Linden, Bryan Smolinski, Claude Lapointe, Sergei Nemchinov. LW - Mike Watt, Mike Hough, Ted Donato, Gino Odjick. RW - Zigmund Palffy, Jason Dawe, Joe Sacco, Mariusz Czerkawski, Kevin Miller, Mark Lawrence, Steve Webb. D - Kenny Jonsson, Bryan Berard, Scott Lachance, Richard Pilon, Eric Brewer, David Harlock, Barry Richter, Zdeno Chara. G - Tommy Salo, Wade Flaherty. Injuries: Gino Odjick, lw (abdominal strain, indefinite); Kenny Jonsson, d (concussion, day-to-day). Transactions: 12-1-98 Recalled RW Steve Webb and D Zdeno Chara from Lowell (AHL). 11-29-98 Assigned RW Steve Webb and D Zdeno Chara to Lowell (AHL). 11-27-98 Recalled RW Steve Webb and D Zdeno Chara from Lowell (AHL). (Make up yer mind, Milbury.) Game Results 11/25 Philadelphia W 4-2 11/26 at Ottawa L 4-1 11/28 Carolina L 3-1 12/02 NY Rangers L 3-2 12/04 at Washington L 5-1 12/05 New Jersey L 7-5 TEAM NEWS by David Strauss Stop me if this sounds familiar. The Islanders are on a losing streak that could put an end to their early playoff hopes. Well, yeah, what took you so long to stop me? Unless the Isles can turn it around, they'll soon be adding another chapter to their recent slump-a-season story. They have lost five consecutive games and eight of their last 10, and face a tough game against visiting Colorado before embarking on a western road trip next week. The Isles started the season in good shape. They went 8-8 in their first 16 games, were playing solid defense, were getting great goaltending from Tommy Salo, and they were getting scoring from all lines to help replace the missing Ziggy Palffy. But five losses in a row have dropped them to 10-16, and the play of everyone on the team has declined. They're giving the puck away in the neutral zone, they're not skating as well, the defensive system has suffered, and Salo hasn't been as awesome as he was earlier in the season. Over the course of those first 16 games this season, the team scored 40 goals, an average of 2.5 per game. It allowed 2.38 goals-per-game in that span. In the past 10, the Islanders have averaged 2.7 goals-per-game. But also in the past 10 games, the Islanders have allowed 4.1 goals per game. And don't think that injuries haven't been important. Nope. Perish the thought. Kenny Jonsson has missed seven of the last eight games with a concussion. Milbury has called him one of the best d-men in the league, and despite Mike's tendency for dramatics, he's right. The Isles' only overtly physical defenseman, Rich Pilon, has missed several games with a wrist injury. And tough guy Gino Odjick (abdominal strain) has found himself in street clothes as well. Milbury sure is anxious for the injured, especially, Jonsson, to return. "Listen, I'm not living in the lap of luxury right now. We're desperate," Milbury said. "Whenever he's ready, he'll play. But he'll tell me when that time is." But with the team's infamous history of concussions (Brett Lindros, Dennis Vaske), the organization will no doubt be playing it safe with the Swede's return. The Isles players are no doubt aware of their history of falling apart in short stretches that have killed playoff hopes. Last season the team lost ten in a row as part of a 1-13-2 streak in December and January that led to Rick Bowness' firing as head coach. "That was hell," said Bryan Berard. "Literally. You never want to go through that again, ever." (Actually, Bryan, the word is "figuratively." No NHL player has ever been to hell literally except when playing for Mike Keenan.) And that's not it. Want some more ugly numbers? The club went 2-10 early on in 1996-97, started the 1995-96 season with a 2-11-2 record, and was 1-10-1 early in 1994-95. Not exactly the best way to gear up for the stretch run each year. "A few of the guys who were here last year have talked about it," Berard said, "about how we don't want it to happen again." Regarding last year's streak, Milbury said, "I mentioned it a few games ago, but I don't really want to drive that point home. A mention of it is enough. What I think, more specifically, is that we have to recognize why we're not playing well right now. It's a new year, new team, new people. There's no reason to dwell on last season's December." "It's time to stop the bleeding. I'm sick of this, sick of losing," said Rich Pilon. "We're so close, yet so far away. It's within our grasp. We're so close to being where we want to be, but we can't seem to get there." Milbury has indicated that there's been little progress with Palffy's contract, and despite the claims of ESPN to the contrary, Ziggy isn't close to returning to the Isles, destroying the hopes of millions of fans from eight to eighty. And small dogs too. Milbury also said he wouldn't be making any big callups from the Isles' AHL affiliate in Lowell, Mass., soon. Warren Luhning and Dmitri Nabokov are the Lock Monsters' two top scorers. *** Bure Watch, Day 42 Nothing to report, as expected. *** An investment group headed by Islanders co-owner Howard Milstein is one of the finalists to purchase the NFL Washington Redskins, it was reported this week. The offer was called "competitive." How Milstein has a few hundred million lying around to challenge for the ownership of both the new Cleveland Browns and Washington Redskins, and yet won't give Trevor Linden a raise and can't afford Zigmund Palffy...well, that must be some of that new math. Or the metric system. Yeah, it has something to do with the metric system and I say the hell with it. *** With Gino Odjick injured, Rich Pilon has been busy of late. His latest battle was with Todd Harvey of the Rangers, (whom, the media tells us, is known around New York as "Heartbeat.") No comment. The two squared off in a first-period battle in which Harvey claimed he broke Pilon's nose. "Broke it?" Pilon asked. "He barely scratched it." Pilon said he was looking forward to fighting Harvey again. "I like it when someone wants to go like that," he said. "And, I'm definitely looking forward to meeting him again. I'll be happy to go with him." As for all the talk from Harvey, Pilon added: "Who . . . does he think he is? 'Heartbeat?' I'm laughing about that one. Tell the little [non-Cullen] I'm waiting for him." Round two: January 13 at Madison Square Garden. *** ----------------------------------------------------------------- NEW YORK RANGERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: John Muckler Rosters: C - Wayne Gretzky, Manny Malhotra, Petr Nedved, Sean Pronger, Marc Savard. LW - Brent Fedyk, Adam Graves, Darren Langdon, Kevin Stevens, Esa Tikkanen. RW - Todd Harvey, Mike Knuble, John MacLean, Niklas Sundstrom. D - Jeff Beukeboom, Brian Leetch, Stan Neckar, Peter Popovic, Ulf Samuelsson, Mathieu Schneider, Geoff Smith, Chris Tamer. G - Mike Richter, Dan Cloutier. Injuries: None. Transactions: Traded Alexei Kovalev, rw, Harry York, c, and future considerations to Pittsburgh for Petr Nedved, c, Chris Tamer, d, and Sean Pronger, c. Traded Bill Berg, rw, to Ottawa for Stan Neckar, d. Asssigned Scott Fraser, c, to Hartford (AHL). Assigned P.J. Stock, c, to Hartford. Assigned Jan Mertzig, d, to Hartford. Game Results: 11/25 at Buffalo L 4-2 11/27 at Pittsburgh T 2-2 11/29 Nashville W 5-1 12/01 Florida W 5-4 12/02 at Islanders W 3-2 12/05 at Ottawa W 2-1 12/07 Toronto W 6-2 TEAM NEWS by Alex Frias With one quick swipe of players, GM Neil Smith has miraculously transformed a dysfunctional last place team into an offensively balanced club that is quietly starting to make some noise. Before Petr Nedved arrived from Pittsburgh for Alexei Kovalev and Harry York on Nov. 25, the Rangers' forward lines just didn't make any sense. Now four years after his first stint on Broadway, Nedved not only fits in with the Rangers but seems to be the key that unlocked the team's potential. "Petr's had a big impact, certainly, for us," Rangers captain Brian Leetch said. "He didn't take much time to adapt to being back in the NHL. He stepped right in and has made a contribution to the team." With three goals and 10 points in seven games, Nedved has been the offensive catalyst that Smith saw score 78 goals in two years in a Penguins uniform. And Nedved's arrival has allowed the other forwards to settle into their comfort zones. With Nedved centering the second line with Niklas Sundstrom and Mike Knuble, Wayne Gretzky has been given some big-name veteran linemates in John MacLean and Kevin Stevens. And that has allowed coach John Muckler to keep the successful Adam Graves-Marc Savard-Todd Harvey line intact. The line combinations have divided the attention of enemy checkers, enabling each line to enjoy and exploit mismatches to the tune of 23 goals in the six games since their realignment. "Right now we've got three lines with good balance and seven defensemen and a fourth line that plays well too," said Stevens, who is playing the best hockey of his two-year Rangers career. "Being able to get Petr has been a great bonus for us." "It's good right now," said Gretzky, who's probably benefited the most since Nedved's landing. "Good combinations, determination and grit, youth and obviously some experience. The team is getting along very well and everyone is working very hard." And for the first time since the 1997 playoffs, the lineup is working. Smith Still Not Done?: A few days after acquiring the services of Petr Nedved, Sean Pronger and Chris Tamer, Smith looked to be positioning himself for a possible future trades when he traded Bill Berg, who was toiling around in the AHL to Ottawa for defensemen Stan Neckar. With Neckar and Tamer, that brings the number of NHL quality defensemen in the Rangers system to 10. This makes you wonder if Smith is looking down the road to a possible deal or deals with Vancouver for Pavel Bure or maybe Colorado, who is dire need of defensemen, for Claude Lemieux. Stay tuned. First Contact: Looking to avoid the public relations disaster from two summers ago with Mark Messier and the close call with Mike Richter this past off-season, the Rangers have begun talks with Brian Leetch and his agent, Jay Grossman. "It's good that they got together and talked. We'll take a little time and talk things over," Leetch said. "It was pretty much everything as I expected, what the Rangers said about myself and how they looked at the team right now. Everything will get more tense as it goes on, but it was a good first step." The Rangers are said to have offered proposals of varying lengths, all averaging about $6 million per year. Leetch is expected to eventually garner between $7 million and $8 million. ----------------------------------------------------------------- PHILADELPHIA FLYERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Roger Neilson Roster: C - Rod Brind'Amour, Marc Bureau, , Eric Lindros, Mike Sillinger. LW - Colin Forbes, Chris Gratton, Dan Kordic, John LeClair, Roman Vopat, Valeri Zelepukin. RW - Alexandre Daigle, Jody Hull, Keith Jones, Dainius Zubrus. D - Dave Babych, Ryan Bast, Andy Delmore, Eric Desjardins, Dan McGillis, Luke Richardson, Petr Svoboda, Chris Therien, Dmitri Tertyshny. G - Ron Hextall, John Vanbiesbrouck. Injuries: none. Transactions: none Game results: 11/25 at Islanders L 4-2 11/27 Toronto W 4-3 11/29 Vancouver W 6-2 12/04 at Buffalo L 3-0 12/05 Washington W 2-1 TEAM NEWS by Chuck Michio RENBERG RETURNING? I can tolerate a lot of silly things. I can tolerate the fact that the American general public made the guy who invented Beenie Babies a millionaire. I can deal with the fact that Europeans regard John Tesh and David Hasselhof as talented musicians. Hell, I can even tolerate the fact that not everyone gets spontaneous diarrhea from Celine Dion. But when it comes to all the hubbub about Mikael Renberg, I have to draw the line. In case you haven't heard the latest, word is that Bob Clarke is about to trade Chris Gratton straight up to bring old Renny back to the orange and black. Let that sink in for a minute. Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Clarke just ship Renberg AND Karl Dykhuis to Tampa Bay for Gratton just a year and a half ago? I won't even get into the boatload of money he threw Gratton's way. What the hell is it about Renberg that would justify such devotion? Sure, Tampa Bay stinks worse than Roseanne Barr at the end of a 10K race. But this guy scored only 16 goals and 22 assists in 68 games last year. And he finished -37 for the season. Even on Tampa Bay, that's pitiful. That's not to say that Renberg wasn't an excellent player with the Flyers. He was easily the best backchecker on the Legion of Doom line and a more consistent hustler than Lindros and LeClair, too. But that was before his chronic abdominal injury reduced him to a shell of his former self. A lot of Flyers fans are understandably upset at Gratton, but to trade him even-up for Renberg would be a colossal mistake. Even in light of his laughable production (one garbage-time goal in the recent rout of Vancouver), he's still a more valuable commodity than that. How many 23-year-old players have a 30-goal season on their resumes? The Flyers would be far wiser to attempt to package Gratton with fellow underachievers Dainius Zubrus and Alexandre Daigle for another reliable defenseman, maybe Scott Lachance of the Isles. That's a deal that would at least make sense. After all, the Flyers sold enough of those silly Legion of Doom hats, didn't they? C'MON, CLARKIE! Regular readers of this column know that I've always been a staunch defender of Bobby Clarke. His theft of John LeClair and Eric Desjardins made the Flyers into instant Cup contenders and he's acquired many other useful players for a used puck bag or less. But some of his recent maneuverings are making me start to wonder about his ability to effectively evaluate players and coaches. Clearly, trading Gratton straight-up for Renberg would be admitting that bringing old Stone Hands to the Flyers was a terrible mistake. But unfortunately for Flyers fans, it wouldn't be the only bonehead move Clarke has made lately. In less than two full seasons, Clarke fired a coach who took them to the Stanley Cup finals, replaced him with two guys who haven't come close to matching his results, and brought in high-salaried busts Gratton and Luke Richardson. And even though he gave up next to nothing to acquire Alexandre Daigle, bringing in the NHL's #1 malingerer isn't exactly a feather in his cap, either. Add the inability of John Vanbiesbrouck to upgrade the Flyers' goaltending situation and it's easy to blame the Flyers' recent inconsistency on Clarke's cloudy judgment. Let's hope that the recent acquisition of Keith Jones is proof that Clarke is about to become a genius again. SPEAKING OF GOALTENDING... Hardly anyone has noticed, but suddenly Ron Hextall is creeping back into competition for the Flyers' top goaltending spot. Not only has Hexy won his last four starts, he's allowed only five goals during the span. Vanbiesbrouck hasn't been as sharp, allowing two goals on the first four shots he faced in a 3-0 loss to Buffalo. Hextall also leads Vanbiesbrouck in save percentage (.900 to .892) and winning percentage (.714 to .529) for the season. Typically, Hextall has refused to make a controversy of the situation, repeatedly stating that his role has not changed. His impeccable attitude seems all the more impressive considering that Vanbiesbrouck recently called a whiny bull session with reporters about the team's inconsistent defensive play. That's closer to excuse-making than Hextall has ever come. Roger Neilson says that Vanbiesbrouck will remain #1 for now. But Neilson conceded that Hextall could garner more playing time if he continues to be the sharper goalie. Could this season see a repeat of the past two, with the Flyers' back-up goalie replacing the established starter in the playoffs? If it does, it'd be poetic justice for Hextall, who was superseded by Garth Snow and Sean Burke in the last two postseasons. Look out, Beezer. HERE COME THE DEVILS The Flyers begin a crucial home-and-home with New Jersey this week - a test that should tell the orange-and-black whether their recent improvement is real or a mirage. New Jersey should certainly be primed for the showdown. Not only did the Flyers post a rare victory against the Devils in their last meeting, they pummeled them 6-1 and made Martin Brodeur look like Darren Pang. And that's REALLY saying something. The Flyers enter the series four points behind the Devils, so they can tie for the division lead with a sweep. The teams have both played 24 games. ----------------------------------------------------------------- PITTSBURGH PENGUINS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Kevin Constantine Roster: C - Martin Straka, Robert Lang, Jan Hrdina, Tyler Wright, Kip Miller. LW - Stu Barnes, German Titov, Patrick Lebeau, Ian Moran, Harry York. RW - Jaromir Jagr, Alexei Kovalev, Aleksey Morozov, Robby Brown, Dan Kesa. D - Darius Kasparaitis, Kevin Hatcher, Brad Werenka, Jiri Slegr, Bobby Dollas, Neil Wilkinson, Jeff Serowik, Victor Ignatjev, Maxim Galanov. G - Tom Barrasso, Peter Skudra, Jean-Sebastian Aubin. Injuries: Peter Skudra, g (ankle, day-to-day); Victor Ignatjev, d (shoulder, indefinite); Jiri Slegr, d (hand, day-to-day). Transactions: Traded Petr Nedved, c; Chris Tamer, d; and Sean Pronger, c; to New York Rangers in exchange for Alexei Kovalev, rw; Harry York, lw; and $2.5 million. Game Results 11/25 at Washington L 5-4 11/27 NY Rangers T 2-2 11/28 at Montreal W 4-3 12/01 Anaheim T 4-4 12/04 at Carolina T 3-3 12/05 at Boston L 2-1 TEAM NEWS by Jerry Fairish The Pens finally pulled the trigger on the Petr Nedved trade, dishing him off to the New York Rangers. It breaks down like this...Petr Nedved, Chris Tamer, and Sean Pronger to the Blueshirts in return for underachieving right winger Alexei Kovalev, center Harry York, and $2.5 million. So the media has been calling me and asking what I thought of the whole ordeal. My response, "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille." What in the hell does that mean? I don't know, I just saw Sunset Boulevard and I wanted to add that in somewhere. Anyway, with the loss of Tamer the Penguins have absolutely nobody to fight now, unless Tom Barrasso feels like stepping into the role. It is my opinion that Nedved was the marquee name in that trade, yet the Pens had to dish two additional players to make it happen. I just don't get it. Do you know what else I just don't get? How Mankind gets a title shot at the Corporate Champ, The Rock, this Sunday. Mankind's gay, plain and simple. The Rock's gonna lay the smack down. I'm cutting it short this issue. Why? Because I can. ================================================================= ================================================================ TEAM REPORTS ================================================================ EASTERN CONFERENCE NORTHEASTERN DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- BOSTON BRUINS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Pat Burns Roster: C - Jason Allison, Anson Carter, Joe Thornton, Tim Taylor, Chris Taylor. LW - Sergei Samsonov, Ken Baumgartner, Rob Dimaio, Peter Ferraro, Antii Laaksonen, Ken Belanger. RW - Dimitri Khristich, Steve Heinze, Per Johan Axelsson, Peter Nordstrom. D - Ray Bourque, Don Sweeney, Dave Ellett, Kyle McLaren, Hal Gill, Darren Van Impe, Grant Ledyard, Dennis Vaske, Jonathan Girard. G - Byron Dafoe, Rob Tallas. Injuries: Peter Ferraro, lw (chest sprain, indefinite). Transactions: None. Game Results 11/24 at Tampa Bay W 4-1 11/25 at Florida W 1-0 11/27 Montreal W 5-1 12/01 Vancouver T 1-1 12/05 Pittsburgh W 2-1 TEAM NEWS by Matt Brown In our last episode, our heroes, the Boston Bruins, had just broken out of a three-game winless streak with a thrilling 5-4 overtime victory over the Washington Capitals. The Bruins had blown a three-goal lead, letting Washington tie the game in the third period. It seemed like a deja vu setup - last year in the playoffs the Bruins lost a similar game in overtime to these same Capitals. But history did not repeat itself, and the Bruins won this game on a Jason Allison goal. Since then, the Bruins have been on a streak of a different kind, going unbeaten in five games. But the biggest change was not in the end results, but the means to achieve it. In the previous four games, the Bruins had surrendered 15 goals, including a horrendous five-goal outing against the Florida Panthers. Since the Washington game, their defense has been ultra-stingy, allowing one goal or less in each game! It does not go without saying that Byron Dafoe has been da man throughout this stretch, but the Bruins defense and backchecking have been much better at containing the opposition. Ray Bourque must have been playing that old Archie Bell and the Drells dance tape in the locker room, because the Bruins have been playing the "Tighten Up" on the ice. Or maybe it was those on-ice pushups that Pat Burns was doling out liberally at his practices for defensive errors. In any event, the Bruins have been shutting down everybody they play, and scoring a bit too. They toyed with both Tampa Bay and Montreal, trailing in both games 1-0 entering the third period, then unleashing a barrage to blow away the Bolts 4-1, and hacking up Montreal goalie Jeff Hackett with five third-period goals to win 5-1. Sandwiched in between was a 1-0 whitewashing of Florida, a statement in its own way after the previous meeting, a 5-5 tie that should have been a Boston win, except for a minor detail like a blown four-goal lead. The 1-0 win gave Dafoe four shutouts for the season, tying him with (yikes!) Tommy Salo of the Islanders and the Dominator for the league lead. After the Montreal win, the game against Crazy Mike Keenan (a Tanya Harding Ruby Ridge incident waiting to happen) and the Vancouver Canucks was a real letdown. The Bruins were lucky to salvage a 1-1 tie, as nothing was clicking. The Canucks came into the Fleetcenter to get physical, and while the Bruins held their own in the hitting department, they were not able to get anything else going. To be fair, Mike Keenan hasn't been on America's Most Wanted for a few years now, so maybe he has mellowed out. Maybe even he isn't man enough to pick a fight with this team's star player, Mark Messier. Or maybe there is no need, since Mike and Mark are the combo who brought a Cup to Stanley-starved Madison Square Garden a few years back. In any event, it will take all those two have got to take this bunch of palookas anywhere near the old bowl without Alex Mogilny and Pavel Pure scoring some goals.. In the Bruins most recent game, Ray Bourque and Hal Gill united to stifle league leading scorer Jaromir Jagr once again. The only problem is that Bourque and Gill could not stay on the ice for 60 minutes, and Jagr was able to bring the Penguins back to within a goal at 2-1 by sneaking on the ice against Don Sweeney and Dave Ellett, who together might be as big as Gill if Sweeney sat on Ellett's shoulders. As he did last year, Hal Gill took the assignment of close covering Jagr, and he did a very nice job indeed throughout the entire game. Gill even decked the Hairmeister once, and should have been called for interference or roughing, but wasn't. On the offensive end, Shawn Bates was the unlikely hero, getting a kick-in goal (NESN broadcast analyst Gord Kluzak called it a natural skating motion, almost a tribute to beloved former Bruins color man Derek Sanderson, who was once accused of being a homer), and a nice assist on Steve Heinze's winning goal, sending Heinze in on old foe Tom Barrasso with a take-one-for-the-team pass as he was getting creamed at mid-ice. One definite reason for the Bruins success is the record of their penalty killers over this stretch of games. The Bruins opponents were a combined 0 for 19 on the power play in the last six games. This put the Bruins third in the Penalty Killing rankings behind only Phoenix and Dallas with only 11 power-play goals against in 98 attempts over 24 games, for an 88.8 kill percentage. Unfortunately, the power play over the same stretch has slipped some, going 4 for 22, and blowing six man-up situations against the Canucks alone. Still, the power play is ranked third in the NHL, just behind league leaders Pittsburgh and (who woulda thought!) the Islanders. So if you take the third best power play, and put it with the third best penalty killing, and stir in the second best goaltending duo of Dafoe and Robbie Tallas, weighing down the team with a 1.85 goals-against average, what do you get? A third-place team? It just doesn't seem like those stats should equate to merely third in their division. Well, unfortunately for the Bruins, both Buffalo and Toronto have been hot against their opponents, and good at salvaging a point or two in tough situations. Bruins fans can take heart, though. Even if the Bruins are third in the Northeast division, they are tied for eighth overall in points with Philadelphia, trailing only New Jersey, Carolina(!), Phoenix, Dallas, Detroit, and division rivals Buffalo and Toronto. All those teams are separated by a max of five points in the standings - Phoenix and Dallas are at 33, the Bruins and Philly are at 28. The education of Joe Thornton continues. If Thornton has a long and prosperous career in the NHL, he will definitely have Pat Burns to thank. Another coach could have thrown Joe out on the ice his first year and said, "Good Luck, kid." Joe might have brought home the Calder Trophy playing on some other team. But chances are he would have been the next Alexandre Daigle or Alexei Yashin or maybe a lot worse. He might have succumbed to the pressure, or developed the belief that he was not as good as he thought he was, that he was not capable of NHL caliber play. Lots of first picks wash out, at great cost to themselves and to the team that picked them. Under Burns, Thornton has a chance for something different. Pat makes him work at a certain position or situation until he understands it and can handle it. When he missteps, or goes back to habits that got him by in the junior ranks, Burns grabs him by the scruff and sits him down. Burns has also set up a team situation such that his being tough on Joe causes the other players to pull for him, and egg him on to do well or step up the effort, rather than be jealous of the kid with the big contract. Joe walked onto a last place team, the same way that Daigle and Yashin and others have. However, instead of being set up to fail as a savior, Thornton is being nurtured to succeed. He will be a more complete player for it. Watch a Bruins game, and notice how much the fans are pulling for Joe, and how they cheer if he makes a hit or scores. The fans are saying "Go Joe!" not "It's about time he did something," which was the refrain in Ottawa. He may not ever be an Eric Lindros, but then again, Lindros hasn't achieved everything expected of him, whether or not those expectations were justified, has he? ----------------------------------------------------------------- BUFFALO SABRES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Lindy Ruff Roster: C - Michael Peca, Brian Holzinger, Curtis Brown, Wayne Primeau, Derek Plante. LW - Dixon Ward, Geoff Sanderson, Michal Grosek, Randy Cunneyworth, Paul Kruse. RW - Vaclav Varada, Miroslav Satan, Matthew Barnaby, Rob Ray. D - Darryl Shannon, Alexei Zhitnik, Jason Woolley, Jay McKee, Mike Wilson, Richard Smehlik, James Patrick, Rumun Ndur, Mike Hurlbut. G - Dominik Hasek, Dwayne Roloson. Injuries: Richard Smehlik, d (thigh bruise, day-to-day); Paul Kruse, lw (hip flexor, day-to-day); Rumun Ndur, d (groin, day-to-day). Transactions: December 1: signed Mike Wilson, d, to multi-year contract. NHL suspended Rob Ray, rw, four games and fined him $1,000 for a slew-footing incident at Florida on Nov. 28. November 29: recalled Erik Rasmussen, c, and Randy Cunneyworth, lw, from Rochester of the AHL. November 24: recalled Mike Hurlbut, d, from Rochester. Game Results 11/25 NY Rangers W 4-2 11/28 at Florida L 6-2 11/29 at Tampa Bay W 6-3 12/2 Florida W 2-1 12/4 Philadelphia W 3-0 12/5 at Nashville W 3-1 TEAM NEWS by Matt Barr Ward's World If you're among the people who scoffed when I wrote in these very pages in September that Dixon Ward would be leading the Buffalo Sabres in goal scoring in December, well, who's laughing now? Ok, I didn't join the staff here until I met Michael Dell at a Culture Club reunion tour show in Erie in November, but the point remains that Dixon Ward has been quite the feisty little goal scorer this season. Ward's 10 goals (through December 5) are one more than Michal Grosek's nine (or anyone else's nine, for that matter) and three more than Teemu Selanne has. (Stats are so awesome, man.) Ward had five goals on the season going into the November 25 game against the Nedved-fortified New York Rangers, and he had eight coming out of it. Ward's first career hat trick was the difference in a 4-2 victory over the listless Range. That '2' on the Rangers' side marked the end of an unholy 263 minute, 46 second shutout streak Dominik Hasek had going against the Blueshirts. Ward was rather cranky after his turnover led to a Leafs win the game before, the Sabres' last at Maple Leaf Gardens. He politely declined to speak with media types after the game. After the Ranger game, he spoke about "redemption" and "having something to prove." Let it all out, Dixon, we're here for you. A lot of prime players have worn number 15 for the Sabres in their storied history -- Gerry Meehan, Adam Creighton, Lou Franceschetti, and who can forget Doug Smith, one of a long list of Scotty Bowman masterstrokes, just to name a few -- but to our knowledge none of them have had a better couple months to start a season than Ward. Ray Suspended; Grosek Gets 'A' For Effort Rob Ray, who's at that age where you have to keep an eye on him constantly, was suspended by the NHL for four games and fined $1,000, (all together now:) the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement, for slew-footing the inconsequential Alex Hicks in the game November 28 in Florida. Ray was ordered to sit out the game the following day at Tampa pending a phone hearing. On December 1, the league passed sentence officially. Ray missed home games against Florida and Philadelphia and the Sabres' first visit to Nashville as well as the Tampa game, a 6-3 Sabres win. In Ray's absence, Michal Grosek got an 'A' slapped on him. Your less comprehensive and accurate periodicals and media will say this is because Grosek was acting as an assistant captain, but we know he was really an alternate here at LCS. What in God's name does the captain of a hockey team need an assistant for? Let alone two? The show of confidence in Grosek was something he appreciated. Interviewed between periods of the Nashville game by roving reporter Danny Gare, Grosek positively beamed as he spoke about what the letter meant to him. Hasek was shown a seat during the game at Florida, too, but by Lindy Ruff. Dwayne Roloson, who never gets to do anything fun, played the last 40 minutes and actually got saddled with the loss as the Sabres fell 6-2. I'm Lyin' In Bed, Just Like... Mike Wilson, part of one of the most one-sided trades in Buffalo history (at least, those few in favor of the Sabres -- who can forget Andre Savard, Tony McKegney and J.F. Sauve for Real Cloutier, for crying out loud), was inked to a multi-year contract, the team announced December 1. The deal will keep Wilson in the fold through 2001, and the best part is he doesn't get paid for the 19 games he missed. In exchange, Wilson said the Sabres sweetened the third year of the deal. Wilson had three goals and an assist in six games for Las Vegas of the IHL while awaiting a contract with the Sabres, matching his NHL career totals for points in 201 career games. Wilson's signing leaves Donald Audette as the Sabres' only unsigned player. Audette requested a trade from the team on November 10. Jockeying For Ice Among those who've played bit parts in the Sabres success over the last two weeks are Derek Plante, Erik Rasmussen and Wayne Primeau. It's no coincidence that any success one or the other has likely comes at the expense of the others as far as the next game's ice time. Plante was a healthy scratch in Tampa Bay as newly-recalled Rasmussen and Randy Cunneyworth got into the act. Plante made his way to the press box at the Marena for the following game against Florida as well. When in the lineup, he sees limited action, but can contribute with his speed and savvy. Rasmussen has been a fixture since his callup, even seeing some time opposite Michael Peca and Vaclav Varada on the big line. His aggressiveness has landed him in the box at inopportune times, but overall he seems to be the one of the three taking the greatest advantage of his opportunities. Primeau complained to the press following the home-and-home against the Leafs November 20-21 that he was upset with the amount of ice time he was getting. Ruff challenged him to be more aggressive and physical when given the opportunity, and the approach seemed to work well in the short term. Primeau banged a bunch of mostly listless Rangers around on the 25th, and has tallied a goal and an assist in recent wins. Lindros is a Punk Eric Lindros was asked to leave the 3-0 Sabres win on December 4 late in the first period when he took a two-handed swing at Jay McKee's head. The league fined Lindros $1,000, which in case you weren't aware is the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement, but declined to suspend him for the second time this season under circumstances that would've gotten Curtis Brown at least three games. Lindros and Lindros Sr., Flyers GM Bobby Clarke, both claimed that Lindros was trying to pry his stick out of the hold someone had on it when it just snapped up unexpectedly; and also that Michael Peca, who is two feet, three inches shorter, head butted him. "You can't trust the officials and can't trust the league anymore," said Clarke. "They're so damn eager to throw someone out. I don't trust what Koharski might put in his report." Trust no one, Mr. Clarke. We've loved the Flyers since the 70s, for just these reasons. Hasek was otherworldly in the game, and the two thirds of the LL Cool J line that were left, John LeClair and Keith Jones, were held to a shot on goal apiece. Boughner Faces Old Mates, Sings 'Elvira' The Sabres played their first game against Bob Boughner and the Nashville Predators (we're fairly confident that this is the only place you'll ever hear them referred to that way) on December 5. Boughner welcomed Rasmussen to the Sabres lineup with a good lickin' in the second period. It was Boogie's 200th NHL game, which is why we mention it. The first 177, of course, were with the Sabres. We can't decide what we think about this whole Nashville deal. It's surreal at times, as the PA announcer lets the crowd in on the reason for every whistle and beats them over the head with the fact they're on the power play; and then you're dealing with a team with uniforms that new and a logo that gay playing like the mid-80s Chicago Blackhawks already... a team two months old! We digress. The Predators were, get this, the better team on the fifth, but Hasek and a disallowed goal (which we should add never crossed the goal line) did the newbies in. It was the Sabres' third game in four nights, and it looked it. Rasmussen had a secondary assist and an empty-net goal, and Brian Holzinger scored the game-winner and was named the game's third star, behind Hasek and the Predators' Eric Fichaud. Hot, Hot, Hot All that (last two weeks): Ward's vitals: five goals and an assist and a plus-four in six games. Darryl Shannon has been outstanding, not only in that way he has of being outstanding without drawing a lot of attention to himself, but also in that he chalked up two goals, three assists and a robust plus-8 in six games. He's been moving the puck deftly, taking the body, and making like an all-around solid third or fourth defenseman on an NHL team. Hasek: .941 save percentage in the last six games. We could go on, but why? Matthew Barnaby was 2-5-7 and plus-3 in his first five games after his suspension, and has cooled to a respectable 1-6-7, 10 PIM in his last six. Others Receiving Votes We need to mention Vaclav Varada. Varada played his best game of the year against the listless Rangers on November 25, bullying people around and assisting twice on Dixon Ward goals. He followed that later with a one assist effort against Philly, in which John LeClair and a few other Flyers were genuinely wishing him dead. Varada's been a plus player in seven of his last 10 games. Jay McKee played a couple of his best consecutive games of the season against Philadelphia and Nashville. What we like so much about McKee this year, beyond the fact that he helps make the Mogilny trade look like science fiction, is that he's asserting himself so much, and yet so productively. He's not taking penalties when you really wish he wouldn't, as Rasmussen has been, but he's sticking his neck out, jumping into the play to move the puck or take the body, and never failing to recover. Last Word "He grabbed my stick and pulled it back. When I pushed through, I caught a player in the upper arm and went up and over everybody, never hit anybody." -- Eric Lindros teaches physics This column brought to you by the word 'listless.' ----------------------------------------------------------------- MONTREAL CANADIENS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Alain Vigneault Roster: C - Saku Koivu, Vincent Damphousse, Scott Thornton, Matt Higgins, Trent McLeary, Sergei Zholtok. LW - Shayne Corson, Martin Rucinsky, Benoit Brunet, Terry Ryan, Brian Savage, Andrei Bashkirov, Dave Morissette, Patrick Poulin. RW - Mark Recchi, Turner Stevenson, Jonas Hoglund. D - Vladimir Malakhov, Stephane Quintal, Patrice Brisebois, Brett Clark, Miloslav Guren, Stephane Robidas, Craig Rivet, Igor Ulanov, Eric Weinrich, Alain Nasreddine. G - Jose Theodore, Jeff Hackett. Injuries: Vincent Damphousse, c (lower back spasms, day-to-day); Scott Thornton, c (torn abdominal wall muscle, approximately 5-7 weeks). Transactions: Assigned to Fredericton: 12/01 Matt Higgins, 12/04 Sergei Zholtok, 12/05 Andrei Bashkirov. Game Results 11/27 at Boston L 5-1 11/28 Pittsburgh L 4-3 11/30 Los Angeles W 3-1 12/02 at Carolina L 4-1 12/04 at New Jersey T 1-1 12/05 Toronto L 4-3 OT TEAM NEWS by Jacques Robert The Ones That Got Away... "We know we have the talent, but we have to put it to work and get the good plays from our top players," said Patrice Brisebois before the short-lived overtime against Toronto. In a matter of 34 seconds, hopes of getting at least one point were blown away after having led the game 3-2 up to almost 18 minutes in the third when Tie Domi benefited from rookie defenseman Brett Clark's mistake to even the score. The scenario was similar the night before in New Jersey when Andreychuk scored a 35-foot slap shot with 1:35 to play in the third to tie the game 1-1. And thanks to stories like those, the Canadiens have won only two of their last 12 games. So are the Canadiens unlucky or just unable to play the full 60- minute regulation time? The latter seems more like it by looking at the prosecution's evidence. Exhibit A: the game against Boston when in the third the Bruins scored five in a row, including three within a span of 2:35, to win 5-1. Exhibit B: against Pittsburgh when with 45 seconds to go in the second Martin Straka scored twice and Robert Lang followed in a span of 4:30 to hand their coach Kevin Constantine a 4-3 win. Stephane Quintal testified: "We have to turn this thing around, we have to find something positive. One of Straka's goals was my fault, it went off me. When things go bad they really go bad." The defense's rebuttal: a 3-1 win against the struggling Los Angeles Kings who dropped eight of their last nine games overall. One testimony: "We got that 60-minute effort we were looking for," said Brian Savage, who scored what proved to be the winning goal early in the second period. "We've had the 40-minute games and the 55-minute games, but it was all there tonight." The effort started with a goaltender who stopped the first 17 shots until Glen Murray scored on a one-timer from the left point in the last few minutes of the third. Prosecution's exhibit C: role reversal in Carolina. Ray Sheppard and Keith Primeau scored 5 1/2 minutes apart as the Hurricanes beat Montreal 4-1. Sheppard's goal came at 15:41 of the second and Primeau's at 1:08 of the third. Therefore, whatever was said in the dressing room in between periods might not have been very well understood. The outstanding goalie this time was Trevor Kidd, who made several key saves in the third. A witness account: "We've just got to score more goals," said Montreal coach Alain Vigneault. "I think the effort is there, but we're going to get back on track we're going to need more than effort, we're going to need our key players to deliver." Lady Luck on Their Side The defense exhibit B: a one-point game against New Jersey (1-1) and a great performance by Jeff Hackett (38 shots-37 saves). Furthermore, the Habs played without injured regulars Vincent Damphousse, Benoit Brunet and Scott Thornton. And lady luck was on their side for a change: Pandolfo scored a goal in overtime but is was refused because the puck had been kicked in the net. Closing arguments: After losing to Toronto 4-3 in OT, Montreal is in last place in the Northeast division and there is an eight- point difference between the fifth and forth places. Victory and two precious points seemed possible until the puck bounced off Brett Clark's stick to tie the game 3-3. Tomas Kaberle put in the winner 34 seconds into overtime as the Maple Leafs won the first of five meetings between these teams this season. Alain Vigneault's comment: "I'm not going to carve up Brett Clark. We had our chances. We were up 3-2 in the third period and we had two unbelievable chances to make it 4-2. We didn't put it in and we lose the game." However, there are always extenuating circumstances like those expressed by the prosecution expert witness Jack Todd of the Montreal Gazette. "Years of poor talent evaluation, inept trades and shoddy scouting have left the cupboard so bare that the handful of blue-chip talents still on board are no longer enough to win consistently..." Hopefully, the three-game road trip starting in Phoenix will not give more ammunition to the comics who are already making bad jokes like: what's the difference between the Montreal Expos (baseball) and the Canadiens? There is none: they both can't play hockey. The outcome of this trip will be decisive as far as management is concerned, and so goes the rumor mill, once again... ----------------------------------------------------------------- OTTAWA SENATORS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Jacques Martin Roster: C - Alexei Yashin, Vaclav Prospal, Radek Bonk, Shaun Van Allen, Bruce Gardiner, Steve Martins. LW - David Oliver, Shawn McEachern, Marian Hossa, Magnus Arvedson, Andreas Johansson. RW - Daniel Alfredsson, Andreas Dackell, Chris Murray, Bill Berg. D - Lance Pitlick, Patrick Traverse, Chris Phillips, Sami Salo, Wade Redden, Jason York, Janne Laukkanen, Igor Kravchuk. G - Damian Rhodes, Ron Tugnutt. Injuries: Dec 4 - LW Marian Hossa returned after missing 22 games with torn ACL and MCL. Nov 28 - D Sami Salo, groin injury, day-to-day. Oct. 29 - LW Yves Sarault, sprained wrist, out 4-6 weeks. D Janne Laukkanen, off-season abdominal surgery, day-to-day. Transactions: Nov 27 - Traded D Stan Neckar to New York Rangers for LW Bill Berg. Nov 27 - Returned D Radim Bicanek and RW Phil Crowe to Detroit (IHL). Game Results 11/26 New York Islanders W 4-1 11/28 at Toronto L 3-2 12/01 at Nashville W 3-1 12/03 Los Angeles W 3-1 12/05 New York Rangers L 2-1 TEAM NEWS by The Nosebleeders Cleaning up Shop It was bound to happen, and when it did, it left most Sens fans feeling kinda...well...um...well heck, who really knows? For months, every Sens fan on Earth knew that one of their defenseman had to go. Already packed to the gills on the blue line, the Senators were close to welcoming the likes of Stan Neckar and Janne Laukkanen back from injury, which would bump the number of healthy backbenchers to nine. With a coach with a reputation for carrying thin depth charts, everybody and their mothers knew that a trade was imminent. Only question was: who would draw the short straw? As anticipation built, so too did the imaginations, with big name stars like Felix Potvin, and heck even Theo Fleury (!) coming to Bytown in exchange for one of Ottawa's young talented troops. And suddenly it happened. As GM Rick Dudley's mug appeared on local television to announce the deal, excitement soon turned to perplexity as he announced that young, promising defenseman Stan Neckar was traded to the New York Rangers for (Gretzky? Graves? Richter? Harvey?) Bill Berg and a second round pick in 1999! (silence) Excuse us? Bill Berg, eh.....hmmm. No offense to Bill Berg - in fact, we're confident he will provide the same leadership that Randy Cunneyworth offered last year - it's just that you can appreciate what a letdown the trade was, given all the hype and hoopla surrounding the deal. Berg's Not So Bad In all fairness, it seems Ottawa actually came out on top in this deal. Neckar was once heralded as an anchor for the Sens' future Stanley Cup aspirations, but that quickly subsided a la Alexandre Daigle. In return, Ottawa received a strong workhorse in Bill Berg. Berg, 31, is one of those guys who puts the soul back in hockey in these days of spoiled brats (see Kariya, Paul) and whining, overpaid dolts (see Lindros, Eric). Not much talent, but a lot of grit and determination. And leadership...don't forget leadership. Berg should help a lot, particularly in the dressing room. On the ice, at least he provides a lot more offensive potential than Neckar ever did from the training room, right? Right. Advantage: Ottawa. Ottawa to Nashville, One-Way Please Stan Neckar wasn't the only Senator checking out of Bytown for good. While the rest of the Sens were booking return flights for their game December 1 in Nashville, assistant GM Ray Shero decided he liked the place so much, that he'd stay. Shero, who had been with the club since the Randy Sexton days, announced his resignation prior to the Predators game in order to accept a similar role with the expansion Nashville club. Although Shero rationalized his decision by his desire to work under Preds GM Daivd Poile, the Nosebleeders suspect that he might have had his nose knocked out of joint by the Sens' decision to hire Rick Dudley over him after Pierre Gauthier abandoned the team last summer. Naturally, Shero denies everything, but one look at the picture and it makes you wonder. Here's a guy who for years had to endure the daily scrutiny of Bytown scribes over the team's lousy on-ice talent, only to finally see his hard work slowly begin to pay off. Now that the Sens have emerged as Eastern Conference contenders, he bolts to an expansion team - for the same job, no less. Why not stick around and watch the fruit of your labors in Ottawa one day etched on the Holy Ashtray? Did he leave for more prestige? C'mon, we're talking Nashville here, people. Better career advancement opportunities? You really think David Poile's job is in jeopardy, given the club's great start and Poile's track record? Nope. It just doesn't make any sense. As for a replacement, rumors have Orlando Solar Bears' GM John Wisebroad heading to Bytown, but he has insisted that he wishes to stay in the IHL. For now, Dudley will make due without an assistant. Trivia Time The Senators have retired only one number in team history. What number is it, and to whom did it belong? Answer at the end of this column. Da Berard Boo-Birds Are Back You can just sense the excitement in the air when the New York Islanders come to town. No, it has nothing to do with the team itself, nor the history (or lack thereof) of this, ahem, rivalry. Instead, it all focuses on the shoulders of a young defenseman by the name of Bryan Berard. You remember Berard, don't you? You know, the guy who was drafted number one overall in 1997 by the Ottawa Senators only to insult every Bytowner by refusing to ever play for the Sens? You could argue that Berard got his medicine just by being traded to Mike Milbury's Islanders, a death sentence to many. But Senator faithful do not easily forget such slights, as was evidenced by the boo-birds who flocked out in full force to the Corel Centre to watch the Senators manhandle the Isles 4-1. * After scoring just two goals in his first 15 games, Alexei Yashin pocketed his fourth in four games and added two helpers to notch the win. * The win marked the Sens' fourth in a row, tying a club record. It also extended Ottawa's unbeaten streak against Berard (aka the Islanders) to 11 games (8-0-3). * We hate Bryan Berard. Did we mention that already? A Little Too Premature Highlight of the night came at the expense of Islanders forward Claude Lapointe. Early in the third, Lapointe wristed a shot which seemed to beat Sens backstop Damian Rhodes. But while Lapointe was in mid-party mode - pumping his fists in a wild dance - he had to suddenly face the humiliating reality that the puck never actually entered the net. Instead, Rhodes managed to snare the puck in a glove save that is surely to make the season's Year in Review video. A Little Too Late Isle coach Mike Milbury was so frustrated with Yashin that he demanded a stick measurement late in the game. Sure enough, Yash's stick was illegal, but by that point, the Sens were up 3-0 and the game was a lock. End of An Era The Sens' next game, a Saturday night classic against the Toronto Maple Leafs on national television, marked the final visit ever for Ottawa to the fabled Maple Leafs Gardens. Riding a five-game unbeaten streak, the Sens gave up a 2-0 first period lead only to lose 3-2 in overtime. Derek King got the winner in OT on the power play. * Daniel Alfredsson scored his first of the year, ending the worst drought of his career. * With the win, Leafs goalie Curtis Joseph improved his record against the Sens to a stellar 10-0. Say What? Heading into the Saturday tilt, Ottawa and Toronto were the two highest scoring teams in the Eastern Conference. Now when was the last time you heard that? Ides of November, My Left Foot The month of November has traditionally been a nightmare for the Sens. Yet, despite the loss to the Buds, the Sens finished the 1998 edition of November a respectable 5-4-3, which is cause for celebration. Since rejoining the NHL in 1992-93, the Sens are 16-46-8 in November. Look for the team to do well in the coming months. Hossa has returned from injury, Alfredsson has regained his timing, and Laukkanen's return is imminent. With all the injuries to date, fielding a healthy team including a solid first and second line has been a priority. The teams 12-8-3 record after 23 games is ahead of last year's 9-10-4 pace. They are also plus 13 in the even strength goals for minus even strength goal against category. On the season last year, they broke even: 130 goals for and 130 goals against. The Second Line is Formed? The Alfredsson, Bonk and Johansson line seems to be coming together as a solid second line for the team. In a 3-1 win in Nashville, the line notched five points. Daniel Alfredsson, had his first multi-point game after returning from his eye injury. * Coach Martin didn't travel home with the team. Instead he went back to Toronto to scout the Los Angeles Kings. Rock Bottom Tales from the Senator Alumni...former Sen original Jeff Lazaro was released by Detroit last week after being arrested for drunk driving in Glens Falls, NY. Lazaro, once admired by Sens fans for his grit despite his small frame, has returned to New Orleans of the ECHL as a player/coach. Tugger Delivers The Los Angeles Kings came to town sporting one of the league's worst records and the Senators were probably not as prepared as they could have been. Outshot 32-18, Ron Tugnutt delivered in this game, taking his season record to 5-1-1. Alexei Yashin on a second effort scored the winner half way into the third period. The Pride of Marvelville Rumor has it that Larry Robinson's tenure as LA Kings coach may soon be coming to a close if the team doesn't start to turn things around. Nosebleeders response: PLUE. Give the man something to work with, will ya. The 6-15-3 Kings should look elsewhere for solutions. Down on the Farm All indications point to the Ottawa Senators operating a farm club in Quebec City next season. The team, should it come to be, would play in the AHL, as the Sens are currently paying the league an annual $80,000 suspension fee (the team folded its AHL Charlottetown franchise two years ago), which effectively spares the club millions of dollars in expansion fees. "I didn't realize how important having your own farm team was until I got here," said Sens GM Rick Dudley. "You have to have some control over your young players. They're just too valuable." Hossa Returns The Rangers game marked the return of 19-year-old Marian Hossa. After six months off after winning the Memorial Cup but almost losing his career, Hossa finally tested the leg in a game situation and it passed. A sell out crowd may have come to see Wayne and co. take on the Sens but the story of stories may be that this game marked the return of Hossa. The game itself was not all that interesting. Both teams looked uninspired and the Rangers came away with a 2-1 victory. The Senators outchanced and outshot (30-17) the Rangers but could not out goal them. Mike Richter continued his domination (12-2-2) of the Ottawa Senators and Niklas Sundstrom notched his first goal in eight games. * The Rangers are in the midst of their longest winning streak since posting five consecutive victories from December 13th-22nd, 1996. * Radek Bonk is becoming a regular NHLer. His notched his 7th of the season. The Nosebleeders remember it was but a year ago he seemed to be benched every second game. * Hossa return created a crowd at forward. Most vulnerable are David Oliver, Steve Martins, Bill Berg, and Chris Murray. After drawing a two-minute rough call and then a 10-minute misconduct Murray ended the game with only 2:26 of ice time. Berg was a scratch. Oliver was scratched for the sixth straight game. The speed of Martins may keep him around. * After the Rangers loss coach Martin cancelled off day on Sunday by scheduling practice. This is clearly a team going somewhere as reports have it that the practice was not viewed as punishment by most players - they realize that the Ranger game was not their best performance and viewed the practice as a way to work on the details. Can you remember all those years back when beer at a game was $2.75? Word at the Ranger game is that the Capital Beerfest at the Corel Centre is a go. The event is scheduled for January 20th. $15 admission but no word on the price of beer. * Run Tugnutt felt OK when leaving the Corel Centre Saturday but found himself caught by the flu bug and confined to bed. Drumroll Please Frank Finnigan's number 8 jersey was retired by the Ottawa Senators in 1992. Finnigan, aka "The Shawville Express", was a star forward for the Senators during their heyday in the 1920s. He was also the lone surviving member of the Sens' 1929 Stanley Cup championship squad - the club's last - when the franchise was re-admitted into the NHL in 1992. ----------------------------------------------------------------- TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Pat Quinn Roster: C - Mats Sundin, Darby Hendrickson, Steve Sullivan, Alyn McCauley. LW - Fredrik Modin, Steve Thomas, Todd Warriner, Derek King, Kris King, Igor Korolev, Garry Valk. RW - Sergei Berezin, Tie Domi, Mike Johnson, Adam Mair, Lonny Bohonos. D - Sylvain Cote, Dimitri Yushkevich, Alexander Karpovtsev, Jason Smith, Daniil Markov, Glen Featherstone, Tomas Kaberle, Yanick Tremblay, Francis Larivee. G - Curtis Joseph, Felix Potvin, Glenn Healy. Injuries: Alexander Karpovtsev, d (broken hand, 2-4 weeks). Transactions: 12/7/98 - Glenn Healy, g, called up from Chicago (IHL). 12/5/98 - Francis Larivee called up from St. John's (AHL) 11/25/98 - Kevin Dahl Sent to Chicago (IHL). Game Results 11/25 Vancouver W 5-1 11/27 at Philadelphia L 4-3 11/28 Ottawa W 3-2 12/02 Los Angeles W 3-1 12/05 at Montreal W 4-3 12/07 at NY Rangers L 6-2 TEAM NEWS by Jonah A. Sigel CAT FINALLY OUT OF THE BAG It took five months but apparently the Cat has had it. His nine lives are gone. I'm sorry but I can't think of any other cliches at the moment. In all seriousness, some five months after Curtis Joseph signed as a Maple Leaf, and Felix the Cat was promised he would be dealt, he played, obviously what he and his agents believed to be his only trump card. He went home. The Cat, last Thursday told the club he had it and was jumping ship. The Leafs convinced him to hold off on his decision for a couple of days because trade talks were hot and they hoped a deal could be reached very soon. However, when the team left for Montreal, Felix was already there, the Leafs had given him permission to go early, he was, according to the Leafs, supposed to be at practice Saturday morning. He failed to show there, and the Leafs again covered for him. He failed to show that night in Montreal and issued a press release saying in essence that he could not take anymore, that he is going home to wait for a trade. So, where do we sit today? Well, as of 11pm on Tuesday night, Felix is still a Leaf. A deal that was rumored with the Tampa Bay Lightning for Mikael Renberg is on hold, perhaps permanently. Rumors are flying around from various cities including, but not limited to, Montreal, Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary, Philadelphia, and even Colorado. I would not pay much attention to them, this could drag on a while (actually I'm saying this in hopes that it gets a deal done sooner). In reality, however, Potvin, has greatly misjudged his situation, all the pressure on the team to deal him has gone, along with him. In fact he has done the Leafs a service. He is no longer sitting on the bench, collecting a meager $21,000 a day (Canadian), being the circus leader in every city they travel to. Glenn Healy is no longer in the IHL. He's in Toronto where he belongs... but perhaps not for very long. The Leafs told Healy while he was in Chicago that he was free to find himself a new NHL team. Potvin is no longer an issue to the Leafs. He is an asset and not a liability. In the little I know about economics that is a good thing, and for the Leafs it is a very good thing. They now only have two goalies on the payroll and one major distraction is gone. Should he current hotbed of rumors die without a deal, people will forget he exists except when the odd rumor pops up. Potvin will not let that happen, though. You see, things were getting pretty quiet of late. All trade talk was quiet, the daily's weren't even mentioning trade talk until he quit the team. Tomorrow, just to be sure people don't forget him, he will hold a press conference. You can bet that in the next few weeks if he is not traded, and things get quiet, he will have some other ploy to keep himself in the news. I can see the headlines already: AND THE CAT CAME BACK, yes upset that he had not been traded or paid, the cat has decided he would be better off back with club. The odd thing about the situation is that people are genuinely feeling badly for the guy. Sorry, Felix, the buck, as they say, stops here. Nowhere in your contract is there a games played clause, nor is there a guarantee you'll be a number one. Perhaps your agents this time will write that in for you. No, I don't feel sorry for a guy who was collecting $21 thousand a game for sitting on the bench and little more. He said it had become too difficult to handle. What exactly had become too difficult to handle, the sitting or the cashing? The worst part of the entire thing is that Potvin has completely walked out and abandoned his teammates. Publicly they are all supporting him, however, it cannot be sitting too well with some that he simply left. To walk out on his teammates is inexcusable. It would be interesting to see how he would react if things ever got really bad and times were really difficult on him how he would react. Having said all that, Potvin was fairly successful as a Maple Leaf. He took the team to the Semifinals playing incredible hockey. Early in his career, the Cat was all the rage in Toronto. No matter how bad the team was in front of him, he was able to keep them somewhat competitive. Of late the magic was simply gone. On too many nights the soft goal beat him. And those same teammates whom he abandoned, lost faith in him. To a man, the Leafs this year say how confidant they are in front of CuJo. If there was one reason that Potvin has not to care about his teammates, it would be that constant, unintentional stab they were taking at him. The next few weeks should be pretty interesting for the Leafs. Experts keep expecting the floor to fall out from the team and the Buds to land in reality. So far it has yet to happen. They had a strong camp, and followed with an impressive start. Then after each loss, one can sense Leaf fans worrying that the end is near. Well, the team put together what coach Quinn termed the worst outing of the season against the Rangers on December 7. Should the fall come here, fingers will start to point to Potvin, and thus to GM (or whatever his title is) Mike Smith, who may be too worried about caring for his sick wife, and rightfully so, than concerning himself with Potvin's pouting. However, if the Leafs come back with a big win and get back on track then there will be no finger pointing, and the question will be who cares about the Cat? ================================================================ ================================================================ TEAM REPORTS ================================================================ EASTERN CONFERENCE SOUTHEASTERN DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- CAROLINA HURRICANES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Paul Maurice Roster: C - Ron Francis, Keith Primeau, Jeff O'Neill, Kent Manderville. RW - Ray Sheppard, Sami Kapanen, Nelson Emerson, Kevin Dineen, Robert Kron. LW - Gary Roberts, Martin Gelinas, RPaul Ranheim, Bates Battaglia. D - Steve Chiasson, Glen Wesley, Adam Burt, Curtis Leschyshyn, Sean Hill, Dave Karpa, Nolan Pratt, Mike Rucinski. G - Trevor Kidd, Arturs Irbe. Injuries: Steve Chiasson, d (back, day-to-day); Gary Roberts, lw (wrist, day-to-day); Sami Kapanen, rw (bruised thigh, day-to-day). Transactions: None. Game results: 11/25 San Jose W 3-1 11/28 at NY Islanders W 3-1 11/29 Anaheim W 3-1 12/02 Montreal W 4-1 12/04 Pittsburgh T 3-3 12/05 at Florida T 3-3 TEAM NEWS by Scott W. Pagel Since the last issue, it's tough to find a hotter team in the National Hockey League than the Carolina Hurricanes. The Canes still sit atop the Southeast Division with a mark of 12-10-5, good enough for 29 points. Carolina continues to take advantage of the rest of the division and has increased its point lead to seven points over second place Florida. All three teams in the Southeast posted losing records over the past two weeks. Earning Respect Currently only four teams in the NHL have more points than Carolina: Phoenix 32, New Jersey 32, Toronto 32 and Buffalo 30. The Canes' 29 points puts them even or ahead of such teams as: Dallas 29, Detroit 29, Philly 28, Pittsburgh 27 and Colorado 24! How quiet has the Hurricanes' success been this season? Well, to put it into perspective, one of the team's web pages recently conducted a poll asking internet surfers whether or not they knew the team was even in first place. Since the last report, the Hurricanes have put together 4-0-2 streak and need a win Thursday December 10 at home vs. Boston to tie the franchise's longest streak without a loss since 1987 when the Whale went 5-0-2. Bitten By the Injury Bug For really the first time all season, the Canes are starting to suffer through some injuries. Gary Roberts and Steve Chiasson both missed the 3-3 tie vs. the Penguins. Chiasson, the team's leading scorer among defensemen, has back spasms and Roberts, the team leader in assists, has a sprained wrist. If that wasn't bad enough, Sami Kapanen, who like Roberts has 19 points on the year, suffered a bruised thigh in the first period and didn't return to action. No More KIDDing Around Please pardon me while I toot my own horn so to speak. After all, it's not too often I get to do so. In my very first LCS column, I wrote how Arturs Irbe won player of the week/month honors for his outstanding play at the time. However, I did kind of down play it a bit saying the team will still eventually need the services of Trevor Kidd. So, it's certainly no surprise to me that Kidd has posted a 3-0-1 record in the team's recent streak. The former Calgary netminder picked up a shutout against San Jose, and wins against the Islanders and Montreal before tying the Panthers. In the three wins, Kidd stopped 81-of-83 shots he faced for a save percentage of .976. The wins lifted his season record to 4-3-2 and brought his goals-against average below 3.00 for the first time all season. Pittsburgh Homecoming For the first time since signing as free agent, Ron Francis returned to Pittsburgh as Carolina and the Penguins battled to a 3-3 tie. It hasn't exactly been a spectacular season for Francis with the Hurricanes. After finishing seventh in the league in scoring last year with the Pens, Francis is currently seventh on his team in points with 12 (5 G, 7 A). "I'd be lying if I said, personally, that I didn't think I would have a few more points by now," Francis told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazaette. "I don't think I'm playing awful. It just wasn't happening for a while." Francis assisted on Keith Primeau's power-play goal in the first period against Pittsburgh. Scouting the Schedule The Hurricanes will get four days off and won't take to the ice until Thursday when they host Boston. Two more times this season the Hurricanes will have a four days between games. On December 12th they'll host the defending Cup champion Detroit Red Wings and on the 15th Edmonton comes to town. After that, they'll begin another three-games-in-four-days stretch when they travel to Ottawa on the 18th and Buffalo on the 19th. Two days later they'll host the Sabres in a home-and-home series. In their final game before the Christmas break, Carolina travels to New York to take on the Rangers. NHL's House of Style Canada's new national newspaper, The National Post, recently rated NHL team jerseys based on "chicness." Toronto, Philadelphia and LA's purple ones were among the top, while Carolina, Anaheim, San Jose and Phoenix were at the bottom. At least they're in first place. Saying Good-bye This season, when Fox begins telecasts of NHL games, one thing that won't be back is that wonderful piece of modern technology - The Fox Glow Puck. I really don't know which era was tougher for me to live through - the Glow Puck, or listening to the New Kids on the Block. Both were rather haunting. I don't think there was anything more insulting to a hockey fan then having to watch a playoff game with blue streaks, red streaks and dancing robots. Think it's any coincidence that this is the last year of Fox's contract? Please, let ESPN handle the broadcasting from now on. By the way, Fox will also be saving $50,000 dollars a game by dumping the concept. Intermission Changes For the 7000-or so fans that actually attend Carolina Hurricanes hockey games, you may or may not have noticed some changes during the intermissions. The NHL has become a bit stricter in yet another effort to increase goal scoring. The changes took place for the first time back on Monday, November 30 and include: - On-ice entertainment between periods must now end by the 12-minute mark of the intermission. This will allow extra time for the ice to harden. - Teams will not be allowed back on the ice until the one-minute mark of intermission. At that time, only the six starters of the upcoming period will be allowed to skate, the other players will go directly to the bench. - Players must be off the ice by the end of the 20-minute warm-up prior to the game. ----------------------------------------------------------------- FLORIDA PANTHERS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Terry Murray Roster: C - Viktor Kozlov, Rob Niedermayer, Dave Gagner, Chris Wells, Steve Washburn. LW - Ray Whitney, Johan Garpenlov, Oleg Kvasha, Kirk Muller, Bill Lindsay, Peter Worrell. RW - Scott Mellanby, Dino Ciccarelli, Radek Dvorak, Mark Parrish. D - Robert Svehla, Gord Murphy, Ed Jovanovski, Paul Laus, Terry Carkner, Rhett Warrener, Jaroslav Spacek. G - Kirk McLean, Sean Burke. Injuries: None. Transactions: Not much going down, but they re-assigned left wing Dwayne Hay to the Beast of New Haven (AHL) one more time for good measure. Don't want him getting the wrong idea, if you know what I mean. And I think you do. Game Results 11/25 Boston L 1-0 11/28 Buffalo W 6-2 12/01 at NY Rangers L 5-4 12/02 at Buffalo L 2-1 12/05 Carolina T 3-3 TEAM NEWS by Matthew Secosky The Panthers are 2-5-3 in their last ten contest yet manage to hold onto second place in the Southeast Division with 22 points. Goes to show it pays to be in a weak division. Let's face facts and admit hockey in Florida just isn't going to fly. Swim, perhaps. But fly? No. The whole novelty wore off in '95. Of course, I never have been one for those long books. Random Notes ...and On a Good Day Some days you feel like a nut and some days you don't. Those words of the ancients scream of prophecy when applied to Radek Dvorak's, and the Panthers', season thus far. Nutty = good. Not nutty = bad. So simple, yet so easy too! On a side note, that's the opposite way in which I'd compare the merits of chocolate chip cookies. Coach Terry Murray had this to say: "There was a stretch after the start of the season where Dvorak did a lot of good stuff. He was using his trump card -- his speed. He was creating chances and scoring. But when you get a little complacent -- that's when you slip. Don't look any further than in the mirror. That's what I mean by accountability." Unfortunately, Coach Murray had no comment on how he likes his cookies. Go-to Guy Needed The Panthers lack a patsy, someone who can be counted on to take the blame when they fail to score key game-tying, game-winning goals. "We're looking for 'that' line or 'that' guy or for 'those' guys," coach Murray revealed. "We need to have somebody to look to when the shit hits the fan." Who's "that guy" going to be? "I think everybody's got to take it upon themselves to be that guy," Rob Niedermayer said. Ciccarelli Off the Hook Dino started his second game of the season on Saturday after being out since November 4th with a hairline fracture in his back. Ciccarelli scored twice in the game to snag the Panthers a tie with division-leading Carolina. Obviously, he brings his special purpose to the game. Just ask Terry Murray. "He's just got that knack to outbang you, out-energize you, and he's always taken a pile of abuse. When you see his helmet flying off and flying up in the air, you know he's doing what he does best. And that's why he energizes the team, because he brings other players to his aid. And he gets the fans involved, gives the building a lot of energy. So he's been very popular anywhere he's played." Ciccarelli has 605 career goals, ninth on the all-time list and third among active players (Wayne Gretzky - 890, Mark Messier - 607). He is within reach of passing Mario Lemieux (613) and Bobby Hull (610) later this season. ----------------------------------------------------------------- TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Jacques Demers Roster: C - Craig Janney, Vincent Lecavalier, Darcy Tucker, Daymond Langkow. RW - Mikael Renberg, Stephane Richer, Benoit Hogue, Rob Zamuner, Mikael Andersson, Andrei Nazarov. LW - Wendel Clark, Alexander Selivanov, Sandy McCarthy, Steve Kelly, Brent Peterson. D - Cory Cross, Karl Dykhuis, David Wilkie, Jassen Cullimore, Enrico Ciccone, Pavel Kubina, Mike McBain, Kjell Samuelsson, Andrei Skopintsev. G - Bill Ranford, Daren Puppa, Corey Schwab, Zac Bierk. Injuries: Daren Puppa, g (groin injury, indefinite); Bill Ranford, g (groin injury, indefinite); Rob Zamuner, lw (groin injury, day-to-day). Transactions: Recalled Zac Bierk, g, from Cleveland (IHL); announced retirement of John Cullen, c, and named him assistant coach. Game Results 11/29 Buffalo L 6-3 12/03 at Calgary L 4-1 12/04 at Edmonton W 2-1 12/06 at Chicago L 7-5 12/08 Ottawa L 4-2 TEAM NEWS by Seth Lerman Believe it or not, the Tampa Bay Lightning are ranked as the team with the fourth most improved record after 20 games of the 1998-99 season. That is hard to believe since they have won only one of their last 13 games, and rank number one in goals allowed with 99. After losing to the Ottawa Senators 4-2 on December, 8, coach Jacques Demers said that he is hopeful for the future. Citing the fine play of youngsters Pavel Kubina, Vincent Lecavalier, and Darcy Tucker, Demers said that these players are the future of the team, the players that will one day be the leaders of the club, both on the ice and off. "Kids are the only hope we have," said Demers. "Ottawa tonight made me think about that. The hope we have with these kids is what is going to keep me going, and it will make me, more than ever, watch when I am going to make a trade." And trade is the word which has been buzzing around the Ice Palace. Rumors have circulated about a deal involving disgruntled Toronto goaltender Felix Potvin. The name most often mentioned to be heading north is Mikael Renberg. Latest reports have indicated that the Leafs have asked for Renberg, defenseman Cory Cross, and a draft pick for Potvin. Demers confirmed that he is talking with Toronto, but would divulge any names. "I've talked with our people about this and there will be no breaking down. If it's not Felix Potvin, then we'll go after somebody else. We have to move forward with our goaltending situation," said Demers to the Tampa Tribune. Demers' dissatisfaction with the goaltending is not solely due to their play on the ice, although Bill Ranford has been a disappointment since his arrival from Washington, but more to the fact that Ranford and his partner, Daren Puppa, are both sidelined with injuries. In fact, Puppa has missed 128 games the last two-and-a-half seasons due to various ailments, a fact which concerns Demers. On another note, John Cullen's comeback from cancer has ended when the 34-year-old center announced his retirement before the November 27 game against the Florida Panthers. At the time, Cullen was playing for the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the International Hockey League. He remains with the Lightning as an assistant coach. "I was going crazy all week to decide what I was going to do," said Cullen. "To finally pull a trigger on this, to say it's over, was tough. To get into a new territory (coaching), it's scary." After battling cancer for the past two years, Cullen made Tampa Bay's opening night roster. But after four uninspiring performances, he was assigned to the Lumberjacks. "Family was big. I asked myself, is it worth it to me being away from my family that much and not knowing if I'd get to the NHL," Cullen said to Associated Press. "I didn't have the passion there I knew I should have. If I don't play that way, then I might as well forget it." Although he is no longer playing, Cullen firmly believes that his return to the rink, although a brief one, was inspiring to many individuals. At the moment, he is focusing on his new career. "How many players can retire and jump into the NHL right away as a coach? That's the opportunity I saw," Cullen said. "When you retire, it's usually the door is shut and see you later -- thanks for everything. I'm very lucky." ----------------------------------------------------------------- WASHINGTON CAPITALS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Ron Wilson Roster: C - Adam Oates, Andrei Nikolishin, Matt Herr, Dale Hunter. LW - Joe Juneau, Brian Bellows, Richard Zednik, Steve Konowalchuk. RW - Peter Bondra, Craig Berube, Kelly Miller, Mike Eagles, James Black. D - Calle Johansson, Mark Tinordi, Sergei Gonchar, Brendan Witt, Joe Reekie, Dmitri Mironov, Ken Klee. G - Olaf Kolzig, Rick Tabaracci. Injuries: Michal Pivonka, c (shoulder, 4 weeks); Yogi Svejkovsky, lw (sprained ankle, 1 week); Jan Bulis, c (ankle, 2-4 weeks); Adam Oates, c (groin strain, day-to-day); Tom Chorske, lw (abdomen/groin, 12 weeks); Chris Simon, lw (shoulder strain, 2 weeks). Transactions: Matt Herr, c, recalled from Portland (AHL). Game Results 11/25 Pittsburgh W 5-4 11/27 at Dallas L 4-0 11/28 at St. Louis L 4-2 12/01 New Jersey L 4-0 12/04 NY Islanders W 5-1 12/05 at Philadelphia L 2-1 TEAM NEWS by Jason Sheehan Capital Collapse Hits Team Hard Washington Capitals coach Ron Wilson has lost his mind. When asked to explain his team's woes - the Capitals' 8-13-3 record places them 12th in the 14-team Eastern Conference - Wilson says he made a deal with the Devil last April, which in his mind explains the lucky bounces the Capitals had en route to the Stanley Cup Finals. However, Wilson should have asked Satan for more than the Prince of Wales trophy, which is awarded to the Eastern Conference champions. Winning a Stanley Cup is a necessity when selling your soul to the Dark Lord. Cinderella's slipper has fallen deep beneath the boiler room at MCI Center. The dream has been replaced by a nightmare. The Eastern Conference Championship banner is now just a memory. What worked last season is now backfiring. Besides the personnel, a battleground of injuries is the only similarity between the current and championship team. But even that contrasts sharply. Washington didn't allow injuries to ruin its on-ice performance a year ago. This season, however, bumps and bruises have often been used as excuses for the Capitals' miserable performance. The Capitals currently have six injured forwards on their roster (check the injury list above for details). No defensemen are ailing, although Sergei Gonchar looks rusty after a contract holdout (missed training camp and first two games) and a knee injury that turned him into a spectator for three weeks. He is just now getting into playing condition. Six injured forwards is a lot to overcome, but such devastation is the norm for this franchise. But these Capitals, similar to the 1996-97 Jim Schoenfeld-led club, have shown no pulse or desire to do the little things necessary to win on a nightly basis. Simply put, the effort is missing from most players, and there's nothing Wilson has been able to do about it. It's not like he hasn't tried to find a remedy. Wilson canceled practice to take his players bowling the day after the Capitals were blanked by New Jersey, 4-0. He hoped getting away from the rink, while spending time together, would improve team morale. This new coaching philosophy worked temporarily as the Capitals finally strung 60-minutes of strong play together in a 5-1 victory over the New York Islanders. Temporarily is the key word. Washington was back to its old self the next night in Philadelphia, losing 2-1. Getting out of the gates like a speeding bullet has not been the Capitals' forte: It's been their downfall. Washington has surrendered the first goal in each of its last five contests, dating back to Nov. 27. Expanding that grim picture, the Capitals have only struck first in two of their last 11 games. "Tabby (Rick Tabaracci) stood on his head in the first period - if he doesn't it could have been 3-0," left wing Craig Berube said after the loss to Philadelphia. "It's like we're skating in mud. When things are going bad, it's just not easy to play. There's no flow to your game." Las Vegas Nights Wilson, a master of motivation, must find the correct key to open the gift that keeps on giving - goals - during the club-record eight-game road trip. Maybe the phantom key will appear with a few lucky bounces; maybe wins will become more common than losses if the team shows attitude; and maybe having fun off the ice is the antidote needed to change this cursed season into one of celebration. Wilson is taking the latter approach. After playing San Jose on Dec. 12, the Capitals have scheduled a mini-vacation in Las Vegas to enjoy fun, sun, gambling and practice. Yes, players will have to leave blackjack tables for the practice rink. But it's a small price to pay during an in-season vacation. The Capitals will be in Las Vegas until Dec. 16. News & Notes General manager George McPhee has said he is not actively seeking any trades. That includes Vancouver Canucks holdout Pavel Bure. However, if the team continues its downward spiral, expect McPhee to dial 9-1-1 before Christmas. Goaltender Olie Kolzig was benched in favor of Tabaracci last Friday and Saturday for games against the Islanders and Flyers. Kolzig's statistics (6-10-1 record, 2.99 goals-against-average, .885 save-percentage) don't bode well with his new 4-year, $12 million contract. "I think a lot of things are weighing Olie down," Wilson told The Washington Post. "He's feeling very responsible. He doesn't see us playing in front of him much different from [what] we did last year, and yet early in games he feels he hasn't come up with a big save." Left wing Chris Simon sprained the same shoulder he had surgery on last December. However, his prognosis is good. If Simon's recovery goes well, he should only be sidelined for two weeks. Left wing Tom Chorske underwent abdominal surgery last week at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. He'll miss 12 weeks. ================================================================= ================================================================= TEAM REPORTS ================================================================= WESTERN CONFERENCE CENTRAL DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Dirk Graham roster: C - Doug Gilmour, Mark Janssens, Chad Kilger, Alexei Zhamnov. LW - Dan Cleary, Eric Daze, Jean-Yves Leroux, Ethan Moreau, Bob Probert, Reid Simpson. RW - Tony Amonte, Mike Maneluk, Ed Olczyk. D - Jamie Allison, Brad Brown, Chris Chelios, Paul Coffey, Christian LaFlamme, Dave Manson, Bryan Muir, Trent Yawney, Doug Zmolek. G - Mark Fitzpatrick, Jocelyn Thibault. injuries: Jamie Allison, d (wrist, indefinite); Paul Coffey, d (back, day-to-day); Jean-Yves Leroux, lw (groin, indefinite). transactions: Recalled Ed Olczyk, lw, from Chicago (IHL); assigned Jean-Pierre Dumont, rw, to Portland (AHL) and Remi Royer, d, to Indianapolis (IHL) November 23; placed Dennis Bonvie, rw, on waivers December 3; recalled Andy Johnson, d, from Greenville (ECHL) December 7. game results: 11/24 at Phoenix L 3-2 11/28 at Calgary L 5-4 11/29 at Edmonton W 3-2 12/03 Anaheim W 4-1 12/06 Tampa Bay W 7-5 TEAM NEWS by Tom Crawford It Ain't Much, But . . . At this time two weeks ago, as a certain overpaid hack prepared his bi-weekly serving of mush, things looked grim for the Blackhawks. They had just dropped consecutive decisions in Southern California to go 1-12-2 in their last 15 games and had road dates with Phoenix and Edmonton to look forward to. Worst of all, certain members of the trigger-happy media were calling for the head of rookie coach Dirk Graham, unwilling to give his brand of "Blackhawk hockey" a fighting chance. It's two weeks later now, and all is well. The Hawks are riding a three-game winning streak and are poised to vault into the ranks of playoff contention. And everybody loves the coach they call "Duke". Alright, maybe things aren't quite that sunny. But there are signs that the Hawks might have woken from their November nightmare. A weak pulse was detected November 24th against the team with the NHL's best record, the Phoenix Coyotes. The Hawks played what was generally regarded as their best period of the year in the second frame of this contest, outshooting the Coyotes 15-4 and keeping them pinned in their own end for long stretches. However, the Hawks only managed one goal out of the effort and immediately undid all their hard work with five minutes of play that typified their season. Early in the third period, 12 seconds into a power play, Keith Tkachuk found himself with the puck about 10 feet in front of Jocelyn Thibault and no Blackhawks within a country mile. Needless to say, he scored. Not one minute later, who's alone in front of the Hawks' net with the puck? Frat boy hero Keith Tkachuk, that's who. This time he shanked the puck wide of Thibault, but wouldn't you know it, Jeremy Roenick's man had left him to try and get to Tkachuk, so Roenick picked up the errant shot and directed it home. Now, much as I dislike him, Keith Tkachuk is that rarest of modern NHL beasts, the 50-goal scorer. You might want to put a body on him, especially when he's camped out between the circles in your zone. This defensive brain cramp, followed by a lackluster effort in Calgary -- where a Tony Amonte hat trick was wasted in a 5-4 loss -- seemed to indicate that things were still business as usual. But the team put forth a game, if not flawless, effort the next night in Edmonton, overcoming 83 Edmonton power plays to post a 3-2 win. Add to that consecutive home wins against crappy teams, and these Hawks begin to resemble last year's mediocre-but-not-terrible bunch. They're still giving up way too many shots, and breakdowns in their own end are still commonplace, but it looks like the Hawks' very worst days may be behind them. Hello, Stranger The apparent turnaround in the Blackhawks' fortunes coincided exactly with the return of Ed Olczyk from his exile in the IHL. Not that Eddie O has exactly carried the team, but he has established a nice working relationship with linemates Tony Amonte and Alex Zhamnov. While Eddie's numbers haven't been huge in the five games he's been back, his linemates' certainly have. Amonte has nine goals in that stretch (and only one was an empty-netter) while Zhamnov has potted five and assisted on five more. Meanwhile, the mere fact that three guys skated on the same line five games in a row is news around here. While Dirk Graham refuses to say the words "top line", it's clear that these three are by far the Hawks' biggest scoring threat, and don't expect Graham to break them up until the goals stop coming. I Thought We Were Done With That Lysiak Thing It's a good thing Dale Tallon has moved from the Blackhawks' broadcast booth into the front office, because his commentary on the officiating in the Chicago/Edmonton game November 29th would undoubtedly have breached the limits of FCC regulations. Janne Niinimaa was whistled for tripping at 11:11 of the first period, and from then on referees Bill McCreary and Don Van Massenhoven had their one-way glasses on. The duo awarded seven straight power plays to the Oilers, including three in a bizarre triple minor on Christian Laflamme. (OK, I know I wrote "83 power plays" before. I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.) McCreary gave four minutes to Laflamme for high-sticking Todd Marchant, and when the young defenseman respectfully pointed out that his stick had not come within several inches of Marchant's head, McCreary added two for unsportsmanlike conduct. The Hawks managed to kill all six minutes of that power play and were rewarded with two more shorthanded chances in the third period. The final insult came when Tony Amonte was clotheslined behind the Edmonton net while shorthanded. No call was made, and the Oilers later capitalized on the man advantage. The Hawks managed to win that game, due in large part to Jocelyn Thibault's best effort yet in the Chicago nets, but were left to wonder if certain NHL officials just don't like that Indian-head sweater. Playing Doctor For the third time in as many years, the Blackhawks' medical staff is at the center of a controversy. In Game 4 of the second round of the 1996 playoffs, Chris Chelios sought out team doctor Louis Kolb before the game, complaining of a pulled groin. Kolb gave him a shot of Novocain to ease the pain, but allegedly got the dosage wrong and numbed Chelios's entire lower body. Chelios had to sit out the game which the Hawks lost to Colorado in overtime. Before the 1997 playoffs, also against Colorado, Kolb arranged for Alexei Zhamnov to have surgery on his sprained ankle without first consulting Blackhawks management. To make matters worse, the surgery was performed by the Avalanche's team doctor because Kolb wasn't licensed to practice medicine in Colorado. Zhamnov didn't play in the series (won four games to two by Colorado) and Kolb was fired by the owner Bill Wirtz who accused him of treasonous collaboration with the Avalanche physicians. This time around it's veteran defenseman Paul Coffey who's making trouble for the team leechkeepers. It seems Coffey went to the Mayo Clinic to find out what's causing the back problems that have kept the former Norris Trophy winner out of the lineup for all but four games this year. The boys in Rochester, Minn., apparently told Coffey that nerves in his back had been damaged when some member of the Blackhawks' staff had incorrectly administered, you guessed it, a painkilling shot. Coffey didn't directly blame team doctors and was happy to finally have the condition properly diagnosed, but the incident certainly didn't reflect well on the Hawks' medicos. And Monday Kolb's successor Mark Bowen shot back. "Complications from such an injection are a near-impossibility," Bowen stated. "Basically, [Coffey] misinterpreted what was said." Well, good thing he misinterpreted. 'Cause the only other possibilities are the Mayo Clinic is wrong or Paul Coffey's a liar. One of those ain't too likely and the other one is a pretty strong statement to make about one of the guys you're supposed to be keeping healthy. Based on recent Hawks' history, I'm inclined to believe Coffey and the Mayo boys on this one. News and Notes In the good news/bad news department, the Hawks are undefeated this season when they're ahead after one period. Bad news is, they've won a total of three opening periods all year . . . . Tony Amonte is back on top of the NHL goal-scoring leaderboard after his two-goal effort against the Lightning. At press time, he was two ahead of John LeClair, and the two of them were pulling away from the pack . . . . Things get a whole lot tougher for Amonte and the Hawks in the next month. Instead of Corey Schwab and the Lightning or Jean-Sebastian Giguere and the Flames, the Hawks have to take on Philadelphia twice; Toronto, Dallas, Phoenix and Washington once each; and the defending champion Red Wings a total of three times; all in the next 30 days. ----------------------------------------------------------------- DETROIT RED WINGS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Scotty Bowman Roster: C - Steve Yzerman, Igor Larionov, Kris Draper, Sergei Fedorov. LW - Brendan Shanahan, Vyacheslav Kozlov, Doug Brown, Tomas Holmstrom, Kirk Maltby, Brent Gilchrist. RW - Darren McCarty, Joey Kocur, Martin Lapointe, Mathieu Dandenault, Stacey Roest. D - Nicklas Lidstrom, Larry Murphy, Jamie Macoun, Aaron Ward, Uwe Krupp, Anders Eriksson, . G - Chris Osgood, Kevin Hodson. INJURIES: Brent Gilchrist lw (hernia, indefinite); Kirk Maltby lw (lower abdominal strain, day-to-day.) TRANSACTIONS: None. GAME RESULTS: 11/25 Anaheim W 5-2 11/27 Vancouver W 7-1 11/29 San Jose W 4-1 12/02 at Colorado L 4-2 12/04 at San Jose T 2-2 12/05 at Los Angeles W-4-3 TEAM NEWS by Dino Cacciola DUCK, DUCK, GOOSED The multi-million dollar man, Sergei Fedorov, had a goal and an assist in the Red Wings 5-2 victory over the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. That is four straight games where he has scored a goal. The magic may be due to the result of his new linemates, Steve Yzerman and Darren McCarty. He now has six on the season. "I like to play (on a line) with Darren and Stevie," Fedorov said. "That's given me a chance to get out more often. I keep skating very hard and things have been going my way." Sergei has at least one point in five straight games after going scoreless his previous six. "He's playing with a lot of pizzazz right now," said McCarty, who had a goal and an assist in the first period. "You want to keep him going and keep on giving him the puck." Tomas "Homer" Holmstrom, Brendan Shanahan, and Igor Larionov also scored goals and Larry Murphy added two assists for the Red Wings, who have now won three straight after losing six of the last eight. Rookie goalie Norm Maracle, making only his second start of the season, had 26 saves in place of injured regular Chris Osgood. Osgood is out day-to-day suffering from a hip flexor. "I'm just glad to get some ice time," Maracle said. "When Ozzie's well, he's the man. I just want to play well when I have the opportunity and show Scotty that I can play a little bit." He looked very solid coming up with some big saves. OH, THE SHARK BITES. Norm Maracle is the hottest goalie in hockey. Maracle won his fourth straight start as the Red Wings beat the San Jose Sharks 4-1 in a conference matchup. The Red Wings have won five straight, including the last four with Maracle in net since Ozzie suffered a hip flexor. He has only surrended four goals in the last three games. "The guys played a great defensive game in front of me," said Maracle, "I didn't have much work. I've only had about three or four real quality scoring chances and we're scoring goals." He made 19 saves in the win. Maracle is 4-0-0 this year and 6-0-1 in his career. The Red Wings got goals from Uwe Krupp, Martin Lapointe and Darren McCarty. Rookie Stacey Roest also scored his first career NHL goal. "I was so happy I didn't know what to do when I scored," Roest said. "It's good to get it out of the way. I had some chances early in the season. You feel more a part of it now that the first one's in, but I don't think they expect that much of me." Goals by Krupp and Lapointe gave the Red Wings a 2-0 lead after one period. Krupp scored after Steve Yzerman fired a shot off the left post on a breakaway. The puck came to Krupp at the right point, and his shot went past goalie and former Red Wing Mike Vernon. Lapointe got open in front of the net and converted a sweet pass from Brendan Shanahan for the goal. McCarty's goals gave him at least one point in eight straight games. JOHNNY CANUCK Igor Larionov and Brendan Shanahan both had a goal and two assists to help lead the Red Wings over the Vancouver Canucks 7-1. The Red Wings scored seven times in the third period. The seven goal period was one shy of the club record eight Detroit scored against the New York Rangers on Jan. 23, 1944. The NHL record is nine. Martin Lapointe, Slava Kozlov, Dougie Brown, Larry Murphy and Anders Eriksson scored the Red Wings' other goals. The Wings trailed 1-0 after two periods, ended up routing the Canucks despite only two points from its top line of Steve Yzerman, Darren McCarty and Sergei Fedorov. Rookie Norm Maracle won his third straight start in place of injured regular Chris Osgood as the Red Wings won their fourth straight overall, including two wins over the Canucks within a week. The Wings failed to put any of its first 24 shots past Vancouver goalie Garth Snow and trailed 1-0 until Martin Lapointe started a flurry of three goals in about two minutes of the third Just 2 seconds later, Larionov took a pass from Shanahan into the left circle and took a shot that dribbled through Snow's legs to put the Wings into the lead. "Snow was just playing unbelievably," Maracle said. "I thought it was going to be a 1-0 game." It seemed every shot the Red Wings fired in the third period went in. The Wings have now won five games in a row. COLORADO ROCKY MOUNTAIN LOW In a not-so-heated rivalry as before, the Red Wings and the Avalanche still know how to muck it up. While the game doesn't carry what it once had, the bitter blood between the two teams remains. "You could feel it from the first shift, even if you didn't know the history. I knew it was a heated rivalry," Avs rookie Chris Drury said. "All you had to do is look up and see the white pompoms and the place was packed to the rafters and real crazy. You knew it was something different." Back in Detroit at the Joe Louis Arena, JOEVISION was in effect as fans were allowed to watch the game on the big screen. Something usually only reserved for playoff games. Drury broke a tie game in the third period, and Hejduk got his fourth goal of the season as the Avalanche beat the Red Wings 4-2. The loss ended the Wings five-game win streak. Norm Maracle suffered his first loss in eight career starts. "They've got a great hockey team," Maracle said. "They can win any night of the week. Their record doesn't show it, but they could win the next 10 in a row. If I have to lose to a team, they're a great team to lose to." He finished with 26 saves in the loss. Nicklas Lidstrom and Steve Yzerman scored for the Wings, and hot right wing Darren McCarty had an assist to extend his nice point streak to nine games. Disheartening loss for the Red Wings. Any loss to the Avs is a disheartening loss. KISSING YOUR SISTER The Wings blew a 2-0 lead in the third period and ended up tying the San Jose Sharks. "We got up by a couple, and then we let them take the momentum from us," Wings defenseman Larry Murphy said. "We've got to do a better job of keeping control of a game." No kidding. Aaron Ward scored the first goal with a 25-foot shot from directly in front. The Red Wings made it 2-0 when Uwe Krupp scored from the slot. Normy Maracle stopped 35 shots in the tie. In their last seven games the Wings are now 5-1-1. KINGED Tomas Holmstrom scored his fourth game-winning goal of the season less than three minutes into the third period to solidify a 4-3 victory over the LA Kings. The other goals were by Steve Yzerman, Brendan Shanahan and Sergei Fedorov. Yzerman and Shanahan scored 25 seconds apart during a three-goal first and Federov opened the scoring with a short-handed goal. "They can't play any harder than they did," coach Scotty Bowman said. "I mean, when you lose a guy like Blake, you're talking about 30-plus minutes a game and all the specialty teams. I think he could have made a difference in a lot of these games." The game marked the return of goalie Chris Osgood who returned from the injury list after suffering a hip flexor. He played very well in the win. With the recent play of Maracle it seemed that Ozzie's playing time may be hampered with. The status of Kevin Hodson and Maracle to be exposed to the expansion draft is still in question. ----------------------------------------------------------------- NASHVILLE PREDATORS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Barry Trotz roster: C - Darren Turcotte, Greg Johnson, Jeff Nelson, Patric Kjellberg, Sebastien Bordeleau. LW - Andrew Brunette, Blair Atcheynum, Scott Walker, Denny Lambert, Ville Peltonen, Jeff Daniels, Vitali Yachmenev. RW - Sergei Krivokrasov, Brad Smyth, Tom Fitzgerald, Patrick Cote. D - Joel Bouchard, Bob Boughner, John Slaney, Jamie Heward, Jayson More, J.J. Daigneault, Drake Berehowsky, Jan Vopat. G - Mike Dunham, Eric Fichaud, Tomas Vokoun. injuries: Blair Atcheynum, lw (ACL in right knee, 1-2 weeks); Scott Walker, lw (separated shoulder, 2-3 days); Mike Dunham, g (groin, day-to-day); Ville Peltonen, lw (separated shoulder, 1-2 weeks). transactions: Recalled Eric Fichaud, g, from Milwaukee Admirals (IHL); recalled Tomas Vokoun, g, from Milwaukee (IHL). game results: 11/24 at St. Louis L 4-0 11/25 Calgary W 4-3 11/27 Anaheim W 3-1 11/29 at NY Rangers L 6-1 12/01 Ottawa L 3-1 12/05 Buffalo L 3-1 team news by Jeff Middleton OK, OK ENOUGH ALREADY - LEAVE US ALONE!!!! Once again, the Predators played the St. Louis Blues. Once again, they got their butts kicked all over the ice. In a horrendous show of indifference, the team actually took the trip to Missouri and made the Blues play the whole game. It would have been much better had they all taken the night off, given St. Louis the two points and saved some wear and tear on the team bus. Not all things went badly, however, as the Predators were allowed to go home and will not have to face the Blues again until next year. The first day of next year, mind you, but beggars can't be choosers. MMMMMM . . . I SMELL SMOKE In efforts to give American fans a Happy Thanksgiving, the schedule gods brought the Calgary Flames to Nashville on the Wednesday before Turkey Day. To Canadians it's just Thursday, so a big win made everyone happy. Once again, the Predators were back to their hard-working ways, obviously a little startled by the whooping the night before. THE TURKEY WAS OKAY, BUT I'M IN THE MOOD FOR DUCK This would be a test. A defensive test. Could the Predators shut down two of the must dynamic players in the NHL in Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne? Or would the water fowl all-stars skate circles around the lesser-talented Preds and ruin a long weekend? Surprisingly, Kariya would get the only Ducks goal, on the man advantage, as the sold-out crowd watched a fired up Nashville squad win its second in a row. NEW YORK - THE CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS Unfortunately, Southerners enjoy a good night's rest. Preferably on Sunday; one that extends right into the early afternoon hours. The Rangers were definitely not asleep on this day, and in what was probably the worst performance of the year, the Predators got killed. Before they put their second skates on the Blueshirts were up three goals and Wayne Gretzky was not looking back. Mike Dunham did not enjoy his return to the Metropolitan New York area, straining the groin muscle that held him out of much of the pre- season. He was pulled from the game as the Rangers proceeded to defeat the boys from Nashville worse than the Rebel Army was routed at Gettysburg. WHO ARE THESE GUYS? Outskated, outshot, outplayed, out of their league. Without Mike Dunham in nets, the Predators seemed to lose the foundation upon which they were built. Alexei Yashin and Daniel Alfredsson gave a clinic on puck control, the Sens gave one on the neutral-zone trap, and Ron Tugnutt was giving up nothing (well, almost nothing). The Predators spent a lot of time chasing the Senator who had the puck - not unlike pee-wee players in the 3- to 5-year-old division. Ugly, ugly, ugly. STRIKE THREE A little better, but same result. Against arguably the best goalie in the league, the Preds took the Sabres and Dominik Hasek to the limit. Still without Dunham, Nashville had one goal taken away by the refs and three or four taken away by Hasek before giving up the game-winner with less than six minutes to play. Hopefully this bodes well for the future - Edmonton, you're next!!! Notes: The first penalty shot ever in Nashville Arena history was taken by Ottawa's Shaun Van Allen against Eric Fichaud . . . no goal, wide right . . . . do NOT play with Cliff Ronning, he keeps losing wingers (Blair Atchyenum, Scott Walker, Ville Peltonen) . . . even the singers have hit a mid-year funk - who are these people? . . . the Predators are in the midst of the longest home stand of the year (five games). ----------------------------------------------------------------- ST. LOUIS BLUES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Joel Quenneville Roster: C - Craig Conroy, Mike Eastwood, Pascal Rheaume, Pierre Turgeon, Michal Handzus. LW - Geoff Courtnall, Michel Picard, Tony Twist, Pavol Demitra. RW - Jim Campbell, Kelly Chase, Scott Pellerin, Scott Young. D - Marc Bergevin, Todd Gill, Al MacInnis, Chris McAlpine, Rudy Poeschek, Chris Pronger, Jamie Rivers. G - Grant Fuhr, Jamie McLennan, Rich Parent. Injuries: Grant Fuhr, g (groin 11/8, mid-to-late December), Geoff Courtnall, lw (post-concussion syndrome, seven-to-10 days). Transactions: 12/6 -recalled Terry Yake, c, and Lubos Bartecko, lw, from Worcester (AHL); 12/7 - sent Yake and Bartecko to Worcester. Game Results: 11/24 Nashville W 4-0 11/27 San Jose L 4-2 11/28 Washington W 4-2 12/04 at Colorado L 2-0 12/05 Colorado L 3-1 TEAM NEWS by Tom Cooper Since it was Beanie Baby Night, Does That Mean David Wells Will Pitch A Perfect Game? The Kiel Center had 18,105 people in it when the St. Louis Blues took on the Nashville Predators. Notice the usage of the word "people" and not the word "fans." Why did I choose that word? Well, because I have a pretty good idea that not everybody in attendance was there for the hockey game only. The St. Louis Blues announced that Nov. 24 was going to be Beanie Baby Night at their home arena, as they would give out the fan favorite "Gobbles The Turkey" in celebration of the upcoming observance of Thanksgiving. But Blues officials panicked in the days prior to the game as their press release for the event made it sound like everybody that bought a ticket and entered the Kiel Center's gate was going to receive this "adorable" little thing...free. But, with images of riotous middle-aged women storming the gates demanding their beanies, those same Blues' officials sent out another press release to all of the media outlets they could find, even ESPN, saying only the first several thousand would receive the plush playthings. People still showed up to the Kiel Center and the Blues and expansion Predators still took the ice. But it sure as hell didn't look like Nashville was in the building. (They were probably disappointed they didn't get a Gobbles.) Pierre Turgeon, Al MacInnis, and Scott Young each scored once and Pavol Demitra picked up a goal and two helpers as the Blues outshot their newest division rival 41-19 and beat the Preds, 4-0. The previous Saturday, Jamie McLennan left the game against Dallas with back spasms. Just three days later, McLennan re-entered the lineup and stopped all 19 shots he faced. "He's getting a chance for some quality ice time in the net," St. Louis head coach Joel Quenneville said about his goaltender who is filling the void until starter Grant Fuhr returns from a groin injury. "He made a couple of really big saves." Demitra helped to start the scoring when he set up Young from behind the net to give St. Louis a 1-0 7:45 into the first. Demitra doubled the margin 15 minutes into the second when he deflected a Jamie Rivers shot past Nashville netminder Eric Fichaud to push the score to 2-0. The goal was Demitra's tenth on the season and the 101st point of his 146-game career. MacInnis picked up his ninth on the season 13:22 into the season and Pierre Turgeon matched that five minutes later to finish the scoring. "A lot of pucks were deflected and bounced off players," Fichaud said. "I don't know if it's bad luck or what." For St. Louis, the win was a little sweeter considering Nashville had beaten them 3-2 five days earlier. "We definitely feel we gave away two points, and that's very frustrating," said Scott Young. "With the parity in this league, you can't do that." Black Friday With most of America out at malls and shopping centers to get a jump on their Christmas shopping on this, the Friday after Thanksgiving, the Blues went on a shopping trip of their own: the product they wanted to find was a win that could come as easily as possible. A win against the San Jose Sharks would give the Bluenotes their first two-game winning streak since they beat Calgary on Oct. 24. San Jose, eh? Not a bad team to choose. They haven't won a game since a 5-4 decision over Los Angeles back on Nov. 18. This win is going to be a bargain, right? Uhhhhhhh... The Sharks opened the scoring when former-Blue Joe Murphy slid the puck past Jamie McLennan 1:47 into the contest to give St. Joseph a 1-0 lead. (St. Joseph = San Jose in English) Exactly 8:33 later, Pavol Demitra, attempting a pass to Chris Pronger, banked the biscuit off of Shark defenseman Mike Rathje and past San Jose goalie Steve Shields to tie the game at 1-1. That power-play goal extended the young left winger's points streak to five games, a streak in which he has earned five goals and three assists. The Blues took the lead 34:27 later when Mike Eastwood and Tony Twist (the scoring sensation that he is) set up Chris Pronger to give St. Louis a 2-1 cushion, much to the delight of the hometown faithful in the Kiel Center. (Yeah!) Would those hometown faithfuls be rewarded with a victory? Not if the Sharks had anything to say about it, and look out for them-- they're looking for their fifth win of the season. Just 17 seconds after Pronger scored, Steve Guolla beat Jamie McLennan to tie the game at 2-2. On a power play six minutes later, Jeff Norton sent a slapper whizzing past McLennan to put San Jose ahead for good. Marco Sturm added an empty-net goal with 1:13 as the Sharks cancelled the Blues' credit card and left St. Louis with a 4-2 victory. "It was a tough game to get into a flow," said Blues' center Craig Conroy. It's very difficult to pick up the flow if the referee's whistle continuously shrieks. The zebras called 28 penalties in the 60-minute game, with the bulk of them coming toward the end of the first period. At 16:17 of the first, San Jose bad boy Brian Marchment removed Scott Pellerin from the game with a check that gave Pellerin a concussion. In retaliation, Chris Pronger attacked Marchment, and that's when the fun started. Pronger received a double roughing minor, Stephane Matteau and Kelly Chase both got fighting majors, Tony Granato got a roughing and a misconduct, Marchment received interference and roughing minors, and Tony Twist joined the party with a roughing, an unsportsmanlike conduct, and a misconduct penalty. Tack that onto the roughing and fighting major Owen Nolan got and the instigator, fighting major, and misconduct penalties Marc Bergevin earned, both men getting their penalites after the first period siren, and you've got 68 minutes of penalties called. "It was a tough hit," St. Louis coach Joel Quenneville said about the Marchment hit. "He (Pellerin) doesn't have the puck You can go around killing guys if they don't have the puck. Obviously, Marchment knew what he was doing because he saw the playing coming at him." You Mean These Guys Made the Stanley Cup Finals? After a disappointing loss to the disappointing Sharks, the Blues wanted to leave their home crowd with a taste of victory in their mouths as they ended a four-game home stand with a battle against the defending Eastern Conference Champion Washington Capitals. And they got off to a good start. Michal Handzus scored 2:44 into the contest, beating Capitals goaltender Olaf Kolzig through his happy hole for an early 1-0 lead. Mad props go to Michal for scoring his first ever NHL goal. "He finally broke the egg," Blues' coach Joel Quenneville said. "He's been knocking on the door for his first 19 games, but didn't have any luck until tonight." Washington tied the game with 1:12 left in the opening stanza. With Pierre Turgeon in the box for an obstruction-holding the stick penalty, Peter Bondra scored his 10th goal of the year by sending a shot under the arm of Blues' goalie Jamie McLennan, knotting the game at 1. At 12:47 if the second, Todd Gill picked up a loose puck and passed it to Scott Young, who found Craig Conroy closing on the Capital goal. Conroy beat Kolzig to give St. Louis a 2-1 lead. The Blues put it away 6:28 into the third, when, from behind the Washington goal, Pavol Demitra fed Pierre Turgeon for the game-winning goal and a 3-1 advantage. Washington did pick up one more tally, but it wasn't enough as the Blues added an empty-netter and beat the Capitals 4-2. Jamie McLennan, playing in his 100th career game, had another solid contest between the pipes for the Blues. He stopped 32 of the 34 shots he faced for his sixth win of the season, all of this coming despite bruising his right thigh on a Richard Zednik shot in the second. "I'll feel this for a few days," McLennan said of his bruise. "I knew I was playing in my 100th game and this will help me remember it for a while." The Home-and-Home: Part One The Colorado Avalanche have been a disappointment this season. Going into Friday night's game with St. Louis, the Avalanche were 9-11-2. Although it's early in the season and they're still in the thick of the playoff race, there is concern in the Mile High City. This team, with superstars like Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Patrick Roy, should be in the upper echelon of the league's clubs. Colorado has started to turn things around, but, of course, anything other than a 0-4-1 start is a turn-around. The 'Lanche had just beaten arch-nemesis Detorit the previous night and were now ready to challenge. And they were ready. Forsberg and Aaron Miller each scored, Joe Sakic had a hand in both goals and Roy picked up the 42nd shutout of his career as the Avalanche beat the Blues 2-0. Only 48 seconds into the game, Adam Foote passed to Forsberg in front of the goal. The Swedish superstar's shot beat Blue's goaltender Jamie McLennan to give Colorado a 1-0 lead. Colorado shut down the Blues' offense. They didn't get their first shot until eight minutes into the game, but they did get their chances. In the second period, St. Louis outshot Colorado 12-5, including the chances on two big power plays. A Chris Pronger penalty negated the first one and Patrick Roy turned aside two good shots on the second man advantage to keep St. Louis off of the board. Aaron Miller put the game away 6:13 into the third when Sakic passed from behind his own net to the waiting Miller. Roy shut down the Blues for the final 13:47 as St. Louis fell to Colorado 2-0. "We couldn't get our offense started," Pierre Turgeon said. "Patrick was fantastic, but we struggled to get up and down the ice all night. We didn't have any energy." That lack of energy may be attributed to St. Louis' off period between games when they only played scrimmages for six days. "This was a game that had me concerned because of our layoff and having to come up to altitude," Blues' coach Joel Quennville said. "We hadn't played in nearly a week and it showed in our play. I saw people on our bench coming off the ice with their tongues hanging." The Home-and-Home: Part 2 The second match in the Friday-Saturday home-and-home series was set back in St. Louis, a little bit closer to sea level than Denver where Friday's game was played. That difference showed early. Like Colorado did the night before, St. Louis scored early in the first. Mike Eastwood accepted a pass from Pascal Rheaume, then backhanded a shot past Colorado goalie Craig Billington to give the Blues a 1-0 lead 1:27 into the game. It wasn't until 18:26 of the second that the scoreboard was dented again. This time, Rene Corbert delivered the puck to Chris Drury, the rookie center who won a Little League World Series with Trumbull, Ct., who beat Jamie McLennan to tie the game at 1. The match stayed even until 15:10 of the third, when, on the power play that resulted from a Chirs McAlpine interference call, Claude Lemieux beat McLennan to put the Avalanche ahead 2-1. Joe Sakic scored an empty-net goal with one second left, and Craig Billington stopped 29 of 30 shots, 10 of those saves coming in the third, as the Blues lost for the second straight night to the Avalanche, falling 3-1 on this occasion. The Blues have gone on a bit of a slide as of late, going 2-2-1 in the past two weeks. And it won't get any easier as they will have to face Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Colorado again, Phoenix, and New Jersey all before Christmas, then Detroit the day after. Good luck. ================================================================ ================================================================= TEAM REPORTS ================================================================= WESTERN CONFERENCE NORTHWEST DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- CALGARY FLAMES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Brian Sutter Roster: C - Andrew Cassels, Rico Fata, Clarke Wilm, Cory Stillman,Jeff Shantz, Steve Dubinsky. LW - Bob Bassen, Ed Ward, Jason Wiemer, Dave Roche. RW - Valeri Bure, Theoren Fleury, Jarome Iginla, Greg Pankewicz, Martin St. Louis. D - Tommy Albelin, Cale Hulse, Derek Morris, Todd Simpson, Steve Smith, Phil Housley, Dennis Gauthier. G - Ken Wregget, Tyler Moss, Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Injuries: Michael Nylander, c (injured knee March 26, indefinite); Bob Bassen, lw (returned Dec. 3 after missing 23 games with a knee injury); Ken Wregget, g (suffered back spasms Nov. 3, sidelined day-to-day); Tommy Albelin, d (suffered groin strain Nov. 19, sidelined day-to-day); Clarke Wilm, c (suffered concussion Nov. 27, sidelined day-to-day). Transactions: Recalled Dennis Gauthier, d, from Saint John (AHL) Nov 27; sent Sami Helenius, d, to Las Vegas (IHL) Nov. 30. Game Results: 11/23 at Toronto L 3-2 11/25 at Nashville L 4-3 11/27 Edmonton L 3-2 11/28 Chicago W 5-4 12/03 Tampa Bay W 4-1 12/05 Phoenix L 3-2 TEAM NEWS by Simon D. Lewis Five-Game Skid If you want to make the playoffs, as the Flames readily assert, you can't lose five in a row. The guys in red did just that with losses in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, and Nashville, and then, back home against Edmonton. With wins against Chicago and Tampa and another loss to league leading Phoenix, the Flames last 10-game record reads out at 3-7-0. A number like .300 ain't gonna get you no playoff dates. There are some bright spots. Goalie Tyler Moss is still a raw recruit, but he's showing flashes of the star netminder many think he will be. Sophomore defender, Derek "Just Say Mo" Morris is also exhibiting star potential. He makes mistakes but always seems to learn from them. He probably wishes he could have a mulligan on Andrei Kovalenko's winner for the Oilers. The Russian Tank laid Morris on his stomach and watched him slide into the corner as he proceeded to roof a backhander past Moss. To Morris' credit, Kovalenko's goal was on all the highlight reels that night. It was a beauty. Anyway, the guys who looked like they might just work their way into the playoffs have their work cut out for themselves. They're sitting on the cusp of eighth position in the Western Conference and a place in Lord Stanley's post-season marathon. In December they've got a five-game eastern road trip. By the end of the month they will have played Philly twice, the resurgent Rangers, Dallas, Colorado and New Jersey. That doesn't even mention the New Year's Eve gig with the Habs and four other games. T.S. Eliot wrote that April is the cruelest month. He obviously hadn't seen the Flames schedule in December. Give `Em a Tax Break The parliamentary Mills Committee published its findings regarding the state of sports in Canada recently and recommended that most sports outfits in the country, amateur and pro, should get tax breaks. According to the committee, so should pro athletes. The idea is that the weaker Canadian dollar, stiffer tax regimes, and smaller market sizes put Canadian teams at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to competing with the Americans. For example: The Ottawa Senators had to pay for construction of a highway interchange so people could get to their rink. Many American communities subsidise the construction of their teams' rinks, let alone the access routes. Harley Hotchkiss, NHL chairman and co-owner of the Flames says that even the $5 million tax breaks may not be enough. "(Tax breaks) would certainly alleviate some concerns, but it wouldn't solve them totally because there are some bigger issues there," said Hotchkiss. "We have to find some solutions to a situation where too many teams absorb cash losses." What Hotchkiss is talking about is a salary cap and profit sharing. Until the league owners band together and pool their resources, and the players agree not to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, the problems are not likely to go away. That said, both Alberta teams, the Flames and the Oilers, announced that they will show modest profits this season. If league salaries continue on their current curve, those profits will soon turn to huge losses. Fleury Furor The natives grow restless in the shade of the great Canadian Rockies. Their favourite son, Theo Fleury, is about to leave town. It looks like there will be precious little coming back in return for the spunky fire hydrant. The little plugger is going to sign a big contract as a free agent at the end of the season. The longer GM Al Coates leaves it to try to trade the little guy, the less he'll get. It may already be too late to get any appreciable return. Fleury was signable last year and wanted to stay. The Flames put it off. Now they are about to pay the price. History at Conn Smythe's Place Goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere was the last Flames goalie to play in Maple Leaf Gardens. "I said to Martin St. Louis this morning that it was something to play in a building where Rocket Richard would have skated," Giguere said. "This is something I'll tell my grandchildren." Do you think there are some Habs fans in that French-Canadian family? Enviable Record Flames Coach Brian Sutter is the first person in NHL history to have scored 300 goals and coached 300 wins. Never count a Sutter out! ----------------------------------------------------------------- COLORADO AVALANCHE ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Bob Hartley Roster: C - Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Stephane Yelle, Chris Drury. LW - Valeri Kamensky, Rene Corbet, Milan Hejduk, Warren Rychel. RW - Claude Lemieux, Adam Deadmarsh, Shjon Podein, Jeff Odgers, Shean Donovan, Scott Parker. D - Sylvain Lefebvre, Adam Foote, Alexei Gusarov, Jon Klemm, Aaron Miller, Eric Messier, Wade Belak, Greg deVries, Cam Russell, Dan Smith. G - Patrick Roy, Craig Billington. Injuries: Stephane Yelle, c (wrist, day-to-day); Eric Messier, d (broken elbow, mid-January); Adam Foote, d (concussion, day-to-day); Alexei Gusarov, d (finger, mid-December); Shjon Podein, rw (fractured leg, mid-February); Jon Klemm, d (knee, early March). Transactions: Assigned Brian White, d, to Hershey (AHL); assigned Jeff Buchanan, d, to Hershey; recalled Scott Parker, rw, from Hershey. Game results: 11/25 at Edmonton L 3-0 11/28 at New Jersey L 3-2 12/02 Detroit W 4-2 12/04 St. Louis W 2-0 12/05 at St. Louis W 3-1 TEAM NEWS by Greg D'Avis Go figure: as the Avalanche entered their toughest stretch yet this season, they started playing their best hockey. No one expected that it would take the Avs until the third month of the year to finally hit .500, but hey, better late than never. And it came as coach Bob Hartley did some pretty funky things with his lines. After two straight losses -- a bad defensive performance against Edmonton, and a good game but a hot goalie against New Jersey and Martin Brodeur -- Hartley shook things up. For the first time in their careers, super centers Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg found themselves on a line together against the hated Red Wings. The line clicked. Sakic and Milan Hejduk (the lucky rookie drew the third spot on the line) both picked up goals and Forsberg had an assist in an exciting (and fight-free!) game. Claude Lemieux didn't punch or get punched, and even though he'd never played against goalie Norm Maracle, Patrick Roy resisted the fighting urge. The line continued to look good in the next two games, a home-and-home against scrappy St. Louis. The three continued to rack up the points, and the Avs have enough depth to keep opposing teams from concentrating solely on that line. Trade Rumors Of course, someone had to suffer to put that line together, and Valeri Kamensky found himself in a bizarre position -- on a checking line with Rene Corbet and Jeff Odgers. While Kamensky said that he's happy to contribute in whatever way, his days are likely numbered. As are, quite possibly, Lemieux's. There's been a plethora of rumors of him going to the trade-happy New York Rangers in exchange for Jeff Beukeboom and other defensemen. Ozo, Ozo... As always, nothing new with holdout defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh. He's been in town, but like two ships passing in the night, he and GM Pierre Lacroix didn't speak. One ridiculous rumor has Ozo, Kamensky and odds and ends going to Vancouver for Pavel Bure. Could anyone imagine Lacroix and Pavel dealing with each other? A Healthier Defense The much-injured defensive corps has improved in recent weeks, allowing Aaron Miller to occasionally come off the ice. Sylvain Lefebvre and Wade Belak both returned, shoring things up, as did Adam Foote, briefly (before suffering a concussion when he hit his head on St. Louis Blue Jim Campbell's skate). But other players have got the injury bug, including center Stephane Yelle, with a sprained wrist, and newly-acquired Shjon Podein, who'd played something like every game for the past four years before fracturing his leg against St. Louis. He's out two months. Rookie Watch As mentioned before, Hejduk has played well enough to earn a place on the top line, and surprising center Chris Drury has moved up to second-line center. Drury's scored well, with six goals, and his scrappy play has been inspirational. Much-touted tough guy Scott Parker finally got to make his NHL debut, and didn't disappoint, first irritating a number of Detroit players, then going toe-to-toe against World's Toughest Man winner Tony Twist. Twist won, but Parker made it a good battle, and was back in there the next night against Rudy Poeschek. ----------------------------------------------------------------- EDMONTON OILERS ---------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Ron Low Roster: C - Doug Weight Todd Marchant, Rem Murray, Boyd Devereux, Josef Beranek, Fredrik Lindquist. LW - Dean McAmmond, Mats Lindgren, Ryan Smyth. RW - Bill Guerin, Mike Grier, Andrei Kovalenko, Pat Falloon, Kevin Brown. D - Sean Brown, Roman Hamrlik, Craig Millar, Boris Mironov, Frank Musil, Janne Niinimaa, Brad Norton, Tom Poti, Marty McSorley. G - Bob Essensa, Mikhail Shtalenkov. Injuries: Doug Weight, c (injured knee, eight more weeks (like the All-Star break)); Marty McSorley, d (injured shoulder, one more week); Kevin Brown, rw (abdominal strain, day-to-day). Transactions: 12/7 -- recalled Fredrik Lindquist, c, from Hamilton (AHL). Game Results: 11/25 Colorado W 3-0 11/27 at Calgary W 3-2 11/29 Chicago L 3-2 12/02 Phoenix W 4-3 12/04 Tampa Bay L 2-1 12/06 Dallas L 6-2 TEAM NEWS by Aubrey Chau Well, it had to happen sooner or later. The Oilers' play has gone straight down the toilet. They've lost three out of their last four games. And two of the teams that the Oil lost to (Chicago and Tampa Bay) are so bad, they could go out and sign Don Knotts and give him a regular spot in the lineup. But both Chicago and Tampa were without Mr. Furley and were still able to trample over the Oilers like they were Teletubbies. The Oilers are atrocious at home, with a 6-7 record at home. If they want to be serious about competing in this league, they're going to have to start playing serious at home. Both teams are horrible...Tampa was on a nine-game losing streak.and the Oilers had to break it. Speaking of breaking the records, the Oilers beat Phoenix's goals against of under two in 18 straight games, and their 14-game unbeaten streak. Of course, the Oilers were terrible in the game, but managed to net four goals against the Coyotes and Nikki Khabibulin. Those Coyotes managed to outshoot the Oilers by 40-20 shots, or something like that. It was ridiculous, and the Oilers didn't deserve to win. Mikhail Shtalenkov played magnificently in goal and stole the game for the Oil. If it wasn't for him, the Coyotes might still be on a winning streak. The Oilers are heading off on a seven-game road trip. They better do some winning, or it's not going to be a happy place when they come home. Under the "You had to see it to believe it" section: The Russian Oilers skated with some Russian bears this week. In support of a Russian Circus, which Boris Mironov's wife used to be a part of, the Russian Oilers (Mironov, Andrei Kovalenko and Mikhail Shtalenkov) took to the ice for a photo-op with these skating freaks. The bears, dressed in helmets, skates and a stick actually skate around. It's the weirdest damn thing I have ever seen in my young life. Glen Sather made note of the situation and said that the Oilers have nothing to do with the promotion. So if one of them were to be eaten by these bears, the Oil would take no responsibility for their mauling. Note to Sather: if those skating bears show some hockey mustard, sign them. Other Stuff Dean McAmmond scored his first goal of the season the other night, against Phoenix, and netted another one against Tampa. He was really glad to get that monkey off his back. Hot Stuff Mikhail Shtalenkov has really pleased Sather lately with his solid play. He has taken the driver's seat away from Bob Essensa, who was injured, and then returned against Dallas. Bobby let in five goals in about five minutes. Looks like their going to make Bob the backup for now. Trade Rumours This one has been tossed out by local media, but the Dallas Stars really need a scoring left winger. Jere Lehtinen is playing on Mike Modano's left side, but is actually a right winger. So they think the Stars might want our struggling Ryan Smyth. Don't look for it happening too soon, since the Stars and the Oilers haven't been best of pals the last couple years.looking at their two playoff series. And it looks like Glen Sather may be in the Felix Potvin sweepstakes after all. Rumours abound that the Oilers are offering Janne Niinimma in return for Potvin, and that the Leafs would pick up a chunk of Potvin's salary. The Leafs are reported to want either Boris Mironov or Roman Hamrlik and another body. Struggling Ryan Smyth's name has been mentioned, too. The Potvin saga continues...stay tuned. ----------------------------------------------------------------- VANCOUVER CANUCKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Mike Keenan ROSTER: C - Mark Messier, Peter Zezel, Dave Scatchard, Matt Cooke. LW - Todd Bertuzzi, Brad May, Markus Naslund, Donald Brashear, Bert Robertsson, Chris McAllister. RW - Alexander Mogilny, Bill Muckalt, Trent Klatt, Steve Staios. D - Adrian Aucoin, Murray Baron, Bret Hedican, Jamie Huscroft, Bryan McCabe, Dana Murzyn, Mattias Ohlund, Jason Strudwick. G - Garth Snow, Corey Hirsch. INJURIES: Todd Bertuzzi, lw, (broken leg, out two more weeks); Alexander Mogilny, rw (strained knee, out 2-3 more weeks). TRANSACTIONS: Recalled Matt Cooke, c, Chris McAllister, lw, and Bert Robertsson, lw, from Syracuse (AHL); assigned Josh Holden, c, and Peter Schaefer, lw, to Syracuse. GAME RESULTS: 11/21 Detroit L 4-2 11/23 at Ottawa L 4-3 11/25 at Toronto L 5-1 11/27 at Detroit L 7-1 11/29 at Philadelphia L 6-2 11/01 at Boston T 1-1 12/04 Dallas W 4-1 12/06 Phoenix T 3-3 TEAM NEWS by Jeff Dubois Poor Brian Burke. Not only are all the other little general managers refusing to frolic in his Pavel Bure trade sandbox, but that annoying foot simply can't keep itself out of his mouth. Only a few hours after losing both a game to the Detroit Red Wings (Nov. 21) and Alex Mogilny to a strained knee, Brian Burke told reporters that injuries wouldn't influence a Pavel Bure trade and that he didn't care if the team lost five in a row, he would not be bullied into a bad trade. You now have three guesses as to the length of losing streak the Canucks proceeded to go on. Now I have no concrete evidence from the great beyond that Burke's comments actually had any affect on the five consecutive defeats, but being a reasonable, rational guy, I'd say there really is no doubt. This is the same Brian Burke who promised a trade for a starting goaltender before the season began (Hi Mr. Burke, I'm your waiter, Garth, and here's the crow you ordered) and who has twice stated that a Bure trade was imminent within two weeks (for all those who have been living in caves, Bure is still a Canuck!). It sure is lucky that Burke's actions as GM have overshadowed some otherwise stupid comments. Like the $2.3 million being paid to superstar defenceman and power-play quarterback Murray Baron. That was one heck of a steal! But when he bolstered a team that has missed the playoffs for two straight years by acquiring perennial all-star winger Trent Klatt, what a move! Sarcasm aside, Baron has been solid and Klatt has offered some good checking, but when you think that two months into the season these are the only contributions that Burke can claim credit for, his inaction has been nothing short of painful. Burke may very well trade Bure before Christmas, but by that time Bure's trade demand will have been in effect for almost six months. The Canucks will have played almost half the season at a disadvantage. With the absence of Bure and the injuries to the Canucks' top two wingers, Mogilny and Bertuzzi, an immense amount of credit must be given to Mike Keenan. Iron Mike has taken a team that finished last season as a league joke and transformed them into one of the hardest working teams in hockey. GM Place is becoming a miserable place for opponents, with the Canucks posting a home 6-4-2 record thus far. Keenan has done a great job with the Canucks youth and has gotten great efforts out of the likes of Adrian Aucoin, Markus Naslund and Garth Snow. Snow has been nothing short of all-star calibre to date and has proven thousands of fans, many experts, and his own GM wrong by keeping the Canucks in many games. Naslund has scored 13 goals, already topping last year's output of 12, while Aucoin remains in the top 10 in defenceman scoring. Keenan has always been known for receiving the best from his teams, largely because he brings in players who have served him well in the past. In Vancouver, Keenan has found three such players already waiting for him. The Canucks continue to hover around .500, and having just completed a stretch of 11 games against +.500 teams, they now play a similar stretch against poorer teams, as of their six games remaining before Christmas, five are against lesser opponents. If the effort that Keenan has received from his players stays at its recent level, the Canucks could enter the Christmas break with quite a respectable record. And perhaps even something to show for Pavel Bure. =============================================================== ================================================================= TEAM REPORTS ================================================================= WESTERN CONFERENCE PACIFIC DIVISION ----------------------------------------------------------------- ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Craig Hartsburg ROSTER: C - Matt Cullen, Travis Green, Josef Marha, Steve Rucchin, Marty McInnis. LW - Johan Davidsson, Ted Drury, Stu Grimson, Paul Kariya, Jim McKenzie. RW - Antti Aalto, Jeff Nielsen, Tomas Sandstrom, Teemu Selanne. D - Mike Crowley, Kevin Haller, Jason Marshall, Frederik Olausson, Jamie Pushor, Ruslan Salei, Pascal Trepanier, Pavel Trnka. G - Guy Hebert, Dominic Roussel. INJURIES: Tomas Sandstrom, rw (fractured left wrist, out until January); Teemu Selanne, rw (strained right thigh, 12/06, day-to-day). TRANSACTIONS: 11/23, returned Frank Banham, rw, to Cincinnati (AHL); 11/25, Sent Matt Cullen, c, to Cincinnati; 11/30, Recalled Matt Cullen from Cincinnati. GAME RESULTS: 11/25 at Detroit L 5-2 11/27 at Nashville L 3-1 11/29 at Carolina L 3-1 12/01 at Pittsburgh T 4-4 12/03 at Chicago L 4-1 12/06 at San Jose W 2-1 TEAM NEWS by Alex Carswell ROAD TO NOWHERE Over the last two weeks, the Ducks turned a road full of possibilities into a wrong turn down a dark alley. Coming off a stretch in which they had won five of seven -- six without the aid of ailing superstar Teemu Selanne -- the Ducks seemed poised to turn a relatively soft roadie into a points boon. But it was not to be. Despite the return of Selanne, a schedule giving them nights off between games, and tilts against several struggling teams, the Ducks looked sluggish and disorganized throughout much of their jaunt across America, and came home with a mere three points. Selanne's comeback turned out to be premature. Who knows whether he was feeling left out of the excitement as his teammates ran up a record good enough to exceed the .500 mark, but the flashy Finn felt compelled to return to action against Detroit as the road trip got underway. And despite a four-assist performance against Pittsburgh -- far and away the most entertaining contest of the six-game trip -- Selanne was clearly not feeling his oats. Those who thought he might have been overstating the case when he described himself as playing "at about 75 percent," had to be convinced when Selanne was caught from behind on a breakaway by 36-year-old Chris Chelios. And while a game against the hated Ducks usually gets a little extra juice flowing in Chelly (who turns 37 in January), it shouldn't be enough to come close to a healthy Selanne. TEEMU'S Rx: MORE REST So now, as of the December 6 game in San Jose -- the lone road win -- Selanne is back on the shelf, and will this time presumably take as much time as necessary to recuperate fully -- which is what he said he would do last time. Adding insult to Selanne's injury is either a slump or an injury to Selanne's battery-mate, Paul Kariya. The diminutive sniper went three games without so much as a point during the trip -- the first time that had happened since his rookie year. And it was in Chicago that Kariya's frustration showed through, as the perennial Lady Byng candidate took three penalties in the first two periods. Chelly must have had sweet dreams that night. Rumors in the local press attribute Kariya's slump to a thigh injury of his own, but if that's the case, P.K. isn't confirming it. And in his typical warm-and-fuzzy style, coach Craig Hartsburg labeled talk of injuries as mere excuse-making. Whatever the reason, the Ducks went on the road tied for third in the conference (with Detroit) and returned in a three-way tie for sixth (with Vancouver and St. Louis). And despite a grinding win against San Jose, courtesy of a late power-play goal by Marty McInnis, the team clearly doesn't have it going on right now. CHEMISTRY LESSON Matt Cullen was sent down for three games in the minors after struggling (statistically) over the first two months of the season, then returned with renewed vigor to score his first goal in light years (actually, since April 15) and center a feisty fourth line. But a Cincinnati shuttle did nothing for the long-term health of the team last year, and will likely have the same negative result this year. The team seems to have its fair share of stars, mid-level guys and role players, but lack something in terms of chemistry. Perhaps that will come in time; after all there are a lot of new faces on the "regular" squad. Cullen, Josef Marha, Antti Aalto, Johan Davidsson, Mike Crowley, Jeff Nielsen and the team's enforcers, Stu Grimson and Jim McKenzie, are all either new to the team or barely got their feet wet last year. Mix in struggling Travis Green and newly-acquired Marty McInnis -- who has more than pulled his load -- and the Ducks are a lot of tasty ingredients looking for a good recipe. All of which points toward asking who's running the kitchen. And while it's probably too early to push any panic buttons, the process of identifying what's going wrong should be under way in Anaheim's executive suite. HOME COOKING Up next is a six-game home stand featuring cross-town rival Los Angeles and ending with a home-and-home against ever-improving Colorado. But first comes a must-win against Vancouver, who -- though playing horribly without holdout Pavel Bure and injured Alex Mogilny and Todd Bertuzzi -- remain in a standings battle with the Ducks. After that, Ron Wilson returns with his struggling Washington Capitals for a game with less political overtones since the removal of former team president and Wilson nemesis Tony Tavares. ----------------------------------------------------------------- DALLAS STARS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head coach: Ken Hitchcock Roster: C - Mike Modano, Guy Carbonneau, Joe Nieuwendyk, Tony Hrkac, Brian Skrudland. LW - Jamie Langenbrunner, Jason Botterill, Dave Reid, Brent Severyn, Jere Lehtinen, Jamie Wright. RW - Brett Hull, Mike Keane, Grant Marshall, Pat Verbeek. D - Derian Hatcher, Craig Ludwig, Darryl Sydor, Shawn Chambers, Richard Matvichuk, Sergei Zubov, Sergei Gusev. G - Ed Belfour, Roman Turek. Injuries: Brett Hull, rw (groin strain, day-to-day); Shawn Chambers, d (broken finger, 2-3 weeks); Brent Severyn, lw (back strain, day-to-day). Transactions: None. Game Results: 11/23 San Jose W 3-2 11/25 New Jersey L 5-2 11/27 Washington W 4-0 12/02 at San Jose W 3-0 12/04 at Vancouver L 4-1 12/06 at Edmonton W 6-2 Team News by Jim Panenka The Boys are Back in Town! (For Now) Woo-hoo! The Stars are playing like the Stars of old once again...at least right now. Stars fans can finally come out of the storm cellar and begin enjoying their team again! Woo-hoo! Its pretty rough to justify $50-$60 or more per ticket to come out and watch a team that looks like it's less interested in the game than the majority of the ladies in the crowd! (Quick explanation: Women attending Stars games at Reunion Arena frequently look more interested in the crowd around them than the game itself. Yes, there are plenty of lady hockey fans out there, but not many of them at the Stars' barn!) But thankfully, whatever was stuck up the Stars' collective butt has been exorcised, and the team is beginning to play Stars hockey once again. The team was previously hampered by distractions (Brett Hull) and by roster changes (injuries). And because of this, the Stars had trouble maintaining a consistent effort from night to night. There were several subtle changes that allowed the team to turn the corner. The first, and probably most important, was that coach Ken Hitchcock has stopped mucking with the lines. As stated last issue, Hitch was shuffling the players on purpose while re-evaluating the status of his entire roster. As a secondary influence, some recent key injuries (Lehtinen, Hull, Chambers, Severyn) also forced the lines to switch up a bit. But several winning combinations have been found, and Hitch is sticking with them for the time being. The main lines are: Lehtinen-Modano-Langenbrunner Verbeek-Nieuwendyk-(?) Reid-Carbonneau-Skrudland Hrkac-Keane-Marshall And who has been producing the most out of these lines? Surprisingly enough, the third and fourth lines have been the best for Dallas so far. Except for Jere Lehtinen, Modano's line has been held quiet. And what is the most troubling for the Stars so far is that Nieuwendyk's line has been silent also, except for a recent Verbeek goal in Edmonton. But lately Grant Marshall, Tony Hrkac, and Jamie Langenbrunner have been playing with grit and have been scaring up good scoring chances, as well as keeping momentum in Dallas' favor. This was by design by Hitchcock. He probably figured that the only spark he will get out of the team right away is by playing the guys that do most of the dirty work. Hull has been sidelined by both a kidney bruise and a groin pull, and has been purposely scratched until he can fully recover from the groin pull and build a good foundation of strength, rather that returning too soon and only be good for about 40 percent of a game. In his absence, some of the offensive flair has gone away from the top two lines. Jere Lehtinen has been recovering from a broken finger, and has had several games where he failed to convert many scoring chances. He easily missed what could have been three or four goals against the Canucks during the Stars' disappointing 4-1 loss in Vancouver. The fact that he had the scoring chances reflects on his work ethic, that he missed them reflects on his mending finger. The poor guy has been playing with a cast formed in a certain shape to allow him to still grip the stick and shoot. Because he has been getting more chances than just about any other Stars forward, and because he has scored three goals in the three games since returning to the lineup, Lehtinen is unquestionably the Stars best player right now. That should serve as a wakeup call to Modano and Nieuwendyk. Nieuwendyk is semi-excused because he had lost some endurance while recovering from his knee surgeries, but he should start coming around again any time now. A personal opinion of this reporter is that Joe is still afraid to fully jump back in the saddle, that he is probably worried about getting re-injured, thus he is holding back some to be cautious. Modano, on the other hand, has no excuses. He has been criticized lately by Hitchcock and others for playing only on the perimeter. Mo has not been sticking his nose in the muck enough to be in the areas he needs to be in to score. And, other than a very creative game against Washington, he hasn't been putting the moves on anyone. Modano needs to definitely find his scoring touch again. He should be pulling the slack until Nieuwendyk re-engages in the dogfight. Only the D-Men have been guiltless throughout. Except for one or two bad games, the Stars' defense has been playing extremely well. And Sergei Zubov has broken his scoreless streak. That means the power play should start cranking it up again pretty soon, if Zubov's confidence holds up. Zubie is usually a pretty good barometer of the team. If he isn't doing well, it's a pretty safe bet that things are off-balance in the locker room. But since he's back in the saddle, things should be getting better. That Zubov is nuts, I tell ya - just plain nuts! But he's a great player. But, enough about the roster changes. One of the other subtle changes to the team is that Ed Belfour has finally decided to be competitive again. Belfour has had two or three games this year where he allowed two or more goals on five or less of the first shots by the opponent. That's just not pretty. While some of it can't be blamed on Eddie, he admitted recently that he wasn't prepared enough to play during one of the losses. That's just not cool. With Belfour, it seems like he either totally gets blown out, or has a shutout, no in- between. But lately, Eddie has seemed to be playing with passion again and looks like he's ready to start putting together a good shutout string. And Roman Turek, Belfour's backup, has been playing well in Eddie's absence. And the last subtle change, which probably accounts for more of the consistency, is that the players themselves are sticking together again. Previously, some of the Stars appeared to be just coasting, expecting the wins to come because they are now a "good team." Lately, the entire team appears to have gotten back to good, honest hard work. They have been focusing back on the airtight defense and high-pressure forecheck that is a Dallas Stars' bread and butter. And good things have been happening. After one of the teams' earlier disappointing losses, coach Hitchcock was asked what he said between periods to get the team going again: "... nothing. I didn't have to. I looked around the room and the right guys were saying the proper things. And I think that's a very good sign," said Hitchcock. It was a very good sign. Dallas has been disappointed recently by their main defensive pairing, their starting goaltender, and their top two centers, at differing times during particular games. But lately, the Stars have pretty much got their act together, and should begin to start rattling off consistent games. Many of these games will be wins. Why? Because any team that could overcome all of the aforementioned problems, and is still in contention for one of the top three spots in the league, has to be an elite team. That is, whether they act like one or not. It seems like this story is a little familiar. Didn't the Red Wings suffer through some early regular-season woes before going on to have a dominant season and finishing it off with a Stanley Cup win (the first one dufus, not the repeat)? If Dallas continues to stick by each other, and stays healthy, the Stars may very well be in a position to repeat that story themselves. Well, maybe not the second Cup, but at least ONE for cryin' out loud! ----------------------------------------------------------------- LOS ANGELES KINGS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Larry Robinson Roster: C - Brandon Convery, Jozef Stumpel, Olli Jokinen, Ian Laperriere, Ray Ferraro, Yanic Perreault. LW - Eric Lacroix, Steve McKenna, Vladimir Tsyplakov, Luc Robitaille, Craig Johnson, Josh Green. RW - Russ Courtnall, Nathan LaFayette, Glen Murray, Sandy Moger. D - Garry Galley, Rob Blake, Sean O'Donnell, Doug Bodger, Mattias Norstrom, Steve Duchesne, Philippe Boucher. G - Stephane Fiset, Jamie Storr. Injuries: Rob Blake, d (broken foot, Christmas?). Steve McKenna, lw (abdominal strain, day-to-day). Sandy Moger, rw (back strain, day-to-day); Geoff Courtnall, rw (broken ankle, 2-4 weeks); Matt Johnson, lw (goon, 12 games). Transactions: None. Game Results 11/28 Phoenix L 4-0 11/30 at Montreal L 3-1 12/02 at Toronto L 3-1 12/03 at Ottawa L 3-1 12/05 Detroit L 4-3 TEAM NEWS by Matthew Moore The Kings have really sucked recently. No way around it, they blow goats. But there has been light at the end of a long, dark tunnel. They showed a great deal of hustle in their loss to Detroit, coming back from a 3- 0 deficit to make a run at actually winning the game. This game was a moral victory at the very least, with the crowd at the Forum actually being able to cheer their team for the first time in weeks. Luc Robitaille continued to play well, scoring two goals and just plain being spiffy. His second goal of the Wings game was sweet, scoring high into the net from a bad angle and with his momentum taking him away from the play. Now for the hard part: building on this game and maybe winning a few games. And look out, Luc is only 10 goals away from scoring his 500th of his career. Olli Jokinen was named the NHL rookie of the month for November. He scored four goals and four assists in 11 games during the month and showed why the Kings took him so high in the draft. His play has also provided an offensive boost to the Kings, and relegated Yanic Perreault to a checking role. Rob Blake is skating again for the first time since he broke his foot. No definite date has been set for his return, but he has been listed as questionable for the December 12th game against the Canucks. Getting him back would be a huge boost and get the defensive corps back to full strength. The LA Times is reporting that Larry Robinson's job is in jeopardy, based upon some comments by Dave Taylor along the lines of "he's the coach now" which, last time I checked, is true. This seems to be grasping at straws by the Times and I wonder what would have reported if Taylor had sneezed moments after saying that. In the spirit of the holidays, the Kings are holding their annual Toy Drive. They are collecting toys during games through the December 12th game against the Canucks, with the toys to be distributed by Kings players to sick kids at three hospitals in the LA area. And if you do contribute you receive a coupon for free food from AMC Theatres and have a chance to win autographed stuff from Kings. So if you have a chance, help them out this season. ----------------------------------------------------------------- PHOENIX COYOTES ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Jim Schoenfeld Roster: C - Jeremy Roenick, Bob Corkum, Mike Stapleton, Juha Ylonen, Daniel Briere. LW - Keith Tkachuk, Greg Adams, Jim Cummins, Mike Sullivan. RW - Rick Tocchet, Dallas Drake, Brad Isbister, Shane Doan. D - Keith Carney, Gerald Diduck, Jyrki Lumme, Teppo Numminen, Oleg Tverdovsky, Deron Quint, Bryan Helmer. G - Nikolai Khabibulin, Jimmy Waite. Injuries: None. Transactions: 11/26 - Recalled defenseman Bryan Helmer from Las Vegas (IHL), first-round draft pick Patrick Des Rochers was traded from Sarnia to Kingston (OHL). The trade does not effect his status as the Coyotes top pick; 12/02 - Jason Doig, d, was re-activated from non-roster status and sent to Springfield (AHL) for conditioning; 12/03 signed veteran right wing Steve Leach and assigned him to Springfield. GAME RESULTS 11/21 Chicago W 3-2 11/26 New Jersey W 3-2 11/28 at Los Angeles W 4-0 12/02 at Edmonton L 4-3 12/05 at Calgary W 3-2 12/06 at Vancouver T 3-3 TEAM NEWS by Bob Chebat Phoenix had its franchise record string of 14 games without a loss snapped after 42 days against the Edmonton Oilers on December 2. During the stretch, the Coyotes went 12-0-2, and added their name to the history book in several locations. They now rank sixth all-time in best winning percentage after 18 games in NHL history. Add to that, a 17-game streak of allowing two goals or less, and one of only five teams to go undefeated for the month of November (10-0-1). The loss in Edmonton was not one the Coyotes needed to hang their heads about though. Oiler goalie Mikhail Shtalenkov stopped 45 of 48 shots as they continue to dominate Phoenix at home. Several players for the Coyotes have also stepped it up a notch to help carry this team to a league-leading start. With what was thought to be a fairly weak goaltending combination at the start of the season, Jimmy Waite and Nikolai Khabibulin have combined to become the top duo in the NHL, and rank first and second respectively in goals against average and save percentage. In six games, Waite has posted a 5-0-1 record along with a 1.15 GAA and .956 save percentage to lead the league, and was named NHL Player of the Week for November 9-15. The plus/minus standings are overwhelmed with Coyotes as well. Phoenix leads the league with seven players in the top 20. Team captain Keith Tkachuk heads the pack with a +14, while Rick Tocchet (+12), Jyrki Lumme (+11), Jeremy Roenick (+11), Juha Ylonen (+11), Oleg Tverdovsky (+11) and Dallas Drake (+10) all follow closely. The power play has finally found some life over the last few games, but the Coyotes still rank 22nd in the league at 12 percent, thanks mainly to a stretch of 0-27 in November. On the flip side, Phoenix carries the number one penalty kill in the league at 92 percent, and are currently ahead of the 1997-98 Washington Capitals who closed the season at 89.2 percent. December will prove to be the biggest challenge the Coyotes have faced so far this season with 14 games, 10 of which are on the road. The first seven games of the month are all against Canadian foes, including a rematch against the Ottawa Senators, who handed the Coyotes their worst loss of the season on opening night at home, 4-1. The schedule also includes the only meeting of the season between Phoenix and Toronto on the 16th. The Coyotes have owned the Maple Leafs the past two seasons, but thanks to re- alignment, the two teams will meet only once this year. Other key matches include a trip to St. Louis on the 17th and Detroit on the 22nd. If the Coyotes are in fact for real this season, December will be the month to prove it. It will be a good stretch of road games, some tough opponents in Ottawa, Detroit and St. Louis, plus other teams a winning organization should be able to capitalize on like Chicago, Montreal and Los Angeles. ----------------------------------------------------------------- SAN JOSE SHARKS ----------------------------------------------------------------- Head Coach: Darryl Sutter roster: C - Patrick Marleau, Marco Sturm, Mike Ricci, Tony Granato. LW - Murray Craven, Stephane Matteau, Dave Lowry, Jeff Friesen. RW - Ron Stern, Owen Nolan, Joe Murphy. D - Bryan Marchment, Bill Houlder, Marcus Ragnarsson, Mike Rathje, Andrei Zyuzin, Bob Rouse, Gary Suter. G - Mike Vernon, Steve Shields, Bruce Racine. injuries: Gary Suter, d (tricep, rest of season). transactions: Sent Mike Craig, rw, and Shawn Burr, lw, to Kentucky (AHL). game results: 11/23 at Dallas L 3-2 11/25 at Carolina L 3-0 11/27 at St Louis W 4-2 11/29 at Detroit L 4-1 12/02 Dallas L 3-0 12/04 Detroit T 2-2 12/06 Anaheim L 2-1 team news by Al Swanson The Sharks have the lowest goals for in the entire league, yet are unwilling to trade for more offensive power. Sutter says that he is not willing to "trade away the team's future" by trading recent draft pick Brad Stuart for the much-rumoured to be available Theoren Fleury of the Flames. Lombardi echoes his concerns, stating that he won't trade the potential star defenseman for anyone. Exactly what are these two men thinking? Based on the history of the Sharks draft picks, the best Stuart can hope to aspire to is a mid-level defenseman. And that's the best the Sharks can hope for, too. Given that, why is Sutter telling local media that the only way to get a top scorer (he says "superstar" but Fleury a superstar?!) like Fleury is to give up a superstar, meaning Stuart. What is he basing that statement on?!!! Historical perspective? I think not. Look at the Sharks draft history. Falloon, Kozlov, even Friesen. Could any of these guys be legitimately termed superstars? Yeah, right. Even Friesen is only perhaps upper-middle class. Just take a look and see if any of the past picks are anywhere near the top of their positions. So, why aren't the Sharks trading? Ask Lombardi or Sutter and you know their answer. Ask the fans and they'll say it's dollars or the fact that Sharks' management is not telling the truth about the trade rumors. Sutter and Lombardi have both been quoted in local media as saying the Fleury trade was a real offer. OK, but was Fleury willing or just Flames management? The Sharks have done the "trade for the year" deals with the Turkey Vulture Belfour and John MacLean. And both boogied as soon as they could. So why would Theo stay? After all, during the All-Star game in SJ, Fleury said he wouldn't play for San Jose. Looking at the state of the team, who can blame him? San Jose's record of never having a .500 season is wearing on everyone. Lombardi has got to be fearing for his job and if he's not, the team is in worse shape than it appears. It is wearing on the fans, as they are not selling the arena out in any numbers this year. It is wearing on the team and it shows in the way they play. Something needs to change soon. Enough negativity. What is going right is going very right. Steve Shields' play is going right. Jeff Friesen's play is going right. Most of the D, when it shows up, is going very right. The Sharks are in 10th place for goals against. They have the eighth-rated penalty kill. They are keeping opponents to very few shots. These are all big pluses. It's just not enough to cover the losses. The Games: The Sharks have been very busy the last two weeks and if it's Wednesday, this must be Dallas. San Jose plays Dallas three Wednesdays almost in a row and five times in 30 days. One of those meetings was on the 23rd of November in Dallas and once again -- three times in a row now -- they are robbed of a goal by video replay. Out of the four meetings, the Stars reap this victory and two others, one a shutout. There was one bright moment as SJ stole one from the Eagle in a 4-0 shutout at home. The Dallas-San Jose matchup is becoming the Sharks one real rivalry. For some reason (or reasons: Marchment and Belfour) the tempo just picks up when these two teams are on the ice together. Detroit is another team the Sharks have spent some quality time with the last two weeks, meeting the Wings twice during that span. The first was a lethargic loss, the second a come from behind tie for the Finned Ones. Neither game was something to write home about, but the latter matchup did feature some pretty incredible work by the Sharks. Mike Ricci, who has been the target of Sutter's wrath many times this season for lack of production, had a hand in both of the goals that night. No 7:30 a.m. wake up skate for him. Not all of the time was taken up by Dallas and Detroit. The Ducks and the 'Canes each had a chance to embarrass the Sharks and both took that opportunity. Carolina avenged their shutout by shutting the Sharks out in Carolina and the Ducks defeated San Jose simply by showing up. When your humble correspondent turned on the Anaheim game, he initially mistook it for a junior league practice game. A weak showing by a Selanne-less Duck team that nevertheless turned into a SJ loss. The Blues were singing them when San Jose swam into St Louis and whooped their sorry behinds 4-2. Not that the Blues are sorry. Far from it. It was just an "on" night for San Jose. Jeff Norton, in his first game (back) as a Shark, snapped the tie and gave SJ one of the five "W's" they have this season. Predictions: Despite Sutter's claims and Lombardi's denials, expect a trade this month. Whether it's a high-class player or another almost-was but now will never-be is anyone's guess, but they will pull the trigger soon. This time, I think they'll pull out the stops and sign a big one. But knowing the Sharks, they'll probably just pull a big one. ================================================================ NEXT ISSUE: Wednesday, December 23, 1998... it will be a special Christmas gift from us to you, our valued readers. Also, be sure to watch "Mr. Show with Bob and David" Mondays at midnight on HBO. It's the official TV show of LCS Hockey... ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Player Stats through December 6, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEAM P NO PLAYER GP G A PTS +/- PIM PP SH GW GT S PCTG ANA L 9 Kariya, Paul 25 13 17 30 3 24 5 1 0 0 144 9.0 ANA C 20 Rucchin, Steve 25 7 16 23 1 16 1 0 1 1 60 11.7 ANA R 8 Selanne, Teemu 18 7 14 21 -1 6 0 0 0 1 56 12.5 ANA C 16 McInnis, Marty 25 7 12 19 -2 24 4 0 3 0 47 14.9 ANA D 2 Olausson, Fredrik 20 2 6 8 6 6 2 0 0 0 26 7.7 ANA R 17 Sandstrom, Tomas R 12 5 2 7 0 14 3 0 1 0 30 16.7 ANA C 39 Green, Travis 22 4 3 7 1 18 0 1 0 0 51 7.8 ANA D 24 Salei, Ruslan 19 1 5 6 1 12 1 0 0 0 41 2.4 ANA C 14 *Aalto, Antti 24 3 2 5 -3 6 2 0 0 0 21 14.3 ANA D 25 *Crowley, Mike 18 2 3 5 -6 12 1 0 1 0 35 5.7 ANA C 22 *Davidsson, Johan 24 1 4 5 -3 8 1 0 1 0 24 4.2 ANA C 11 Cullen, Matt 20 1 3 4 -4 12 1 0 0 0 29 3.4 ANA L 32 Grimson, Stu 25 3 0 3 3 60 0 0 1 0 6 50.0 ANA L 33 McKenzie, Jim 23 2 1 3 -11 23 1 0 1 0 25 8.0 ANA D 7 Trnka, Pavel 16 0 2 2 1 10 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 ANA C 10 Marha, Josef 6 0 1 1 -1 0 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 ANA C 18 Drury, Ted 19 0 1 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 ANA R 19 Nielsen, Jeff 24 0 1 1 -7 6 0 0 0 0 29 0.0 ANA D 23 Marshall, Jason 25 0 1 1 -4 49 0 0 0 0 20 0.0 ANA D 4 Pushor, Jamie 25 0 1 1 -4 26 0 0 0 0 29 0.0 ANA D 5 Haller, Kevin 25 0 1 1 -4 36 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 ANA L 12 *LeClerc, Mike M 2 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 ANA D 27 *Trepanier, Pascal 14 0 0 0 -2 20 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 BOS L 12 Khristich, Dmitri 23 11 16 27 3 20 7 1 3 1 41 26.8 BOS L 14 Samsonov, Sergei 24 9 12 21 -4 4 3 0 3 1 44 20.5 BOS C 41 Allison, Jason 24 7 14 21 -4 16 2 1 1 0 53 13.2 BOS D 77 Bourque, Ray 24 3 11 14 1 16 2 0 2 0 75 4.0 BOS R 23 Heinze, Steve 23 8 4 12 0 12 3 0 1 0 53 15.1 BOS D 20 Van Impe, Darren 20 4 7 11 3 26 3 0 0 0 30 13.3 BOS C 6 Thornton, Joe 24 2 7 9 2 19 1 0 0 0 25 8.0 BOS C 33 Carter, Anson 12 3 5 8 7 2 1 0 0 0 20 15.0 BOS C 42 Ferraro, Peter 20 4 2 6 6 30 1 0 1 0 22 18.2 BOS D 36 Ledyard, Grant 19 2 4 6 1 23 1 0 0 0 26 7.7 BOS D 32 Sweeney, Don 24 1 5 6 1 30 0 0 0 0 20 5.0 BOS C 19 DiMaio, Rob 21 0 6 6 1 31 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 BOS D 25 Gill, Hal 24 1 3 4 1 18 0 0 0 0 30 3.3 BOS L 11 Axelsson, P.J. 20 1 2 3 -2 4 0 0 0 0 31 3.2 BOS C 38 Taylor, Chris 23 1 2 3 2 8 0 0 0 0 35 2.9 BOS D 44 Ellett, Dave 20 0 3 3 6 6 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 BOS D 18 McLaren, Kyle 9 2 0 2 -3 4 1 0 0 0 24 8.3 BOS C 17 *Bates, Shawn 3 1 1 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 3 33.3 BOS L 16 Belanger, Ken 15 1 1 2 1 81 0 0 0 0 3 33.3 BOS L 57 *Laaksonen, Antti M 6 1 0 1 -1 0 0 0 0 0 5 20.0 BOS L 22 Baumgartner, Ken 24 1 0 1 0 61 0 0 0 1 5 20.0 BOS C 56 *Nordstrom, Peter M 2 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 BOS D 29 Vaske, Dennis M 3 0 0 0 -3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 BOS D 55 *Girard, Jonathan R 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 BOS L 51 *Henderson, Jay M 4 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 BOS C 26 Taylor, Tim 6 0 0 0 -1 8 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 BOS C 61 *Mathieu, Marquis M 7 0 0 0 -1 8 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 BUF L 18 Grosek, Michal 22 9 8 17 7 63 1 0 1 0 46 19.6 BUF L 80 Sanderson, Geoff 22 8 7 15 7 8 1 0 1 0 43 18.6 BUF L 15 Ward, Dixon 21 10 4 14 7 14 0 0 3 0 27 37.0 BUF C 37 Brown, Curtis 21 5 9 14 10 18 1 1 1 1 39 12.8 BUF C 19 Holzinger, Brian 22 8 5 13 8 13 4 0 1 0 43 18.6 BUF C 27 Peca, Michael 22 5 8 13 5 26 2 0 1 0 51 9.8 BUF R 81 Satan, Miroslav 21 4 9 13 5 14 2 0 0 0 39 10.3 BUF R 36 Barnaby, Matthew 18 3 10 13 4 46 0 0 2 0 23 13.0 BUF D 5 Woolley, Jason 22 2 10 12 10 22 1 0 1 0 55 3.6 BUF D 44 Zhitnik, Alexei 21 4 6 10 3 32 1 1 1 0 42 9.5 BUF R 25 Varada, Vaclav 22 1 8 9 5 16 0 0 1 0 31 3.2 BUF D 8 Shannon, Darryl 22 2 5 7 14 14 1 0 0 0 28 7.1 BUF D 42 Smehlik, Richard R 15 0 6 6 1 14 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 BUF C 26 Plante, Derek 15 1 4 5 3 4 0 0 0 0 28 3.6 BUF D 74 McKee, Jay 21 0 5 5 8 20 0 0 0 0 21 0.0 BUF C 22 Primeau, Wayne 15 2 1 3 -1 9 0 0 0 0 13 15.4 BUF C 9 *Rasmussen, Erik 8 1 2 3 6 19 0 0 0 0 11 9.1 BUF D 3 Patrick, James 16 0 2 2 9 4 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 BUF R 32 Ray, Rob 18 0 2 2 1 72 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 BUF D 21 Hurlbut, Mike 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 BUF D 29 *Holland, Jason M 3 0 0 0 -1 8 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 BUF D 4 Wilson, Mike 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 BUF L 17 Cunneyworth, Randy 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 BUF D 40 *Ndur, Rumun 8 0 0 0 1 16 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 BUF L 24 Kruse, Paul R 12 0 0 0 0 52 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 CGY R 14 Fleury, Theo 25 14 14 28 6 38 4 1 1 0 105 13.3 CGY R 12 Iginla, Jarome 25 10 9 19 2 19 4 0 0 0 56 17.9 CGY R 8 Bure, Valeri 25 8 10 18 3 4 1 0 0 0 55 14.5 CGY D 6 Housley, Phil 25 2 16 18 8 12 1 0 0 0 56 3.6 CGY C 16 Stillman, Cory 24 8 9 17 4 20 3 0 2 0 55 14.5 CGY C 21 Cassels, Andrew 25 6 11 17 3 10 2 0 2 0 37 16.2 CGY D 53 Morris, Derek 25 5 9 14 5 38 2 0 2 0 59 8.5 CGY L 24 Wiemer, Jason 25 2 9 11 0 78 0 0 0 0 46 4.3 CGY C 11 Shantz, Jeff 23 6 4 10 1 16 1 0 1 0 20 30.0 CGY D 55 Smith, Steve 24 0 6 6 2 32 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 CGY C 25 Roche, Dave 18 1 3 4 -1 23 1 0 1 0 11 9.1 CGY D 27 Simpson, Todd 25 1 3 4 3 52 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 CGY C 18 Dubinsky, Steve 19 2 1 3 -2 4 0 1 0 0 17 11.8 CGY C 23 *Wilm, Clarke 23 1 2 3 2 17 0 0 0 0 22 4.5 CGY C 15 *St. Louis, Martin 13 1 1 2 -2 10 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 CGY D 32 Hulse, Cale 25 1 1 2 -7 52 0 0 0 0 24 4.2 CGY R 33 Pankewicz, Greg 13 0 2 2 0 8 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 CGY R 42 Ward, Ed 22 1 0 1 1 23 0 0 0 0 16 6.3 CGY C 28 Bassen, Bob 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CGY D 5 Albelin, Tommy 15 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 CGY C 44 *Fata, Rico 20 0 1 1 0 4 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 CGY D 38 Charron, Eric M 3 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CGY D 4 *Helenius, Sami M 4 0 0 0 -2 8 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CGY D 3 *Gauthier, Denis 4 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 CAR C 55 Primeau, Keith 27 13 11 24 4 31 5 0 3 0 62 21.0 CAR R 26 Sheppard, Ray 27 12 11 23 5 4 3 0 2 0 72 16.7 CAR L 24 Kapanen, Sami 26 7 12 19 5 2 1 0 4 0 67 10.4 CAR L 10 Roberts, Gary 24 4 15 19 2 44 0 0 1 0 35 11.4 CAR R 19 Emerson, Nelson 27 7 11 18 3 36 2 0 0 1 70 10.0 CAR C 92 O'Neill, Jeff 27 6 6 12 2 10 1 0 0 0 48 12.5 CAR C 21 Francis, Ron 27 5 7 12 -6 8 1 0 0 0 31 16.1 CAR D 3 Chiasson, Steve 22 1 8 9 7 12 1 0 0 0 60 1.7 CAR L 18 Kron, Robert 26 4 4 8 -2 2 2 1 0 0 46 8.7 CAR L 44 Manderville, Kent 26 2 5 7 6 12 0 0 0 0 24 8.3 CAR R 11 Dineen, Kevin 23 4 2 6 4 36 0 0 0 0 25 16.0 CAR L 23 Gelinas, Martin 25 4 2 6 -3 8 0 0 1 0 35 11.4 CAR L 28 Ranheim, Paul 23 1 5 6 1 4 0 0 0 0 16 6.3 CAR D 7 Leschyshyn, Curtis 26 1 5 6 2 34 0 0 0 0 12 8.3 CAR D 2 Wesley, Glen 27 0 5 5 5 10 0 0 0 0 34 0.0 CAR L 13 Battaglia, Bates 16 0 3 3 4 6 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 CAR D 4 Pratt, Nolan 14 1 1 2 -3 28 0 0 1 0 7 14.3 CAR D 33 Karpa, David R 21 0 2 2 1 32 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 CAR D 6 Burt, Adam 22 0 2 2 7 19 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 CAR D 22 Hill, Sean 26 0 2 2 3 18 0 0 0 0 21 0.0 CAR D 46 *Rucinski, Mike 4 0 0 0 -2 4 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 CHI R 10 Amonte, Tony 25 20 9 29 -5 22 8 1 3 0 90 22.2 CHI C 36 Zhamnov, Alex 24 7 16 23 -3 8 3 1 1 0 70 10.0 CHI C 93 Gilmour, Doug 25 2 15 17 -12 12 1 0 0 0 40 5.0 CHI D 7 Chelios, Chris 20 3 8 11 5 42 1 0 0 1 46 6.5 CHI L 55 Daze, Eric 22 6 4 10 -13 14 4 0 1 2 56 10.7 CHI C 15 Kilger, Chad 25 6 4 10 -3 20 1 1 1 0 29 20.7 CHI R 14 *Maneluk, Mike 21 3 7 10 6 8 0 0 0 0 30 10.0 CHI L 19 Moreau, Ethan 25 4 3 7 -2 50 0 0 1 0 33 12.1 CHI L 25 *Cleary, Dan 25 2 5 7 -1 22 0 0 0 0 38 5.3 CHI D 22 Manson, Dave 19 1 6 7 -2 54 1 0 0 0 33 3.0 CHI D 4 Zmolek, Doug 22 0 6 6 -3 49 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 CHI C 26 *White, Todd M 8 1 3 4 0 6 1 0 0 0 8 12.5 CHI C 16 Olczyk, Ed 9 1 2 3 2 0 0 0 1 0 12 8.3 CHI L 24 Probert, Bob 23 1 2 3 -9 85 0 0 0 0 26 3.8 CHI D 3 Laflamme, Christian 24 1 1 2 -10 36 0 0 0 0 22 4.5 CHI D 2 *Brown, Brad 13 0 2 2 3 45 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 CHI C 20 Janssens, Mark 21 1 0 1 -5 24 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 CHI D 77 Coffey, Paul 4 0 1 1 -3 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 CHI L 33 Simpson, Reid 15 0 1 1 0 45 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 CHI R 22 *Mills, Craig M 1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 CHI R 17 *Dumont, Jean-Pierre M 5 0 0 0 -2 4 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 CHI R 44 *Bonvie, Dennis 8 0 0 0 -3 39 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 CHI R 27 *Jones, Ty M 8 0 0 0 -1 12 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 CHI D 38 Allison, Jamie 9 0 0 0 -5 20 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 CHI D 37 *Muir, Bryan 11 0 0 0 3 4 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 CHI D 5 Yawney, Trent 13 0 0 0 -5 25 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 CHI D 6 *Royer, Remi M 16 0 0 0 -9 67 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 COL C 21 Forsberg, Peter 24 7 24 31 7 34 1 0 1 0 72 9.7 COL C 19 Sakic, Joe 24 11 19 30 -3 8 1 4 2 0 96 11.5 COL L 13 Kamensky, Valeri 22 6 9 15 -2 12 2 0 0 0 44 13.6 COL C 18 Deadmarsh, Adam 19 8 6 14 0 41 3 0 2 0 43 18.6 COL R 23 *Hejduk, Milan 24 4 10 14 -6 10 1 0 1 0 52 7.7 COL C 37 *Drury, Chris 21 6 5 11 2 18 3 0 1 0 35 17.1 COL R 22 Lemieux, Claude 24 8 2 10 0 48 5 0 3 1 90 8.9 COL L 20 Corbet, Rene 23 3 7 10 -1 30 1 0 1 0 39 7.7 COL D 5 Gusarov, Alexei R 17 1 7 8 3 10 0 0 0 0 13 7.7 COL D 3 Miller, Aaron 22 2 3 5 -9 28 1 0 0 0 24 8.3 COL L 25 Podein, Shjon 23 1 3 4 0 10 0 0 0 0 33 3.0 COL D 2 Lefebvre, Sylvain 18 0 4 4 -4 12 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 COL C 26 Yelle, Stephane 21 2 1 3 -5 14 0 0 0 0 35 5.7 COL D 52 Foote, Adam 9 0 3 3 0 17 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 COL R 12 Donovan, Shean 17 1 1 2 0 13 1 0 0 0 20 5.0 COL R 36 Odgers, Jeff 24 1 1 2 -3 86 1 0 0 0 8 12.5 COL D 24 Klemm, Jon R 16 0 2 2 5 19 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 COL D 15 Crowley, Ted 7 0 1 1 -1 2 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 COL D 4 Russell, Cam 18 0 1 1 1 28 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 COL D 29 Messier, Eric R 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 COL D 59 *White, Brian M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 COL R 27 *Parker, Scott 4 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 COL D 32 Buchanan, Jeff M 6 0 0 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 COL D 43 *Smith, Dan 9 0 0 0 4 9 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 COL D 6 *Belak, Wade 10 0 0 0 -2 23 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 COL L 16 Rychel, Warren 11 0 0 0 -1 32 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 COL D 7 de Vries, Greg 24 0 0 0 -6 34 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 DAL C 9 Modano, Mike 22 7 15 22 9 18 2 0 3 1 62 11.3 DAL D 5 Sydor, Darryl 22 7 12 19 -4 8 4 0 2 0 61 11.5 DAL C 15 Langenbrunner, Jamie 22 4 12 16 -1 22 4 0 0 0 38 10.5 DAL R 22 Hull, Brett 17 6 9 15 5 12 2 0 2 0 65 9.2 DAL C 25 Nieuwendyk, Joe 17 6 7 13 -4 6 3 0 1 0 31 19.4 DAL R 26 Lehtinen, Jere 17 8 3 11 8 4 2 1 0 0 48 16.7 DAL D 56 Zubov, Sergei 22 2 9 11 -5 10 2 0 0 0 45 4.4 DAL R 29 Marshall, Grant 22 5 4 9 4 27 0 0 3 0 16 31.3 DAL D 2 Hatcher, Derian 22 5 4 9 9 33 1 0 1 0 29 17.2 DAL R 16 Verbeek, Pat 22 4 4 8 -1 38 4 0 1 0 32 12.5 DAL D 24 Matvichuk, Richard 22 2 5 7 10 10 0 0 0 0 19 10.5 DAL C 41 Hrkac, Tony 16 3 3 6 4 6 0 0 0 0 15 20.0 DAL R 12 Keane, Mike 22 0 5 5 0 27 0 0 0 0 21 0.0 DAL C 21 Carbonneau, Guy 21 0 4 4 -2 7 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 DAL D 4 *Gusev, Sergey 5 1 2 3 2 0 0 0 1 0 7 14.3 DAL L 14 Reid, Dave 20 1 2 3 -4 8 0 0 0 0 26 3.8 DAL D 27 Chambers, Shawn R 20 1 1 2 -3 14 1 0 0 0 26 3.8 DAL D 3 Ludwig, Craig 22 0 2 2 1 36 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 DAL C 10 Skrudland, Brian 15 1 0 1 0 17 0 0 0 0 13 7.7 DAL L 17 Severyn, Brent 9 0 1 1 0 21 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 DAL C 23 Gavey, Aaron M 2 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 DAL L 28 *Botterill, Jason 3 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 DAL L 46 *Wright, Jamie M 5 0 0 0 -3 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 DAL D 6 Keczmer, Dan 9 0 0 0 -2 16 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 DET C 19 Yzerman, Steve 24 11 17 28 13 10 4 0 1 0 79 13.9 DET L 14 Shanahan, Brendan 24 13 12 25 8 42 2 0 2 0 104 12.5 DET R 25 McCarty, Darren 24 8 16 24 14 47 4 0 1 0 45 17.8 DET D 55 Murphy, Larry 24 3 17 20 9 30 1 0 0 0 43 7.0 DET D 5 Lidstrom, Nicklas 24 3 13 16 8 8 2 0 0 0 51 5.9 DET C 91 Fedorov, Sergei 24 7 7 14 -2 10 1 1 0 0 59 11.9 DET L 96 Holmstrom, Tomas 24 6 8 14 2 20 4 0 4 0 40 15.0 DET C 8 Larionov, Igor 24 3 11 14 -2 16 1 0 1 0 30 10.0 DET R 20 Lapointe, Martin 24 6 4 10 0 43 2 0 1 0 50 12.0 DET R 17 Brown, Doug 24 5 5 10 4 20 3 0 1 0 59 8.5 DET C 13 Kozlov, Vyacheslav 24 3 6 9 -6 8 1 0 1 0 64 4.7 DET D 44 Eriksson, Anders 24 2 7 9 7 16 0 0 1 0 24 8.3 DET R 26 Kocur, Joe 21 2 4 6 0 45 0 0 0 0 13 15.4 DET D 4 Krupp, Uwe 16 3 2 5 7 2 0 0 0 0 27 11.1 DET R 18 Maltby, Kirk 15 2 3 5 -2 10 0 0 0 0 14 14.3 DET C 33 Draper, Kris 24 1 4 5 -3 22 0 0 1 0 27 3.7 DET C 23 *Roest, Stacy 8 1 3 4 1 4 0 0 0 0 9 11.1 DET D 34 Macoun, Jamie 23 0 4 4 -1 16 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 DET D 27 Ward, Aaron 18 2 1 3 -3 27 0 0 0 0 11 18.2 DET D 11 Dandenault, Mathieu 19 0 2 2 2 16 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 EDM R 9 Guerin, Bill 25 13 10 23 9 47 8 0 1 0 80 16.3 EDM R 51 Kovalenko, Andrei 24 10 9 19 4 18 2 0 3 1 49 20.4 EDM L 20 Beranek, Josef 23 7 12 19 5 6 3 0 2 0 50 14.0 EDM D 2 Mironov, Boris 22 4 14 18 14 40 1 0 2 0 53 7.5 EDM R 25 Grier, Mike 25 6 9 15 2 15 0 1 0 0 45 13.3 EDM D 22 Hamrlik, Roman 25 3 12 15 3 24 0 0 0 0 54 5.6 EDM R 10 Falloon, Pat 25 6 6 12 1 6 4 0 0 0 48 12.5 EDM L 17 Murray, Rem 21 7 4 11 -1 8 1 0 2 0 33 21.2 EDM C 26 Marchant, Todd 25 3 5 8 2 10 1 0 0 0 51 5.9 EDM C 19 Devereaux, Boyd 25 3 4 7 2 10 0 1 2 0 19 15.8 EDM D 44 Niinimaa, Janne 24 0 7 7 3 34 0 0 0 0 35 0.0 EDM R 42 Brown, Kevin 12 4 2 6 -2 0 2 0 0 0 13 30.8 EDM R 16 Buchberger, Kelly 25 3 3 6 1 35 0 1 1 0 16 18.8 EDM C 14 Lindgren, Mats 17 2 4 6 3 12 0 0 0 0 20 10.0 EDM C 37 McAmmond, Dean 23 2 4 6 2 18 0 0 0 0 49 4.1 EDM C 39 Weight, Doug R 4 0 5 5 -2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 EDM D 5 *Poti, Tom 20 1 2 3 -1 14 1 0 0 0 23 4.3 EDM L 94 Smyth, Ryan 22 1 2 3 -4 16 0 0 0 0 43 2.3 EDM D 23 *Brown, Sean 19 0 2 2 1 84 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 EDM D 32 *Millar, Craig 20 0 2 2 -3 15 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 EDM D 33 McSorley, Marty R 7 0 1 1 1 21 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 EDM D 8 Musil, Frank 13 0 1 1 1 8 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 EDM L 21 Lacroix, Daniel 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 EDM C 7 *Lindquist, Fredrik M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 EDM L 28 Huard, Bill 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 FLA L 14 Whitney, Ray 23 7 12 19 -1 4 2 0 1 0 43 16.3 FLA C 44 Niedermayer, Rob 24 7 10 17 -5 20 4 0 1 1 49 14.3 FLA L 21 *Parrish, Mark 24 10 5 15 1 10 3 0 2 0 53 18.9 FLA C 15 Gagner, Dave 23 4 9 13 0 28 2 0 0 1 30 13.3 FLA R 27 Mellanby, Scott 15 5 7 12 -1 15 1 0 2 0 37 13.5 FLA C 25 Kozlov, Viktor 18 3 9 12 6 6 0 0 0 0 61 4.9 FLA D 24 Svehla, Robert 23 4 6 10 -4 26 1 0 0 1 45 8.9 FLA R 19 Dvorak, Radek 24 4 5 9 -4 14 0 2 0 0 50 8.0 FLA D 55 Jovanovski, Ed 24 2 7 9 -4 48 0 0 1 0 43 4.7 FLA L 16 *Kvasha, Oleg 23 4 4 8 4 2 0 0 0 1 56 7.1 FLA L 11 Lindsay, Bill 24 2 5 7 -6 36 0 0 1 0 48 4.2 FLA D 5 Murphy, Gord 24 0 6 6 6 4 0 0 0 0 32 0.0 FLA L 9 Muller, Kirk 24 1 3 4 -6 26 0 0 0 0 31 3.2 FLA R 22 Ciccarelli, Dino 2 3 0 3 0 2 3 0 0 0 6 50.0 FLA D 8 *Spacek, Jaroslav 23 2 1 3 0 12 2 0 0 0 29 6.9 FLA D 7 Warrener, Rhett 11 0 2 2 -4 19 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 FLA D 2 Carkner, Terry 15 0 2 2 0 19 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 FLA L 29 Garpenlov, Johan 21 0 2 2 -4 14 0 0 0 0 28 0.0 FLA D 3 Laus, Paul 24 0 2 2 -1 87 0 0 0 0 18 0.0 FLA R 26 Nemirovsky, David M 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 FLA L 18 Hicks, Alex 11 0 1 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 FLA L 28 *Worrell, Peter 19 0 1 1 0 91 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 FLA C 17 Washburn, Steve R 3 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 FLA L 12 *Hay, Dwayne M 9 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 LAK L 20 Robitaille, Luc 26 12 10 22 -1 16 2 0 2 0 98 12.2 LAK R 27 Murray, Glen 26 10 9 19 -7 16 2 2 0 0 77 13.0 LAK C 44 Perreault, Yanic 26 5 8 13 -4 10 1 2 0 0 62 8.1 LAK L 9 Tsyplakov, Vladimir 26 6 6 12 -6 14 0 2 1 0 41 14.6 LAK C 11 Convery, Brandon 15 2 7 9 4 12 0 0 1 0 14 14.3 LAK C 12 *Jokinen, Olli 14 4 4 8 3 6 2 0 0 0 25 16.0 LAK D 28 Duchesne, Steve 25 1 7 8 0 12 1 0 0 0 39 2.6 LAK D 4 Blake, Rob R 12 2 5 7 -1 14 0 1 0 0 38 5.3 LAK C 15 Stumpel, Jozef 13 1 5 6 -6 0 0 0 0 0 24 4.2 LAK C 26 Ferraro, Ray 18 2 3 5 -5 35 1 0 0 0 21 9.5 LAK R 24 LaFayette, Nathan 21 2 2 4 -1 35 0 1 1 0 27 7.4 LAK L 23 Johnson, Craig 22 2 2 4 -5 14 0 0 1 0 36 5.6 LAK L 21 *Green, Josh 21 1 3 4 -6 8 1 0 0 0 30 3.3 LAK D 6 O'Donnell, Sean 26 1 3 4 0 63 0 0 0 0 27 3.7 LAK D 14 Norstrom, Mattias 26 1 3 4 -3 12 0 1 0 0 23 4.3 LAK D 8 Bodger, Doug 16 0 4 4 0 6 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 LAK D 48 *Visheau, Mark 9 1 2 3 -5 28 0 0 0 0 6 16.7 LAK C 45 Moger, Sandy R 14 1 2 3 -4 12 0 0 1 0 13 7.7 LAK R 19 Courtnall, Russ R 19 1 2 3 -3 6 0 0 0 0 23 4.3 LAK D 3 Galley, Garry 17 0 2 2 -8 8 0 0 0 0 20 0.0 LAK D 43 Boucher, Philippe 22 0 2 2 -9 14 0 0 0 0 39 0.0 LAK L 17 Johnson, Matt 16 1 0 1 -2 49 0 0 0 0 1 100.0 LAK C 22 Laperriere, Ian 17 1 0 1 -5 44 0 0 0 0 13 7.7 LAK R 42 Bylsma, Dan 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 LAK D 54 *Nemecek, Jan M 4 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 LAK L 7 McKenna, Steve R 10 0 0 0 1 12 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 LAK L 29 Lacroix, Eric 22 0 0 0 -7 10 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 MTL R 8 Recchi, Mark 25 5 16 21 -6 8 3 0 1 0 64 7.8 MTL C 25 Damphousse, Vincent 20 6 10 16 -2 22 3 1 1 0 57 10.5 MTL L 17 Brunet, Benoit 21 4 8 12 2 22 1 2 0 0 44 9.1 MTL L 26 Rucinsky, Martin 19 7 4 11 -6 20 3 0 0 0 62 11.3 MTL L 49 Savage, Brian 19 6 4 10 -7 12 1 0 3 1 45 13.3 MTL D 38 Malakhov, Vladimir 23 6 4 10 -9 41 3 0 1 0 56 10.7 MTL L 27 Corson, Shayne 15 4 5 9 -4 24 3 0 1 0 33 12.1 MTL R 23 Stevenson, Turner 23 1 8 9 -4 33 0 0 0 0 38 2.6 MTL L 37 Poulin, Patrick 24 3 5 8 -5 11 0 1 0 0 25 12.0 MTL D 22 Weinrich, Eric 23 1 7 8 -16 23 0 0 0 0 35 2.9 MTL D 5 Quintal, Stephane 25 0 8 8 -5 30 0 0 0 0 32 0.0 MTL C 11 Koivu, Saku 13 4 3 7 -5 2 1 1 0 0 23 17.4 MTL R 44 Hoglund, Jonas 21 2 4 6 2 4 0 0 0 0 29 6.9 MTL D 52 Rivet, Craig 20 2 2 4 -4 28 0 0 0 0 13 15.4 MTL D 43 Brisebois, Patrice 19 1 3 4 -11 12 1 0 0 0 33 3.0 MTL L 24 Thornton, Scott R 7 2 0 2 2 28 0 0 0 1 10 20.0 MTL C 15 Houde, Eric 6 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 4 25.0 MTL D 29 Clark, Brett 21 1 1 2 2 10 0 0 0 0 16 6.3 MTL D 55 Ulanov, Igor 23 1 1 2 0 33 0 0 0 0 11 9.1 MTL C 34 Zholtok, Sergei 18 0 2 2 -11 2 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 MTL C 46 *Higgins, Matt M 15 1 0 1 -2 0 0 0 0 0 7 14.3 MTL R 42 *Delisle, Jonathan M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 MTL L 14 *Ryan, Terry M 1 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 MTL R 45 *Asham, Arron 3 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 MTL D 48 *Guren, Miroslav M 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 MTL L 35 Bashkirov, Andrei 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 MTL L 36 Morissette, Dave 7 0 0 0 1 35 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 MTL D 56 *Nasreddine, Alain 13 0 0 0 -1 25 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 MTL R 6 McCleary, Trent 21 0 0 0 -1 15 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 NSH C 7 Ronning, Cliff 22 6 12 18 4 12 4 0 2 0 63 9.5 NSH R 25 Krivokrasov, Sergei 24 9 8 17 1 16 3 0 2 0 73 12.3 NSH C 22 Johnson, Greg 24 3 14 17 -1 4 0 0 0 0 45 6.7 NSH L 19 Brunette, Andrew 24 5 6 11 0 18 2 0 1 0 32 15.6 NSH D 20 Heward, Jamie 21 2 9 11 -9 14 1 0 0 0 48 4.2 NSH L 16 Peltonen, Ville 14 5 5 10 1 2 1 0 0 0 31 16.1 NSH L 10 Kjellberg, Patrick 22 5 5 10 -4 12 2 0 1 0 24 20.8 NSH R 21 Fitzgerald, Tom 24 4 5 9 -10 12 0 0 1 0 55 7.3 NSH C 24 Walker, Scott R 17 2 6 8 4 33 0 1 0 0 19 10.5 NSH C 9 Turcotte, Darren 22 3 3 6 -3 8 0 0 1 0 45 6.7 NSH C 71 Bordeleau, Sebastien 21 2 3 5 -5 4 0 0 1 0 33 6.1 NSH D 5 Vopat, Jan 15 3 1 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 17 17.6 NSH L 32 Daniels, Jeff 9 1 3 4 -1 2 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 NSH R 23 Atcheynum, Blair R 12 1 3 4 0 10 0 0 0 0 13 7.7 NSH D 42 Bouchard, Joel 13 1 3 4 4 10 0 0 0 0 13 7.7 NSH L 28 Lambert, Denny 20 1 3 4 -1 64 0 0 0 0 16 6.3 NSH C 7 Nelson, Jeff M 9 2 1 3 -1 2 0 0 0 0 8 25.0 NSH D 15 Berehowsky, Drake 19 0 3 3 -6 51 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 NSH R 43 Yachmenev, Vitali 7 1 1 2 -1 4 0 0 0 0 10 10.0 NSH D 36 Daigneault, J.J. 20 1 1 2 -3 24 1 0 1 0 19 5.3 NSH D 4 More, Jay 15 0 2 2 4 14 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 NSH D 27 Slaney, John M 14 0 1 1 -2 6 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 NSH D 6 Boughner, Bob 23 0 1 1 1 46 0 0 0 0 22 0.0 NSH L 8 Friedman, Doug M 1 0 0 0 -1 14 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 NSH R 12 Smyth, Brad M 3 0 0 0 -1 6 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 NSH L 17 *Cote, Patrick 18 0 0 0 -1 74 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 NJD L 16 Holik, Bobby 22 6 12 18 7 22 1 0 1 0 60 10.0 NJD C 17 Sykora, Petr 24 9 7 16 3 4 4 0 1 0 55 16.4 NJD L 23 Andreychuk, Dave 17 8 6 14 0 6 3 0 2 1 42 19.0 NJD C 14 Rolston, Brian 24 3 11 14 0 6 0 1 0 0 54 5.6 NJD D 27 Niedermayer, Scott 15 2 11 13 4 6 0 1 0 0 34 5.9 NJD L 20 Pandolfo, Jay 24 7 5 12 1 8 0 0 3 0 35 20.0 NJD C 25 Arnott, Jason 23 6 5 11 -1 13 4 0 1 0 64 9.4 NJD L 26 Elias, Patrik 23 4 7 11 4 16 0 0 1 0 42 9.5 NJD C 9 *Morrison, Brendan 21 3 8 11 -2 2 2 0 0 0 27 11.1 NJD R 21 McKay, Randy 20 5 4 9 8 53 0 0 3 0 39 12.8 NJD D 4 Stevens, Scott 24 2 7 9 6 24 0 0 1 0 37 5.4 NJD C 10 Pederson, Denis 24 4 4 8 1 19 0 0 0 0 57 7.0 NJD D 24 Odelein, Lyle 23 0 6 6 4 38 0 0 0 0 27 0.0 NJD C 18 Brylin, Sergei 12 3 2 5 3 8 2 0 1 0 14 21.4 NJD R 8 *Sharifijanov, Vadim 10 1 4 5 2 2 0 0 0 0 16 6.3 NJD D 3 Daneyko, Ken 24 1 3 4 9 23 0 0 0 0 20 5.0 NJD D 28 Dean, Kevin 20 0 4 4 1 12 0 0 0 0 17 0.0 NJD D 6 Bombardir, Brad 17 0 3 3 -4 6 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 NJD C 19 Carpenter, Bob 20 0 3 3 -1 12 0 0 0 0 22 0.0 NJD L 29 Oliwa, Krzysztof 18 2 0 2 0 57 0 0 1 0 20 10.0 NJD L 22 Daniels, Scott M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NJD D 7 Sutton, Ken 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NJD L 32 Lakovic, Sasha 5 0 0 0 -1 33 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 NJD D 2 Souray, Sheldon 19 0 0 0 -1 23 0 0 0 0 37 0.0 NYI C 21 Reichel, Robert 26 7 17 24 -9 18 2 0 1 0 56 12.5 NYI C 32 Linden, Trevor 26 9 10 19 -1 10 4 0 1 0 54 16.7 NYI C 20 Smolinski, Bryan 26 7 9 16 -6 18 5 0 1 0 72 9.7 NYI C 13 Lapointe, Claude 26 7 8 15 -5 16 2 1 1 0 50 14.0 NYI D 34 Berard, Bryan 26 3 10 13 -7 20 2 0 2 0 61 4.9 NYI L 15 Donato, Ted 26 3 9 12 0 8 0 0 0 0 33 9.1 NYI R 12 *Watt, Mike 23 3 8 11 2 2 0 0 0 0 26 11.5 NYI R 25 Czerkawski, Mariusz 25 6 4 10 -5 4 3 0 0 0 59 10.2 NYI D 29 Jonsson, Kenny 19 5 5 10 1 10 4 0 0 0 16 31.3 NYI L 24 Odjick, Gino R 22 4 3 7 -2 133 1 0 2 0 27 14.8 NYI D 7 Lachance, Scott 25 1 6 7 -6 14 1 0 0 0 14 7.1 NYI D 38 Richter, Barry 20 2 4 6 -8 2 0 0 1 0 27 7.4 NYI R 10 Dawe, Jason 22 2 3 5 0 8 0 0 0 0 29 6.9 NYI D 4 *Brewer, Eric 18 1 4 5 -5 10 0 0 0 0 17 5.9 NYI C 17 Nemchinov, Sergei 26 4 0 4 -9 8 1 0 0 0 23 17.4 NYI D 6 Harlock, David 25 1 3 4 -8 32 0 0 0 0 11 9.1 NYI C 11 Miller, Kevin 23 1 2 3 -6 6 0 0 0 0 25 4.0 NYI D 3 *Chara, Zdeno 4 0 2 2 -2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 NYI D 2 Pilon, Rich 20 0 2 2 1 40 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 NYI R 14 Sacco, Joe 22 1 0 1 -8 6 0 0 1 0 34 2.9 NYI R 8 Webb, Steve 4 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 NYI R 44 Lawrence, Mark M 6 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 NYI L 18 Hough, Mike 11 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 NYR C 99 Gretzky, Wayne 25 5 20 25 -7 4 2 0 2 1 48 10.4 NYR D 2 Leetch, Brian 25 5 14 19 2 14 2 0 0 0 59 8.5 NYR R 20 Harvey, Todd 22 7 9 16 5 39 4 0 2 1 37 18.9 NYR L 17 Stevens, Kevin 24 6 8 14 4 22 1 0 1 0 41 14.6 NYR C 9 Graves, Adam 25 10 3 13 0 31 5 0 1 0 58 17.2 NYR R 15 MacLean, John 25 9 4 13 1 10 4 0 0 0 68 13.2 NYR R 24 Sundstrom, Niklas 24 5 6 11 -11 10 1 0 0 0 28 17.9 NYR C 33 Savard, Marc 13 2 9 11 6 6 2 0 0 0 23 8.7 NYR D 25 Schneider, Mathieu 22 1 10 11 -5 6 1 0 1 0 44 2.3 NYR R 22 Knuble, Mike 25 3 5 8 -2 8 0 0 0 0 32 9.4 NYR C 93 Nedved, Petr 6 2 5 7 -1 4 0 0 0 0 15 13.3 NYR C 6 *Malhotra, Manny 19 4 2 6 -2 2 0 0 1 0 15 26.7 NYR D 23 Beukeboom, Jeff 23 0 3 3 -1 44 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 NYR L 10 Tikkanen, Esa 23 0 3 3 0 24 0 0 0 0 20 0.0 NYR D 5 Samuelsson, Ulf 24 2 0 2 3 32 0 0 0 0 18 11.1 NYR D 3 Neckar, Stan 5 0 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 NYR R 21 Fraser, Scott M 15 0 2 2 -3 4 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 NYR D 8 Mertzig, Jan M 19 0 2 2 -2 6 0 0 0 0 9 0.0 NYR D 34 Popovic, Peter 23 0 2 2 -6 12 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 NYR D 26 Finley, Jeff M 2 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYR D 14 Smith, Geoff M 4 0 0 0 -5 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYR C 28 Stock, P.J. M 5 0 0 0 -1 6 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 NYR C 32 Pronger, Sean 5 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 NYR L 37 Fedyk, Brent 10 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 NYR D 4 Tamer, Chris 15 0 0 0 -2 34 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 NYR L 19 Langdon, Darren 15 0 0 0 -3 36 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 OTW C 19 Yashin, Alexei 23 8 14 22 5 14 2 0 1 0 104 7.7 OTW L 15 McEachern, Shawn 23 7 12 19 0 10 2 0 1 0 64 10.9 OTW C 21 Johansson, Andreas 23 10 7 17 5 16 4 0 3 0 61 16.4 OTW C 13 Prospal, Vaclav 22 4 10 14 0 6 2 0 1 0 28 14.3 OTW L 20 Arvedson, Magnus 21 5 6 11 4 18 0 1 1 0 40 12.5 OTW D 6 Redden, Wade 23 3 8 11 9 28 1 0 1 0 39 7.7 OTW C 14 Bonk, Radek 22 7 3 10 5 18 0 0 3 0 25 28.0 OTW D 33 York, Jason 20 2 8 10 7 10 1 0 0 0 31 6.5 OTW D 29 Kravchuk, Igor 22 1 9 10 -1 8 1 0 0 0 45 2.2 OTW R 10 Dackell, Andreas 19 4 3 7 1 6 2 0 0 0 28 14.3 OTW R 12 Oliver, David 17 2 5 7 1 4 0 0 0 0 18 11.1 OTW D 4 Phillips, Chris 20 3 3 6 -4 22 2 0 0 0 29 10.3 OTW R 11 Alfredsson, Daniel 10 2 3 5 2 4 0 0 0 0 33 6.1 OTW C 25 Gardiner, Bruce 17 2 3 5 4 17 0 0 1 0 13 15.4 OTW R 17 Murray, Chris 21 1 4 5 -2 45 0 0 0 0 24 4.2 OTW C 22 Van Allen, Shaun 23 3 1 4 0 8 0 1 0 0 16 18.8 OTW D 5 *Salo, Sami 8 0 3 3 3 2 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 OTW C 16 Martins, Steve 13 2 0 2 1 4 0 0 0 0 14 14.3 OTW D 2 Pitlick, Lance 23 2 0 2 4 23 0 0 0 0 15 13.3 OTW R 28 Leach, Steve M 9 0 2 2 -1 6 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 OTW D 3 *Traverse, Patrick 15 0 2 2 -1 4 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 OTW L 26 Crowe, Phil M 8 0 1 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 OTW L 18 *Hossa, Marian 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 OTW L 37 Sarault, Yves R 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 OTW L 9 Berg, Bill 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 OTW D 23 Bicanek, Radim M 4 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 PHI C 88 Lindros, Eric 24 12 21 33 17 45 1 1 0 1 77 15.6 PHI L 10 LeClair, John 24 18 12 30 15 8 6 0 4 1 82 22.0 PHI C 17 Brind'Amour, Rod 24 11 14 25 1 6 7 0 2 1 53 20.8 PHI R 20 Jones, Keith 20 7 8 15 4 28 1 0 2 0 29 24.1 PHI D 3 McGillis, Dan 24 1 13 14 6 12 1 0 0 0 54 1.9 PHI D 37 Desjardins, Eric 20 2 10 12 4 14 2 0 0 0 51 3.9 PHI C 77 Gratton, Chris 24 1 6 7 -8 41 0 0 0 0 46 2.2 PHI L 12 Forbes, Colin 23 4 2 6 1 14 0 0 2 0 32 12.5 PHI D 6 Therien, Chris 20 1 5 6 5 10 1 0 0 0 30 3.3 PHI D 5 *Tertyshny, Dimitri 18 0 4 4 -1 4 0 0 0 0 22 0.0 PHI C 19 Daigle, Alexandre 17 2 1 3 -3 2 1 0 1 0 24 8.3 PHI D 23 Svoboda, Petr 20 2 1 3 4 28 0 0 1 0 27 7.4 PHI L 26 Zelepukin, Valeri 16 1 2 3 -2 4 0 0 0 0 23 4.3 PHI R 8 Hull, Jody 21 0 3 3 2 8 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 PHI R 9 Zubrus, Dainius 24 1 1 2 -4 21 0 0 0 0 23 4.3 PHI C 28 Bureau, Marc 20 0 2 2 0 4 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 PHI C 11 Sillinger, Mike 23 0 2 2 -8 8 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 PHI D 43 *Delmore, Andy M 2 0 1 1 -1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 PHI D 32 *Bast, Ryan M 2 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHI D 22 Richardson, Luke 24 0 1 1 1 45 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 PHI L 21 Kordic, Dan M 2 0 0 0 -1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PHI L 40 Zent, Jason M 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PHI C 24 Vopat, Roman 12 0 0 0 -4 17 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 PHI D 44 Babych, Dave 14 0 0 0 -1 10 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 PHO C 97 Roenick, Jeremy 21 8 18 26 11 22 2 0 2 0 48 16.7 PHO L 7 Tkachuk, Keith 21 14 11 25 15 18 4 0 3 1 65 21.5 PHO R 22 Tocchet, Rick 21 8 11 19 10 51 1 1 1 0 48 16.7 PHO D 20 Lumme, Jyrki 21 2 12 14 7 14 0 0 1 0 46 4.3 PHO R 11 Drake, Dallas 18 5 8 13 12 14 0 0 1 0 43 11.6 PHO D 27 Numminen, Teppo 21 3 10 13 10 12 0 0 0 0 42 7.1 PHO C 36 Ylonen, Juha 21 1 8 9 11 8 0 0 0 0 24 4.2 PHO L 17 Adams, Greg 21 5 3 8 0 10 1 0 1 0 45 11.1 PHO D 10 Tverdovsky, Oleg 21 4 4 8 11 8 2 0 1 0 31 12.9 PHO C 21 Corkum, Bob 21 1 4 5 6 2 0 0 0 0 41 2.4 PHO C 8 *Briere, Daniel 17 2 2 4 1 6 1 0 2 0 26 7.7 PHO R 16 Isbister, Brad 13 3 0 3 2 9 0 0 2 0 21 14.3 PHO C 14 Stapleton, Mike 20 2 1 3 -1 6 0 1 0 0 17 11.8 PHO R 19 Doan, Shane 21 0 3 3 -2 31 0 0 0 0 27 0.0 PHO L 26 Sullivan, Mike 21 1 1 2 -2 8 0 0 0 0 22 4.5 PHO D 5 Quint, Deron 12 0 2 2 -2 6 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 PHO D 3 Carney, Keith 21 0 2 2 9 16 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 PHO R 15 Cummins, Jim 10 1 0 1 2 21 0 0 0 0 4 25.0 PHO D 4 Diduck, Gerald 19 0 1 1 9 34 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 PHO L 29 DeBrusk, Louie 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PHO D 2 Helmer, Bryan 8 0 0 0 2 21 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 PIT R 68 Jagr, Jaromir 24 8 27 35 9 28 4 0 0 0 94 8.5 PIT C 82 Straka, Martin 24 14 14 28 11 8 2 2 2 1 62 22.6 PIT C 14 Barnes, Stu 24 12 6 18 1 4 7 0 2 0 69 17.4 PIT D 4 Hatcher, Kevin 24 4 13 17 10 12 2 0 0 0 54 7.4 PIT C 20 Lang, Robert 24 10 6 16 -6 4 1 0 1 1 48 20.8 PIT L 9 Titov, German 21 3 12 15 3 8 2 0 1 0 27 11.1 PIT R 27 Kovalev, Alexei 19 3 9 12 -7 14 1 0 1 0 48 6.3 PIT D 5 Werenka, Brad 24 3 9 12 12 21 1 0 3 0 26 11.5 PIT R 95 Morozov, Aleksey 21 4 5 9 1 4 0 0 0 0 33 12.1 PIT R 44 Brown, Rob 24 4 5 9 1 8 2 0 0 0 30 13.3 PIT C 38 *Hrdina, Jan 24 2 5 7 -5 8 1 0 1 0 23 8.7 PIT D 48 Serowik, Jeff 24 0 6 6 -4 16 0 0 0 0 26 0.0 PIT C 37 Miller, Kip 21 1 3 4 -2 12 0 0 0 0 22 4.5 PIT D 8 Dollas, Bobby 24 1 3 4 -7 40 0 0 0 0 12 8.3 PIT D 47 *Galanov, Maxim 18 3 0 3 2 4 2 0 0 1 19 15.8 PIT R 28 Kesa, Dan 20 1 1 2 -1 19 0 0 0 1 5 20.0 PIT D 11 Kasparaitis, Darius 15 0 2 2 4 14 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 PIT L 18 Lebeau, Patrick R 8 1 0 1 -2 2 0 0 0 0 4 25.0 PIT D 46 Ignatjev, Victor R 11 0 1 1 -3 6 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 PIT L 45 *Sonnenberg, Martin 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 PIT D 6 Wilkinson, Neil 4 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 PIT D 71 Slegr, Jiri R 6 0 0 0 -2 20 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 PIT C 32 York, Harry 7 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 5 0.0 PIT R 24 Moran, Ian 10 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 PIT C 29 Wright, Tyler 14 0 0 0 -1 9 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 SJS L 39 Friesen, Jeff 22 7 9 16 -4 8 3 0 0 0 72 9.7 SJS C 19 Sturm, Marco 24 5 7 12 -1 22 1 2 0 1 33 15.2 SJS C 18 Ricci, Mike 24 4 7 11 -7 10 0 0 1 1 22 18.2 SJS R 17 Murphy, Joe 20 4 5 9 0 6 1 0 0 0 57 7.0 SJS R 21 Granato, Tony 21 5 3 8 0 28 0 1 1 1 39 12.8 SJS D 2 Houlder, Bill 24 3 5 8 0 16 3 0 0 0 32 9.4 SJS R 11 Nolan, Owen 22 2 6 8 -6 29 1 0 0 0 43 4.7 SJS C 14 Marleau, Patrick 24 4 3 7 -3 4 1 0 1 0 27 14.8 SJS R 22 Stern, Ronnie 22 3 3 6 -1 40 1 0 0 0 21 14.3 SJS D 5 Norton, Jeff 14 1 5 6 -1 6 1 0 1 0 18 5.6 SJS L 32 Craven, Murray 24 1 5 6 -2 12 0 0 0 0 28 3.6 SJS L 37 Matteau, Stephane 18 0 6 6 1 24 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 SJS D 3 Rouse, Bob 24 0 6 6 -4 20 0 0 0 0 32 0.0 SJS C 12 Sutter, Ron R 9 3 1 4 3 9 0 0 1 0 13 23.1 SJS D 40 Rathje, Mike 24 3 1 4 1 10 1 0 0 0 26 11.5 SJS L 26 Lowry, Dave 14 2 1 3 0 10 0 0 0 1 9 22.2 SJS D 10 Ragnarsson, Marcus 16 0 3 3 -3 16 0 0 0 0 14 0.0 SJS D 4 Zyuzin, Andrei M 12 2 0 2 2 10 2 0 0 0 23 8.7 SJS C 8 Skalde, Jarrod 12 1 1 2 -2 4 0 0 0 1 14 7.1 SJS D 6 *Hannan, Scott M 5 0 2 2 0 6 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 SJS C 9 Nicholls, Bernie R 10 0 2 2 -4 4 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 SJS D 27 Marchment, Bryan 24 0 2 2 -6 49 0 0 0 0 23 0.0 SJS C 36 Guolla, Stephen 7 1 0 1 1 6 0 0 0 0 18 5.6 SJS C 13 Baker, Jamie M 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 SJS R 25 Craig, Mike 1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 SJS D 20 Suter, Gary R 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 SJS L 7 Burr, Shawn M 5 0 0 0 -1 8 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 SJS D 42 *Sutton, Andy 7 0 0 0 -1 8 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 STL L 38 Demitra, Pavol 22 11 12 23 4 8 8 0 2 0 56 19.6 STL C 77 Turgeon, Pierre 22 10 10 20 0 12 2 0 2 1 66 15.2 STL D 2 MacInnis, Al 22 9 11 20 11 26 5 0 2 2 83 10.8 STL D 44 Pronger, Chris 22 3 12 15 4 34 1 0 0 0 52 5.8 STL L 14 Courtnall, Geoff 21 3 7 10 1 26 0 0 1 0 54 5.6 STL R 48 Young, Scott 20 4 5 9 4 8 1 0 1 0 62 6.5 STL C 32 Eastwood, Mike 22 3 6 9 5 12 0 0 0 0 17 17.6 STL C 22 Conroy, Craig 22 2 7 9 3 6 0 0 0 0 43 4.7 STL C 25 Rheaume, Pascal 13 1 6 7 6 16 0 0 0 0 17 5.9 STL C 15 *Reasoner, Marty M 14 1 6 7 0 4 0 0 0 0 23 4.3 STL L 34 Picard, Michel 13 3 3 6 -3 4 0 0 1 0 15 20.0 STL C 10 Campbell, Jim 19 1 5 6 -7 8 0 0 0 0 35 2.9 STL C 26 *Handzus, Michal 22 1 4 5 -5 16 0 0 0 0 26 3.8 STL L 33 Pellerin, Scott 21 3 1 4 -3 10 0 0 0 0 35 8.6 STL L 18 Twist, Tony 18 2 2 4 1 60 0 0 0 0 10 20.0 STL R 39 Chase, Kelly 13 1 2 3 3 34 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 STL D 6 Rivers, Jamie 22 0 3 3 5 12 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 STL D 5 Gill, Todd 20 0 2 2 -6 10 0 0 0 0 19 0.0 STL L *Bartecko, Lubos 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 STL R Yake, Terry 1 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 STL D 20 Poeschek, Rudy 5 0 0 0 2 15 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 STL D 19 McAlpine, Chris 20 0 0 0 -6 20 0 0 0 0 33 0.0 STL D 4 Bergevin, Marc 21 0 0 0 -4 36 0 0 0 0 17 0.0 TBL C 21 Janney, Craig 25 2 17 19 -6 10 0 0 0 1 28 7.1 TBL L 17 Clark, Wendel 23 13 5 18 -5 12 5 0 1 0 68 19.1 TBL C 16 Tucker, Darcy 25 9 7 16 -13 52 2 2 1 0 58 15.5 TBL R 20 Renberg, Mikael 18 4 8 12 -1 4 2 0 0 0 37 10.8 TBL C 18 Langkow, Daymond 20 4 6 10 0 13 1 0 1 0 35 11.4 TBL R 29 Selivanov, Alexander 22 2 8 10 -6 8 0 0 0 0 59 3.4 TBL D 4 Cross, Cory 25 2 7 9 -10 33 0 0 0 0 34 5.9 TBL D 5 Cullimore, Jassen 22 3 3 6 -6 28 1 0 1 0 27 11.1 TBL C 8 *Lecavalier, Vincent 25 3 2 5 -15 4 2 0 0 0 35 8.6 TBL R 44 Richer, Stephane 12 2 3 5 -10 2 1 0 0 0 30 6.7 TBL D 13 *Kubina, Pavel 20 1 4 5 -9 47 0 0 1 0 32 3.1 TBL L 7 Zamuner, Rob R 11 1 3 4 2 4 0 0 0 0 14 7.1 TBL R 10 McCarthy, Sandy 25 1 3 4 -11 66 0 0 0 0 31 3.2 TBL L 47 Peterson, Brent 6 2 1 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 66.7 TBL D 23 Sykora, Michal M 10 1 2 3 -7 0 0 0 1 0 24 4.2 TBL C 11 Kelly, Steve 16 1 2 3 -12 12 0 0 1 0 9 11.1 TBL R 34 Andersson, Mikael 22 1 2 3 -6 2 0 0 0 0 26 3.8 TBL C 33 Hogue, Benoit 20 0 3 3 -12 14 0 0 0 0 26 0.0 TBL L 62 Nazarov, Andrei 13 2 0 2 -2 22 0 0 0 0 13 15.4 TBL D 39 Ciccone, Enrico 16 1 1 2 -2 24 0 0 0 0 9 11.1 TBL D 2 McBain, Mike 10 0 2 2 0 4 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 TBL D 6 Wilkie, David 10 0 2 2 -1 17 0 0 0 0 6 0.0 TBL D 28 Samuelsson, Kjell 11 1 0 1 -3 18 0 0 0 0 6 16.7 TBL L 15 Ysebaert, Paul M 10 0 1 1 -5 2 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 TBL D 14 Dykhuis, Karl 25 0 1 1 -17 18 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 TBL C 12 Cullen, John R 4 0 0 0 -2 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 TBL D 46 Skopintsev, Andrei 4 0 0 0 -1 4 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 TOR C 13 Sundin, Mats 26 8 18 26 6 18 3 0 2 0 94 8.5 TOR R 22 Korolev, Igor 26 6 15 21 9 24 0 0 1 0 32 18.8 TOR R 32 Thomas, Steve 26 10 9 19 5 12 3 0 3 0 79 12.7 TOR L 7 King, Derek 25 10 8 18 0 8 4 0 1 0 54 18.5 TOR R 20 Johnson, Mike 26 8 7 15 2 6 1 1 1 0 63 12.7 TOR C 18 McCauley, Alyn 26 4 10 14 0 0 0 0 1 0 46 8.7 TOR R 94 Berezin, Sergei 20 7 6 13 5 4 3 0 1 0 62 11.3 TOR D 36 Yushkevich, Dimitri 26 5 7 12 4 44 2 1 0 0 40 12.5 TOR D 3 Cote, Sylvain 26 3 9 12 15 12 0 0 1 0 49 6.1 TOR D 15 *Kaberle, Tomas 24 3 8 11 -1 6 0 0 2 0 25 12.0 TOR L 19 Modin, Fredrik 26 6 4 10 9 8 1 0 0 1 49 12.2 TOR C 11 Sullivan, Steve 15 2 6 8 2 6 0 0 1 0 29 6.9 TOR R 28 Domi, Tie 26 2 4 6 0 79 0 0 0 0 22 9.1 TOR L 10 Valk, Garry 24 2 3 5 2 8 1 0 0 0 33 6.1 TOR D 52 Karpovtsev, Alexander 14 1 3 4 10 14 0 0 0 0 12 8.3 TOR D 25 Smith, Jason 25 0 4 4 -4 24 0 0 0 0 21 0.0 TOR D 55 *Markov, Daniil 20 2 1 3 -4 10 0 0 0 0 11 18.2 TOR L 12 King, Kris 26 2 1 3 -4 45 0 1 1 0 16 12.5 TOR D 38 Tremblay, Yannick 14 0 3 3 2 8 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 TOR L 8 Warriner, Todd 6 1 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 7 14.3 TOR D 2 Eakins, Dallas 8 0 1 1 2 13 0 0 0 0 4 0.0 TOR C 14 Hendrickson, Darby 14 0 1 1 -2 8 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 TOR D 4 Dahl, Kevin M 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 VAN C 11 Messier, Mark 26 10 17 27 -3 19 4 2 2 0 52 19.2 VAN R 19 Naslund, Markus 24 13 8 21 -6 14 5 0 1 0 59 22.0 VAN R 89 Mogilny, Alexander R 19 4 13 17 4 28 0 2 0 1 30 13.3 VAN D 6 Aucoin, Adrian 26 8 7 15 3 28 5 1 0 0 58 13.8 VAN R 17 *Muckalt, Bill 26 8 7 15 4 29 2 1 1 0 40 20.0 VAN D 2 Ohlund, Mattias 26 4 11 15 -4 53 1 0 1 0 54 7.4 VAN C 22 Zezel, Peter 24 5 5 10 0 16 1 0 2 0 33 15.2 VAN R 20 Scatchard, Dave 26 5 5 10 4 54 0 1 1 0 46 10.9 VAN L 9 May, Brad 21 1 8 9 -7 26 1 0 0 0 32 3.1 VAN D 3 Hedican, Bret 25 1 7 8 9 26 0 1 0 0 26 3.8 VAN D 4 McCabe, Bryan 13 3 4 7 -1 32 0 1 0 0 15 20.0 VAN R 26 Klatt, Trent 25 1 6 7 4 2 0 0 0 0 26 3.8 VAN C 44 Bertuzzi, Todd R 10 4 2 6 6 8 1 0 1 0 21 19.0 VAN L 8 Brashear, Donald 26 3 3 6 -4 62 0 0 0 0 32 9.4 VAN L 15 *Schaefer, Peter 8 1 0 1 -5 2 1 0 0 0 6 16.7 VAN D 36 McAllister, Chris 11 1 0 1 -1 8 0 0 0 1 4 25.0 VAN D 5 Murzyn, Dana 3 0 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 VAN C 14 *Holden, Josh M 11 0 1 1 -3 6 0 0 0 0 11 0.0 VAN L 24 *Cooke, Matt 12 0 1 1 -5 10 0 0 0 0 7 0.0 VAN D 7 Huscroft, Jamie 16 0 1 1 -2 48 0 0 0 0 10 0.0 VAN D 25 Staios, Steve 26 0 1 1 -2 43 0 0 0 0 13 0.0 VAN D 18 Robertsson, Bert 10 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 0.0 VAN D 34 Strudwick, Jason 19 0 0 0 -3 44 0 0 0 0 8 0.0 VAN D 23 Baron, Murray 25 0 0 0 -3 39 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 WSH C 90 Juneau, Joe 24 6 11 17 -4 14 2 1 1 0 61 9.8 WSH R 12 Bondra, Peter 23 11 3 14 0 20 1 2 2 0 110 10.0 WSH C 77 Oates, Adam 20 6 8 14 -1 6 3 0 0 0 34 17.6 WSH D 6 Johansson, Calle 24 3 8 11 3 8 0 0 1 1 55 5.5 WSH D 15 Mironov, Dmitri 24 2 9 11 1 50 2 0 0 0 60 3.3 WSH L 17 Simon, Chris 23 3 7 10 -4 48 0 0 0 0 29 10.3 WSH L 23 Bellows, Brian 24 4 5 9 -3 10 2 0 1 0 61 6.6 WSH L 13 Nikolishin, Andrei 15 2 4 6 2 6 0 0 0 0 20 10.0 WSH R 2 Klee, Ken 23 2 4 6 -2 36 0 0 0 0 30 6.7 WSH D 24 Tinordi, Mark 24 0 6 6 2 62 0 0 0 0 15 0.0 WSH C 28 Black, James 18 2 3 5 3 0 0 0 0 0 23 8.7 WSH L 44 Zednik, Richard 10 3 1 4 -1 22 1 0 1 0 21 14.3 WSH C 8 Bulis, Jay R 5 2 2 4 4 0 0 0 1 0 7 28.6 WSH D 19 Witt, Brendan 18 1 3 4 -1 34 0 0 0 0 11 9.1 WSH C 26 *Herr, Matt 16 1 2 3 -2 6 0 0 0 0 20 5.0 WSH D 29 Reekie, Joe 15 0 3 3 -3 8 0 0 0 0 16 0.0 WSH R 34 Svejkovsky, Jarolsav R 7 2 0 2 2 4 0 0 1 0 15 13.3 WSH C 22 Konowalchuk, Steve 9 2 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 14 14.3 WSH L 27 Berube, Craig 21 2 0 2 -5 91 0 0 0 0 17 11.8 WSH C 36 Eagles, Mike 11 1 1 2 -3 4 0 0 0 0 8 12.5 WSH L 9 Chorske, Tom 15 0 2 2 -3 6 0 0 0 0 24 0.0 WSH L 10 Miller, Kelly 16 0 2 2 -3 4 0 0 0 0 20 0.0 WSH D 55 Gonchar, Sergei 11 0 1 1 1 11 0 0 0 0 37 0.0 WSH C 32 Hunter, Dale 24 0 1 1 -6 59 0 0 0 0 12 0.0 WSH L 18 Halverson, Trevor M 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 WSH D 39 Poapst, Steve 1 0 0 0 -2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 WSH D 38 *Baumgartner, Nolan M 5 0 0 0 -3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.0 WSH D 3 Malgunas, Stewart M 7 0 0 0 -4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0.0 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Goaltender Stats through December 6, 1998 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TM NO GOALTENDER GPI MINS AVG W L T EN SO GA SA SPCT G A PIM ANA 31 Hebert, Guy 22 1343 2.28 9 8 5 2 2 51 680 .925 0 0 0 ANA 30 Roussel, Dominic 3 176 2.73 0 3 0 1 0 8 89 .910 0 0 0 BOS 34 Dafoe, Byron 20 1183 1.72 8 5 6 1 4 34 564 .940 0 2 17 BOS 35 Tallas, Rob 5 292 1.85 3 2 0 1 1 9 122 .926 0 0 0 BUF 39 Hasek, Dominik 22 1278 1.78 13 4 4 0 4 38 648 .941 0 0 4 BUF 30 Roloson, Dwayne 2 60 4.00 0 1 0 0 0 4 36 .889 0 0 0 CGY 30*Moss, Tyler 9 485 2.47 3 6 0 0 0 20 260 .923 0 1 0 CGY 31 Wregget, Ken 11 632 2.85 3 5 2 1 1 30 301 .900 0 0 4 CGY 47*Giguere, Jean-Sebast 6 384 3.59 3 3 0 0 0 23 200 .885 0 1 2 CAR 1 Irbe, Arturs 19 1142 2.05 8 7 3 2 2 39 542 .928 0 0 2 CAR 37 Kidd, Trevor 9 502 2.75 4 3 2 0 1 23 227 .899 0 0 0 CHI 30 Fitzpatrick, Mark 12 600 2.60 3 4 2 1 0 26 277 .906 0 0 0 CHI 41 Thibault, Jocelyn AL 15 888 2.97 6 7 2 0 1 44 441 .900 0 0 0 CHI 29 Trefilov, Andrei 1 25 9.60 0 1 0 0 0 4 20 .800 0 0 0 COL 33 Roy, Patrick 19 1146 2.51 8 9 2 2 1 48 497 .903 0 0 12 COL 1 Billington, Craig 5 299 2.81 3 2 0 1 0 14 128 .891 0 0 0 DAL 1 Turek, Roman 6 314 1.91 2 0 2 1 0 10 124 .919 0 0 0 DAL 20 Belfour, Ed 19 1019 2.00 12 5 1 0 2 34 376 .910 0 0 4 DET 38*Maracle, Norm 7 379 1.90 4 1 1 0 0 12 169 .929 0 0 0 DET 30 Osgood, Chris 17 959 2.38 10 7 0 3 2 38 432 .912 0 0 2 DET 31 Hodson, Kevin 2 99 3.64 0 1 0 0 0 6 41 .854 0 0 0 EDM 35 Shtalenkov, Mikhail 15 927 2.27 9 6 0 0 1 35 424 .917 0 0 0 EDM 30 Essensa, Bob 11 576 3.13 4 5 1 1 0 30 251 .880 0 1 0 FLA 1 McLean, Kirk 10 587 2.35 3 5 1 0 1 23 257 .911 0 0 0 FLA 31 Burke, Sean 15 882 2.86 5 5 5 0 0 42 400 .895 0 0 0 LAK 35 Fiset, Stephane 7 380 2.21 3 3 0 1 0 14 185 .924 0 0 0 LAK 32*Legace, Manny 15 843 2.63 2 9 2 4 0 37 411 .910 0 1 0 LAK 1*Storr, Jamie 5 257 2.80 1 3 1 1 1 12 113 .894 0 0 2 LAK 31*Bach, Ryan 2 88 4.77 0 2 0 0 0 7 60 .883 0 0 0 MTL 60*Theodore, Jose 10 556 3.13 3 6 0 1 0 29 242 .880 0 0 0 MTL 31 Hackett, Jeff 17 948 3.42 4 10 2 3 0 54 430 .874 0 0 6 NSH 1 Dunham, Mike 19 1081 2.89 9 9 1 0 0 52 610 .915 0 0 0 NSH 35 Fichaud, Eric 5 279 3.44 0 4 0 1 0 16 150 .893 0 0 0 NSH 29*Vokoun, Tomas 2 80 3.75 0 1 0 0 0 5 30 .833 0 0 0 NJD 30 Brodeur, Martin 20 1210 2.18 11 7 2 1 2 44 477 .908 0 1 0 NJD 31 Terreri, Chris 4 240 2.50 4 0 0 0 0 10 83 .880 0 0 0 NYI 35 Salo, Tommy 23 1346 2.72 10 13 0 2 4 61 614 .901 0 0 10 NYI 30 Flaherty, Wade 5 203 4.14 0 3 0 2 0 14 102 .863 0 0 2 NYR 39*Cloutier, Dan 7 368 2.28 2 2 2 0 0 14 202 .931 0 0 0 NYR 35 Richter, Mike 20 1164 2.53 7 7 5 2 2 49 539 .909 0 0 0 OTW 31 Tugnutt, Ron 9 518 2.08 5 1 1 1 0 18 261 .931 0 0 0 OTW 1 Rhodes, Damian 16 872 2.41 7 7 2 0 0 35 359 .903 0 0 0 PHI 34 Vanbiesbrouck, John 17 1036 2.08 7 6 4 1 1 36 334 .892 0 0 2 PHI 27 Hextall, Ron 7 417 2.16 5 2 0 0 0 15 150 .900 0 0 0 PHO 28 Waite, Jimmy 7 430 1.40 5 0 2 0 1 10 183 .945 0 0 0 PHO 35 Khabibulin, Nikolai 14 848 1.77 10 3 1 0 2 25 345 .928 0 0 4 PIT 30*Aubin, Jean-Sebastie 5 309 2.52 3 1 1 0 1 13 112 .884 0 0 0 PIT 35 Barrasso, Tom 14 759 2.53 5 4 2 0 1 32 305 .895 0 1 20 PIT 1*Skudra, Peter 8 401 2.69 2 2 3 1 1 18 147 .878 0 0 0 SJS 31 Shields, Steve 9 514 1.98 1 3 3 0 0 17 218 .922 0 0 2 SJS 29 Vernon, Mike 17 951 2.78 4 10 3 1 2 44 396 .889 0 0 2 STL 31 Fuhr, Grant 7 379 2.06 3 1 2 0 0 13 153 .915 0 0 2 STL 30*Parent, Rich 2 85 2.12 0 0 1 0 0 3 28 .893 0 0 0 STL 29 McLennan, Jamie 16 874 2.33 6 7 2 2 1 34 319 .893 0 0 0 TBL 93 Puppa, Darren 13 691 2.87 5 6 1 1 2 33 350 .906 0 1 0 TBL 32 Schwab, Corey 4 211 3.98 1 3 0 2 0 14 107 .869 0 0 4 TBL 30 Ranford, Bill 12 605 4.46 1 7 1 0 0 45 336 .866 0 0 0 TOR 31 Joseph, Curtis 21 1268 2.46 12 7 2 0 1 52 571 .909 0 2 0 TOR 29 Potvin, Felix 5 299 3.81 3 2 0 1 0 19 142 .866 0 0 0 VAN 30 Snow, Garth 23 1295 2.73 8 11 3 1 2 59 666 .911 0 0 4 VAN 31 Hirsch, Corey 7 271 3.54 2 2 0 0 0 16 146 .890 0 0 0 WSH 40 Rosati, Mike 1 28 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 12 1.000 0 0 0 WSH 31 Tabaracci, Rick 7 400 2.40 1 3 2 0 1 16 187 .914 0 0 0 WSH 37 Kolzig, Olaf 19 1023 2.99 6 10 1 2 2 51 445 .885 0 0 17 ================================================================================= lcshockeylcshockeylcshockeylcshockeylcshockeylcshockeyihatelcshockeylcshockeylcsh =================================================================================