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CELEBRATING FOUR YEAR OF MEDIOCRITY!
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Issue 102  -  Season Review  -  July 2, 1998   -   513,000 bytes
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LCS Hockey's Year End Awards
-----------------------------------------------------------------
by Michael Dell

As is the tradition, it's now time for LCS Hockey to hand out its
own year end awards.  Unlike the NHL, we don't have some gala
black-tie event packed with celebrities and riddled with lame
comedy bits to present a bunch of well-polished trophies. 
Instead we nail some aluminum cans to old pieces of firewood and
hand them out to aging drunks pretending to be NHL stars in
exchange for a few shots of rye.  All in all, it's not a bad
evening.  

So without further delay, here are our 1997-98 award winners.

BEST FORWARD

Teemu Selanne, Anaheim Mighty Ducks:  The Finnish Flash
was the man.  No Kariya?  No problem.  Even though he was playing
with little more than AHL talent in Anaheim, Selanne still
couldn't be contained by the opposition.  He rang up 52 goals,
including 10 game-winners, and 86 points in 73 games while
playing at a +12 for a ridiculous example of an NHL team. 
Selanne was quick, powerful, creative... you name it.  But most
of all he was dominant.  And he did it by his lonesome.  Charles
Lindbergh didn't fly solo as much as Teemu.  If Selanne didn't
score, the Ducks didn't score.  He was the Anaheim franchise.

BEST DEFENSEMAN

Chris Pronger, St. Louis Blues:  It's no longer an
argument.  Pronger is the best defenseman in hockey.  His reach
makes him virtually impossible to beat one on one, or even get a
pass around him for that matter.  He plays mean in front of the
net, as proven by his 180 penalty minutes, and won't back down
from anyone.  Pronger led the league this past season in plus-
minus with a +47, 12 higher than his nearest competitor and 27
better than the next closest player on the Blues.  How is it
possible for such a large disparity to exist on one team?  Well,
Pronger plays, like, a lot.  He devours ice time.  And when he's
out there he does more than just prevent goals.  He can also
contribute to the attack, chipping in nine goals and 36 points
this past season.

BEST GOALTENDER

Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils:  Let the NHL throw all
the awards it wants at Dominik Hasek, we'll stick with Brodeur. 
El Diablo's netminder led the league with an astounding 43 wins
while also posting 10 shutouts, a 1.89 goals-against average, and
a .917 save percentage.  Brodeur is as dependable as Hasek is
dynamic.  You're not gonna see Marty rolling around on the ice
flailing his limbs in desperation.  Brodeur is always in control. 
He plays the position the way it should be played.

BEST ROOKIE

Sergei Samsonov, Boston Bruins:  There's not much question
about this one.  Samsonov is a superstar in waiting.  His 22
goals and 47 points led all rookies while offering only a brief
glimpse of his full potential.  With his explosive quickness and
natural touch, Samsonov is going to be a weapon in Boston for
many years to come.

BEST COACH

Kevin Constantine, Pittsburgh Penguins:  Pat Burns did a
wonderful job with the Bruins, but how much opposition do you
think he had?  Burns didn't have to really worry about star
players fitting into his system.  Outside of Ray Bourque there
were no star players.  When Burns said something to his young
Bruins, it got done with no questions asked.  

Constantine had it much harder.  He was the first coach of the
Post-Lemieux Era in Pittsburgh and transformed the Penguins from
a free-wheeling offensive team into a solid defensive squad
capable of winning the low scoring, one-goal games.  Under
Constantine's guidance, the Penguins won the Northeast Division
and finished as the fifth best team in the league with a record
of 40-24-18.  Only New Jersey (166), Dallas (167), and Buffalo
(187) allowed fewer goals than Pittsburgh's 188.  And although
the new style was successful, it wasn't greeted with open arms by
Jaromir Jagr.  Yet Constantine found a way to coexist with the
Czech Wonder Kid, getting him to buy into the system while also
giving him enough room to do his own thing.  

And people forget that after Jagr, Ron Francis, and Tom Barrasso,
there really wasn't much talent on the Penguin roster. 
Constantine turned Robby Brown into an effective checking winger. 
He gave Marty Straka more responsibility and watched as the
speedy little Czech became a top penalty killer and one of the
better defensive players on the club.  It was Constantine that
converted Robert Lang, a talented player that has never been able
to make it in the NHL, into a steady center capable of checking
the other team's top line as well as providing some important
points.  Brown, Straka, and Lang are perfect examples of
Constantine's ability as a coach.                  

BEST GM

Craig Patrick, Pittsburgh Penguins:  No one did more with
less than Patrick.  He salvaged the likes of Rob Brown, Marty
Straka, Robert Lang, Jiri Slegr, and Brad Werenka off the scrap
heap and all became significant contributors to the cause.  These
guys were considered all but dead until Patrick took a chance and
gave them jobs.  They responded by making him look like a genius. 

Patrick also earns extra points for his no-nonsense approach in
dealing with Petr Nedved.  Petey's a bad man, but he'll never
recover the $3 million-plus he turned down for this season or get
back the year he lost from the prime of his career.  And the
Penguins proved they could win another division title without
him, thanks to Patrick's golden touch.   

BEST DARCY TUCKER

Darcy Tucker, Tampa Bay Lightning:  Tucker wins the first
ever "Best Darcy Tucker" award by being the best Darcy Tucker he
could be.  His gritty, aggressive style made him the only thing
worth watching in Tampa Bay this season.  In 74 games with the
Bolts, Tucker had seven goals, 20 points, and 146 penalty
minutes.  But numbers hardly express the true meaning of Tucker. 
Congratulations, Darcy.  Other nominees for the Best Darcy Tucker
award included Scott Walker and Tyler Wright.

LCS HOCKEY MVP

Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings:  We usually like to select
someone out of the ordinary for our MVP.  We take pride in
honoring the guys who don't get the hype yet are every bit as
valuable as the three finalists named by the league.  Past
winners have included Gary Roberts (1995-96) and Tony Amonte
(1996-97).  This year it gives us great pleasure to announce Rob
Blake as the LCS Hockey MVP.  

It's no coincidence that the Los Angeles Kings made the playoffs
for the first time in five years the same season Blake was
healthy enough to play a full slate.  Blake has been in and out
of the lineup the past three seasons, missing a total of 120
games due mostly to a nagging groin problem.  He had no such woes
this season, appearing in 81 games for the Royalty and leading
all NHL defensemen in goal-scoring with 23.  He was a pillar of
strength along the L.A. blue line, throttling opposing forwards
with bone-rattling checks whenever the chance presented itself. 
Blake's performance was rewarded with a well-deserved Norris
Trophy.  

While we think Chris Pronger may have been a slightly better
defender this season, no one was more valuable than Blake.  If
Pronger goes out of the lineup the Blues can rely on Al MacInnis. 
Teemu Selanne had no support in Anaheim, but the Ducks would have
finished in last place without him.  Jaromir Jagr wouldn't have
had anything even close to the season he did without Ron Francis. 
But Blake was it in Los Angeles.  If he cracked, the Kings were
done.  He didn't crack.           
             
     
C R E D I T S

Michael Dell........................Editor-in-Chief (dell@lcshockey.com)
Zippy the Wonder Chimp....................Webmaster (zippy@lcshockey.com)
Michael Secosky............................Producer
Jim Iovino.............................Ace Reporter
Matthew Secosky..............Scourge of Switzerland
Marc Boucher..............................Publisher
Dan Hurwitz.............Force for Cultural Hegemony
John Kreiser.....................Featured Columnist
David A. Feete......................Featured Writer
Steve Wilson..........International Sales Executive
Nicole Agostino...........................Stat Girl
Alex Carswell.................Anaheim Correspondent
Matt Brown.....................Boston Correspondent
Joe Brunner...................Buffalo Correspondent
Tony Wong.....................Calgary Correspondent
Brad Kane....................Carolina Correspondent
Thomas Crawford...............Chicago Correspondent
Greg D'Avis..................Colorado Correspondent
Jim Panenka....................Dallas Correspondent
Dino Cacciola.................Detroit Correspondent
Simon D. Lewis...............Edmonton Correspondent
Eric A. Seiden................Florida Correspondent
Matt Moore................Los Angeles Correspondent
Jacques Robert...............Montreal Correspondent
Phil Aromando..............New Jersey Correspondent
David Strauss...............Islanders Correspondent
Alex Frias....................Rangers Correspondent
The Nosebleeders..............Ottawa Correspondents
Eric Meyer...............Philadelphia Correspondent
Vacant........................Phoenix Correspondent
Tom Cooper..................St. Louis Correspondent
Al Swanson...................San Jose Correspondent
Seth Lerman.................Tampa Bay Correspondent
Jonah Sigel...................Toronto Correspondent
Carol Schram................Vancouver Correspondent
Jason Sheehan..............Washington Correspondent
Tricia McMillan...................AHL Correspondent
James Clippinger.......College Hockey Correspondent

LCS Hockey - Issue 102; July 2, 1998
E-mail address: <A HREF="mailto:info@lcshockey.com">info@lcshockey.com</a>  
Good ol' postal address: 406 Sheffield Drive, Greensburg, PA 15601. 
Web Site: <A HREF="http://www.lcshockey.com/">http://www.lcshockey.com/</A>


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Top Moments of the 1997-98 Season
----------------------------------------------------------------------
by Jim Iovino

Since this is the LCS Hockey Season in Review Issue, we thought it
would be wise to generate a list of the top 10 moments in hockey
that happened during the past season.  

Unfortunately, we hit the gallon jugs of Night Train pretty hard
this year so some of the details could be a little sketchy.  We
were drunk off our ass for a reason, tho'.  The 1997-98 NHL
season blew.  Plain and simple.  

So without further ado, I hold in my right hand tonight's top 10
list.  Anton, drum roll please...  

No. 10:  The U.S. Women's Ice Hockey Team Wins Gold in
Nagano 

Led by Cammi Granato, Team USA defeated Team Canada for gold in the
first-ever medal event for women's ice hockey in the Olympics, which
was held in Nagano, Japan.  

The U.S. and Canadian teams have been (sometimes bitter) enemies
during the past few years.  The two squads met 15 times in
international play this year alone, with the United States taking
an 8-7 edge.  

The gold medal game finished with a 3-1 Team USA win, but the best
contest of the tournament came two days earlier when the teams squared
off in the final match of round-robin action.  Both teams had
already clinched spots in the gold medal game, but tempers were hot
and some of the hits were nasty in this affair. Some trash talking
even went on between the two teams, causing Canadian coach Shannon
Miller to pull Granato aside after the game to make sure she knew 
exactly what was said about a Canadian player and her family.  

The Canadians took what looked like a guaranteed 4-1 lead into the
third period, but the Americans exploded for six unanswered goals
in the final frame to win, 7-4, and give them a ton of momentum
going into the gold medal game.  

The win by Team USA eased some of the pain caused by the
disappointing showing by the men's Olympic team (see later in
article).  It also generated a lot of publicity for women's hockey
in the United States. More and more programs are being developed
for girls and women throughout the country, and this only increased
the hockey boom.  

No. 9: Sweden Kicks Finnish Ass at World Championships

Sure, this didn't have the same importance as the Olympics, but
since the Swedes love LCS Hockey and LCS Hockey loves the Swedes,
we had to include this on our list.  

The Finns crushed the dreams of all Swedish hockey fans when Team
Finland beat Team Sweden in the opening round of the Olympics. 
Damn Finns...  

But in an amazing show of resilience and vigor, the Swedes were able
to pull themselves together and take back the pride of Scandinavia by
defeating the Finns at the World Ice Hockey Championships.  That's
right, Sweden.  Put those Communist Finns in their place. 

Sweden defeated Finland in that chocolate clock-making country
called Switzerland.  The Swedes prevailed 1-0 in the first
game of the series, then tied Finland 0-0 in the second to take
home the title.  Because the finals were on total goals scored, no
winner needed to be decided in the second game.  Sweden scored more goals, 
so they get the trophy.  Finland gets a year's supply of Turtle Wax.  

Sweden was led in the tournament by such NHL stars as Mats Sundin,
Peter Forsberg and Mikael Renberg.  Finland had Sami Kapanen
and...well, some guy named Raimo Helminen.  Yeah, that's right,
Anders Nordenswan, some guy named Raimo Helminen. 

No. 8:  Norway Dominates Switzerland

While we're playing with the international hockey flavor, let's not
forget the battles that Norway and Switzerland had during the LCS
Hockey intra-staff Sega Hockey League.  

Norway was led by Michael Dell, Matthew Secosky, and yours truly. 
Team Switzerland staggered along under the drunken leadership of
Zippy and a bunch of other scrubs...I mean LCS associates.  

In the battle of seven-game series, Norway won the first six series
in a row before those clock-makin', chocolate lovin' Swiss managed
to actually defeat the Norwegians, 4-1, to take the seventh series.  
But don't worry, after that loss Norway vowed to never lose another 
series to the Swiss again, and ladies and gentleman, they haven't. 
Norway is now leading the all-time series 8-1 and is currently 
enjoying a three-games-to-two lead in the tenth series.  

Zippy couldn't be reached for comment, so we made up the following
quote.  

"We suck," admitted Zippy from his corporate weasel-like office in
downtown Pittsburgh.  "I would just like to thank the people of
Switzerland who have been patient with us during our disappointing
season.  If we were playing in the World Cup, the entire team would
have been tortured and shot to death by now. Norway is just a
far-superior country.  That's all there is to it.  Our guts are too
fat because we eat so much rich, dark chocolate.  Long live
Norway."  

By the way, have I mentioned how bad the NHL was this season? 

No. 7: Stars Can't Shine From a Hospital Bed...

Here's the scenario.  The NHL has very few stars anymore.  So what
happens?  The league loses several of them to severe injuries, making
even some of the better NHL games of the year terrible.  

Paul Kariya was out of the league for a good portion of the start of
the season due to a contract holdout.  He missed the last part of the
season due to a concussion suffered when Chicago's Gary Suter
cross-checked him in the jaw after Kariya scored a goal.  

Kariya's teammate, Teemu Selanne, was a target late in the season
with Kariya out of the lineup.  Selanne, one of the nicest players
in the game today, nearly was decapitated several times this year
thanks to elbows, forearms and sticks flying at his head from all
directions.  

Luckily for Selanne and the league, he was never seriously hurt. 

Eric Lindros wasn't so lucky.  The Flyer captain is supposed to take
over the league someday from Wayne Gretzky.  It will be hard for him
to do if he never plays a full season.  

Lindros was crunched by a clean, open-ice hit by Darius Kasparaitis
during a game at the Civic Arena that knocked Lindros loopy for
close to 20 games.  Kasparaitis stepped up on Lindros while he
looked down at his skates trying to find the puck.  The Penguins
defenseman's shoulder connected with Lindros's head, and down went
the big guy in a heap on the ice.  

Lindros's concussion reminded many of the concussions suffered by
Pat LaFontaine.  LaFontaine, who was at one point in his career one
of the top four players in the league, was making a comeback this
season with the New York Rangers.  

LaFontaine is a product of the abuse dished out to the league's star
players over the years without repercussions from the NHL.  Laffy,
who is on the small side, took years of grief, suffered numerous
concussions and has had major health problems.  Both LaFontaine and the
league are paying for it now.  

The list of injured star players can go on and on.  Joe Sakic, Peter
Forsberg, Steve Yzerman, Mike Modano, Saku Koivu, Daniel
Alfredsson...name a star and he was probably injured during the
season.  

That's not good for marketing the game, and it's not good for the
players.  If the stars are going to last, they have to be treated
right.  I'm not saying protect them, but make sure you call
penalties when they're necessary.  Let people know that they won't
be able to get away with a mob-type hit on a star player.  

As a matter of fact, let's get rid of the cheap hits on every
player.  It's not a necessary part of the game.  Oh yeah, it also
hurts.  

No. 6: Keenan and His Fan Club Returns to League

If the NHL wants excitement, it needs to look no further than Mike
Keenan.  

Is the league in need of a swift kick in the you-know-what?  Tell
someone to hire Keenan and watch the fun begin. 

Keenan returned from exile this past season, replacing Tom Renney as
head coach of the Vancouver Canucks.  No sooner than he got there,
the players were already flying out the door.  

Keenan traded away fan favorites Kirk McLean, Martin Gelinas, Gino
Odjick and even long-time team captain Trevor Linden.  No one is
safe when Keenan comes calling.  

For all of his moves, Keenan didn't fair all that well in his first
season in Vancouver.  The team failed to make the playoffs and
actually finished close to the very bottom of the league standings.
 

But that didn't matter to Kenny Bloom, who is still president of the
Mike Keenan Fan Club.  

Kenny wasn't available to do a full interview after the season -
he's knitting a new sweater with a needlepoint mug shot of Keenan
on it for his dog, Lightning.  But he sent us this brief statement
that he wanted to share with you.  Ahem...  

"Hi.  My name is Kenny.  I'm president of the Mike Keenan Fan
Club.  Mike Keenan is my hero.  If anyone would like to join my fan
club, please stop by the Tasty Freeze and ask for Kenny.  They'll
know who you mean.  Our fan club is growing in membership all the
time, so join soon!"  

Don't say you haven't been warned... 

No. 5: I'll Put My Skate in Your Crease!

The in-the-crease rule really put a hurtin' on the league this
season.  It was ridiculed.  It was laughed at.  It was dismissed as
a joke.  And that was just what the players thought.  The public
was a little more vocal in their hatred for it.  Believe it or not,
some of the reactions to it were even more heated than the reaction
people had toward the FOX glow puck.  

By the way, the glow puck still blows. 

LCS Hockey is always thinking of you, our valued readers.  So we
took a quick survey to see what people thought about the
in-the-crease rule that was widely debated in the NHL this past
season.  Then we thought, "Hell, you know what?  We never cared
what other people had to say in the past, so why start now?"  

Here's our take on the in-the-crease rule:  IT BLOWS. 

No. 4: Detroit Wins Second Cup for Fallen Comrades

Just six days after the Detroit Red Wings won the Stanley Cup in
1997, Vladimir Konstantinov and Sergei Mnatsakanov were severely
injured in a limo accident and might never be able to walk again. 
So in their honor, the Wings dedicated the 1997-98 season to them.
 

The season culminated in another Stanley Cup celebration.  And this
time, Konstantinov and the rest of the Red Wings were able to
celebrate without a dark cloud looming over their heads.  

In a show of undoubted togetherness, as soon as Steve Yzerman
accepted the Stanley Cup from Gary Bettman after sweeping the
finals for the second straight year, he gave it to Konstantinov. 
With Igor Larionov, Sergei Fedorov and Yzerman pushing,
Konstantinov glided across the ice in his wheelchair with Cup in
tow.  It was a Stanley Cup moment that no one who saw it will ever
forget.  

Kudos to the Wings for sharing their emotions and joy with the rest
of the world.  

No. 3: Offense?  What?  Where?

Just one player (Jaromir Jagr) scored more than 100 points this
season.  

That's sad. 

That's really sad. 

Remember the days when Mario Lemieux would score close to 170 points
in 60 games?  When Pat LaFontaine was close behind with 146 or so?
Those were the good days of the NHL.  

The watered down crap we're forced to pay big bucks for now is a
joke.  This isn't the NHL, this is the IHL2.  And with expansion,
things are only going to get worse, not better.  And let's forget
about Nashville for a moment.  Who is going to stock the expansion
teams joining the league in 1999 and 2000?  With a little
training, the staff of LCS Hockey might be able to join a team by
then.  

Back in the day, every team had at least one star player.  Now,
we're lucky to see greatness on one out of every three teams.  By
the year 2000, it will be one out of every five.  But by then, it
won't matter because an advanced race of space goats will take over
the planet, killing everything on Earth, except the earth goats,
who will be put in positions of power.  

No. 2: Hasek Makes Most of Olympic Debacle

The 1998 Olympics marked the first time that NHL players could
compete in the Games.  Unfortunately for many of the teams who made
the long journey to Japan, the Games were memorable for all the
wrong reasons.  

Team USA, which was almost an exact replica of the team that won the
World Cup in 1996, struggled mightily in the Olympics.  All hopes of
the United States taking over as the dominating hockey power in the
world were crushed by a brutal effort that ended in scandal. 

The uninspired play of most of Team USA during the games was so
pitiful, only a major event could make people forget how bad they
played.  And sure enough, if the humiliation of exiting the Games
before medal rounds were even talked about wasn't enough, the team
was humiliated even more when one or several players trashed their
dorm rooms at the Olympic village.  The damage was estimated at
$3,000.  Fire extinguishers were set off and then thrown out a
window, chairs were broken - childish events that should never have
happened.  

So the Americans exited the Olympics with nothing but a room bill to
show for it.  That meant Team Canada would take back the title of
world's best, right?  

Wrong. 

Team Canada failed to medal, as well.  That left the door wide open 
for The Dominator.  The spotlight was on Dominik Hasek, and he showed 
the world why he's a back-to-back Hart and Vezina winner.  

Hasek defeated the Canadians in a thrilling overtime shootout where
he stopped the likes of Eric Lindros and Brendan Shanahan.  He
defeated a surging Russian squad in the gold medal game.  Dominik
Hasek did it all.  

Hasek was the best story to come out of the NHL's appearance in the
Olympic Games.  Other than his remarkable run, the NHL had a rough
go of it in Nagano.  Players were exhausted after playing half a
season and then flying 20-some hours to Japan to play games.  Some
NHLers didn't even make it in time for their games.  And when they
did show up, no one in North America other than people with
sleeping disorders saw them play.  The games received little air
time during prime viewing hours.  

Even the NHL's worst fears came true.  An NHL star was hurt.  Joe
Sakic injured his knee during a game against Kazakhstan, which caused
him to miss several weeks of the regular season.  

All in all, the Olympic Games were a bust for the NHL. 

No. 1:  Cullen Beats Cancer

Forget the NHL's problems.  Forget the Olympic debacle.  Just for a
moment, forget that hockey exists and read the next four words
very carefully:  

Johnny Cullen beat cancer. 

That's right, Johnny Cullen, LCS Hockey idol and hero of millions
ages 8 to 80, battled cancer for more than an entire hockey season
and won.  After numerous chemotherapy treatments and a bone marrow
transplant, Cullen has finally defeated lymphoma.  

When Cullen first told the world that a softball-size tumor was
found in his chest, everyone in the hockey community feared the
worst.  His hockey career would be done for certain.  Everyone
hoped that he would somehow find a way to beat the dreaded disease.
 

But this is Johnny Cullen we're talking about here.  He's a
scrapper.  He's a fighter.  He'll do what it takes to win.  For a
while, that meant chemotherapy treatments.  When that didn't work,
he needed to do a risky bone marrow transplant.  

There were some close calls - like the time Cullen's heart stopped
beating as he was being wheeled down a hospital corridor - but in
the end, Cullen has won.  

He received an OK from his doctors, and although he has to go back
for check-ups every six months, Cullen claims to be cancer-free. 
He's even planning on playing hockey again next season.  Right now
he's training down in Florida and trying to get his skating legs
back.  

Johnny Cullen's struggles with cancer have been an amazing story
during the past year.  He should be commended for the way he's
handled everything during that time.  He's remained positive.  He's
remained optimistic.  And he's been a role model to people
throughout the world.  

Johnny Cullen is a constant reminder to never give up hope, no
matter how bad things look.  

Perhaps all of us can learn a lesson from this.  No matter what
obstacles you're faced with in life, just believe in yourself and
find a way to deal with your situation.  

Did you here that Mr. Bettman?  You, too, can learn from Johnny
Cullen.  Find a way to make the NHL work.  The sport of hockey is
the most exciting on Earth.  Don't run it into the ground.  Don't
give up on teams in Canada.  This sport can carry itself.  It's
been doing it for over 100 years, and it will keep doing it long
after all of us are gone.  

As for you, Johnny...congratulations on your victory over cancer. 
All of us at LCS Hockey can't wait to see you back on the ice again
next season.   


-------------------------------------------------------------------
1997-98 Breakthrough Players
-------------------------------------------------------------------
by Michael Dell

Every year in the Season Review we like to take a look at some
players that went above and beyond expectations.  The proud few
who made the jump from being average NHL citizens just cashing
checks to average NHL citizens who will soon be cashing bigger
checks.  

All these guys progressed a great deal this past season,
demonstrating that they're capable of bigger and better things in
the future.  Now they just have to do it year after year like the
big dogs.

Jason Allison, Boston Bruins:  How good was Allison this
year?  Well, he actually received some consideration for the LCS
Hockey MVP Award.  And I think we all know how prestigious an
honor that is.  Allison had a brilliant year with the Bruins,
leading the club in goals (33), assists (50), points (83), plus-
minus (+33), and game-winners (8).  If it weren't for Allison the
Bears would still be scrounging for scraps in the forest
basement.  Do forests even have basements?    

Allison is just a tremendous player.  His production wasn't a
fluke.  The biggest difference between Allison this season and in
the past was his skating.  He always had superb hands and
playmaking skills, just not the wheels to use them.  This season
was a different story, tho'.  He still isn't a speed merchant,
but at 6'3", 205 pounds he doesn't have to be.  Allison's new
found balance and confidence on his blades combined with his size
and reach makes him a nightmare for defenders.  He's capable of
lowering his shoulder and barging around the outside or pulling
the string and humiliating a defenseman with style alone.  

This kid isn't a floater, either.  He works hard in both zones
and isn't afraid to take the body.  Allison's the complete
package.  The future of hockey in Boston appears to be in good
hands.

Stu Barnes, Pittsburgh Penguins:  When Barnes first broke
in with the Winnipeg Jets, he gained fame around the offices of
LCS hockey for being part of the infamous LSD Line of NHL '93 for
the Sega Genesis.  No matter the opposition, when Luciano
Borsato, Stu, and Darrin Shannon took the ice you had a chance to
win every time out.  

Now, five years later, chants of "Stuuuuuu" are echoing in the
Civic Arena the same way they once did in our hallowed halls. 
Barnes filled out the left side on Pittsburgh's top line with Ron
Francis and Jaromir Jagr, and not surprisingly set career highs
in goals (30), assists (35), and points (65).  Naturally, anyone
playing with Francis and Jagr is going to get mad points, but Stu
is more than just a little guy that stands at the post and taps
in cross-ice passes.  Granted, not much more, but he's still
cool.  Stu has emerged as one of the top face-off men in hockey
and has become a fan favorite in Pittsburgh for his scrappy
nature.  And just ask people in Florida if they'd like to have
Stu back?  His departure is the main reason the Panthers have
been declawed.  

Pavol Demitra, St. Louis Blues:  A couple years back
Demitra led the preseason in goal-scoring while with the Ottawa
Senators.  He was good buddies with Alexei Yashin and seemed to
have a future with the Sens.  It didn't work out.  Demitra now
has a new lease on life with the Blues and is making the most of
the opportunity, much to the chagrin of the Senator brass.  

The 23-year-old acted as the Blues' second line center for most
of the season, shattering his previous career highs with 22 goals
and 52 points in just 61 games.  Demitra tied for the team lead
with six game-winners and led the club in short-handed goals with
four.  If not for an Al MacInnis slap shot that busted his jaw
late in the season, Demitra's numbers would only be more
impressive.  But having your jaw broken by MacInnis is pretty
cool in its own right.  It sounds better than saying you busted
it eating stale Necco Wafers.  I had to eat through a straw for
three weeks...

Trevor Kidd, Carolina Hurricanes:  Kidd started the season
splitting time with Sean Burke, but he finished it as the main
man in Carolina and as one of the hottest goaltenders in the NHL. 
Kidd put together of string of games that almost managed to carry
the Canes into the postseason.  The man with the wacky checkered
equipment thrived under the increased workload once Burke got
shipped out of town, finishing with 21 wins, three shutouts, and
a career best goals-against average (2.17) and save percentage
(.922).  Kidd's a big goaltender that lets his size do most of
the work.  When he's on his angle there just isn't a whole lot to
choose from.  Plus that equipment of his can hyp-MO-tize with its
psychedelic tendencies.  Misguided youth have put down the
aerosol cans and tubes of glue and have taken to staring at
Kidd's pads.  If you look long enough you can see a sail boat. 
But I'll stick with the varnish.  

Glen Murray, Los Angeles Kings:  He couldn't cut it in
Boston or Pittsburgh, but Murray seems to have found a home in
Los Angeles.  The 25-year-old former first-round selection (18th
overall) of the Bruins reached new heights this year with the
Royalty, leading the Kings in goals with 29 and finishing second
on the club with 60 points.  Murray has all the tools to be a
perennial 30-goal guy.  Standing 6'2", 213 pounds, Murray can be
a force along the wall and in the corners.  He may not be the
most agile of skaters, but once he gets into the open he has a
powerful stride that can leave most others behind.  His speed is
very deceptive.  And once in the open Murray has a heavy wrist
shot that can bore its way through goaltenders.  No joke, Murray
can shoot a puck.  The problem in the past was that he could
never hit the net.  If Murray can keep his shot on target, the
goals will add up in a hurry.

Ray Whitney, Florida Panthers:  Back in the day, Whitney
was the second ever draft pick of the San Jose Sharks.  He
enjoyed a modest amount of success in San Jose, with his best
season coming in 1995-96 when he recorded 17 goals and 41 points
playing with LCS favorite Owen Nolan.  But Whitney wouldn't last
in the Shark Tank.  He played only 12 games for the Fish in 1996-
97 before making his way to Edmonton at the start of this season. 
He couldn't stick with the Oilers and was grabbed by the Panthers
for little more than a song... I think "My Old Kentucky Home."
Anyway, it proved to be a wise acquisition.  

Whitney went koo koo in the Sunshine State, leading the Panthers
in scoring with 33 goals and 65 points.  He was also top Cat in
plus-minus (+9) and power-play goals (12).  Whitney's listed as
5'10", 180, but that might be a bit generous.  While he isn't as
feisty as the similarly-sized and dearly-departed Stu Barnes,
Whitney does have a harder slap shot and is a bit better
playmaker.  It was his shot that enabled Whitney to play the
point on the Florida man-advantage.  He's not exactly the kind of
guy that can carry an offense, but it looks like Whitney can be a
valuable member of the supporting cast in Florida for years to
come.  

Alexei Zhitnik, Buffalo Sabres:  Zhitnik has been on the
scene for years.  But this season he went from talented blueliner
to Norris Trophy candidate.  Zhitnik took on a more important
role with the team after former assistant captain Garry Galley
signed with L.A. and the added responsibility seemed to agree
with him.  His overall game matured by leaps and bounds.  No
longer a giveaway waiting to happen, Zhitnik played smart with
the puck and became a legitimate physical presence.  He had more
big hits than the Monkees.  And when it came to ice time, Zhitnik
was right there with the likes of Chris Chelios and Chris
Pronger.  He did everything for the Sabres, including leading the
team with 30 assists and finishing just one off the team lead in
points with 45.  Get used to hearing Zhitnik's name among the
best defensemen in the game.


-------------------------------------------------------------------                
Lemieux Takes Swing at Penguins
-------------------------------------------------------------------
By Jim Iovino

For Mario Lemieux, the opening day of his Toyota Mario Lemieux
Celebrity Invitational proved to be an exciting event on two
fronts. 

Lemieux, who retired from hockey two seasons ago to spend more time
with his family and on the golf course, was able to put together a
strong list of celebrity competitors to play for the $225,000 purse
at his golf tournament, which is an official stop on the Celebrity
Players Tour.  

Many of his friends from his NHL days joined him last Thursday at
The Club at Nevillewood near Pittsburgh, including Brett Hull, Ron
Francis and John Vanbiesbrouck.  Other sports celebrities such as
Johnny Bench and Dan Marino played in the event, as well.  

However, as it was for all of his years in the NHL, Lemieux stole
the show.  But this time it was his words, not his actions, that
garnered all of the attention.  

Earlier that Thursday morning, Lemieux filed suit against the
Pittsburgh Penguins in hopes of collecting the deferred payments he
said the club owes him from the seven-year, $42 million contract he
signed with Penguin owner Howard Baldwin in 1992.  Baldwin and
Lemieux are close friends and have no troubles with each other. 
The two agreed to lengthen the payments on the contract several
years ago in order for the Penguins to stay afloat financially and
re-sign other players to make a run at the Stanley Cup.  

But Lemieux said the team's relatively new co-owner, Roger Marino,
is apparently balking on paying Lemieux's contract.  Marino cuts
the checks in Pittsburgh these day, not Baldwin.  Lemieux said he
just wants the money he believes he deserves.  

"We just had no choice. This was my last resort," Lemieux said after
he finished putting on the 18th hole at Nevillewood. "I certainly
didn't want to bring the Penguins to court. It's the team I played 13
years for and had a great relationship with until Marino came in."
 

Lemieux said the suit is more of a personal issue between Marino and
himself rather than any conflict with the rest of the Penguin
organization which he spent his entire career with.  He knows that
his suit could cause a lot of damage to the Penguins financially,
but he said he wants to make sure his family is well taken care of
and that he gets the money he earned.  

"Pittsburgh is a great franchise and I think the people of
Pittsburgh deserve a hockey team, but maybe the way they're running
it, there won't be a team for long, if a guy like Marino keeps
doing what he's doing," Lemieux said. "I guess Marino's trying to
make the best of it, but I think he's taking the wrong approach."
 

"It's unfortunate because we've revised the contract a couple times,
deferring more money because they didn't have the cash," Lemieux
added. "Now it's time to pay up and it seems like they don't want to
do that either."  

While Baldwin has tried to intervene in the conflict to iron out the
differences, Lemieux said he's ready for a long, drawn out battle in
the courts if necessary.  

"I have nothing else to do," Lemieux said with a smirk on his
sweat-covered face. "I'm ready for it."  

Johnny Cullen Plays Golf

Amongst all of the legal jargon, the real reason for the Lemieux
Invitational was almost lost.  The golf tournament was a way for
Lemieux to raise money for the Lemieux Foundation, an organization
the Hodgkin's Disease survivor created to help fight cancer.  

And who else would know more at the tournament about cancer than
Lemieux?  How about LCS idol Johnny Cullen? 

Cullen made the trip to Pittsburgh Friday to compete in the
Invitational from Tampa Bay, where he is still recovering 
from his own battle against cancer.  

Although he finished near the bottom of the list of celebrities in 
the tournament, which was won by former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher 
Rick Rhoden, just getting out on the course and swinging a club was 
a victory of its own.  

Cullen, who was deemed cancer-free several months ago after a scary
and painful bout against lymphoma, is feeling great these days and
he's planning on coming back to the NHL next season.  Although he
doesn't have a contract, Cullen is expected to re-sign with the
Tampa Bay Lightning.  

If for some reason the Lightning decide they want a public relations
nightmare and don't re-sign the scrappy center, several other teams
could be interested.  One team that could be is the Boston Bruins.
Cullen played college hockey at Boston University and has said that
he wouldn't mind playing there again someday.  

Until Cullen signs with a team, he'll be trying to get back into
playing shape in Tampa.  One of Cullen's former linemates in
Pittsburgh, Mark Recchi, was also at the Lemieux Invitational.  He
confirmed the wonderful news that Cullen is feeling great.  

"Kevin Stevens, Cully and I, we spent some time together for four
days down in Tampa," Recchi said after completing nine holes
Thursday. "He's looking great.  He's skating again and everything."
 

Among all the contract hoopla during the first day of the
tournament, Recchi's update on Johnny Cullen was news that everyone
was happy to hear.  

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Draft Shafts Fans of Excitement
-------------------------------------------------------------------
by Jim Iovino

Luckily for Canadians travelling to the 1998 NHL Expansion and
Entry Draft, their road trip didn't start from the south.  Since
they didn't have to travel the same roads most North Americans did
to get to the draft, they missed out on an ironic roadside sign.
 

As cars entered Buffalo on I-90 from the south, they were greeted by
a sign that read "Buffalo: An All-American City". 

In an era when it seems the NHL is expanding everywhere but north of
the border, hosting this year's draft festivities in an all-American
city was only fitting.  Perhaps NHL commissioner Gary Bettman chose
the location for a reason.  Perhaps he wanted to make a statement to
the people of Canada, telling them that hockey is now an American
sport and that Canadians should focus on curling.  

Or perhaps I'm just overanalyzing things.  That's a good
possibility.  The Entry Draft was so boring, I needed to spice up
the lead in this story with something to keep you from falling
asleep.  

The draft went as followed - the Tampa Bay Lightning, as expected,
selected Vincent Lecavalier with the No. 1 pick of the draft. 
Yawn.  

The San Jose Sharks, as expected, traded the second pick of the
draft - for more picks, not players - to the Nashville Predators,
who, as expected, selected David Legwand.  Someone wake me up.  

The Sharks picked Brad Stuart, the Canucks took Bryan Allen and so
on and so on...  The draft came and went, but little happened that
was worth talking about.  There were no big blockbuster trades. 
There weren't many minor deals.  All in all, the 1998 Entry Draft
was a bust.  

LCS Hockey wasn't the only ones getting a shaft at the draft this
year.  Everyone in attendance must have felt the same way.  As each
pick was made, there was much anticipation for a major deal to go
down.  Several general managers were on the phone, but apparently
no one was on the other end.  

The most promise of a trade came when the Rangers were on the clock
in the first round.  GM Neil Smith was on the horn for quite some
time trying to work out a deal.  When time was up for the Rangers
to make a pick, Smith took a time out to talk some more.  When
their time was up again, Bettman said in his whiney voice,
"Rangers, either make your pick or take another timeout."  

Wha?  Huh?  Another timeout?  So you're telling me that if you run
out of time after already taking a time out, you can take another
timeout?  What in the hell's the point of that?  Do you really need
timeouts then?  Makes no sense to me, but that's the NHL for ya.
 

The Rangers ended up not taking another timeout, but they didn't
make a trade, either.  The Blueshirts ended up taking Manny
Malhotra with the seventh pick.  Malhotra, by the way, looks like a
big-time talent.  

Other than that, the draft was boring.  Since there were no trades
to talk about between picks, the arena was usually filled with
silence.  It was kind of an eerie feeling.  At least Bettman could
have done a little dance on stage or something.  A stunning
rendition of Fame or Stomp would have done wonders for the
excitement level in the arena.  

So the fans got shafted at the draft.  Let's see if good ol' LCS
Hockey can spice things up with a story or two from our experiences
in Buffalo.  

First, a couple celebrity spottings.  After returning from lunch on
Friday after the expansion draft, Zippy and I were wandering the
streets of Buffalo when we spotted Oilers GM Glen Sather enjoying
some beverages outside a local establishment.  That was pretty
cool, considering Sather's one of the best GMs in the league.  

On that same return trip from the local shopping mall, we walked
past several men in suits who were slowly making their way in the
same direction.  Figuring that any men in suits in the area were a
part of the NHL, we decided to take a closer look.  And sure
enough, they were.  Several of the men were speaking French, an
obvious giveaway. But there was one man out of the group who was
walking by himself.  As we got closer, we saw that it was former
NHL great and newly appointed Colorado Avalanche assistant coach
Bryan Trottier.  

First, a little background on our connection with Trotts.  Way back
when Trottier was an assistant with the Pens, a company he owned
was trying to sell stuff on our site.  In return, we'd receive a
column on the NHL from Trotts every two weeks or so to put on the
site.  After the first column, which was filled with nothing but
plugs for his company, Trottier was apparently too busy to send any
more.  Soon thereafter, we nixed the deal with his company.  

So when we walked by Trottier, he happened to look at us.  Zippy,
who was wearing a bright gold LCS Hockey T- shirt, swears that
Trottier looked at Zip's shirt, then turned back around and hung
his head in shame.  Personally, I didn't notice if he really looked
at Zip's shirt, but he swears by it.  Could Trottier be ashamed of
dissing LCS Hockey?  I doubt it, but Zip thinks so.  

After the expansion draft on Friday, Zip and I wanted to cruise the
town and see some exciting sites.  Zip read in this Triple A
magazine that there was a good street to shop on at the other side
of town.  So we got in the car and started driving.  Pretty soon, I
noticed that we weren't in Kansas anymore, if you know what I
mean.  The further we drove, the less apt we were to stop at red
lights.  As soon as we thought that we should turn around and head
back downtown, we saw them.  

There they were, as plain as day...pimps.  First, one pulled out in
front of us in a Buick.  You could tell he was a pimp by the
feathers in his fedora.  Then, as we drove by a gas station,
another pimp was getting out of his phat ride to pump some juice
into his Grand Marquis.  His car was smoov...all shiny and silver
and gold...damn, was it smoov. And his threads were nothing to
laugh at, either.  I mean, I'd never laugh at a pimp to begin
with.  He'd probably put a cap in my ass.  But this pimp was
supa-smoov.  He had the tan suit jacket and pants with the white
trim and the white and tan wingtips to match.  And don't forget the
feathered hat.  

Right then and there, I knew my true calling. 

After spotting the pimps, we figured the area couldn't be all that
bad, so we continued for a few more streets.  We passed a classy
restaurant on the right called Meals 4 Steals, then turned onto
Main Street.  Eventually, we decided that we weren't going to find
the place we were looking for, so we turned around and headed back
downtown.  

Later that evening, we were in search for something else to do.  The
Buffalo Bisons, the city's minor league baseball team, were in town
so we decided to check out the action.  Thanks to the kind folks at
the Buffalo Police Department we received two free tickets to the
game.  Upon entering the stadium, the first thing we noticed was how
close we were to the field.  Coming from Three Rivers Stadium in
Pittsburgh, we've never really been to a real baseball stadium.  It
was cool to just go and be close to the action.  The game was a
blowout as the Bisons tore up the Durham Bulls (yep, the team from
the movie), 15-4.  

Because we weren't really big baseball fans, we decided to roam
around the seats and check out all the views. When we got to the
bleacher seats in the outfield, we noticed something very odd.  The
people in the bleachers were being attacked - by dead bugs.  It
seems the bleachers are right below the outfield lights.  As the
bugs flew into the lights on this warm, humid night, they would
die, then fall straight down onto the fans below.  It was really
quite creepy.  We sat there for about a minute or so, then when a
dragonfly dropped onto Zip's head, we had enough.  

Other than the bugs, the ballgame was a swell time.  If you're in
the area, go to a game.  The tickets are cheap...or if you know the
right police officer, they're free.  

Besides that, our trip was quite boring.  Zip said the entire draft
experience was better the year before in Pittsburgh. The players
were available more for autographs and photo opportunities in the
Burgh than they were in Buffalo. The card show in Buffalo was
pretty lame, although I did get a cool Toe Blake card for four
bucks.  And the draft itself, which of course was the main
attraction, was one of the tamest in years.  

At least in Hartford you could walk out into the mall and buy some
socks.  

Here's all of the minor deals that went down during the Entry
Draft: 

The Dallas Stars traded a ninth-round (258th overall) selection in
the 1998 Entry Draft to Philadelphia for the Flyers' ninth-round
pick in the 1999 Entry Draft.  

The Boston Bruins traded a ninth-round (250th overall) selection in
the 1998 Entry Draft to the New York Islanders for their
ninth-round pick in the 1999 Entry Draft.  

The San Jose Sharks traded a ninth-round (240th overall) selection
in the 1998 Entry Draft to the Chicago Blackhawks for future
considerations.  

The San Jose Sharks traded an eighth-round (223rd overall) selection
in the 1998 Entry Draft to Ottawa for the Senators' eighth-round pick
in the 1999 Entry Draft.  

The Colorado Avalanche traded seventh-round (194th overall),
eighth-round (221st overall) and ninth-round (252nd overall)
selections in the 1998 Entry Draft to Tampa Bay for the Lightning's
sixth-round pick in the 1999 Entry Draft.  

The Colorado Avalanche traded a fifth-round (138th overall)
selection in the 1998 Entry Draft to the Nashville Predators for
future considerations.  

The San Jose Sharks traded a fifth-round (116th overall) selection
in the 1998 Entry Draft to Phoenix for the Coyotes' fifth-round
pick in the 1999 Entry Draft.  

The Washington Capitals traded a second-round (79th overall)
selection in the 1998 Entry Draft to the Colorado Avalanche for two
fourth-round (106th & 107th overall) picks in the 1998 Entry Draft.
 

The Detroit Red Wings traded a second-round (41st overall) selection
in the 1998 Entry Draft to the St. Louis Blues for second-round
(55th overall) and fourth-round (111th overall) picks in the 1998
Entry Draft.  

The Dallas Stars traded a first-round (27th overall) selection in
the 1998 Entry Draft to the New Jersey Devils for two second-round
(39th and 57th overall).  

The Toronto Maple Leafs traded first-round (eighth overall) and
fourth-round (94th overall) selections in the 1998 Entry Draft to
the Chicago Blackhawks for first-round (10th overall), third-round
(69th overall) and fifth-round (126th overall) picks in the 1998
Entry Draft.  

The San Jose Sharks traded first-round (second overall) and
third-round (85th overall) selections in the 1998 Entry Draft to
the Nashville Predators for first-round (third overall) and
second-round (29th overall) picks in the 1998 Entry Draft.  

The Philadelphia Flyers traded Paul Coffey to the Chicago Blackhawks
for a fifth-round (124th overall) selection in the 1998 Entry
Draft.  

The St. Louis Blues traded Darren Turcotte and a future conditional
draft pick to the Nashville Predators for future considerations.
 

The Chicago Blackhawks traded Sergei Krivokrasov to the Nashville
Predators for future considerations.  

The Los Angeles Kings traded Jan Vopat and Kimmo Timonen to the
Nashville Predators for future considerations. 

The San Jose Sharks traded Ville Peltonen to Nashville for the
Predators fifth-round pick in the 1998 Entry Draft. 

The Montreal Canadiens traded Sebastien Bordeleau to the Nashville
Predators for future considerations.  

The Philadelphia Flyers traded Dominic Roussel and Jeff Staples to
Nashville for the Predators seventh-round pick in the 1998 Entry
Draft.  

The Calgary Flames traded Jim Dowd to the Nashville Predators for
future considerations.  

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Complete Entry Draft Results
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following is a complete listing of all the players chosen in the 
1998 Entry Draft:

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

1. Vitaly Vishnevsky, d, Yaroslavl (Russia)
2. Stephen Peat, d, Red Deer (WHL)
4. (from Detroit) Viktor Wallin, N/A, N/A
6. Trent Hunter, rw, Prince George (WHL)
7. Jesse Fibiger, d, Minnesota-Duluth (WCHA)
8. David Bernier, rw, Quebec (QMJHL)
9. Pelle Prestberg, w, Farjestad Karlstad (Sweden) 
9. Andreas Andersson, g, HV 71 (Sweden) 

Boston Bruins

2. Jonathan Girard, d, Laval (QMJHL)
2. (comp. pick) Bobby Allen, d, Boston College, (Hockey East)
3. Peter Nordstrom, N/A
5. Andrew Raycroft, g, Sudbury (OHL)
6. Ryan Milanovic, lw, Kitchener (OHL)

Buffalo Sabres

1. Dimitri Kalinin, d, Chelyabinsk (Russia)
2. (from NY Rangers) Andrew Peters, lw, Oshawa (OHL)
2. Norman Milley, rw, Sudbury (OHL)
2. (from Colorado/San Jose) Jaroslav Kristek, w, Zlin (Czech Rep.)
3. Mike Pandolfo, lw, St. Sebastian's (USHS)
5. Aaron Goldade, c, Brandon (WHL)
6. Ales Kotalik, w, Budejovice (Czech Rep.)
7. Brad Moran, c, WHL (Calgary)
8. David Moravec, w, HC Vitkovice (Czech Rep.) 
9. Edo Terglav, rw, Baie Comeau (QMJHL)

Calgary Flames

1. Rico Fata, c, London (OHL)
2. Blair Betts, c, Prince George (WHL)
3. (from Vancouver/Carolina) Paul Manning, d, Colorado Coll. (WCHA)
4. (from Montreal) Shaun Sutter, c, Lethbridge (WHL)
4. Dany Sabourin, g, Sherbrooke (QMJHL)
5. (from Anaheim) Brent Gauvreau, rw, Oshawa (OHL)
7. (from Boston) Radek Duda, rw, Sparta Praha (Czech Rep.)
8. Jonas Frogren, d, Farjestad Jr (Sweden) 
9. Kevin Mitchell, d, Guelph (OHL)

Carolina Hurricanes

1. Jeff Heerema, rw, Sarnia (OHL)
3. Kevin Holdridge, d, Plymouth (OHL)
3. (from San Jose) Erik Cole, lw, Clarkson (ECAC)
4. (from Anaheim) Josef Vasicek, c, Slava Praha Jr. (Czech Rep.)
4. (from NY Rangers) Tommy Westlund, f, Brynas Gavle (Sweden)
4. Chris Madden, g, Guelph (OHL)
7. Donald Smith, c, Clarkson (ECAC)
8. (from Toronto) Jaroslav Svoboda, w, (Czech Rep.) 
8. Mark Kosick, c, Michigan (WCHA)
9. Brent McDonald, c, Red Deer (WHL)

Chicago Blackhawks

1. (from Toronto) Mark Bell, c-lw, Ottawa (OHL)
4. (from Toronto) Mattias Trattnig, c, Maine (Hockey East)
6. Kent Huskins, d, Clarkson (ECAC)
6. (from San Jose) Jari Viuhkola, c, KARPAT (Finland)
6. (from Washington) Jonathan Pelletier, g, Drummondville (QMJHL)
7. Tyler Arnason, c, Fargo-Moorhead (USHL)
8. Sean Griffin, d, Kingston (OHL)
9. Alexandre Couture, lw, Sherbrooke (QMJHL)
9. (from San Jose) Andrei Yershov, N/A, N/A

Colorado Avalanche

1. (from San Jose) Alex Tanguay, c, Halifax (QMJHL) 
1. Martin Skoula, d, Barrie (OHL)
1. Robyn Regehr, d, Kamloops (WHL)
1. Scott Parker, rw, Kelowna (WHL)
2. (from Tampa Bay) Ramzi Abid, lw, Chicoutimi (QMJHL)
2. (from Chicago) Philippe Sauve, g, Rimouski (QMJHL)
2. (comp. pick) Steve Moore, C, Harvard (ECAC)
3. (from Washington) Evgeny Lazarev, w, N/A
5. (from St. Louis) K.C. Timmons, lw, Tri-City (WHL)
6. Alexander Ryazantsev, d, Spartak (Russia)

Dallas Stars

2. (from Carolina/New Jersey) John Erskine, d, London (OHL)
2. (from New Jersey) Tyler Bouck, rw, Prince George (WHL)
3. Gabriel Karlsson, c, HV-71 Jr. (Sweden)
6. (from New York Rangers) Pavel Patera, w, AIK (Finland)
6. Niko Kapanen, c, Hameenlinna (Finland)
7. Scott Perry, c, Boston University (Hockey East)

Detroit Red Wings

1. Jiri Fischer, d, Hull (QMJHL)
2. Tomek Valtonen, w, Ilves Jr. (Finland)
3. Jake McCracken, g, Sault-Ste. Marie (OHL)
4. (from St. Louis) Brent Hobday, c-lw, Moose Jaw (WHL)
5. Calle Steen, w, Hammarby, (Sweden)
6. (comp. pick) Adam Deleeuw, lw, Barrie (OHL)
6. Pavel Datsyuk, c, N/A, N/A
7. Jeremy Goetzinger, d, Prince Albert (WHL)
8. David Petrasek, d, HV 71, (Sweden) 
9. Petja Pietilainen, lw/c, Saskatoon (WHL)

Edmonton Oilers

1. Michael Henrich, rw, Barrie (OHL)
3. (from Toronto/Tampa Bay) Alex Henry, d, London (OHL)
4. Shawn Horcoff, c, Michigan State (CCHA) 
4. (from New Jersey/Toronto) Kristian Antila, g, Ilves Tampere (Finland)
5. Paul Elliot, d, Medicine Hat (WHL)
5. (from New Jersey) Oleg Smirnov, w, Elektrostal (Russia)
6. Trevor Ettinger, d, Cape Breton (QMJHL)
7. Michael Morrison, g, Exeter (USHS) 
8. Christian Lefebvre, d, N/A, N/A 
9. Maxim Spiridonov, rw, London (OHL)

Florida Panthers

2. Kyle Rossiter, d, Spokane (WHL)
3. Joe DiPenta, d, Boston U. (Hockey East)
3. (from Anaheim/Colorado) Lance Ward, d, Red Deer (WHL)
4. Ryan Jardine, lw, Sault-Ste. Marie (OHL)
5. (from San Jose) Jaroslav Spacek, d, Farjestad Karlstad (Sweden)
6. Chris Ovington, d, Red Deer (WHL)
7. B.J. Ketcheson, d, Peterborough (OHL)
8. Ian Jacobs, rw, Ottawa (OHL)
9. Adrian Wischer, f, N/A, N/A 

Los Angeles Kings

1. Mathieu Biron, d, Shawinigan (QMJHL)
2. Juston Papineau, c, Belleville (OHL)
3. Alexei Volkov, g, Soviet Wings (Russia)
4. Kip Brennan, d, Sudbury (OHL)
5. Joe Rullier, d, Rimouski (QMJHL)
6. Tomas Zizka, d, ZPS Zlin (Czech Rep.)
7. Tommi Hannus, c, TPS Turko (Finland)
8. Jim Henkel, c, New England (US Junior)
9. Matthew Yeats, g, Olds (Tier II) 

Montreal Canadiens

1. Eric Chouinard, c, Quebec (QMJHL)
2. Mike Ribeiro, c, Rouyn-Noranda (QMJHL)
3. Francois Beauchemin, d, Laval (QMJHL)
5. Andrei Bashkirov, N/A, N/A
6. (from Calgary) Gordie Dwyer, lw, Quebec, (QMJHL)
6. Andrei Markov, c-d, Khimik (Russia)
7. Andrei Kruchinin, d, N/A, N/A
8. (from Tampa Bay), Craig Murray, c, Penticton (Tier II) 
8. Michael Ryder, c, Hull (QMJHL)
9. Darcy Harris, rw, Kitchener (OHL)

Nashville Predators

1. (from San Jose/Tampa Bay) David Legwand, c, Plymouth (OHL)
3. Denis Arkhipov, lw, Kazan (Russia)
3. (from San Jose) Geoff Koch, lw, Michigan (CCHA)
4. Kent Sauer, d, North Iowa (USHL)
5. (from Colorado) Martin Beauchesne, d, Sherbrooke (QMJHL)
6. Craig Brunel, rw, Prince Albert (WHL)
8. Martin Bartek, lw, Sherbrooke (QMJHL)
9. Karlis Skrastins, d, TPS Turko (Finland) 

New Jersey Devils

1. Mike Van Ryn, d, Michigan (CCHA)
1. (from Dallas) Scott Gomez, c, Tri-City (WHL)
2. (comp. pick) Christian Berglund, w, Farjestad (Sweden)
3. (from Pittsburgh/Edmonton) Brian Gionta, rw, Boston College (Hockey East)
4. (from Chicago) Mikko Jokela, d, HFK Helsinki (Finland)
4. (from Boston/Los Angeles) Pierre Dagenais, lw, Rouyn Noranda (QMJHL)
5. (from Vancouver) Anton But, w, Yaroslavl (Russia)
5. Ryan Flinn, lw, Laval (QMJHL)
6. Jacques Lariviere, lw, Moncton (QMJHL)
7. Erik Jensen, rw-lw, Des Moines (USHL)
8. Marko Ahosilta, c, Kalpa Kuopio (Finland) 
9. Ryan Held, c, Kitchener (OHL)

New York Islanders

1. Michael Rupp, lw, Erie (OHL)
2. Chris Nielson, c, Calgary (WHL)
4. Andy Burnham, rw, Windsor (OHL)
5. (from Toronto) Jiri Dopita, c, Petra Vsetin (Czech Rep.)
6. Kevin Clauson, d, Western Michigan (CCHA)
7. Evgeny Korolev, d, London (OHL)
8. Frederik Brind'Amour, g, Sherbrooke (QMJHL)
9. Ben Blais, d, Walpole (US Juniors) 
9. (from Phoenix) Jason Doyle, rw, Owen Sound (OHL)
9. (from Boston) Radek Matejovsky, w, Slavia Praha (Czech Rep.)

New York Rangers

1. Manny Malhotra, c, Guelph (OHL)
2. (comp. pick) Randy Copley, rw, Cape Breton (QMJHL)
3. Jason Labarbera, g, Portland (WHL)
4. (from Dallas) Boyd Kane, lw, Regina (WHL)
5. Patrick Leahy, rw, Miami U. (CCHA)
5. Tomas Kloucek, d, Slava Praha Jr. (Czech Rep.)
7. Stefan Lundqvist, N/A, N/A
8. Johan Witehall, N/A, N/A 
9. Jan Mertzig, d, Lulea (Sweden) 

Ottawa Senators

1. Mathieu Chouinard, g, Shawinigan (QMJHL)
2. Mike Fisher, c, Sudbury (OHL)
2. (from Dallas/Philadelphia) Chris Bala, lw, Harvard (ECAC)
3. Julien Vauclair, d, Lugano (Switzerland)
4. Petr Schastlivy, N/A, N/A
5. Gavin McLeod, d, Kelowna (WHL)
6. (from Chicago) Christopher Neil, rw, North Bay (OHL)
7. Michel Periard, d, Shawnigan (QMJHL)
8. (from San Jose), Sergey Verenkin, N/A, N/A 
9. Rastislav Pavlikovsky, c, Dukla Jihlava Jr. (Slovakia)

Philadelphia Flyers

1. Simon Gagne, c, Quebec (QMJHL)
2. (from Edmonton) Jason Beckett, d, Seattle (WHL)
2. Ian Forbes, d, Guelph (OHL)
4. J.P. Morin, d, Drummondville (QMJHL)
5. (from NY Islanders/Chicago) Francis Belanger, lw, Rimouski (QMJHL)
5. (from Vancouver) Garrett Prosofsky, c, Saskatoon (WHL)
6. Antero Nittymaki, g, TPS Turko (Finland)
7. (from Nashville) Cam Ondrik, g, Medicine Hat (WHL)
7. Tomas Divisek, w, Slavia Praha Jr. (Czech Rep.)
8. Lubomir Pistek, rw, Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia)
9. Petr Hubacek, N/A, N/A 
9. Bruno St. Jacques, N/A, N/A 
9. (from Dallas) Sergei Skrobat, d, N/A, N/A 

Phoenix Coyotes

1. Patrick Desrochers, g, Sarnia (OHL)
2. Ossi Vaananen, d, Jokerit Jr., (Finland)
3. Pat O'Leary, c, Armstrong (USHS)
4. Ryan Vanbuskirk, d, Sarnia (OHL)
5. (from Tampa Bay) Jay Leach, d, Providence (Hockey East)
5. (from Nashville/San Jose) Josh Blackburn, g, Lincoln (Jr. A)
5. Robert Schnabel, d, Red Deer (WHL)
6. Rickard Wallin, c, Farjestad (Sweden)
7. Erik Westrum, c, Minnesota (WCHA)
8. Justin Hansen, rw, Moose Jaw (WHL)

Pittsburgh Penguins

1. Milan Kraft, c, Plzen (Czech Republic)
2. Alexander Zevakhin, w, CSKA 2 (Russia)
3. (from Colorado) David Cameron, c, Prince Albert (WHL)
4. Scott Myers, g, Prince George (WHL)
5. (from Buffalo) Robert Scuderi, d, Boston Coll. (Hockey East)
6. Jan Fadrny, c, Slavia Praha Jr. (Czech Rep.)
7. Joel Scherban, c, London (OHL)
8. Mika Lehto, g, Assat Jr. (Finland) 
9. Toby Petersen, c, Colorado (WCHA) 
9. Matt Hussey, c, Avon Old Farms (USHS)

St. Louis Blues

1. Christian Backman, d, Frolunda (Sweden)
2. (from San Jose/Detroit) Maxim Linnik, d, St. Thomas (Jr. B)
2. Ryan Barnes, lw, Sudbury (OHL)
3. Matt Walker, d, Portland (WHL)
6. (from Carolina) Brad Voth, d, Medicine Hat (WHL)
6. Andrei Trochinsky, c, N/A, N/A
7. Brad Twordik, c, Brandon (WHL)
8. Yevgeny Pastukh, N/A, N/A
9. John Pohl, c, Red Wing (USHS)

San Jose Sharks

1. (from Nashville) Brad Stuart, d, Regina (WHL)
2. (from Nashville) Jonathan Cheechoo, rw, Belleville (OHL)
3. (comp. pick) Eric Laplante, lw, Halifax (QMJHL)
4. Rob Davison, d, North Bay (OHL)
4. (from Buffalo) Miroslav Zalesak, rw, HC Nitra (Slovakia)
5. Brandon Coalter, lw, Oshawa (OHL)
5. (from Dallas) Mikael Samuelsson, f, Sodertalje (Sweden)
7. Robert Mulick, d, Sault-Ste. Marie (OHL)
8. Jim Fahey, d, Catholic Memorial (USHS)

Tampa Bay Lightning

1. Vincent Lecavalier, c, Rimouski (QMJHL)
3. (from Florida) Brad Richards, lw, Rimouski (QMJHL)
3. (from Edmonton) Dimitry Afanasenkov, w, Yaroslavl 2 (Russia)
4. (from Calgary) Eric Beaudoin, lw, Guelph (OHL)
5. (from Calgary) Curtis Rich, d, Calgary (WHL)
6. Sergei Kuznetsov, c, Yaroslavl 2 (Russia)
7. Brett Allan, c-lw, Swift Current (WHL)
7. (from Colorado) Oak Hewer, c, Sault-Ste-Marie (OHL)
8. (from Colorado) Daniel Hulak, d, Swift Current (WHL) 
9. Chris Lyness, d, Rouyn Noranda (QMJHL)
9. (from Colorado) Martin Cibak, c, HK32 Liptov Mikulas (Slovakia)

Toronto Maple Leafs

1. Nikolai Antropov, c, Ust-Kamenog (Kazakhstan)
2. Petr Svoboda, d, Havl Brod, (Czech Rep.)
3. (from Chicago) Jamie Hodson, g, Brandon (WHL)
4. (from Tampa Bay/Detroit) Alexei Ponkardovsky, w, Dynamo 2 (Russia)
5. (from Chicago) Morgan Warren, rw, Moncton (QMJHL)
6. Allan Rourke, d, Kitchener (OHL)
7. Jonathan Gagnon, c, Cape Breton (QMJHL)
8. (from Ottawa) Dwight Wolfe, d, Halifax (QMJHL)
8. (from Dallas) Mihail Travnicek, w, Litvinov Jr. (Czech Rep.) 
9. Sergei Rostov, d, N/A, N/A 

Vancouver Canucks

1. Bryan Allen, d, Oshawa (OHL)
2. Artem Chubarov, c, Dynamo (Russia)
3. (from NY Islanders) Jakko Ruutu, lw, HFK Helsinki (Finland)
3. (from Philadelphia) Justin Morrison, rw, Colorado College (WCHA)
4. Regan Darby, d, Tri-City (WHL)
5. (from Washington) David Jonsson, d, Leksand (Sweden)
5. (from Pittsburgh) Rick Bertran, d, Kitchener (OHL)
6. Paul Cabana, N/A, Fort McMurray (Tier II)
7. Vincent Malts, rw, Hull (QMJHL)
8. Craig Mischler, c, Northeastern (ECAC) 
9. Jason Metcalfe, d, London (OHL)

Washington Capitals

2. Jomar Cruz, g, Brandon (WHL)
3. (from Tampa Bay) Todd Hornung, c, Portland (WHL)
4. (from Colorado) Krys Barch, lw, London (OHL)
4. (from Colorado) Chris Corrinet, rw, Princeton (ECAC)
5. Mike Siklenka, d, Lloydminster (Tier II)
5. (from Chicago) Erik Wendell, c-lw, Maple Grove (USHS)
7. (from Calgary) Nathan Foster, d, Seattle (WHL)
7. Washington -- Rastislav Stana, g, HC Kosice (Czech Rep.)
8. Michael Farrell, d, Providence (ECAC) 
9. Blake Evans, c, Tri-City (WHL)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Entry Draft Notes
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Meredith Martini

The entire Central Scouting Bureau must be feeling like Maytag repairmen - 
based on the results, none of the teams paid any attention whatsoever to all 
the work the CSB did. After the first four picks, nothing matched up as top 
ten rated players barely stayed in the first round and second round ratees 
went in the seventh and eighth rounds. If you see any people in Toronto out 
on a ledge this week, they probably scout for CSB.

The big thing to watch in the 1998 Entry Draft was supposed to be the 
re-entries - players drafted in 1996 who didn't come to terms with the team 
that drafted them, or 1997 draftees who never received a basic contract 
offer. The list of re-entering players included four of the Devils' first 
five 1996 draft picks, including first rounder Lance Ward, and a whole host 
of second, third and fourth round picks, most of whom remain genuine 
prospects. As it turned out, eight of these players were re-drafted, two by 
the same team which drafted them in the first place. Ward dropped to the 
third round and the Florida Panthers, while New Jersey's 1996 third-rounder 
Scott Parker went up to the first round and the Colorado Avalanche. The 
Devils re-drafted second-rounder Pierre Dagenais in the fourth round. 
Montreal took former St. Louis third-rounder Gordie Dwyer in the sixth 
round, while Phoenix took 1997 Islanders third round pick Robert Schnabel in 
the fifth round. The Islanders failed to sign eighth rounder Evgeny Korolev 
the first time through, so they drafted him again a little higher, in the 
seventh. Last but not least, in the ninth round the Islanders also took 
former Boston third round pick Jason Doyle and the Rangers took former 
Penguins third rounder Boyd Kane. The rest? Look for them on the free agent 
market, where they could become hot commodities. 

Have to wonder if New Jersey will sign their 1998 first rounder, Scott Gomez. 
Gomez has a reputation as a free spirit and sure enough, he is. At least, 
after posing for a photograph, Gomez then requested I open packets of mustard 
for him. Gomez may have a little too much personality for the Devils 
organization.

Also bringing personality to the party is top-rated European goaltender Alexei 
Volkov, selected by the Kings in the third round. Volkov, who speaks and 
writes no English, spent the rest of the day actively seeking people who 
wanted his autograph because he wanted to show off the first thing he had 
learned to write in English - "LOS ANGELES!" Guess we shouldn't tell him 
that's Spanish.

Nashville Predators' fifth rounder Martin Beauchesne also does not speak 
English, but fortunately brought his girlfriend along to translate. 
Fortunately because Beauchesne was the first Nashville pick I found in the 
stands and I had hoped he would model the new franchise's jersey for the 
camera, but he didn't understand the request until she explained it to him. 
She also advised me he was a good choice for the photo, because "he has a 
really good body." Too much information there.

Family was one of the words of the day, as quite a few prospects had a family 
history in the NHL. Colorado second-rounder Phillippe Sauve is the son of 
former Sabre Bob Sauve, who also happens to be Vincent Lecavalier's agent. 
Small conflict of interest. Also a conflict of interest and there is yet 
another Sutter in the building, as Calgary obliged coach Brian Sutter and 
drafted his son, Shaun. Montreal first-rounder Eric Chouinard is the son of 
former Flame Guy Chouinard, and a cousin of Anaheim prospect Marc, whom Eric 
says is recovering well from a severed Achilles tendon. For the second year 
in a row, a Hershey Bear was in attendance to see his brother selected - this 
time it was Nic Beaudoin to see Eric chosen by Tampa Bay. Mike Pandolfo, 
selected by Buffalo, is a dead ringer for older brother Jay, who saw time 
with the Devils last year. Buffalo also chose Andrew Peters, younger brother 
of Blackhawks prospect Geoff. And of course, there were the Birons - Buffalo 
prospect Martin was dwarfed by 'little' brother Mathieu, a first round pick 
of the Kings. In fact, all of the 'little' brothers were considerably larger 
than their 'big' brothers, usually by at least four inches. Hmm.

The 1997 Entry Draft in Pittsburgh seemed to go on interminably, largely due 
to the perpetual stalling of host Penguins and the Rangers. Well, the 
Penguins made up their minds this time around but the Rangers once again 
drew several time warnings. So did Toronto. And in Pittsburgh, the draft 
lasted eight hours; this time it lasted ten hours and by the eighth round, I 
was sort of asleep. Some people in the stands were literally asleep. And the 
Avalanche were out partying, having finished their jobs in the sixth round. 
Lucky guys. But seriously, it's time to enforce the time restrictions.

The busiest spot in the Marine Midland Arena other than the podium was the 
ice cream stand. The MMA may have moved more ice cream than soda. They also 
get credit for giving me a refund - rather unexpectedly from my standpoint - 
when the cone just given to me met my white shirt. Anyone know how to get 
chocolate custard out of clothing? So far I haven't. Anyone know what this 
custard stuff is, other than very good and very fattening?

Unlike Pittsburgh, this draft was not amenable to people seeking autographs,
photographs, or hoping to meet their team's draft picks. The picks weren't 
sent to any central location in the building for photos and interviews, and 
were plunked back into the stands willy nilly, making it impossible to keep 
track of them (or the draft itself, for that matter.) So, puhLEEZE patronize 
the forthcoming photo gallery - I logged at least ten miles inside the 
building to get them. And I still didn't find all of MY team's players - 
and considering the Capitals didn't have too many picks to start with, 
that's not good.

For the longest time it seemed no matter where I went in the building, I kept 
running into the same two prospects and their buddies, all from Clarkson 
University. Half the time they were standing in front of me, so after a bit I 
gave up trying to see anything from that half of the arena and moved. Both 
players were drafted within minutes of my leaving, as Kent Huskins was 
selected by the Blackhawks in the sixth round and Donald Smith by the 
Hurricanes in the seventh. See guys, it was me the whole time. 

Many of the players on the gold medal winning Czech Republic Olympic team 
are not currently playing in the NHL, and many of them were subject to the 
draft. The only one taken, however, was defenseman Jiri Dopita, picked up by 
the Islanders in the fifth round. Dopita was one of the best players in the 
Olympics, but has expressed little interest in leaving his home country for 
the NHL.

Did anyone at the draft manage to be in more places at more times signing 
more autographs than Gilbert Perrault?

As long as we're questioning things...why was Adam Graves there?

Vincent Lecavalier may have been the big name of the draft, but getting 
people to pronounce it, well, that was something else. Lecavalier spent some 
three minutes repeating his name over and over for one mentally downsized TV 
reporter before giving up in frustration and letting the guy mangle it.

The Ontario town of Moose Factory, which has no roads or rinks, also has 
fewer than 500 people living in it. About 100 of them showed up in Buffalo. 
Heck, some of them showed up at the official LCS host hotel in beautiful 
downtown Blasdell, New York. The town came to cheer on favorite son Jonathan
Cheechoo, who was taken in the second round by San Jose, and found themselves
rounded up by television crews into one section to be filmed and interviewed.

Andrei Bashkirov excelled two seasons ago with the ECHL's Huntington 
Blizzard and the IHL's Las Vegas Thunder, but wasn't drafted in Pittsburgh. 
As a European player, the 28-year-old Bashkirov couldn't play in the NHL 
until he was drafted. However, another fine season with the IHL's Fort Wayne 
Komets did the trick as Montreal drafted him in the fifth round this time.

Not all players are picked, and sadly some players sat in the stands for 
nearly 11 hours but were never chosen. Some left in disgust earlier; others 
stayed hoping until the bitter end. First rounders Dmitri Kalinin and 
Christian Backman both stayed through the eighth round waiting for their 
friends to be chosen; finally, they were. Slovak Roman Talias waited out the 
entire draft without hearing his name; his countryman Miroslav Zalesak, 
picked in the fourth round by San Jose waited it out with him. Regina's Dean 
Arsene arrived in Buffalo on Friday rated in the middle rounds and fully 
pumped for a battery of interviews with scouts; by the eighth round he was 
slumped in his seat and silent. He was never picked.

             
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Expansion Drat Review
-----------------------------------------------------------------
by John Alsedek

Remember back to those halcyon days of yore, otherwise known as
the Sixties? It was in 1967 that the National Hockey League
decided to double the number of teams, from six (as in 'The
Original') to 12. Ah, I remember those days well: I had just
gotten that potty-training thing figured out (well, mostly...).
It was a different league back then.  The NHL was so deep in
talent that the expansion St. Louis Blues, in their very first
year of existence, made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.
Of course, the rules were set up so that one of the expansion
teams was guaranteed a spot in the Final, but I digress. Anyway,
my point is that expansion back then wasn't such a bad thing,
because there were plenty of good players to fill out those new
rosters. 
     
Now fast forward 31 years to the present. We're going through
another expansion phase, this time from 26 to 30 teams, and the
game's nothing like it was back in the (recent) old days. It's
kind of like comparing 'Webster' to 'Diff'rent Strokes'. Both
shows featured cute little African-American kids adopted by white
guys, but that's where the comparison ended. 'Webster' didn't
have any millionaires, no "What you talkin' bout, Willis?", no
housekeeper who ended up with her own show. All it had was way
too much of the annoyingly sweet Emmanuel Lewis and the
acting-challenged Alex Karras. And that's expansion in the
Nineties: Emmanuel Lewis.

Of course, it isn't just that the talent level has been diluted,
though it unquestionably has. Don't believe it? Then ask yourself
this: would stiffs like Francois Leroux and Michel Petit have had
a place in, say, the Maple Leaf Gardens of the Sixties? Actually,
they probably would have, though it would have involved a tray
and repeated cries of "Pretzels! Get yer hot pretzels here!"  No,
it isn't just that - it's that the whole expansion system sucks.
As it stands now, each existing club can protect a combination of
five defensemen, nine forwards, and one goalie; or three
defensemen, seven forwards, and two goalies (plus one additional
skater in either case). This may not look so bad at first blush,
but take into account that first and second-year players are
automatically exempt, as are most unsigned North American
prospects. Then take into account that any unrestricted free
agents that are left exposed can leave as of July 1st. Then take
into account the 48-hour trading window immediately after the
playoffs that allows teams to deal off most any worthwhile player
that they can't protect. The result is a whole new definition of
the word 'suck'.

The Washington Capitals are a perfect example. Here's a team that
made it to the Stanley Cup Final on its goaltending and team
depth. However, GM George McPhee has done a real wizard job of
covering his butt (such as dealing former Conn Smythe winner Bill
Ranford for two draft picks, rather than lose him for sure to
Nashville). You can't blame McPhee - that's part of his job.
However, when the Expansion Draft came along, the Predators
essentially had a choice of Dale Hunter (unrestricted as of July
1st), Phil Housley (big salary, little results, no defense), Pat
Peake (talented, hardworking injury magnet who's hardly played in
two seasons), ad nauseam. The Predators ultimately decided to
take Andrew Brunette, a winger who has scored tons at the
minor-league level, but who only has two skating speeds - stop
and reverse. And Nashville GM David Poile had to go through this
26 times to pick a team. Like him or not, you have to feel sorry
for the man.

To his credit, Poile actually did a pretty decent job at the
Expansion Draft. He stayed away from
'talented-but-pain-in-the-butt' types like Edmonton's Andrei
Kovalenko and Tampa Bay's Jason Bonsignore, opting instead for
perennial minor-leaguers such as Paul Brousseau and Craig Darby.
By doing this, he sent a message: that hard work and a good
attitude are more important to him than mere skill, tapped or
untapped. While it remains to be seen whether this strategy will
lead to a team that can score any goals, I give him credit for
trying, at any rate. 

Anyway, the Nashville Predators, as they've shaped up over the
past week, really aren't much worse than Florida or the Rangers
or half the teams in the NHL. They've got a solid goaltending
tandem in Mike Dunham and Mikhail Shtalenkov. They moved up in
the Entry Draft to get center David Legwand. They've expressed a
willingness to pursue some big-ticket free agents. And then there
are the behind-the-scenes moves that Poile made in conjunction
with the Expansion Draft. For not taking Masterson winner Jamie
McLennan (from St. Louis) and respected backup Chris Terreri
(from Chicago), Poile acquired Darren Turcotte and Sergei
Krivokrasov. Neither one's likely to be mistaken for Mario
Lemieux, but both are guys who can score goals when the stars are
right. 

And as for his somewhat questionable selections of goaltenders
Tomas Vokoun (from Montreal) and Frederic Chabot (from L.A.),
they turned out to be reasonably smart moves. The Habs and Kings
now don't have to concern themselves with losing any of their
young netminders in next year's Expansion Draft, and Nashville
picked up a couple of promising young players in Sebastien
Bordeleau, Jan Vopat, and Kimmo Timonen. Of course you could
argue that Poile should have been able to get more out of those
teams for selecting a career minor-leaguer (Chabot) and a
soon-to-be career minor leaguer (Vokoun) with his precious goalie
picks. Still, he did okay. 

And, really, that just emphasizes my point. For Poile to come up
with any kind of decent players, he had to resort to this sort of
back-door stuff. If more players and prospects were available for
him to choose from, it wouldn't be necessary. Unfortunately,
that's not likely to happen anytime soon. These rules are voted
upon by the NHL Board of Governors, which consists of - yes -
general managers who don't want to give up any of their best
players. So the odds of them voting to give the Thrashers,
Bluejackets, and Wild better players to choose from are about as
good as the odds of Ron Hextall winning the Vezina next season.
     
Will the Predators finish dead last in 1998-99? Probably not, not
as long as Tampa Bay thinks that Craig Janney is the solution to
their problems, unless one of them is that morale in the locker
room has been too high and they need someone to lower it. They'll
probably finish a little bit below the middle of the pack, and
stay there until kids like Legwand are ready to contribute. They
should be just good enough to keep the fans interested for long
enough to convince Gary Bettman that it's time to expand to 34
teams. 
     
And that sucks.   

NASHVILLE EXPANSION PICKS

Chris Armstrong, d, Florida 
Blair Atcheynum, rw, St. Louis 
Joel Bouchard, d, Calgary 
Bob Boughner, d, Buffalo 
Paul Brousseau, rw, Tampa Bay 
Doug Brown, rw, Detroit 
Andrew Brunette, lw, Washington 
Frederic Chabot, g, Los Angeles 
Patrick Cote, lw, Dallas 
J.J. Daigneault, d, Islanders 
Jeff Daniels, lw, Carolina 
Craig Darby, c, Philadelphia 
Mike Dunham, g, New Jersey 
Doug Friedman, c, Edmonton 
Tony Hrkac, c, Pittsburgh 
Al Iafrate, d, San Jose 
Greg Johnson, c, Chicago 
Uwe Krupp, d, Colorado 
Denny Lambert, lw, Ottawa 
Mike Richter, g, Rangers 
Mikhail Shtalenkov, g, Anaheim 
John Slaney, d, Phoenix 
Mike Sullivan, c, Boston 
Tomas Vokoun, g, Montreal 
Scott Walker, c, Vancouver 
Rob Zettler, d, Toronto


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chimp Bytes: General NHL News and Notes
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
by Zippy

NHL FREE AGENT LIST

NEW YORK (AP) Team-by-team list of players who became NHL free
agents Wednesday, as released by the league: 

ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS 

Drew Bannister (II); Espen Knutsen (II); Peter Leboutillier (II); Eric Lecompte
(II); Jim McKenzie (II); Steve Rucchin (II); Dan Trebil (II); Nikolai Tsulygin (II);
Brent Severyn (III); Scott Young (V-II); Shawn Antoski (un); Richard Park
(un); Kevin Todd-x (un) 

BOSTON BRUINS 

Jason Allison (II); Anson Carter (II); Ted Donato (II); Aaron Downey (II); Steve
Heinze (II); Dimitri Khristich (II); Kyle McLaren (II); Robbie Tallas (II); Tim
Taylor (II); Landon Wilson (II); P-C Drouin (un); Dean Malkoc (un); Milt
Mastad (un); Bill McCauley (un); Anders Myrvold (un); Kirk Nielsen (un);
Charles Paquette (un); Jon Rohloff (un); Andre Roy (un); Andrei Yakhanov
(un) 

BUFFALO SABRES 

Donald Audette (II); Brian Holzinger (II); Paul Kruse (II); Rumun Ndur (II);
Scott Nichol (II); Geoff Sanderson (II); Miroslav Satan (II); Mike Wilson (II);
Alexei Zhitnik (II); Kay Whitmore (III); Rob Ray (Elected V); Sergei
Klimentiev (un); Shayne Wright (un) 

CALGARY FLAMES 

Jamie Allison (II); Andrew Cassels (II); Eric Charron (II); Patrik Haltia (II);
Ladislav Kohn (II); Jesper Mattsson (II); Marty McInnis (II); Marty Murray (II);
Michael Nylander (II); Chris O'Sullivan (II); Dave Roche (II); Todd Simpson
(II); Cory Stillman (II); James Patrick (III); Mike Peluso (III); Ron Stern (III);
Kevin Dahl (un); Valeri Karpov (un); Keith McCambridge (un); Burke Murphy
(un); Dwayne Roloson (un) 

CAROLINA HURRICANES 

Steven Halko (II); Nolan Pratt (II); Kevin Brown (un); Jason McBain (un);
Brian Secord (un); Tripp Tracy (un) 

CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS 

Eric Daze (II); Brian Felsner (II); Chad Kilger (II); Andrei Kozyrev (II); Marc
Lamothe (II); David Ling (II); Ethan Moreau (II); Alain Nasreddine (II); Cam
Russell (II); Jeff Shantz (II); Andrei Trefilov (II); Petri Varis (II) 

COLORADO AVALANCHE 

Rene Corbet (II); Shean Donovan (II); Christian Matte (II); Eric Messier (II);
Sandis Ozolinsh (II); Pascal Trepanier (II); Stephane Yelle (II); Craig
Billington (III); Jari Kurri (III); T. Fitzgerald (Elected V); Francois Leroux (un) 

DALLAS STARS 

Sergey Gusev (II); J. Langenbrunner (II); Jeffrey Mitchell (II); Darryl Sydor (II);
Roman Turek (II); Greg Adams (III); Guy Carbonneau (III); Peter Douris (III);
Benoit Hogue (III); Craig Ludwig (III); Craig Muni (III); Mike Kennedy (un);
Kevin Sawyer (un); Chris Tancill (un); Jordan Willis (un) 

DETROIT RED WINGS 

Ryan Bach (II); Mathieu Dandenault (II); Tomas Holmstrom (II); Viacheslav
Fetisov (III); Dmitri Mironov (III); Bob Rouse (III); Sylvain Cloutier (un); Per
Eklund (un); Brandon Smith (un) 

EDMONTON OILERS 

Ladislav Benysek (II); Dennis Bonvie (II); Eric Fichaud (II); Joe Hulbig (II);
Todd Marchant (II); Dean McAmmond (II); Barrie Moore (II); Ryan Smyth (II);
Doug Weight (II); Valeri Zelepukin (II); Alexander Zhurik (II); Bob Essensa
(III); Curtis Joseph (III); Kevin Lowe (III); Frantisek Musil (III); Kevin Paden
(un); Colin Schmidt (un) 

FLORIDA PANTHERS 

Chad Cabana (II); Radek Dvorak (II); Viktor Kozlov (II); Todd MacDonald (II);
Steve Washburn (II); Kevin Weekes (II); Chris Wells (II); Ray Whitney (II);
John Vanbiesbrouck (III); A. Buckberger (un); Trevor Doyle (un); Dallas
Eakins-x (un); Wes Swinson (un) 

LOS ANGELES KINGS 

Aki Berg (II); Rob Blake (II); Philippe Boucher (II); Craig Johnson (II); Matt
Johnson (II); Nathan Lafayette (II); Steve McKenna (II); Jaroslav Modry (II);
Sean O'Donnell (II); Vitali Yachmenev (II); Ruslan Batyrshin (un); Brad
Guzda (un); Jeff Shevalier (un) 

MONTREAL CANADIENS 

Patrice Brisebois (II); Brad Brown (II); Vincent Damphousse (II); Martin
Gendron (II); Saku Koivu (II); Vladimir Malakhov (II); Martin Rucinsky (II);
Brian Savage (II); Turner Stevenson (II); Scott Thornton (II); Marc Bureau (III);
Mick Vukota (III); Trent Cavicchi (un); Earl Cronan (un); Dion Darling (un);
Zarley Zalapski (un) 

NASHVILLE PREDATORS 

Sebastien Bordeleau (II); Andrew Brunette (II); Patrick Cote (II); S.
Krivokrasov (II); Dominic Roussel (II); Jeffrey Staples (II); Al Iafrate (III); Uwe
Krupp (III); Mike Richter (III) 

NEW JERSEY DEVILS 

Jason Arnott (II); Eric Bertrand (II); Steve Brule (II); Bobby Holik (II); Sasha
Lakovic (II); John Madden (II); Bryan Muir (II); Scott Niedermayer (II); Denis
Pederson (II); Vadim Sharifijanov (II); Petr Sykora (II); Dody Wood (II); Doug
Gilmour (III); Peter Sidorkiewicz (III); Steve Thomas (III) 

NEW YORK ISLANDERS 

Ken Belanger (II); Jason Dawe (II); Kenny Jonsson (II); Trevor Linden (II); Kip
Miller (II); Zigmund Palffy (II); Joe Sacco (II); Dan Plante (un); Dennis Vaske
(un) 

NEW YORK RANGERS 

Eric Cairns (II); Maxim Galanov (II); Todd Harvey (II); Johan Lindbom (II);
Peter Popovic (II); Lee Sorochan (II); Robb Stauber (II); Ronnie Sundin (II);
Vladimir Vorobiev (II); Harry York (II); Shane Churla (III); Bruce Driver (III);
Doug Lidster (III); Tim Sweeney (III); Pierre Sevigny (un) 

OTTAWA SENATORS 

Radim Bicanek (II); Frederic Cassivi (II); Phil Crowe (II); Andreas Dackell (II);
Justin Hocking (II); Shawn McEachern (II); Chris Murray (II); Stan Neckar (II);
Mike Prokopec (II); Vaclav Prospal (II); Randy Cunneyworth (III); Derek
Armstrong (un); Pat Falloon (un); Per Gustafsson (un); Dennis Vial (un);
Sergei Zholtok (un) 

PHILADELPHIA FLYERS 

Rod Brind'Amour (II); Paul Healey (II); Trent Klatt (II); Daniel Lacroix (II); Jeff
Lank (II); Dave MacIsaac (II); Mike Maneluk (II); Sean Burke (III); Joel Otto
(III); Kjell Samuelsson (III); Brett Bruininks (un); Brantt Myhres (un); Travis
Van Tighem (un) 

PHOENIX COYOTES 

Keith Carney (II); Bob Corkum (II); Louie Debrusk (II); Shane Doan (II);
Dallas Drake (II); Sean Gagnon (II); Scott Langkow (II); Deron Quint (II);
Murray Baron (III); Mike Gartner (III); Jim Johnson (III); Norm Maciver (III);
Michel Petit (III); Darcy Wakaluk (III); Alexei Budayev (un); Mark Janssens-x
(un); Darin Kimble-x (un); Scott Levins (un); Darrin Shannon (un); Jimmy
Waite-x (un) 

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS 

Stu Barnes (II); Stefan Bergqvist (II); Brian Bonin (II); Robert Lang (II); Sean
Pronger (II); Brad Werenka (II); Tyler Wright (II); Ron Francis (III); Fredrik
Olausson (III); Ed Olczyk (III); Rob Brown (V-II); Serge Aubin (un); Joe
Dziedzic (un); Alex Hicks (un); Andreas Johansson (un); Alexei Krivchenkov
(un); Domenic Pittis (un); Alek Stojanov (un); Garry Valk (un) 

ST. LOUIS BLUES 

Jim Campbell (II); Rory Fitzpatrick (II); Bob Lachance (II); Rich Parent (II);
Scott Pellerin (II); Jamie Rivers (II); Shayne Toporowski (II); Pierre Turgeon
(II); Libor Zabransky (II); Geoff Courtnall (III); Steve Duchesne (III); Brett Hull
(III); Alexander Godynyuk (un); Nicholas Naumenko (un); Robert Petrovicky
(un); Konstantin Shafranov (un) 

SAN JOSE SHARKS 

Jeff Friesen (II); Steve Guolla (II); Shawn Heins (II); Bryan Marchment (II);
Owen Nolan (II); Fredrik Oduya (II); M. Ragnarsson (II); Mike Rathje (II);
Mike Ricci (II); Steve Shields (II); Alexei Yegorov (II); Murray Craven (III);
Kelly Hrudey (III); Dave Lowry (III); John MacLean (III); Marty McSorley (III);
Bernie Nicholls (III); Niclas Andersson (un); Jason Widmer (un) 

TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING 

Mark Fitzpatrick (II); Corey Schwab (II); Ryan Brown (un); Jody Hull-x (un);
Troy Mallette (un); David Matsos (un); Mathieu Raby (un); Yves Racine (un);
Vladimir Vujtek (un) 

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS 

David Cooper (II); Darby Hendrickson (II); Mike Johnson (II); Igor Korolev (II);
Scott Pearson (II); Martin Prochazka (II); Mathieu Schneider (II); Steve
Sullivan (II); Todd Warriner (II); Wendel Clark (III); Nick Kypreos (III); Shawn
Carter (un); Matt Martin (un); Zdenek Nedved (un) 

VANCOUVER CANUCKS 

Adrian Aucoin (II); Larry Courville (II); Corey Hirsch (II); Brad May (II); Chris
McAllister (II); Bryan McCabe (II); Markus Naslund (II); Garth Snow (II);
Steve Staios (II); Jason Strudwick (II); Mark Wotton (II); Arturs Irbe (III); Jyrki
Lumme (III); Brian Noonan (III); Tyson Nash (un) 

WASHINGTON CAPITALS 

Patrick Boileau (II); Sergei Gonchar (II); Joe Juneau (II); Stewart Malgunas
(II); Brian Mulhern (II); Andrei Nikolishin (II); Jeff Toms (II); Brian Bellows (III);
Jeff Brown (III); Dale Hunter (III); Todd Krygier (III); Esa Tikkanen (III);
Stephane Beauregard (V-II); Jan Benda (un); Kevin Kaminski (un); Pat
Peake (un) 

(II)-Players who have been tendered a qualifying offer by their respective
clubs and are subject to draft choice compensation and right to match. 

(III)-Players who have qualified for Group III Free Agency are age 31 or older
with at least four years of NHL experience. They are unrestricted. 

(V-II)-Players, who have completed 10 pro seasons or more (NHL or Minors,
excluding Junior hockey), and in the 1997-98 season earned less than the
League average salary and received a timely qualifying offer. These players
have the right to, once in their careers, elect to become unrestricted free
agents. Should one of these players not elect to become an unrestricted
free agent he shall remain subject to draft choice compensation and right to
match as applies to Group II Free Agents since his prior club has tendered
him a qualifying offer. The players have until July 15 to elect Group V status.

Elected V-Players, who have completed 10 pro seasons or more (NHL or
Minors, excluding Junior hockey), and in the 1997-98 season earned less
than the League average salary and received a timely qualifying offer. These
players have chosen to exercise their one time right to elect to become an
unrestricted free agent. 

(un)-Players who were not tendered a qualifying offer and are unrestricted
free agents not subject to right of first refusal and compensation. 

x-Players eligible to elect Group V Free Agency who did not receive a
qualifying offer. 


FREE AGENT SIGNINGS


Player               New Team          Old Team       Terms
Jayson More, d          Nashville         Chicago        -
Gary Suter, d           San Jose          Chicago        3 years, $10 million
Sean Hill, d            Carolina          -              -

Board Of Governors Approves NHL Rules Changes

The National Hockey League Board of Governors, acting on
recommendations by NHL general managers, approved a series of
rules changes aimed at adding offense to the game. 

* The goal line will be positioned 13 feet from the end boards. 
* As a results of the goal line change, the neutral zone will 
reduced to 54 feet. 
* Two feet will be removed from the sides of the goal crease. This 
change should really help cut down on lame goal crease calls. 
* Video judges can call down to on-ice officals to inform them about 
goal crease violations. 
* A two-referee system will be phased in next season. This change requires 
approval from the NHL Officals' Association.
* Icing will be waived off when the goaltender leaves his crease but doesn't 
play the puck.
* Suspensions will be handed out for "any deliberate action by a player 
with his stick or elbow that results in an injury to the head of an opponent."
* During the preseason, the NHL will experiment with the elimation of the 
red line for two-line passes.
* The NHL will also continue to crack down on illegal goalie equipment.

In addition to the rule changes, the board also announced the creation of the 
Richard Trophy (named after Montreal legend Maurice Richard).  The trophy will 
be given to the leading goal scorer during the NHL regular season. 

Sabres Director Of Scouting Jack Bowman Dead at 61

Jack Bowman, the Buffalo Sabres director of scouting, died 
in London, Ontario after a brief illness. He was 61. 

 Bowman was a member of the Buffalo organization since 1980,
 coordinating all scouting assignments and playing a critical role in
 identfying prospects in the Ontario Hockey League, Quebec Major
 Junion Hockey League and Europe. He also scouted other junior
 leagues, colleges and high schools. 

NHL Approves Sale Of Lightning

 The NHL Board of Governors officially approved the sale of the Tampa Bay
 Lightning to Palm Beach insurance magnate Arthur Williams and ALW
 Sports Management, Inc. in Toronto. 
 
 As part of the deal, the 56-year-old Williams will receive all rights to the
 team's arena, the Ice Palace, and assume all of the Lightning's lofty debt
 from years of mismanagement. 
 
 "I'm very proud to be the new owner of the new Tampa Bay Lightning," said
 Williams. "I love Tampa Bay, it's a phenomenal sports area. I'm also very
 proud to be part of the National Hockey League, the oldest professional
 sports league in North America. The future of the NHL and the new Tampa
 Bay Lightning are very, very bright." 

Maple Leafs Name Pat Quinn Head Coach

Three days after firing Mike Murphy, Toronto Maple Leafs president and
general manager Ken Dryden opted for experience and named Pat Quinn as
the team's new head coach. 

The 55-year-old Quinn, a two-time Adams award winner as NHL Coach of
the Year, spent the last 11 years as general manager of the Vancouver
Canucks before he was fired in November. He served as head coach of the
Canucks for parts of five seasons and led them to the Stanley Cup Finals in
1994. 

In Toronto, Quinn will serve as head coach of a franchise that has managed
just three winning seasons in the last 19 years. 

NHL AWARD BALLOTING

(AP) - The following is the results of balloting for the National Hockey 
League's annual awards for the 1997-1998 season, announced tonight 
in Toronto: 

HART TROPHY 

 1. Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres, 499 points
 2. Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins, 308 points
 3. Teemu Selanne, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 247 points
 4. Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils, 115 points
 5. Wayne Gretzky, New York Rangers, 46 points
 6. Peter Bondra, Washington Capitals, 40 points
 7. John LeClair, Philadelphia Flyers, 34 points
 8. Peter Forsberg, Colorado Avalanche, 26 points
 9. Jason Allison, Boston Bruins, 18 points
10. Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings, 17 points
11. Olaf Kolzig, Washington Capitals, 8 points
12. Byron Dafoe, Boston Bruins, 7 points
13. Joe Nieuwendyk, Dallas Stars, 7 points
14. Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings, 7 points
15. (tie) Ron Francis, Pittsburgh Penguins, 6 points
15. (tie) Chris Pronger, St. Louis Blues, 6 points
17. Ed Belfour, Dallas Stars, 6 points
18. Tom Barrasso, Pittsburgh Penguins, 3 points
19. Steve Yzerman, Detroit Red Wings, 2 points
20. (tie) Bobby Holik, New Jersey Devils, 1 point
20. (tie) Curtis Joseph, St. Louis Blues, 1 point

VEZINA TROPHY (BEST GOALTENDER) 

 1. Dominik Hasek, Buffalo Sabres, 126 points
 2. Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils, 57 points
 3. Tom Barrasso, Pittsburgh Penguins, 26 points
 4. Ed Belfour, Dallas Stars, 10 points
 5. Patrick Roy, Colorado Avalanche, 5 points
 6. Olaf Kolzig, Washington Capitals, 5 points
 7. Chris Osgood, Detroit Red Wings, 3 points
 8. (tie) Byron Dafoe, Boston Bruins, 1 point
 8. (tie) Mike Vernon, San Jose Sharks, 1 point

NORRIS TROPHY (BEST DEFENSEMAN)

 1. Rob Blake, Los Angeles Kings, 401 points
 2. Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings, 369 points
 3. Chris Pronger, St. Louis Blues, 316 points
 4. Scott Stevens, New Jersey Devils, 84 points
 5. Scott Niedermayer, New Jersey Devils, 58 points
 6. Larry Murphy, Detroit Red Wings, 47 points
 7. Ray Bourque, Boston Bruins, 37 points
 8. Al MacInnis, St. Louis Blues, 26 points
 9. Sergei Zubov, Dallas Stars, 22 points
10. Teppo Numminen, Phoenix Coyotes, 22 points
11. Darryl Sydor, Dallas Stars, 6 points
12. (tie) Chris Chelios, Chicago Blackhawks, 3 points
12. (tie) Kenny Jonsson, New York Islanders, 3 points
12. (tie) Darius Kasparaitis, Pittsburgh Penguins, 3 points
12. (tie) Alexei Zhitnik, Buffalo Sabres, 3 points
16. (tie) Eric Desjardins, Philadelphia Flyers, 1 point
16. (tie) Kevin Hatcher, Pittsburgh Penguins, 1 point 
16. (tie) Calle Johansson, Washington Capitals, 1 point
16. (tie) Boris Mironov, Edmonton Oilers, 1 point

SELKE TROPHY (BEST DEFENSIVE FORWARD)

 1. Jere Lehtinen, Dallas Stars, 328 points
 2. Michael Peca, Buffalo Sabres, 297 points
 3. Craig Conroy, St. Louis Blues, 200 points
 4. Ron Francis, Pittsburgh Penguins, 96 points
 5. Bobby Holik, New Jersey Devils, 85 points
 6. Peter Forsberg, Colorado Avalanche, 61 points
 7. Bob Carpenter, New Jersey Devils, 36 points
 8. Keith Primeau, Carolina Hurricanes, 34 points
 9. Steve Yzerman, Detroit Red Wings, 33 points
10. Igor Larionov, Detroit Red Wings, 23 points
11. Randy McKay, New Jersey Devils, 23 points
12. Doug Brown, Detroit Red Wings, 22 points
13. Rod Brind'Amour, Philadelphia Flyers, 19 points
14. Niklas Sundstrom, New York Rangers, 18 points
15. Jason Allison, Boston Bruins, 16 points
16. Mike Modano, Dallas Stars, 13 points
17. Bob Corkum, Phoenix Coyotes, 13 points
18. Jeff Friesen, San Jose Sharks, 11 points
19. Adam Oates, Washington Capitals, 10 points
20. Tim Taylor, Boston Bruins, 7 points

ADAMS AWARD (BEST COACH)

 1. Pat Burns, Boston Bruins, 306 points
 2. Larry Robinson, Los Angeles Kings, 149 points
 3. Ken Hitchcock, Dallas Stars, 123 points
 4. Joel Quenneville, St. Louis Blues, 80 points
 5. Kevin Constantine, Pittsburgh Penguins, 61 points
 6. Jacques Lemaire, New Jersey Devils, 26 points
 7. Scotty Bowman, Detroit Red Wings, 23 points
 8. Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres, 7 points
 9. Jacques Martin, Ottawa Senators, 4 points
10. Darryl Sutter, San Jose Sharks, 3 points
11. Alain Vigneault, Montreal Canadiens, 1 point

LADY BYNG TROPHY (SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD)

 1. Ron Francis, Pittsburgh Penguins, 352 points
 2. Teemu Selanne, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, 288 points
 3. Wayne Gretzky, New York Rangers, 246 points
 4. Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings, 119 points
 5. Alexei Yashin, Ottawa Senators, 94 points
 6. Adam Oates, Washington Capitals, 39 points
 7. Joe Nieuwendyk, Dallas Stars, 38 points
 8. Pierre Turgeon, St. Louis Blues, 24 points
 9. Sami Kapanen, Carolina Hurricanes, 24 points
10. Ray Bourque, Boston Bruins, 18 points
11. Zigmund Palffy, New York Islanders, 17 points
12. John LeClair, Philadelphia Flyers, 15 points
13. Brett Hull, St. Louis Blues, 14 points
14. Scott Niedermayer, New Jersey Devils, 14 points
15. Igor Kravchuk, Ottawa Senators, 13 points

CALDER TROPHY (ROOKIE OF THE YEAR)

 1. Sergei Samsonov, Boston Bruins, 503 points
 2. Mattias Ohlund, Vancouver Canucks, 308 points
 3. Patrik Elias, New Jersey Devils, 206 points
 4. Mike Johnson, Toronto Maple Leafs, 172 points
 5. Derek Morris, Calgary Flames, 99 points
 6. Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks, 62 points
 7. Richard Zednik, Washington Capitals, 20 points
 8. Marco Sturm, San Jose Sharks, 13 points
 9. Anders Eriksson, Detroit Red Wings, 6 points
10. Kevin Hodson, Detroit Red Wings, 5 points
11. Jamie Storr, Los Angeles Kings, 4 points
12. (tie) Magnus Arvedson, Ottawa Senators, 1 point
12. (tie) P.J. Axelsson, Boston Bruins, 1 point
12. (tie) Chris Phillips, Ottawa Senators, 1 point
12. (tie) Peter Skudra, Pittsburgh Penguins, 1 point
12. (tie) Sheldon Souray, New Jersey Devils, 1 point
12. (tie) Andrei Zyuzin, San Jose Sharks, 1 point

OTHER TROPHIES

ART ROSS - Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh Penguins
MASTERTON - Jamie McLennan, St. Louis Blues


TRANSACTIONS

TUESDAY, JUNE 30

Montreal Canadiens: Acquired left wing Sylvain Blouin and a
sixth-round pick in 1999 from the New York Rangers for
defenseman Peter Popovic.

Nashville Predators: Signed center Jim Dowd. 

Ottawa Senators: Named Rick Dudley general manager. 

Phoenix Coyotes: Acquired center Mike Sullivan from the
Nashville Predators for a 1999 seventh-round draft pick. 

Tampa Bay Lightning: Re-signed right wing Alexander
Selivanov to a two-year contract. 

MONDAY, JUNE 29

Chicago Blackhawks: Named Dirk Graham head coach and
Denis Savard and Lorne Molleken assistant coaches.

Nashville Predators: Signed defenseman Kimmo Timonen
and left wing Ville Peltonen.

Ottawa Senators: Announced the resignation of general
manager Pierre Gauthier. 

SATURDAY, JUNE 27

Chicago Blackhawks: Acquired the eighth and 94th picks in
the NHL Entry Draft from the Toronto Maple Leafs for the 10th,
69th and 126th picks. Acquired defenseman Paul Coffey from
the Philadelphia Flyers for a fifth-round pick in the NHL draft.

Nashville Predators: Acquired the second overall pick in the
NHL Entry Draft from the San Jose Sharks for the third overall
pick and a second-round pick. Acquired goaltender Dominic
Roussel and defenseman Jeff Staples from the Philadelphia
Flyers for a seventh-round pick in the NHL Entry Draft.
Acquired center Jim Dowd from the Calgary Flames for future
considerations. Acquired center Darren Turcotte and a
conditional draft pick from the St. Louis Blues for future
considerations. Acquired center Sebastien Bordeleau from
the Montreal Canadiens for future considerations. Acquired
defensemen Jan Vopat and Kimmo Timonen from the Los
Angeles Kings for future considerations.

New Jersey Devils: Acquired the 27th pick in the NHL Entry
Draft from the Dallas Stars for two second-round picks. 

FRIDAY, JUNE 26

Nashville Predators: Acquired right wing Sergei Krivokrasov
from the Chicago Blackhawks for future considerations.
Acquired left wing Ville Peltonen from the San Jose Sharks for
a fifth-round pick in Saturday's draft.

San Jose Sharks: Named Bob Berry assistant coach.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Named Pat Quinn head coach. 

THURSDAY, JUNE 25

Dallas Stars: Named Bill McDonald head coach of the
Michigan K-Wings of the International Hockey League and
signed him to a two-year contract. Retained Jim Playfair as
assistant coach at Michigan. 

TUESDAY, JUNE 23

Atlanta Thrashers: Named Don Waddell general manager.

Calgary Flames: Announced a secondary affiliation agreement
with the Johnstown Chiefs of the East Coast Hockey League. 

New York Rangers: Named Charlie Huddy assistant coach. 

Toronto Maple Leafs: Fired head coach Mike Murphy. 



----------------------------------------------------------------------
LCS Hockey Celebrates Four Years of Hockey Reportin'
----------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------
The Interview
----------------------------------------------------------------------
by Joe Rossi

(NOTE: This article originally ran in the June 28th edition
of the Greensburg Picayune.  It is reprinted here with the
permission of that fine newspaper.)

June 15, 1994.  That was the day the first issue of LCS: Guide to
Hockey was published.  Since that time, the internet publication
based on the National Hockey League has gained an international
following and has made its creators, Michael Dell, Jim Iovino,
Zippy the Wonder Chimp, and Matthew Secosky, local celebrities.  

As part of LCS Hockey's fourth anniversary, I recently had the
chance to sit down and speak with its editor-in-chief to reflect
on the publication's storied past and discuss its promising
future.  

Joe Rossi, Picayune Reporter:  How have these past four
years been?

Michael Dell, LCS Hockey Editor-in-Chief:  It's been a lot
of hard work.  Since we tend to be a bit wacky, I don't think
people realize how much work it is.  But plagiarizing is
extremely difficult.  First you have to find the original
article, then you have to copy it and decide what word to change
every sentence... it almost isn't worth the hassle.

Joe Rossi:  You mentioned that you guys can be a bit
"wacky" at times.  How would you describe LCS Hockey's style?

Michael Dell:  I like to think we have the style of a
1970's street pimp mixed with the sensibility of an alcoholic
transient.

Joe Rossi:  How does that translate into the written word?

Michael Dell:  Poorly.

Joe Rossi:  You must be doing something right because you
guys have gained quite the following.  What do you think of the
fan support you've received?

Michael Dell:  The readers have been tremendous.  A lot
have been with us since day one.  But not everybody likes our
stuff.  I mean, it seems like it's one of two extremes.  The
people that like us really, really like us.  And the people that
hate us can go to hell.

Joe Rossi:  Isn't it true that LCS Hockey has a big
international following?

Michael Dell:  Yeah, we're especially huge in Sweden.  The
Swedes love us like sons.  We can't even walk down the street in
Sweden without getting mobbed.  

Joe Rossi:  Have you guys been to Sweden?

Michael Dell:  No.

Joe Rossi:  You certainly have plenty of fans in
Greensburg.  I know you're very active in the community.  Your
annual charity street hockey game has quickly become legendary
around these parts.  The Maul at the Mall was also a tremendous
local event.  And I couldn't help but notice the parade down main
street held in honor of your fourth anniversary.  What about LCS
Hockey's relationship with Greensburg?

Michael Dell:  It's just a great place to live.  This is
our home and we're proud of it.  Not many famous people have ever
come from Greensburg, so we'd like to put it on the map.  As for
the charity work, it's the least we can do.  Besides, you should
always be nice to people on the way up before they have a chance
to do it to you.   
       
Joe Rossi:  What were things like in the beginning?  You
guys were pretty young when it started.  Did you all want to be
sportswriters?

Michael Dell:  Um, no.  We were 19 when we started it.  We
didn't know what we were getting into.  We just did it more as a
joke than anything.  We just wanted to prove anyone could be a
sportswriter.  But I still don't like to consider myself a
sportswriter.

Joe Rossi:  What do you like to consider yourself?

Michael Dell:  A snappy dresser with a winning
personality.

Joe Rossi:  Is it true that LCS Hockey was originally
meant to be a print publication?

Michael Dell:  Yeah, I had never even heard of the
internet back in the day.  In fact, I didn't even have a
computer.  I wrote the first issue freehand and then Jim typed
it.  It was Zippy's idea to e-mail it to people.  We were
originally going to just make print copies.

Joe Rossi:  What changed your minds?

Michael Dell:  It was a whole mess of grief.  I had to put
the issues together in Word Perfect, print 'em, out, and then
make the copies myself.  After a while I noticed the copier fumes
were making me loopy.  So I said "screw it" and forgot about the
issues.  I just started smoking the toner instead.

Joe Rossi:  How many print issues did you make?

Michael Dell:  I think we made print editions of the first
14 issues.  We would sell them around town and send them to a few
subscribers.  

Joe Rossi:  Are there any left?  I imagine they'd be quite
the collector's item.

Michael Dell:  You'd think so, wouldn't ya?  We've got 'em
all tucked away somewhere.  We usually sign a few and hand them
out at the boat shows... or raffle off complete sets to raise
bail money.      

Joe Rossi:  From following your history I know that you
haven't always been in good standing with the league.  But now
that you've been around four years, how is the NHL treating you
these days?

Michael Dell:  It varies from team to team.  The league
itself has been nice enough, but it doesn't exactly go out of its
way to make us feel at home.  I'd say our relationship is similar
to the one shared by the late Red Foxx and the IRS.

Joe Rossi:  Do you think players and personnel around the
league give you much respect?  

Michael Dell:  Sure.  Definitely.  If, you know, "respect"
meant "shocking indifference bordering on hate."

Joe Rossi:  When did the web site begin?

Michael Dell:  Zippy started a small, bare bones site a
few months into our existence.  Then we pepped it up a bit from
there.  But the current incarnation of the site, with web
versions of issues, started in November of 1995.  
  
Joe Rossi:  Yahoo Internet Life has rated LCS Hockey as
the best hockey site on the internet in each of the past two
years.  What do you think about the attention?

Michael Dell:  Well, we're glad they like the site and we
appreciate the kind words, but we can't give their opinion
anymore weight just because they have access to a printing press. 
And corporate magazines still suck.

Joe Rossi:  What do you think separates LCS Hockey from
the other NHL web sites?

Michael Dell:  We try to be informative, yet
entertaining... 50/50, a little bit of this, a little bit of
that.  We just see things differently than most.  We're unique. 
Basically, we've got the 11 original herbs and spices and
everybody else is just fryin' chicken.

Joe Rossi:  Last time I was on the site I saw that you'll
be starting a coaching section next fall.  Is there anything else
people can look for on the web site in the days to come?

Michael Dell:  Porn.  Lots and lots of porn.  

Joe Rossi:  You guys have had a number of writers over the
years.  It seems no one sticks around very long.  To what do you
attribute the constant turnover?

Michael Dell:  There are a lot of reasons.  I mean, there
were the kidnappings by our arch-enemy and "Family Circus"
creator Bil Kane, the accidental bludgeonings, the bouts with
insanity... some people just aren't cut out for the fast-paced
lifestyle of an LCS Hockey correspondent.  But with what we pay,
we just have to take what the state hospital gives us.  

Joe Rossi:  Are you guys making any money?

Michael Dell:  Let's just say that we have more money than
Davy Crockett.  

Joe Rossi:  Davy Crockett's dead.

Michael Dell:  Exactly.

Joe Rossi:  If not for the money, then why do you guys
keep doing it?

Michael Dell:  You want to know why we keep doing it? 
I'll tell you why we keep doing it.  Because we believe that
hockey fans deserve better coverage than what the mainstream is
offering.  We believe that you don't need to be some stuffed
suit to write about hockey.  We believe that the fans should have
a voice.  And we really have nothing better to do since they took
off "Starsky and Hutch."

Joe Rossi:  What's the most gratifying part of being the
editor-in-chief?

Michael Dell:  That's a tough call.  It's always a nice
feeling to get an issue out on time and know that within minutes
people all over the world are reading something that you wrote. 
But if I had to just say one thing, I think the most gratifying
part of being editor-in-chief of LCS Hockey is the 15% discount
at all participating 7-11s.
  
Joe Rossi:  What do you consider LCS Hockey's greatest
achievement?

Michael Dell:  Just our longevity.  No one thought we'd
last one year, let alone four.  I still remember people laughing
at us when we went to the 1994 Draft in Hartford.  They thought
it was some sort of mistake that we were there.  Well, those
people aren't laughing now.  They literally can't.  We tracked
them down and beat them severely about the head and shoulders
with a bag of door knobs.  They couldn't laugh now if they tried.
  
Joe Rossi:  Any plans for the future of LCS Hockey?

Michael Dell:  We're always coming up with new and
exciting ideas.  There really is no "off" position on the genius
switch.  We're hoping to tape a few TV commercials this summer in
order to help spread the good word.  I'm also writing the pilot
for an LCS-based sitcom called "That's My Chimp."  And we'd
eventually like to get into feature films.  Maybe do a musical
version of "Cannonball Run."       

Joe Rossi:  Finally, do you have any advice for young
writers out there?

Michael Dell:  No, but thanks for asking.


----------------------------------------------------------------
Favorite Reader Moments
----------------------------------------------------------------

In recognition of our fourth anniversary and the publication of
our 100th issue, we invited you, our valued readers, to write in
and share some of your favorite LCS Hockey moments.  Here is a
small sampling of the letters we received.
  
----------


There have been several articles that LCS has published that are
genius, most notably "It's in the Numbers." Another great was the
entire "Save the Whale" issue. I have to say, that the
"Point/Counterpoint" of Hasek vs. Brodeur was also a favorite.

Chad Michael Lindburg

----------

I've always enjoyed the player ratings issues.  You always find 
interesting ways to describe the same players year after year, like 
the time you said Ray Bourque was like a fine wine since he smelled 
like grapes and should be kept in a dark place.  That was classic.

Dwayne Granger

----------

My favorite LCS moment has to be the whole search for
Badaboum.  The story was both touching and entertaining.  But I'm still 
waiting to find out who shot Badaboum!

Anna Schmidt

----------

It figures that it took LCS to try and find the whereabouts of
the beloved Badaboum.  The search for the big blue freak is my
favorite memory from the first 100 issues.

Holly Martins

----------

I vote for "AHL Fashion" from Issue #62.

Besides having great, knowledgeable commentary and reporting
about the American Hockey League, Trish McMillan writes funny
stuff. 

Michael S. Buskus 

----------

Remember that time you said that the league was so stupid that you 
wished it was smarter just so it would realize how dumb it was?  
Remember that?  That was awesome!

Lou Harper

----------

The bit on Player Numbers was good.  Also, references to Dave
Miller are keen.  But I think your best moment was the Top 50
sitcom characters of all-time.  Maybe a follow-up with cartoon
characters...

Scott Weakland
----------

I always like the references to Don Knotts.  It's about time somebody 
recognizes that man's genius.  Keep up the great work.

Sincerely,

Don Knotts

----------

Naturally my favorite LCS moments came when you guys interviewed
me about my hero Mike Keenan.  You were the only publication that
told my story and allowed me to spread the word of Keenan. 
Thanks to you, membership in the Mike Keenan Fan Club nearly
doubled.  Now the six of us are planning on getting matching
jackets.  Thanks, LCS!

Kenny Bloom

----------

My favorite has always been "LCS'll Name That Pig", when you guys
searched for the perfect name for Carolina's pig mascot.  The
discussion between father and son about where bacon comes from
was inspirational.  I included it in all my Christmas cards.

John Russell

----------

Well, LCS Hockey reached its pinnacle of glory when the
evil slimewench Peter Karmanos had the crap beaten out of him.
Just makes a Whalers fan proud.  Makes one cry in pride actually. 

Captain Sam  

----------

This one is easy.

In the middle of last season we broke for the Olympics.  It was
grand, though the US team had lost.  It was a nightmare when they
trashed their rooms.

This is big news.  I want(ed) to know what jerks disgraced their
country and countrymen.  I want to know who to never put on my
fantasy hockey league rosters.  And guess who at the very least
delivered a lively analysis of "who done it"?

LCS did a great job of entertaining, speculating and
communicating the right ideas about the room trashing at Nagano. 
I pointed countless hockey fans to that article.  

Thanks again.

Lenny Bosh Jr.

----------

My favorite was the time you tried to get off the island by smooth 
talking that Hollywood producer.  That was great.

Jim McCloud

----------

I don't know if I have a favorite moment.  It's just so hard to 
choose since everything sucks...

Love,

Mom


--------------------------------------------------------------------
My Favorite Issues of LCS Hockey
--------------------------------------------------------------------
by Michael Dell

This walk down memory lane got me to thinking about the past
myself.  Publishing 102 issues is no joke.  There have been a lot
of great moments over the last four years.  Granted, not all the
issues have been winners, but I like to think we've delivered the
goods on a fairly regular basis.  

While each individual issue brings back its own distinct memories
for me, there are those that stand out above the rest.  After
giving it some serious consideration, I've constructed a list of
my ten favorite issues.  I hope you enjoyed reading them as much
as we enjoyed writing them.

10. Issue 77 - September 1, 1997:  While our annual Player Ratings
Issues are a bit grueling to produce, they always seem to be a
big hit with the kids.  This is the most recent example of the
form.  

9. Issue 27 - July 11, 1995:  This is the issue we sold out,
running advertisements before each feature.  Of course, they were
fake advertisements, but advertisements nonetheless.  It's only
available in a text format.  

8. Issue 62 - February 4, 1997:  Of all the features we've ever run,
the LCS Fashion Statement article ranking the best NHL jerseys
generated the most response.                      

7. Issue 86 - January 26, 1998:  Lord help us, we love the Swedes.  And
this is the issue we proved it.  

6. Issue 66 - April 1, 1997:  As much as we love the Swedes, we loved
the Whale even more.  This was a final tribute to the mighty sea
mammals.

5. Issue 64 - March 4, 1997:  Our dream interview finally happened when
Meredith Martini talked with LCS hero and the idol of millions
from eight to eighty, Johnny Cullen

4. Issue 59 - December 23, 1996:  This issue contains the famous "Where
Have You Gone, Badaboum?" article that started the whole search. 
As an added bonus is the second of three appearances by Mike
Keenan fanatic Kenny Bloom.  And since it was around the holiday
season, the web issue also has links to classic Christmas
features such as the LCS Christmas Carol.  

3. Issue 87 - February 10, 1998:  The Maul at the Mall was probably the
most unique task ever undertaken by LCS Hockey.  Thankfully, it
was a complete success and Peter Karmanos got beat down.    

2. Issue 2 - July 15, 1994:  The first issue of LCS was barely
published when we made our way up to Hartford for the 1994 Entry
Draft as members of the press.  Our subsequent "Shaft at the
Draft" set the tone for the future of LCS Hockey.

1. Issue 85 - January 13, 1998:  If I had to choose one issue to
demonstrate what LCS Hockey is all about, it would be issue 85. 
I just feel it is everything we strive to be; informative, yet
entertaining... 50/50, a little bit of this, a little bit of
that.  
       
=================================================================
FINAL 1997-98 TEAM REPORTS
=================================================================


=================================================================
TEAM REPORTS
=================================================================
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION
-----------------------------------------------------------------
FLORIDA PANTHERS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Bryan Murray
   
Roster: C - Kirk Muller, Rob Niedermayer, Radek Dvorak, Dave
Gagner, Chris Wells, Steve Washburn. LW - Ray Whitney, Johan
Garpenlov, Viktor Kozlov, Bill Lindsay, Peter Worrell. RW - Scott
Mellanby, Dino Ciccarelli, David Nemirovsky. D - Robert Svehla,
Gord Murphy, Ed Jovanovski, Paul Laus, Terry Carkner, Rhett
Warrener, Jeff Norton, Dallas Eakins. G - John Vanbiesbrouck,
Kirk McLean, Kevin Weekes. 

TEAM NEWS by Eric Seiden

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. We hold
these truths to be self-evident: that not all hockey teams are
created equal. The Panthers have slid from the Stanley Cup final
to the second worst team in the NHL in less than two years. While
swings in team performance are not unusual, this was a
catastrophe. 

The ultimate problem was team chemistry. As the team broke apart:
from 12 original Panthers down to just five.  Team chemistry,
that elusive thing, disintegrated. Instead of playing as a team,
there were a bunch of players on the ice trying to play together.
The fans, expecting another great season finally got a dose of
reality. Fans were spoiled by the Panthers' relative success the
first two years, and a Stanley Cup final in their third year.
Those are expectations no young team can ever hope to live up to.
This was aggravated by the failure of the Panthers' young stars
to perform -- stars such as Rob Niedermayer, Ed Jovanovski, and
Radek Dvorak.

There were some significant moments over the course of the year.
First came the firing of coach Doug MacLean. Then Ray Whitney was
discovered on waivers. Dino Ciccarelli came on board as Mark
Fitzpatrick went and stunk up Tampa's ice. Ray Sheppard, Mike
Hough, and Dave Lowry all departed as well. So did Tommy
Fitzgerald, who went to Colorado in a cruel twist of fate. What
made the team click fell apart. There just isn't much positive to
say about the season.

TEAM MVP: The team MVP award goes to ex-coach Doug
MacLean, who was fired 18 games into the season. He was fired at
the insistence of owner H. Wayne Huizenga, and fans were told
that it was his fault the team started off so badly. Then what
explains the final 64 games? Doug's firing brought the most
vicious crowd behavior in memory to the arena. It wasn't his
fault, and the fans never forgot him right through the last game.
In a city famed for its short memory, this was a true tribute to
a local sports hero. We'll miss ya, Doug!

SURPRISE: The easiest pick of the year, to be sure. Ray
Whitney, an Edmonton castoff, was claimed off waivers mid-season.
This little spark of light would score 32 goals, tying a team
record held by captain Scott Mellanby. By the end of the season
Ray would be a fan favorite, and no small coincidence wearing
jersey number 14 of former Panther and much lamented prodigal-son
Stu Barnes.

DISAPPOINTMENT: Difficult pick. There are two clear
frontrunners in this category. The soft and sad goaltending of
lead goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, who was in his final year before
free agency, would be one choice. However, in Beezer's defense,
he was buried under a barrage of shots when the Panthers defense
fell apart. The second choice would be Scott Mellanby, not for
his failure to perform on the ice, but for his totally
uninspiring tenure as captain. Nowhere has his lack of enthusiasm
and leadership been felt more. The fans felt it, the players felt
it, and the despair settled in, sinking a dismal season.

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: This is where our editor says we're
supposed to tell you what the team should change. Maybe it would
be better if I just listed what the team shouldn't change? First,
the coach will change. Bryan Murray has learned his lesson and
won't be back as coach. While many names were tossed around, the
Panthers finally settled on Murray's brother Terry, most recently
of the Flyers, to hopefully coach the team out of oblivion. 

Secondly, defensive coach Joe Cirella needs to go; it probably
won't happen, but it should. 

The team needs a new captain; Mellanby is not captain material.
 
Ed Jovanovski, Kirk Muller, Terry Carkner, Radek Dvorak, and
David Nemirovsky should all be traded, in that order -- though
the odds on seeing either Jovanovski or Dvorak leave are slim.

While most fans like Johan Garpenlov, you can look to see him
leave along with Jeff Norton and some other bit players.

Lastly, look for a new team owner. Yes, this is true and a repeat
of past history. Let the record show the Florida Panthers Hockey
Club is, once again, for sale. Let the record further show that
Huizenga Holdings will receive an offer for the Florida Panthers
sometime before the year 1998 closes. Current owner and
all-around weasel Huizenga says, "The fans have not soured me.
It's the newspaper people that have soured me. When they write
that I get involved in personnel moves, and say which players we
should keep, that's a bunch of baloney." Wayne's full of crap,
folks. Murray wanted to fire MacLean. Yeah, sure, we believe you
Wayne. Not. Most local fans (both the Panthers and MLB's Marlins)
hope that Harry Wayne Huizenga rots in the eternal abyss of Hell
for all eternity.



-----------------------------------------------------------------
NEW JERSEY DEVILS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Jacques Lemaire 
   
Roster: C - Doug Gilmour, Bobby Holik, Bob Carpenter, Denis
Pederson, Petr Sykora, Jason Arnott, Sergei Brylin, Brendan
Morrison. LW - Dave Andreychuk, Brian Rolston, Patrik Elias, Jay
Pandolfo.  RW - Randy McKay, Steve Thomas, Krzysztof Oliwa. D -
Scott Stevens, Scott Niedermayer, Ken Daneyko, Lyle Odelein,
Kevin Dean, Doug Bodger, Sheldon Souray, Brad Bombardir. 
G - Martin Brodeur, Mike Dunham.
       
TEAM NEWS by Phil Aromando

After a disappointing second round playoff loss to the Rangers
last season, it seemed the Devils that we had come to know and
admire were on the brink of completely collapsing.  Despite
missing the playoffs in '96, the season after their Cup win, the
expectation was that the Devils would be a lock on at least
advancing to the '97 Cup final after a strong finish as the
regular season Eastern Conference champions.  

But the loss to the Rangers was swift.  And that swiftness raised
serious questions about who exactly this Devil team was.  Were
they still the upstart underdogs led by a Hall of Fame coach and
his suffocating system of fundamental defensive hockey or were
they a jaded, diminished bunch lucky to have even won one Cup?

Surprisingly, the Devils came out this year and put together
their most successful regular season ever.  They won their second
straight regular season Eastern Conference, second straight
Jennings Trophy for fewest goals allowed, set a team wins record
with 48 which included the fewest losses ever on the road (13)
and tied with the most ever wins at home (29).  Any lingering
doubts about their desire and ability vanished.  Last year's
playoff failure could be chalked up to the vagaries of an intense
rivalry that had more to do with psychology than a failure of
their style of play.  Maybe they had, like Detroit, taken their
playoff failures as building blocks and come out even stronger? 
Maybe this was their year?  The playoffs would surely be a forum
for success.

But they didn't seem to learn their lesson entirely.  The Ottawa
Senators, playing with a hunger and confidence that looked eerily
similar to the Devils of the first two years of the Lemaire era,
dispatched Jersey in six games of the first round.  El Diablo
looked so unlike the team that had confidently marched through
the regular season.  (Ironically it was Ottawa beating Jersey on
the last day of the '96 season that prevented them from defending
their Cup.)

Whatever the reason, Jacques Lemaire had had enough.  Not two
weeks after the stunning and gut-wrenching elimination by the
Senators, the Lemaire era came to a self-imposed conclusion. 
After two years of such great promise the Devils followed up with
three years of inconsistency that had them reminding everyone of
another local team capable of fantastic regular seasons followed
by ignominious playoff defeats.  They weren't the next dynasty,
the team new rules need to be created for, any longer.  They were
regular season wonders living large off the reputation they had
seized in the early days of the Lemaire reign.  Lemaire and his
system were constants but many things had changed since those
first two seasons.

It's instructive to draw a parallel between the Devils and Red
Wings.  Even though the Wings were swept in the '95 Cup final by
the Devils, they managed to keep the core of their team together
and add important sustaining elements.  Since that defeat they
have not only managed to be as consistent as the Devils during
the regular season but also thrive in the playoffs, winning
back-to-back Cups.  

After the season of their greatest glory, the Devils began to
slowly dismantle.  Having finally found a combination of players
and coaches that worked very well together, it seemed that a
cockiness grew that indicated "we can win it no matter who we
have - our system is superior."  If key role players like Claude
Lemieux and Chris Terreri had stayed around (or equal
replacements had been found) and assistant coach Larry Robinson
were still the understanding buffer between the players and
Lemaire, they may very well have become that dynasty of the
nineties.  But the core of the team that began under Lemaire
slowly evaporated and the choices that were made to replace key
players and coaches have yet to seem as inspired as originally
planned. Change is not necessarily a bad thing, but few since '95
appear as effective as originally intended.  On top of that, the
system that Lemaire implemented began to turn on itself and
although successful, seemed to bore the players in the long run.

The changes continued through this season.  It started with Brian
Rolston and Bill Guerin holding out.  Rolston came around and
signed but Guerin held out until realizing it would hurt his
chance of making the USA Olympic team.  Once signed he was dealt
quickly to the furthest reaches of the Western Conference for
Jason Arnott.  (Arnott had a tough season.  He left the booing in
Edmonton but struggled to find his game in Jersey.  Maybe
beginning a season here without such hostile surroundings will
calm him enough to reach the potential Lemaire saw and always
raved about.)  Not to mention John MacLean.  He asked for a trade
in the press one day and was gone nearly the day after.  He had
played his entire career with this team.  One thing that has
always been consistent with Jersey is the way disgruntled players
are handled.  If you complain, gripe or otherwise fail to toe the
line you can expect a ticket elsewhere, usually not to a
destination of your choosing.

For all the chaos that surrounded the team in early December two
important events occurred and its something that Devil fans will
hang their hopes on for quite some time.  Well, at least the next
four years.  Martin Brodeur and Scott Stevens signed multi-year
contract extensions without testing the free agent market.  They
are the cornerstones of the team and their re-signing signaled a
commitment to maintaining a winning attitude.  They may very well
be the only link to the Lemaire era that manages to survive under
new coach, ex-assistant coach, Robbie Ftorek.

Ftorek has said that he will assess the players he has and decide
whether or not to employ the system that made the Devils who they
are.  And his experience with most of them in Albany as their
head coach will be a decided advantage.  The Devils have a young
core of players capable of becoming the stars of tomorrow that
have yet to thrive under the restrictive style of the system. 
Look for things to open up a bit more to allow the talents of
players like Scott Niedermayer and Brendan Morrison to flourish.

TEAM MVP: On a team that stresses the group over the
individual, Martin Brodeur is clearly the individual most
deserving of team MVP.  For the second straight season he had a
GAA under 2.00.  He had 43 wins, nearly matching the NHL wins
record set by Bernie Parent.  As Martin went, so went the Devils. 
For a team that struggles with goal scoring, he consistently kept
games close and gave his teammates hope that they had a chance to
win every time they stepped onto the ice.  

Honorable Mention: Ken Daneyko.  Not for his play on the ice.  He
missed nearly half the season after checking into an alcohol
rehabilitation facility early in November.  The fact that he was
able to come back at all this year was a testament to his will as
a player.  Although a little rusty when he returned, he began to
regain his form during the playoffs.

Unsung Hero: Although he centered the fourth line with Oliwa,
Rolston or whoever was visiting from Albany, Denis Pederson has
quietly established himself as one of the Devils' most reliable
centers.  He doesn't put up big offensive numbers but his
defensive awareness and all around work ethic are valuable
assets.  His role will continue to grow under Ftorek.

SURPRISE: The emergence of Randy McKay as a power forward. 
He stepped into the role left vacant by Bill Guerin and had a
career season.  The McKay-Holik-Andreychuk line was the most
effective all year long even though Andreychuk had the lowest
goal output of his career.  If McKay hadn't suffered a late
season knee injury he may very well have scored thirty goals. 
His re-signing during the season will keep him around for four
more years as well.

Honorable Mention: Patrik Elias.  The rookie winger started out
like a house afire.  He reminded many of Petr Sykora in his first
full season with the big boys.  Despite having a lengthy slump
during the middle to the end of the year, he is a big hope for
the future and adds another laurel to the effectiveness of the
Devils farm system.

DISAPPOINTMENT:  Obviously, the playoff loss to Ottawa. 
After such a stellar season, the first round loss to the
overwhelming underdog will smart for quite some time.  That loss
will also long be remembered as the deciding factor in the
resignation of Jacques Lemaire, the man who finally raised them
out of the swamp and gave them an identity to call their own.

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: Doug Gilmour will most certainly not
be back.  The team has said they will not be fiscally
irresponsible just to keep him around.  With players like Brendan
Morrison showing signs of true ability, his loss may not be so
crucial.  There will obviously be some ramifications in the
immediate future.  Without Gilmour they would have had even less
of a showing in this year's playoffs.  That alone makes him very
appealing to other teams.  He can still produce in the
all-important postseason.

Steve Thomas is also an unrestricted free agent.  Hard to say
about his future with the team.  There has been little movement
towards signing him and seemingly less interest from other teams. 
That means it's probably a good bet that he'll return.  He is
becoming a Bob Carpenter-type role player.

Bobby Holik and Scott Niedermayer are restricted free agents and
will most definitely be re-signed.  Holik and Nieder each had
career years.  They are right behind Stevens and Brodeur in terms
of their importance to the team.  Holik has come a long way from
a fourth line "Crash Line" center.  His growth can be directly
attributed to Lemaire's faith in him; not to mention his ability
and desire to become a complete player.  Nieder finally gave an
indication as to why he is constantly being called a Norris
candidate of the future.  His work at even strength and on the
power play energized his linemates.  He consistently created
chances and began to play the most responsible defense of his
career.

Dave Andreychuk's contract presents an interesting dilemma.  If
Lamoriello decides that he can still contribute despite low
offensive production this season, the Devils can buy out the
final year of his $2.5 million contract.  If that happens, the
Maple Leafs will be obliged to pick up a large portion of the
remaining salary! That's just wacky.  If he no longer fits into
the plans, there is a strong possibility he will just go back to
Toronto.  The deadline for a decision on his future is June 30th.

So is Jason Arnott's.  If the Devils do not offer him a 15
percent pay raise on his $1.8 million contract (he's a restricted
Group 2), they relinquish his rights.  Lemaire was his biggest
supporter; without him around and an average showing during his
time here, Arnott and his potential may very well be expendable.  

Mike Dunham was selected in the expansion draft by the Nashville
Predators.  This means goalie Richard Shulmistra (Albany, AHL)
will most likely be Brodeur's backup next season.  Shulmistra
started one game this season when Brodeur came down with the flu. 
He played well and would have gotten another start had he not
suffered an injury in that outing.  Hopefully, he's just capable. 
Brodeur logs a lot of ice time.  He thrives on it but there's no
denying that it wears him down.

Defenseman Sheldon Souray and center Petr Sykora are also
restricted free agents.  They should both be back with the team. 
Souray played better as the season wore on because Lemaire
stressed the importance of showing up every game by scratching
him from the lineup for a couple contests at a time every once in
a while. Those benchings seemed to clue him in as to what's
expected at this level. Sykora had a decent season but seems so
far removed from his breakout rookie season.  His biggest problem
is the tendency to injure his knees and or ankles.  When his game
is on, he's a threat.  When it's off, he's injured.  He may still
be appealing enough to some teams that it's worth trading for
him.  This will probably be the season where its determined
whether or not he has a future with the Devils.

In Conclusion: It will be hard to qualify the Devils as an elite
team as next season begins.  There are too many questions
surrounding coaching, the imminent loss of their playmaking
center, aging veterans, untested youth.  But they will surely be
competitive and maybe even manage to sneak into the playoffs as a
fourth or fifth seed.  Which may be just as well.  With the
pressure squarely off their shoulders and a reason to prove the
past five years weren't due just to Lemaire, they may go out and
give everyone a real surprise.  No more griping about the system,
it's time to see if these guys can play hockey.



-----------------------------------------------------------------
NEW YORK ISLANDERS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Mike Milbury  
   
Roster: C - Robert Reichel, Trevor Linden, Bryan Smolinski, 
Claude Lapointe, Sergei Nemchinov. LW - Mike Hough, Ken Belanger,
Tom Chorske, Gino Odjick. RW - Zigmund Palffy, Jason Dawe, Joe
Sacco, Mariusz Czerkawski, Dan Plante, Steve Webb, Vladimir
Orszagh. D - Scott Lachance, Bryan Berard, Richard Pilon, Kenny
Jonsson, J.J. Daigneault, Zdeno Chara, Dennis Vaske. G - Tommy
Salo, Wade Flaherty. 

TEAM NEWS by David Strauss

The Islanders' season started with promise, collapsed in
disaster, and ended on a slightly positive note, but the 1997-98
Islanders campaign could be summed up in two words: wasted
promise.  Okay, it could have used a few choice adjectives and
adverbs as well, but two is good enough.

In the season preview back in October (see, it pays to keep
stuff), it was noted in this column that the Islanders' number
one problem of the year would be to score enough goals.  Bingo! 
So where'd this problem show up?  Take your pick:

* Bryan Berard goes through a massive sophomore slump and
finishes with less points than his rookie season, and a -30
plus/minus rating.

* Bryan Smolinksi, counted on to score 30 goals or more, is
kidnapped by aliens and replaced with a malfunctioning third
level maintenance drone, who scores just 13 times.  (Well, of
course that's true.  He couldn't have slumped that bad by any
other reason, could he?)

* Sergei Nemchinov, who had scored 30 goals or more several times
in his career, finishes with 10 and is rumored after the season
to have been involved in a KGB plot to kidnap the team's mascot.

* Mariusz Czerkawski spends more time on the bench than Judge
Wapner, and scores about as often as (insert your own tasteless
remark here) while Rick Bowness runs the bench.  (Though Chow did
rebound significantly after Milbury took over the bench.)

* Mike Hough, counted on for leadership, scores five times all
season, and the only thing he leads the team in is "most times
opening the bench door for other players."

* Dennis Vaske, coming off a series of concussions, is expected
to regain his position at the blue line and provide steady play. 
Instead, he gets hurt again, only plays 19 games, and his career
as an Isle is likely over.

* Todd Bertuzzi and Bryan McCabe, counted on to be the young
studs to take the Isles back to the playoffs, play themselves
into such favor with the team that they're traded in mid-season.

* Rick Bowness is allowed to remain as coach far longer than he
should have, due to the penny-pinching ways of former owner John
Pickett.  Bowness, the Worst Coach in NHL History (TM), installs
his world-famous Young Player Development System, also known as
"Play old veterans on the first line even if they only have 11
goals, and keep your young players on the bench if they breathe
wrong."

* Thanks to this lack of scoring, the Isles went 1-33-2 when
trailing after two  periods.

The Islanders finished at 30-41-11 and missed the playoffs for
the fourth straight season.  Foremost in the reasons for the team
missing the playoffs was a disastrous 10-game losing streak and a
1-13-2 run that ultimately led to the (long overdue) firing of
Rick Bowness.

TEAM MVP: Among the players, it would be a toss-up between
the exciting Ziggy Palffy (45-41-86, -1, in 82 games) and the
unheralded but solid Kenny Jonsson (14-24-39, -2, in 81 games).

But the MVP for this team may again be coming from off the ice. 
New owners Steven Gluckstern and Howard Milstein have promised to
infuse some cash into the team, build a new arena, and bring the
Isles back to the top.  Isles fans are skeptical, they've heard
this before, so they'll be watching the negotiations with the
team's own free agents very closely, as well as any signings or
deals made by Mike Milbury.

SURPRISE: While Palffy had another solid season, and
Reichel was among the league leaders in PP points, I gotta go
with the unheralded Kenny Jonsson.  Jonsson became a solid d-man
this year, and was the team's most consistent player.  When the
Isles had a one-goal lead in the last minute, there was no d-man
who Isles fans wanted to see on the ice more than Jonsson.  When
the Leafs traded him, he was heralded as the league's next great
defenseman.  Next year might see that happen.

As an event, the trade of Bertuzzi and McCabe for Trevor Linden
was as surprising and shocking as any deal the Isles have made in
a while, and signaled a change of direction for the team.

DISAPPOINTMENT: Bryan Smolinski.  Bryan Smolinski.  Bryan
Smolinski.  Smoke has got to pick it up and score from the second
line, or the Isles become a one-line team that's easy to shut
down.  Milbury probably wouldn't get much for the enigmatic
winger, so it's up to Smoke to pick it up and regain his form
next season.

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: The big decision coming off the firing
of Rick Bowness (or as Isles fans refer to him, affectionately,
"the plank of wood") was the future of Mike Milbury. 

In May, that future was made official.  Milbury will return as GM
and coach, along with a new five-year contract believed to be
worth about $3.75 million.  CEO David Seldin has restructured the
Islanders organization and many of Milbury's GM duties - most
notably negotiating player contracts - have been divided among
several new hires.  The Islanders will have a person for
contracts, Mike Santos, and another to create programs to enhance
player performance and set up training, Daren Anderson, formerly
of the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars.  Milbury is adding two coaches
to bring the number of assistants to four and will hire a
goaltender coach as well as other specialists who will also work
with the club's affiliate in Lowell, Mass. 

As for who those assistants are...nobody knows as of yet.  Ted
Nolan has been heavily rumored in recent weeks to be the top
choice for Milbury's right hand man, as has Butch Goring.  Both
Goring and Nolan have reps as coaches who work well with young
players.

While the top core of the Isles may have greyed a bit this
season, with the addition of such guys as Linden, Nemchinov,
Hough, J.J. Daigneault, and others, the team's future is still
bright.  The Isles were rated as the team with the best prospects
in a recent Hockey News poll, with three players -- D Eric
Brewer, G Roberto Luongo, and the newly acquired C Dmitri Nabokov
-- listed in the top 20 prospects in the entire league.

Expect Brewer and Nabakov to get a long look in training camp,
although both will probably spend the season away from Uniondale
polishing up their game.  With the team having a full-time AHL
affiliate for the first time in years, many of the club's best
prospects will be playing together in Lowell.  Sean Haggerty,
Jeff Zehr, newly-acquired Mike Watt, and Warren Luhning are among
the forward prospects who will be playing for coach Frank
Anzalone.

Most importantly, for the team to have any chance at continuing
their upward climb back to respectability, they must re-sign free
agents Ziggy Palffy, Trevor Linden, and Kenny Jonsson.  That,
plus a continued push to develop the young talent they have, is
the best route back for the Isles.



-----------------------------------------------------------------
NEW YORK RANGERS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  John Muckler

Rosters:  C - Wayne Gretzky, Pat LaFontaine, Harry York, Marc
Savard, P.J. Stock.   LW - Adam Graves, Kevin Stevens, Bill Berg,
Darren Langdon, Bob Errey, Tim Sweeney, Daniel Goneau.  RW -
Niklas Sundstrom, Alexei Kovalev, Todd Harvey, Johan Lindbom,
Shane Churla.  D - Brian Leetch, Ulf Samuelsson, Jeff Beukeboom,
Bruce Driver, Doug Lidster, Alexander Karpovstev, Eric Cairns,
Jeff Finley, Geoff Smith, Maxim Galanov.    G - Mike Richter, Dan
Cloutier.

TEAM NEWS by Michael Dell

The New York Rangers sucked.  They finished the 1997-98 season
with a record of 25-39-18.  Their 68 points placed them 10th
overall in the Eastern Conference.  They were 22nd in offense
with a mere 197 goals scored.  And only five teams allowed more
goals than New York's 231.  The lights were out on Broadway.

New York's campaign began with a flurry of free agent activity. 
First Mark Messier, supposedly the best leader in sports, bailed
on his mates to sign a $6-million-per-year deal with the
Vancouver Canucks.  Way to be a leader, Mark!  If you were at
Normandy we'd all be eating strudel right now.  

GM Neil Smith tried to make up for Messier's departure by signing
Joe Sakic to an offer sheet that included a mammoth $15-million
signing bonus.  The Colorado Avalanche matched.  On to Plan B.

While Smith couldn't pry Sakic out of Colorado, he did sign away
veteran winger Mike Keane from the Avalanche.  Even more
leadership was added by inking Brian Skrudland from Florida. 
Messier out, Keane and Skrudland in.  At least some of the
leadership void was addressed.  But the Rangers still needed to
find a replacement for Messier's numbers.  Enter Pat LaFontaine.

The Buffalo Sabres were looking to reduce their payroll and
didn't want to continue paying LaFontaine, who was attempting a
comeback from post-concussion syndrome.  This opened up the door
for the Rangers.  Once the Sabres cut LaFontaine loose, the
Blueshirts were quick to step in and sign him to a contract.  So
basically New York tried to replace Messier with LaFontaine,
Keane, and Skrudland.  That seems like it would work.  But so did
my idea for inflatable pants.  

New York's heart seemed to leave with Messier.  Even though his
skills were clearly starting to decline, Messier still embodied
the spirit of the Rangers.  He will forever be remembered as the
man that delivered the club its first championship since 1940. 
Not having him around left the Rangers a team without an
identity.  It showed on the ice.

And what of the three guys brought in to replace the Messiah? 
Well, LaFontaine did his job.  He gave the Rangers a second-line
center to play behind Wayne Gretzky and provided his usual
quickness and crafty playmaking.  Unfortunately, he was unable to
complete the season due to yet another concussion.  And
ironically, it was Keane that delivered the fateful blow.  The
two teammates accidentally collided at center ice, with the
sturdy Keane burying an unaware LaFontaine.  Laffy ended the
season with 23 goals and 62 points in 67 games.  Those were
extremely solid numbers considering the perils of his comeback
and the overall sagging state of offense in the NHL.

Aside from the accidental run-in with LaFontaine, Keane did some
nice work for the Rangers during his time in New York.  He gave
his standard gritty, hard-working effort on each shift and
chipped in with a few clutch goals.  Skrudland didn't fit in
nearly as well.  And with the Rangers out of the playoff picture
as the trade deadline approached, both men were shipped to Dallas
in a cost-cutting move.  

Once LaFontaine was knocked out of action, the Ranger offense was
crippled.  They weren't exactly tearing it up before the injury,
but afterwards they were left a one-line team.  At least that
line scored a lot, tho'.  The main reason why was the resurgence
of Alexei Kovalev.  The mercurial Russian winger teamed up with
Gretzky to give the Rangers a potent scoring duo over the final
few months of the season.  Kovalev posted 23 goals and 53 points
in 73 games, with most of that scoring coming in the second half
of the schedule.  Kovalev bagged 16 goals and 32 points in his
final 30 games.  

Gretzky was the man most responsible for Kovalev's exploits. 
Gretzky had a swell season, leading the club in scoring with 23
goals and 90 points.  He was fourth overall in league scoring and
finished tied for the assist title with 67 (Jaromir Jagr).  But
maybe more importantly, the 37-year-old was healthy enough to
play in all 82 games.  That gave the club at least some sense of
consistency.  

Niklas Sundstrom rounded out New York's top line with 19 goals
and 47 points in 70 games.  Sundstrom continues to get little
respect around the league, but he's one of the game's most
complete players.  If the Rangers ever get their act together as
a team, Sundstrom is going to be a perennial Selke candidate.  As
it is now, people looked at his even plus-minus rating and didn't
even consider him for the award.  Sundstrom finished 14th in
Selke voting.  That's a joke.  

There wasn't much else of note up front for the Rangers.  Adam
Graves always gave it his best, but could only produce 23 goals
and 35 points in 72 games.  He also finished at a -30.  Oh boy.  

But Graves' minus total wasn't even worst on the team.  Former
Norris Trophy boy Brian Leetch clocked a -36.  Way to go!  Leetch
just had a brutal season.  He got off to a ridiculously poor
start, but was able to crank up the goal-scoring as the season
went along and ended with 17.  That's a decent number.  But he
only had 33 assists.  That's not a decent number.  More was
needed from Leetch.

The person who suffered the most from New York's collapse was
Mike Richter.  The man with Aunt Jemima on his helmet just got
thrown to the wolves on most nights.  He may not have played the
best hockey of his career, far from it on some nights, but
Richter was a workhorse for the Rangers, appearing in a league
high 72 games and logging 4143 minutes between the pipes.  His
perseverance, more than anything, has to be admired.              

TEAM MVP:  While it's hard to ignore Mike Richter's
efforts in net, this honor has to go to Wayne Gretzky.  Sure,
probably 20 of his 23 goals were pure luck, but he still scored
them.  I've never seen a player score more goals off nutty
bounces and deflections than Gretzky did this season.  Some
people say it's not luck since he's been doing it his whole
career, but guess what?  They're wrong.  I'm just amazed he can
skate at all with that horseshoe stuck up his ass.  But hey, they
don't ask you how you score them, just how many.  Gretzky wins
the award, tho', for his performance over the last couple months
of the season.  He just carried the club all by his lonesome. 
Well, his faithful assistant Smithers help somewhat by running
the nuclear power plant in his absence.  Exxxxxxcellent...

SURPRISE:  You want a surprise?  How about Tim Sweeney? 
The right winger scored 11 goals and 29 points in 56 games and
was a team best +7.  That's not bad for, you know, Tim Sweeney.

DISAPPOINTMENT:  Well, it's hard to beat Brian Leetch as
the team's leading individual disappointment.  Kevin Stevens is
also in the running, tho'.  The former 60-goal man continued his
steady decline, scoring just 14 goals and 41 points in 80 games
despite playing much of the season with either Gretzky or
LaFontaine.  Stevens still tries hard and means well, but the
scoring touch seems solid gone.
  
OFF-SEASON CHANGES:  The Rangers need plenty of help.  Pat
LaFontaine is likely going to retire.  Or at least he should
retire.  Then there's the problem of trying to re-sign Mike
Richter.  The netminder was left unprotected at the expansion
draft, so the Rangers could protect young Dan Cloutier, and
Nashville was quick to pick him up.  But Richter became an
unrestricted free agent on July 1 and is free to sign with anyone
he likes, with the Predators now in line to receive a second-
round compensatory pick.  It was expected that he'd just re-sign
with the Rangers, but word on the street is that New York has
balked at Richter's demands of a five-year, $30-million deal. 
The Rangers have now reportedly set their sights on fellow
unrestricted netminder Curtis Joseph.
    
There is massive hype that the Blueshirts are going to sign
unrestricted free agent Ron Francis.  The 35-year-old center
would be a tremendous addition to the club, but he's not really
going to be part of the club's rebuilding process.  If the
Rangers think they can be a Cup contender next season they're
kidding themselves.  This club is in bad shape.  They mortgaged
their future to win the Cup in '94, trading away the likes of
Tony Amonte and Doug Weight, now they're paying the price.  I
realize GM Neil Smith probably wants to try and wait to
completely rebuild until after Gretzky retires, but trading away
youth and trying to buy a championship just isn't going to work. 
The time to rebuild is now.  Gretzky's dreams of another Cup are
over.  Admit it.  Move on. 


-----------------------------------------------------------------
PHILADELPHIA FLYERS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Roger Neilson

ROSTER: C - Eric Lindros, Chris Gratton, Dan Lacroix, Joel Otto,
Mike Sillinger, Peter White. LW - John LeClair, Rod Brind'Amour,
Colin Forbes, Dan Kordic, Shjon Podein. RW - Alexandre Daigle,
Trent Klatt, Dainius Zubrus. D - Paul Coffey, Eric Desjardins,
Chris Joseph, Dan McGillis, Luke Richardson, Kjell Samuelsson,
Petr Svoboda, Chris Therien, Dave Babych. G - Ron Hextall, Sean
Burke.  

TEAM NEWS by Michael Dell

Our regular Flyer Correspondent, Eric Meyer, is off in
Switzerland.  That means I have to fill in and write
Philadelphia's season review.  That's trouble.  

All you really need to know about the Flyers this season was that
they were soundly beaten by the Buffalo Sabres in the first round
of the playoffs.  After last year's run to the Cup finals, a
first-round exit is unacceptable.  Whose fault is it?  Two words:
Bobby Clarke.  The Philly GM made more errors than the Bad News
Bears infield.  Let's review some of his more memorable gaffes... 

*  Before the dust even settled on the Flyers' defeat at the
hands of the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals, Clarke
fired head coach Terry Murray and replaced him with Wayne
Cashman.  No real problem there.  But Cashman didn't last the
1997-98 season.  With the club going in no particular direction,
Clarke decided to demote Cashman to an assistant and replace him
with Roger Neilson.  There was talk that Cashman actually
approached Clarke about making the switch, but that doesn't
absolve Clarke of guilt.  If Cashman wasn't up to the gig, Clarke
should have never hired him in the first place.  The way this
whole situation played out just made Clarke seem like an idiot.  

*  Clarke made another mistake during the off-season when he
decided to go after restricted free agent Chris Gratton.  In
order to acquire the big center, Clarke had to break up the famed
Legion of Doom line and send Mikael Renberg, along with Karl
Dykhuis, to the Tampa Bay Lightning.  He also had to give Gratton
a $9-million signing bonus.  That's a steep price to pay.  Plus
the move overloaded the Flyers with centers and stripped the club
of its best right winger.  The club never did find anyone to fill
in for Renberg on the top line, auditioning the likes of Dainius
Zubrus and Trent Klatt in the role, while Gratton struggled
trying to find his rightful place in the lineup.  

There were just too many damn centers.  Back in the day, the top
line was Eric Lindros, John LeClair, and Renberg... known as the
Legion of Doom to their friends.  The second line featured Rod
Brind'Amour with guys like Dale Hawerchuk and Pat Falloon.  Then
the Flyers rolled out the best checking line in hockey with Joel
Otto centering Shjon Podein and Klatt.  Thugs Dan Lacroix, Dan
Kordic, and Scott Daniels would fill out a fourth line when
needed.  That's a nice balanced lineup.  Everyone knew their
roles.      

It was a different story this season.  Lindros and LeClair
clearly missed Renberg.  So much so that the duo was even split
up at times.  When they were together, more often than not Klatt
was on the right side.  This meant that the checking line had to
be split up.  In fact, Otto was relegated to fourth line duty. 
He wasn't the only person to find his ice time cut. 
Brind'Amour's playing time dropped, as Gratton centered pretty
much the second line with newcomers Mike Sillinger and Alexandre
Daigle.  This left Brind'Amour with Zubrus and Podein on a third
unit.  The balance was gone.  No one knew their roles.

*  The glut at center was even worse before Clarke dealt Vinnie
Prospal to Ottawa, along with Falloon, in exchange for Daigle. 
Everyone in Philly was amazed at Daigle's skating ability when he
first arrived, but the charm wore off after he went like 20 games
without a goal.  He did get hot for a stretch late, but that,
too, eventually wore off and he was a non-factor in the
postseason.  Oh, that wacky Daigle...
    
*  It's been public knowledge that Philly's biggest weakness has
always been in net.  The tandem of Ron Hextall and Garth Snow was
not championship material.  Yet Clarke never addressed the
situation over the off-season.  Instead he waited as long as he
could before trying to get something for nothing in trading Snow
to Vancouver for Sean Burke.  This would have been a great trade
ten years ago, but Burke is beat.  He's better than Hextall, but
not by much.  The Flyers needed a superstar and Clarke delivered
a has-been.  

*  Clarke's final move of the season was perhaps his most
stupefying.  After refusing to trade Janne Niinimaa all last year
in order to acquire Curtis Joseph, Clarke turned around this
season and dealt the super skilled Finn to the Oilers for fellow
blueliner Dan McGillis.  Clarke said he made this move to add
more size and toughness.  Yeah, like the Flyers need more size
and toughness.  McGillis has his share of offensive talent, but
he's nowhere near Niinimaa's class when it comes to mobility and
puck movement.  Those are two things the Flyer defense could not
afford to lose, especially since Paul Coffey became persona
nongrata around Philly.             

All these moves by Clarke left the Flyers a bewildered mess. 
They'd play hard for spurts at a time but rarely put together 60
minutes of hockey.  The whole franchise seemed enveloped in a
sense of indecisiveness... sort of like Zippy trying to buy a new
car.  Indecisiveness is not something that characterizes a
winning hockey team.  But it characterized the 1997-98
Philadelphia Flyers.

Of course, matters weren't helped any by the continual health
concerns of Lindros.  The big guy missed 19 more games this
season, falling victim to a devastating open-ice hit by
Pittsburgh's Darius Kasparaitis.  The collision left Lindros with
a concussion and put him on the sidelines for several weeks.  He
returned to action just prior to the playoffs but never seemed to
regain his form.  Lindros has only played more than 65 games in a
season once in his six-year career, and even then he only
appeared in 73 contests (1995-96).  He's as fragile as a
stocking-clad leg lamp one would win in a contest for knowing the
name of Tonto's nephew's horse.  

TEAM MVP:  While Eric Lindros is often out of the lineup,
John LeClair is a constant.  The enormous left winger played in
all 82 games, marking the third consecutive season he has failed
to miss even a single game.  This was also the third consecutive
season that LeClair hit the 50-goal plateau, matching his career
high of 51.  He also led the club in points (87), power-play
goals (16), game-winners (9), and plus-minus (+30).  He may have
had a disappointing playoffs, but LeClair definitely carried the
club during the regular season.           

SURPRISE:  Hey, get this, one move that Bobby Clarke made
actually paid off.  He was able to acquire center, there's that
word again, Mike Sillinger from Vancouver for little more than a
cup of maple nut crunch.  Sillinger arrived in Philly and
immediately started scoring, finishing with 21 goals and 41
points while playing mainly on a line with Gratton and Daigle. 
So let's see, that makes Clarke about what, 1-for-50?
  
DISAPPOINTMENTS:  There were plenty.  Chris Gratton did
start to score late in the season but he still only finished with
22 goals and 62 points in 82 games.  Those numbers aren't worth
the disruption his arrival caused.  He also took more stupid
penalties than the Bad News Bears infield.  Hey, I liked it so
much the first time...

One reason Clarke decided to trade Renberg was that he felt
Dainius Zubrus was poised to step in on the top line with Lindros
and LeClair.  It didn't happen.  The 19-year-old wasn't ready. 
He ended the year with just eight goals in 69 games.  

When Paul Coffey goes into the Hall of Fame he'll have a ton of
jerseys to choose from, but chances are he won't be going in as a
Flyer.  Coffey, or "The Doctor" to his friends, seldom played
over the second half of the season and posted just two goals and
29 points in 57 games.  For some reason he just fell out of favor
with the Flyer brass.  He didn't even make an appearance in the
playoffs.  

OFF-SEASON CHANGES:  Who knows what Clarke will do next? 
He's already gotten rid of Coffey, sending him to the Blackhawks
for a mid-round draft choice.  Rumors are flying that he'll try
and sign one of the prominent unrestricted goaltenders, namely
Curtis Joseph or Mike Richter, but we've heard this sort of thing
before.  I'll believe it when he actually puts his name on the
contract.  And he better deliver that superstar goaltender in a
hurry.  Because if the Flyers don't make another run this coming
season, their window of opportunity will likely close.  A club
can only fail so many times with the same core players before it
has to be stripped to the ground and rebuilt.  That's why it was
no coincidence that Lindros and the Flyers agreed to just a one-
year contract for 1998-99.  If Clarke and Lindros don't make it
happen next season, they likely won't get another chance.
        

   
-----------------------------------------------------------------
TAMPA BAY LIGHTNING
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Jacques Demers
   
Roster:  C - Jason Bonsignore, Paul Ysebaert, Brian
Bradley, Darcy Tucker. RW - Mikael Renberg, Stephane Richer, Jody
Hull, Alexander Selivanov, Mikael Andersson, Sandy McCarthy,
Andrei Nazarov. LW - Rob Zamuner, Troy Mallette, Vladimir Vujtek,
Louie Debrusk, Corey Spring. D - Cory Cross, Karl Dykhuis, Yves
Racine, David Wilkie, Mike McBain, Jassen Cullimore, Enrico
Ciccone, Pavel Kubina. G - Daren Puppa, Corey Schwab, Mark
Fitzpatrick, Zac Bierk.

TEAM NEWS by Seth Lerman

The Tampa Bay Lightning can sum up their season in one simple
sentence. Thank God it's over.
  
The Lightning went through three coaches (Crisp, Paterson,
Demers); five goaltenders (Puppa, Schwab, Wilkenson, Bierk,
Fitzgerald); and an assortment of underachievers, castoffs, and
veteran minor leaguers.  The end result was two 16-game losing
streaks, and the worst record in the National Hockey League.
  
The season began with John Cullen's battle with cancer.  Prior to
the start of training camp, the 34-year-old was diagnosed with
cancer and underwent a bone marrow transplant during the season. 
As a tribute, his teammates wore a clover with number 12 on their
uniform jersey and allowed his sweater to hang in his locker.  At
the conclusion of the season, Cullen was once again in the news -
this time for a different reason.  The bone marrow transplant
was a success and the cancer is in remission.  Cullen should be
back in a Lightning uniform this fall.
  
On the ice, the Lightning were dismal, and in November, Terry
Crisp lost his job as coach.  His interim replacement, assistant
coach Rick Paterson fared no better, and was replaced by Jacques
Demers whose first press conference was probably one of the most
exciting days of the season.  He said some of the Lighting
players were cheating the fans with their effort and he vowed to
put an end to it.  To some degree he did, but the team still lost
at an alarming rate.
  
Several players were on the move, including Roman Hamrlik, Dino
Ciccarelli, Jeff Norton, Igor Ulanov, and Patrick Poulin.  In
separate deals, they were all sent packing with the Lightning
receiving Darcy Tucker, Jassen Cullimore, Jody Hull, Steve Kelly,
Bryan Marchment (since traded to San Jose), Jason Bonsignore,
Mark Fitzpatrick, and Stephane Richer in return.

Scoring was down throughout the league, but it was never more
prevalent than in Central Florida.  No player finished with more
than 16 goals, and only five players scored in double digits. 
Their power play was last in the league.

Injuries played a large part in the Lightning's season.  Daren
Puppa, Brian Bradley, Mikael Renberg, Corey Schwab, and Vladimir
Vujtek all missed a large portion of the season forcing the
Lightning to use minor league players not yet ready for NHL
action.

Off the ice, they made as much news as on.  Steve Oto, president
of the Lightning., spent the season searching for new ownership. 
This act alone put a cloud over the future of the team, and was
probably the main factor in the chaos which seemed to surround
the club.  In late May the club was finally sold to Palm Beach
insurance mogul Art Williams who immediately said that Demers and
general manager Phil Esposito had one year to change this club's
fortune.

TEAM MVP: There is only one choice for this award and it
goes to Rob Zamuner.  Despite the Lightning's dismal season,
Zamuner was consistent - both on offense and defense.  His early
season play was rewarded with his selection to the Canadian
Olympic Team.  He finished the season with 14 goals and 12
assists.  In the locker room, he was a team leader who often
provided support to some of the younger players.  His play was
rewarded with a multi-year contract at season's end.

SURPRISE: The biggest surprise of the season was the
spirited play of fourth line center Darcy Tucker following his
arrival from the Montreal Canadiens.  His gritty play impressed
Demers and Esposito and given the chance could blossom as a
second- or third-line center in the 1998-99 season.

DISAPPOINTMENT: On a team with many, Mikael Renberg wins
this honor.  The organization had high hopes that he could be an
offensive force on a team which desperately needed a player of
that magnitude.  He finished the season with 15 goals in 67
games.  He also posted zero game-winning goals and a plus/minus
of -37.

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: The Lightning have already begun
making changes.  Esposito acquired Bill Ranford from the
Washington Capitals and Craig Janney from the Phoenix Coyotes
in the week preceding the entry draft.  The selection of Vincent
Lecavalier was no surprise.  It's a safe bet to say that Esposito
is not finished.  With one year to change his club's fortune,
look for Esposito to acquire more veteran players.
  
Guy who have probably played their last game with the Lightning
include Daren Puppa, Brian Bradley, Paul Ysebaert, Vladimir
Vujtek, Daymond Langkow, and Jason Bonsignore.



-----------------------------------------------------------------
WASHINGTON CAPITALS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach: Ron Wilson

Roster: C - Adam Oates, Dale Hunter, Andrei Nikolishin, Mike
Eagles. LW - Steve Konowalchuk, Esa Tikkanen, Jeff Toms, Joe
Juneau, Todd Krygier. RW - Peter Bondra, Brian Bellows, Craig
Berube, Kelly Miller. D - Calle Johansson, Phil Housley, Jeff
Brown, Sergei Gonchar, Joe Reekie, Stewart Malgunas. G - Olaf
Kolzig, Bill Ranford.

Team News by Jason Sheehan

It was the season of dreams, one the Washington Capitals had
never experienced the likes of in 24 years of existence. For a
change, everything went their way. There were no quadruple
overtime losses in the first round.

This was a team of destiny that had a run lead them all the way
to the Eastern Conference Championship and beyond by utilizing
the excellent coaching skills of Ron Wilson and the greatest
goaltending seen this side of the solar system from Olaf Kolzig.

Unfortunately, like all good things, this season of dreams came
to an end in the Stanley Cup Finals when the Capitals were
trounced in four straight by the Detroit Red Wings. That series
featured the miss heard round the world in Game 2 when Esa
Tikkanen misfired from a couple feet away with an empty net
staring him in the face. Had he scored, the Capitals would have
won that game, tightened the series at one game apiece and nabbed
home-ice advantage.

But it wasn't meant to be.

However, don't think the Capitals stink, because they lost four
straight games to Detroit and permanently stalled Wilson's famous
clipboard at four. Detroit only won the first three games by a
combined three goals. A bounce here and a bounce there and this
series could have had a different outcome.

But in the end, Detroit was too powerful and balanced with its
potent attack for the jugular. If there's a way you can score,
Detroit can do it. Heck, ask a Red Wing to bounce a shot off the
scoreboard and past a goalie and he could probably do it. They
are just that good.

However, it wasn't a painful sweep. Each goal the Capitals scored
in the playoffs became bigger than any single goal in club
history. Todd Krygier's overtime winner in Game 2 against Buffalo
once stood as the biggest goal in Capitals history. Then, two
nights later, Peter Bondra surpassed Krygier's feat by rocketing
a slap shot past Dominik Hasek to win Game 3. The Cinderella
season of clutch goal scoring didn't end there. Joe Juneau scored
the greatest overtime goal in Capitals history when he picked up
Brian Bellows's loose trash to send the Sabres packing in Game 6.

Keeping all the hoopla from the great 1997-98 season in mind,
it's now time for the annual LCS awards gala.

TEAM MVP: In keeping with the spirit of Team MVP, LCS
doesn't use the same watered-downed system used by the National
Hockey League in distributing annual awards. Here, the playoffs
do matter. After all, most teams are based on how well they do in
the playoffs, not the regular season.

If the season had ended before the playoffs, Olaf Kolzig and
Peter Bondra would have been dual winners of this prestigious
award. Since the Capitals finished fourth in the Eastern
Conference, last season's winner, trainer Stan Wong, would have
been shut out of this award, despite the fact that Washington
lost nearly 500 man-games to injury (more than the 361 lost last
year). But injuries never kept the Capitals down for long, thus
Wong is ruled ineligible for Team MVP honors.

The winner of this season's award is a no brainer. It's Godzilla.
Without the man who dons a fire breathing lizard on his mask, the
Capitals would have been buried by the Boston Bruins in the first
round. After the Boston series, his spectacular play led the
Capitals past Ottawa and then sent Hasek, the winner of the Hart
Trophy and Vezina Trophy, blazing to the golf course. Kolzig
topped the man declared the best player in the game by the NHL.

As previously mentioned, Detroit would have buried the Capitals
if it weren't for Kolzig's stellar play. Washington was seriously
outplayed and out-manned by Detroit, yet Kolzig kept the Capitals
in the first three games before succumbing to the mighty
powerhouse in Game 4.

Kolzig first received an opportunity to become the No. 1
goaltender on opening night in Toronto when Bill Ranford went
down with an injury. And he didn't disappoint anyone. He finished
the regular season winning three player of the week awards. His
numbers were equally outstanding. He nearly tripled his career
total in victories by winning 33 games, while only losing 19 and
tying 10. His goals-against average stood tall at 2.20 with an
impressive save percentage of .920.

Kolzig added an extra element to his game in the playoffs. He
tied an all-time mark with four shutouts and won 12 games - many
of which came all by himself - and put up solid numbers with a
goals-against average of 1.95 and an enormously high save
percentage of .941. Those numbers made Hasek wet his pants. No
one goaltender killed Kolzig. Only Detroit's powerhouse murdered
Godzilla.

SURPRISE: This one is obvious. The biggest surprise from
this past season was the Capitals trip to the Stanley Cup Finals
for the first time in team history.

This award usually goes to an individual player, but no one man
other than Kolzig was responsible for Washington's heroics. It
was a total team effort.

The goals always came when needed as well as the big save that
can keep a team away from elimination. Just look at all those
overtime winners scored by Bellows, Juneau (twice), Krygier and
Bondra. Total team domination.

Another key aspect of team play was present in Washington's road
playoff record. Before losing two games in Detroit, the Capitals
had lost just one road game - which happened in Game 3 against
Ottawa - while winning seven. Opposing crowds never posed a
problem. Instead, rowdy fans clinging from the rafters just made
the Capitals play better.

DISAPPOINTMENT: Look no further than at defenseman Phil
Housley as the Capitals biggest disappointment. How bad was Mr.
Housley? Well, Wilson lost all faith in him. By the time the
playoffs began, he only saw ice team with his team on the power
play.

Look in the dictionary under the term "defensive liability," and
you may see a picture of Housley riding the pine next to the
backup goaltender. It all depends on which edition of a
dictionary you have. Obviously, older dictionaries don't have
pictures of Housley, because he hadn't broken into the league
yet. Heck, just use common sense and that will get you through
the bible of life.

General manager George McPhee probably hoped Housley would be
taken in the expansion draft by Nashville GM David Poile
(formerly the Capitals GM). However, the unprotected defensive
liability was not chosen, proving that Poile must have learned a
lot from watching Housley play in the 1996-97 season. Poile
instead took one-month wonder Andrew Brunette from the Capitals.

Now, the Capitals are forced to keep Housley for another season,
because of one smart agent with the savvy of HBO's Arliss
Michaels who enforced a no-trade clause in Housley's contract.
So, Capitals fans, prepare for another year of blue line terror
from Housley and 30-plus minutes of ice-time from players such as
Sergei Gonchar, Mark Tinordi, Joe Reekie and Calle Johansson.

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: The summer carousel has already begun
to churn in the Nation's Capital.  Although the motor will not
begin humming at full force until July 1, the Capitals already
know the fate of one player.

Esa Tikkanen likely won't return next season. Washington
announced that they won't grant Tikkanen his option year at the
NHL Draft.

Tikkanen was acquired for the playoff run last season. Although
he was a major factor in the first two rounds by shadowing
Boston's Jason Allison and Ottawa's Alexei Yashin, his play
faltered in the last two rounds. Tikkanen scored three goals in
the post-season but will always be remembered for the one he
missed in Game 2 against Detroit. He also deflected two shots
into his own net - one against Ottawa and one against Buffalo.

Heading into this off-season, the Capitals find themselves in a
position they've never been in before. That position: free agents
will no longer shun the Capitals. In the past, Brendan Shanahan
had said he refused to wear a Capitals sweater. Instead, he opted
for Hartford, a city that no longer has a team and a franchise
that has suffered years of agony.

The biggest fish in the pond Washington will be trying to attract
is Brett Hull. Hull, who has played in St. Louis since 1988, was
told June 30 that he won't be re-signed by the Blues. Rumors have
Hull going to Chicago, where his father Bobby spent many glorious
seasons. But Hull may not follow his father's best wishes.
Instead, he will probably play for the team willing to give him
the most money and the team that has a good opportunity at
winning a championship.

With that in mind, the Capitals have an excellent chance at
signing Hull. His greatest seasons came with Adam Oates centering
his line.  Oates was notorious for setting up his glorious
one-timers that buzzed into the open twine. Those were the years
when Hull became a legit NHL superstar by scoring 70-plus goals a
season.

Besides that, Oates has petitioned Hull's name to Capitals
management. It may not be long until Oates' wish is granted.

================================================================
   

   
  
================================================================
TEAM REPORTS
================================================================
EASTERN CONFERENCE
NORTHEASTERN DIVISION
-----------------------------------------------------------------
BOSTON BRUINS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach: Pat Burns

Roster: C - Anson Carter, Dimitri Khristich, Joe Thornton, Ted
Donato, Tim Taylor.  LW - Ken Baumgartner, Rob Dimaio, Sergei
Samsonov, Jason Allison, Mike Sullivan. RW - Steve Heinze, Landon
Wilson, Per Johan Axelsson, Jean Yves Roy.  D - Ray Bourque, Don
Sweeney, Dave Ellett, Kyle McLaren, Dean Chynoweth, Mattias
Timander, Dean Malkoc, Hal Gill, Darren Van Impe, Grant Ledyard.
G - Byron Dafoe, Rob Tallas.

TEAM NEWS by Matt Brown

What a difference a year makes!  Last year at this time Bruins
fans were whining about our last place Bruins, bemoaning Boston's
first playoff miss in 30 years, and wondering how many years of
looking up at the Islanders and Senators from the cellar we were
doomed to endure.

Ah, those were the days when a New Englander could feel
comfortable about the Bruins.  Fans could finally be full-fledged
members of the great unwashed legion of chronic complainers that
Celtics coach Rick Pitino termed "the fellowship of the
miserable."  After 30 years of having to listen to Red Sox,
Patriots, and even occasionally Celtics fans, grouse and bitch
about their teams, the Bruins finally had something other than
Jeremy Jacob's "entertaining product" to complain about.  They
were losers, big time.

Fortunately for the Bruins fans among us who are not clinically
depressive, the Bruins descent into hockey purgatory lasted only
one season.  From the depths of our despair, Harry Sinden and
Mike O'Connell went out and built a pretty solid hockey team for
1998.  What they did could easily serve as the semester scenario
for a Hockey Management 101 course (for that matter, maybe a grad
school seminar).  Good planning, smart personnel decisions,
and not a little bit of luck combined to make the Bruins worthy
candidates for comeback team of the year.

Yet it would be easy enough to present a long list of adversities
to convince a Canadian who spent the hockey season on a
malfunctioning Mir space station that the Bruins did worse than
last year. After all, with Joe Stumpel gone, Jim Carey a bust,
Don Sweeney out for most of the season, the Providence Bruins
playing doormat to the AHL, half of last year's players gone
(wait, maybe that goes on the "good" list), the coaching job
turned down by Boston University's Jack Parker, number one draft
pick Joe Thornton finishing his rookie year with like 10 points,
and the team being coached by ex-Canadiens, it sounds fairly
dismal.  Fortunately, all that bad news is just a setup for the
good things that this year's Bruins showed us.

First sign that things might not go too badly was that the Bruins
didn't get jobbed in the NHL lottery the way that their Celtic
brethren did.  They ended up keeping their number one position on
draft day, selecting the previously mentioned Joe Thornton.  Then
they hung on to their number eight pick (thank you, Whalers) to
grab IHL sensation Sergei Samsonov.  Now, when this pick was
announced, a goodly number of Bruins fans had a Dmitri Kvartalnov
deja vu experience. Russian forward, not too tall, scored lots
of goals in the IHL, rookie of the year on the team that won the
Turner Cup. Hmm.  Not that this was a bad trip, mind you. After
all, before fading into the obscurity of the Swiss league after
two seasons, Dmitri finished third in rookie scoring with enough
points to win in most years (he was behind Teemu Selanne and
Boston's own Joe Juneau). He was even rumored to have made a
defensive play once.

Then there was Pat Burns.  First reaction by a lot of fans was
"Oh my God."  After all, this was a guy who was at the helm of
the hated Habs during several of the Bruins worst nightmares.
After a while, though, after hearing the guy talk, and looking at
his record, the move started to take on an eerie and perverse
logic. Hey, maybe the Bruins coaching succession had gotten a
little inbred with ex-Bruin players. If so, Pat Burns changed
that pronto.

Then the pieces started falling into place.  Trading Jozef
Stumpel and the forever injured Sandy Moger brought Dimitri
Khristich and Byron DaFoe. Tim Taylor was picked up from Detroit,
and Mike Sullivan from Calgary, and Dave Ellett and Darren Van
Impe on defense, and suddenly losing Sheldon Kennedy and Trent
McCleary and Jeff Odgers didn't seem so bad.  

All in all, going from last place to fifth in the East is an
incredible climb, and the Bruins ended up with one of the largest
improvements in total points and goals against in NHL history. 
Going out in the first round against the Stanley Cup finalist
Washington Caps may have been painful, but it was a lot less
painful than watching Ray Bourque head to the golf course last
April.

The end result was that Pat Burns became the first head coach in
league history to be named coach of the year with three different
teams. Previously, Burns won the Adams trophy with the Canadiens
in 1989 and Toronto in 1993. Pat said, "To win it three different
times with three Original Six teams is something I'm very proud
of."

TEAM MVP: When a team improves as dramatically as the
Bruins did, and it is largely as a result of a whole team effort,
it is very hard to pick a single player as MVP.  Yet it would be
hard to go wrong by picking the player who had improved most
dramatically himself. That player is Jason Allison. Allison, who
picked up the affectionate nickname Bag-O-Pucks from some Bruins
fans, because that was how some media pundits and NHL analysts
regarded him after the big trade with Washington.  Most were
looking at Jim Carey and Anson Carter as the pluses in the trade,
with Allison having the rap as an underachiever.  But clearly,
Pat Burns lit the right fire under the young center's hockey
pants, because Allison essentially took all of the promise that
seemed to desert him when he left Juniors, and when given the
chance to be the Bruins go-to guy, delivered on NHL ice.  Time
and time again during the season, Jason Allison was the one who
lifted the team with an awesome goal or fearless pass.  He
learned to use his size and reach effectively, scoring many of
his goals with one hand on his stick and the other fending off an
attacker or two. Pat Burns taught Allison that confidence and
hard work build on one another.  Playing for a coach who will
settle for nothing less, Jason Allison became the player and team
leader he was once expected to be.  He had a lot of help along
the way from some talented players like Dimitri Khristich, but
Allison was clearly the player who made the Bruins tick.

SURPRISE: The cheap answer would be the entire Boston
Bruins organization, left for dead the year before, coming back
to make the playoffs, which few predicted. Second cheapest would
be to name Byron DaFoe.  Truth there is that anyone who watched
Byron play for Washington or LA could have predicted that this
guy, with a good defense, could shine, though perhaps not as well
as he did.  Heck, the Bruins with a good defense has to rank as
an even bigger surprise than Lord Byron's season. 

And there begins a tale.  Remember that most of last year's
defense spent this year in Providence (with unenviable results,
it might be added). Add the loss of Don Sweeney to shoulder
surgery for most of the season, and the Bruins don't look
imposing, or even solid, on defense.  Into this void skated Hal
Gill.  Gill was the towering rookie defenseman out of Providence
College who seemed destined, when training camp opened, to spend
most of the season back in Providence toiling under the wing of
Tommy McVie.

Not so. Gill immediately showed more promise than expected. Maybe
it was his size, or maybe it was playing his first shifts paired
with childhood idol Ray Bourque, or maybe it was just that crafty
guy Pat Burns who saw something rather good in the young man who
was literally head and shoulders above everybody else.  To the
surprise of practically everyone, Gill not only stuck with the
Bruins out of training camp, he went on to play the entire season
with the big club.  Hal Gill did not emerge as a dominant
player, or rookie of the year candidate, or the next Ray Bourque. 
What he did was provide size, strength, and determination,
complementing Bourque, Dave Ellett, and Kyle McLaren so that the
loss of Don Sweeney to injury didn't unhinge the whole team.  It
is a compliment indeed when the NHL's leading scorer Jaromir Jagr
is asked to name the toughest defense pairing in the NHL, and he
names Ray Bourque and Hal Gill.  If you watched the Penguins
play the Bruins this season, the reason from Jagr's praise was
obvious: unlike any other NHL defenseman, Hal Gill had the size
and the reach to drape himself around Jagr like a blanket, and
the quickness and strength to avoid being outmuscled by number
68.

DISAPPOINTMENT: In one way, after last year, nothing that
happened to the Bruins this season even comes close to
qualifying.  However, there probably isn't a Bruins fan with a
pulse who wasn't hoping for more from Joe Thornton.  Everyone
wanted the kid to come in and take over the town.  It didn't
happen. 

The questions that remain to be answered are: 1) How much of that
was Pat Burns' doing? And 2) Did Pat do right by the young man? 
Only time will tell, but here are some data points. Burns felt
that Joe would be better off without the pressure of being the
Bruins anointed savior, turning the whole franchise around
single-handedly his rookie year. That one is hard to argue with.
Pat Burns saw that Joe Thornton had a lot to learn about hockey
beyond junior.  That was precisely why he didn't send Joe back to
the Soo - what Joe needed to learn, he couldn't learn at Sault
Ste. Marie.  Pat felt the best thing for Joe was to make him work
hard on every shift, and work hard for every shift he was
granted.  Given the number of first round prima donnas we see
these days in hockey and other sports, this is a hard philosophy
to argue against.  

Whatever the reason and the results, the cost was that Joe
Thornton will never be NHL rookie of the year. He had one shot at
it, and was beaten out by teammate Sergei Samsonov.  Burns could
have easily reversed their ice time if he had wanted, and then
Sergei would have been denied the Calder Trophy. But that doesn't
mean Thornton could have won it.

The gain is that Thornton will come to camp this year knowing
more than ever what it takes to be a player, if not a star, in
this league.  He has an excellent short-term example to follow in
Jason Allison, who after a couple of years of infrequent ice time
and non-inspired play, found through Pat Burns the player he
always hoped he would be. We can only hope it goes the same way
for Joe Thornton.

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: Boston faces several real and potential
losses during the off-season. The most obvious is forward Mike
Sullivan, who was claimed by Nashville in the expansion draft.
The Bruins are also in danger of losing Ted Donato as a
restricted free agent, as well as Dave Ellett and Dimitri
Khristich.  Donato was disappointed with his lessened role with
the club, while the Bruins were disappointed when his production
dropped off after his high-sticking suspension.  Harry Sinden
indicated that Ted might be elsewhere next season. Ted's many
fans in Boston surely hope that whatever happens is for the best
- that Teddy either return to form as a Bruins mainstay, or that
he find success in a new home.

Dimitri Khristich is another Bruin who might end up somewhere
else, though the likelihood is less than with Donato.  Dimitri
seemed to cycle between team leader and sulker on a weekly basis.
One game he would be a ball o' fire, the next he would be close
to invisible. Some of the negatives were blamed on contract
issues, and some on his mercurial nature. Whatever else, one
clear thing was his positive influence on Sergei Samsonov -
Khristich was just what Samsonov needed as a role model, at least
most of the time. Together with Jason Allison they formed the
Bruins top line and, to a large extent, carried the offensive
load for the team. Hopefully Harry Sinden can recognize the true
value that Khristich brings to the Bruins, and create a contract
situation that allows Dimitri to concentrate on ice hockey.

Another guy who may end up out in the cold is goalie Jim Carey.
Carey underwent shoulder surgery last season after being sent to
the minors. Carey, who showed little trace of his Vezina Trophy
form in his starts with the Bruins, will either turn out to be
the comeback player of the year, or he will be forever known as a
guy who couldn't take the pressure of playing in front of his
hometown crowd.

On a lighter note, the Bruins have signed defenseman Shane Belter
of the Western Hockey League Kamloops Blazers to a three-year
contract. They also signed center Andre Savage from Michigan Tech
University to a two-year contract. Hmm... Belter and Savage. What
is Pat Burns trying to tell us?


-----------------------------------------------------------------
BUFFALO SABRES
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
Head Coach: Lindy Ruff

Roster: C - Mike Peca, Derek Plante, Brian Holzinger, Wayne
Primeau. LW - Geoff Sanderson, Miroslav Satan, Michal Grosek,
Paul Kruse. RW - Donald Audette, Matthew Barnaby, Dixon Ward, Rob
Ray, Vaclav Varada. D - Alexei Zhitnik, Darryl Shannon, Jay
McKee, Mike Wilson, Bob Boughner, Richard Smehlik, Jason Woolley.
G - Dominik Hasek, Steve Shields. 

TEAM NEWS by Michael Dell

The Buffalo Sabres had kind of a unique plan for success in 1997-
98.  Even though the club was coming off a remarkable 1996-97
season that saw it claim its first division title in 16 years,
Buffalo management decided that success was the devil.  The
Sabres brass spit in prosperity's face, tackled it to the ground,
and wrote "mucus" on its forehead.    

The changes came fast and furious.  GM John Muckler, hailed by
many as a genius for his front office wheeling despite a limited
budget, was unceremoniously fired.  NHL Coach of the Year Ted
Nolan, the man most responsible for Buffalo's turnaround and an
incredibly popular coach with fans and players alike, was then
told that his services behind the bench would no longer be
needed.  The final bullet in the foot came when the club dumped
Pat LaFontaine on his ear, freeing him to sign with the New York
Rangers.  

Needless to say, these moves were not greeted with applause. 
Fans were outraged.  Hell, even players were outraged.  Matthew
Barnaby, one of Nolan's most vocal supporters, blamed Dominik
Hasek for the coach's dismissal.  Many speculated that it was a
personal rift with the star goaltender that punched Nolan's
ticket out of town.  This sentiment was not lost on Barnaby.  The
scrappy winger even threatened to run Hasek on the first day of
training camp.  Aw, that can't be good for team morale.

Inheriting all these problems was ex-Sabre player Lindy Ruff. 
The former assistant with the Florida Panthers was getting his
first crack at being a head coach in the NHL under these less
than favorable circumstances.  Despite the tempest swirling
around him, Ruff accepted the burden without complaint and tried
to make the best of a bad situation.

Adding to the distractions was a contract holdout involving Mike
Peca.  While the Selke nominee sat, the Sabres struggled. 
Buffalo went 3-6-2 in its first 11 games.  Even when Peca
returned things didn't immediately improve.  On December 31 the
club was a meager 14-18-6 and out of the playoff picture.  This
despite the spectacular efforts of Hasek, who recorded six
shutouts in the month of December.  

Yet miraculously, the dawning of a new year brought with it a new
lease on life for the Sabres.  Whether it was the presence of
Ruff or just a renewed confidence spawned by Hasek's improved
play, Buffalo went on a rampage from January 1st on, finishing
22-11-1 over the season's final 34 games.  Hasek was the
catalyst, leading the league for the fifth consecutive season in
save percentage with a personal best mark of .932 and topping the
charts with a career high 13 shutouts.  These numbers made his
remarkable 2.09 goals-against average seem rather ordinary in
comparison.    

It's a good thing that Hasek had such an excellent season,
because the Sabres weren't going to win many games with their
offense.  Buffalo finished 17th overall in scoring with 211
goals.  And there wasn't a Sabre in shouting distance of the
league's leading scorers.  Miroslav Satan was the team's high
point man with 22 goals and 46 points in 79 games.  How can 46
points lead a team?  That's just sad.  Donald Audette was the top
goal-scorer with 24.  

While none of the Sabre forwards were winning accolades, Alexei
Zhitnik was gaining plenty of attention for his work along the
blue line.  The Russian defender blossomed into a legitimate
Norris Trophy candidate, playing a consistent hard-hitting,
intelligent brand of hockey for the first time in his career. 
Zhitnik always had the talent to be a major force, he just never
seemed to deliver on a regular basis.  That all changed this
season.  He was the cornerstone of the a shallow Sabre defense,
logging enormous amounts of ice time with regular partner Richard
Smehlik.  Zhitnik ended the season with 15 goals, 45 points, 102
penalty minutes, and a +19.  

Despite the strong stretch run, the Sabres could finish no higher
than sixth in the Eastern Conference.  That set the stage for a
first-round meeting with the mighty Philadelphia Flyers. 
Luckily, the Flyers were ripe for the picking.  Eric Lindros was
still groggy from his late season run-in with Pittsburgh's Darius
Kasparaitis, Janne Niinimaa was no longer in town, and GM Bobby
Clarke never really solved his club's weakness in net.  Combine
Philly's woes with Buffalo's hot play and the series was a
mismatch.  The Sabres rolled a sleepwalking Flyer squad in just
five games, closing out the series with a Michal Grosek overtime
goal in Game Five.  

The surprising thing about the win over the Flyers was that Hasek
wasn't his usual dominating self.  That pattern continued in the
first two games of the second round against the Montreal
Canadiens, but then Hasek picked up his play and carried the
Sabres to a convincing sweep of the Habs.  Barnaby even notched
his first career hat trick in the series to aid the cause. 
Barnaby and Hasek working together... it almost brings a tear to
the eye.  C'mon, everybody join hands.  I'd like to teach the
world to sing, in perfect harmony...  

Buffalo found itself in the conference finals for the first time
since 1979-80.  Opposing the Sabres were the surprising
Washington Capitals and goaltender Olaf Kolzig.  Hasek had the
hype, but Kolzig had been the best goaltender in the playoffs. 
The trend continued.  Save for a brilliant Game Five performance
by Hasek to single-handedly keep Buffalo's hopes alive, Kolzig
outplayed the Dominator and backstopped the Caps to a six-game
triumph.  

Some of the defeat's sting was relieved at the NHL Awards
Ceremony when Hasek won both the Hart and Vezina Trophies for the
second consecutive year.  In doing so he becomes the first
goaltender to ever win back-to-back MVP honors.  

While Sabre fans would have enjoyed an appearance in the Stanley
Cup Finals, it's hard to be disappointed with the club's overall
performance considering how the season started.  Not many people
would have picked the Sabres for a conference finalist back in
October.  The road chosen was a bit rocky, but it's hard to argue
with the results.  

TEAM MVP:  Dominik Hasek blah blah blah.  Hasek blah blah. 
Blah blah Hasek blah.  

SURPRISE:  Rookie Vaclav Varada was called up late in the
season and proved to be quite the sparkplug.  After tearing up
the AHL, Varada was expected to have a decent scoring touch, but
few thought he'd be so strong defensively.  Varada stepped right
in and solidified the checking line with Peca and Dixon Ward
without missing a beat.  He also proved to be a fierce
competitor, playing an aggressive, hard-nosed style that fit in
perfectly with the recent Sabre image.  

DISAPPOINTMENT:  Matthew Barnaby and Michal Grosek both
had weak regular seasons, with Barnaby scoring just five goals
and Grosek 10, but each made up for it with inspired playoff
performances.  Derek Plante, on the other hand, was awful from
start to finish.  Plante led the Sabres in scoring last season
with 27 goals and 53 points.  This year he slipped to just 13
goals and 34 points.  He was even worse in the playoffs,
collecting just three assists in 11 games.  This lack of
production opened the door for Curtis Brown to take Plante's spot
in the lineup on more than one occasion.  Expect to see more of
the same next year.  

Geoff Sanderson also deserves some mention as a disappointment. 
In fact, Sanderson pulled off the rare feat of being a
disappointment with three different teams... sort of the hat
trick of ineptness.  He started the year in Carolina before being
traded to Vancouver and eventually winding up with the Sabres. 
He was brutal at all three stops.  He just never found his niche
in Buffalo.  He was all over the lineup, playing with Brian
Holzinger and Audette one minute and then skating on a fourth
unit the next.  It's hard to believe that only a few years ago he
was a 40-goal guy and the pride of the Hartford franchise.  He
still has the speed and shot to be a weapon, it just seems that
his confidence is wrecked.

OFF-SEASON CHANGES:  Buffalo's already weak blue line took
another hit at the expansion draft when it lost tough guy Bob
Boughner to the Nashville Predators.  Boughner teamed up with
Jason Woolley to form the Sabres' third pair of defensemen.  His
spot will likely be filled by Jay McKee next season.  

Rob Ray is a free agent and may not be back.  It's hard to
imagine the Sabres without Ray.  And with Brad May and Boughner
already gone, if Ray splits the Sabres will hardly resemble the
squad that fought its way to the top in 1996-97.  

      


-----------------------------------------------------------------
CAROLINA HURRICANES
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Paul Maurice

Roster: C -- Keith Primeau, Jeff O'Neill, Kent Manderville, Bates
Battaglia. RW -- Ray Sheppard, Sami Kapanen, Nelson Emerson,
Kevin Dineen, Paul Ranheim, Steven Rice. LW -- Martin Gelinas,
Gary Roberts, Robert Kron, Stu Grimson, Stephen Leach. D -- Steve
Chiasson, Glen Wesley, Adam Burt, Curtis Leschyshyn, Nolan
Pratt, Steve Halko, Kevin Haller, Sean Hill. G -- Trevor Kidd,
Mike Fountain.

TEAM NEWS by Brad Kane

What if they played an entire season and no fans showed up?

That about sums up the maiden voyage of the Carolina Hurricanes. 
Yes, it's been said before, even harped on to the point of
exhaustion by some in the media, but the lack of warm bodies in
the seats of the Greensboro Coliseum will be the enduring image
of the NHL's first season in the Carolinas.  Due to high prices,
no discounts for season ticket holders, and a lack of a
centralized marketing plan, there was more green than red to be
seen on any given night in Greensboro.  If the Hartford Whalers
were the league's most unappreciated team, the Carolina
Hurricanes did nothing to change the franchise's lowly image.  

You have to feel sorry in a way for Jeff Heerema, the speedster
the Hurricanes took with the 11th overall pick of the entry
draft last weekend.  After putting on a Carolina jersey for the
first time, Heerema said he was proud to wear it.  To be sure,
Heerema most likely overstated this a bit, as any prospect
willing to please his new-found team would.  "Pleasantly
satisfied", would fit a bit better.  Sorry, Jeff, but there's not
much to be proud of here.

Anyway, why the fuss over attendance numbers, you ask?  Well, one
estimate figures that Carolina will lose 30 million dollars this
year.  That may be a bit high, but whatever the real number may
be, it will most definitely be in the red -- it's a color that
looks good in the seats, but not on an accountant's ledger. 
Salvation is on the way, they say, in the form of the new arena
currently under construction in Raleigh, the eventual permanent
home of the franchise.  However, recent questions have risen over
the project and now there is some doubt that it may be done in
time for the 1999-2000 season; the two-year stay in Greensboro
may have to be extended by another six months or so.  

But, hey, that's just speculation.  Not like there's any lack of
depressing news that actually happened. Namely, the failure to
reach the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year, currently the
league high.  Despite a fine post-Olympic run through March, and
just when goaltender Trevor Kidd looked like the second coming of
Georges Vezina, recording shutout after shutout, the 'Canes
rolled over and played dead when they most needed it, in the
final two weeks of the season.  The result: the Ottawa Senators
grabbed the final playoff spot, and the Hurricanes grabbed the
golf clubs...again.

So to make things as concise as possible, here's the LCS
quick-and-easy list, chronologically arranged, of what went wrong
in Carolina this year:

Oct. 1 to 20 -- Any relocated team needs a good start to
establish a fan base and give themselves confidence while
building a new home.  How does 1-7-2 strike you for a new
beginning?  A crowd of nearly 19,000 turns out to watch the home
opener, a loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and then
attendance dives to around 6,000 per game for the next two
months.  The bright spot: Kevin Dineen scores the first-ever goal
for the Hurricanes, in an opening night loss at Tampa Bay. 
Dineen scored the final goal for the Hartford Whalers versus,
yes, Tampa Bay.  At least Hartford won that one.

Nov. 2 -- Goalie Sean Burke is charged with assault on a female
after a fight with his wife at the couple's home.  Burke later
enters counseling and says that all is fine on the domestic
front.  The hockey front is another matter altogether, as Burke's
play spirals downward and he is traded, along with Geoff
Sanderson, two supposed pillars of the franchise, to Vancouver in
January.  Later, Burke is dealt to Philadelphia, but does
nothing to change the course of what turns out to be a horrible
year for him.

Dec. 26 -- Pick a game, any game, that defines the season in a
nutshell.  Well, here's my nominee -- a 5-2 home loss to the
Florida Panthers.  It's the second home loss in seven games to
Florida, who are beginning their plunge to the depths of the NHL. 
Quote of the day from head coach Paul Maurice, when asked if
things could get any worse for his team:  "I'd hate to say no."

January -- A month of turmoil for the team, one that sees Burke
and Sanderson get traded.  The two were the pair most responsible
for anything good that happened in Hartford in the last four
years of the Whalers' existence.  Neither adjusted well to
Carolina, and apparently couldn't adjust to life in Vancouver,
either.  Both were traded a second time -- Burke to Philadelphia,
as mentioned before, and Sanderson to Buffalo.

Feb. 27 -- Carolina's offer sheet to Detroit Red Wings center
Sergei Fedorov is ruled valid, and then Detroit matches it
anyway.  The move, designed to bring a premier player to the
franchise to build around, falls short.  Bad news, but the move
lets the fans and media know that Carolina is serious about
making a bid to be a contender.

April 11 -- Carolina loses at Toronto, 5-2.  It is one of the
worst efforts of the season.  They are eliminated from the
playoffs three nights later when Ottawa beats Florida to gain the
final Eastern Conference postseason spot.  

TEAM MVP: The choice for team MVP is an easy one.  Like
Dominik Hasek was an easy choice for league MVP, another goalie,
Trevor Kidd, was an easy selection for Hurricanes MVP.  After a
slow start due to his splitting time with Burke, Kidd won the
starting job full-time in late December and went on a tear.  His
standout performance: a scoreless string of 219:20 in early
April that gave hope to the 'Canes playoff chances.  In the end,
he proved Carolina GM Jim Rutherford right when Rutherford dealt
away hot prospect netminder J.S. Giguere to get Kidd from exile
in Calgary.  Rutherford took some heat for that deal, but the
numbers don't lie -- Trevor Kidd was the indisputable MVP for the
Carolina Hurricanes this year.  

Runner-up: center Keith Primeau, who, while at times
inconsistent, showed that he can lead a franchise effectively, if
not always successfully.  Now coming into his prime, he's a
player to watch next year.

SURPRISE: True, there were some notable pleasant surprises
in Carolina this year, like Gary Roberts being able to play more
than 40 games and Sami Kapanen assuming Sanderson's mantle of
Best NHL Player You've Never Heard Of.  However, credit must be
given where credit is due, and Paul Ranheim deserves the credit
here.  Openly referred to as a spare part by the franchise when
the season began, Ranheim was a frequent scratch throughout
October.  Then thanks to injuries (thank you, Stephen Leach) and
ineffective play (thank you, Steven Rice), Ranheim got into the
lineup on a permanent basis.  Easily one of the teams' top-two
penalty killers, along with Kent Manderville, Ranheim saw some
action on Carolina's second line and gave a solid, consistent
effort every night.  Not bad for a spare part.  But how does he
get rewarded for his fine efforts?  He's left unprotected in the
expansion draft, making Nashville GM David Poile's selection of
minor league wing Jeff Daniels a curious one.  Either the
Hurricanes had a deal worked out with the Predators that forbade
them from taking Ranheim, or Poile never saw a single Carolina
game this year.  

Runner-up:  Robert Kron, another guy who apparently was left for
dead and rebounded with a solid season.  Kron's versatility was
key to his success as he played all three forward positions
throughout the year.

DISAPPOINTMENT: If he was still with the team, Sanderson
would win this dubious honor by a landslide.  His disappearance
from radar altogether ranked as one of the league's more curious
events of the season.  But, going off-ice, who better to name
than owner Peter Karmanos.  Karmanos gets this one for one simple
reason: ticket prices.  And here's a special note for Mr.
Ponytail himself: 

No, it's not baseball, Pete.  No "build it and they will come"
deal.  In the south, hockey is still more of a curiosity than an
event, and not many folks will pay 50 bucks to witness a
"curiosity".  This is ECHL country, where $10 gets you a choice
seat.  In Greensboro, $10 gets you a parking spot where you can
listen to the game on the radio.  Yes, you're a whipping boy for
all that's wrong in Carolina, and to be honest you deserve it. 
However, to be fair, the time will soon come when bashing you is
no longer fashionable, but old and stale.  Some may say it
already is, but, heck, call me a traditionalist!  So, kudos to
you for lowering prices for next year, and kudos for having the
guts to admit you were wrong for having prices so high in the
first place.  But, keep one thing in mind as you rest your head
on the pillow tonight -- our editor can still kick your ass!

OFF-SEASON CHANGES:  Well, a net loss of 30 million sort
of negates any chance of going out and signing any big-name free
agents.  So, the core of the team should stay unchanged:  Kidd,
Primeau, Roberts, Kapanen, Martin Gelinas, Glen Wesley and Steve
Chiasson should all be back to lead the club next year. 
Rutherford has already been busy this off-season signing players
like Ranheim, Sean Hill, and Curtis Leschyshyn to long-term
deals.  But here's a list of what the Hurricanes' may need:

-- Something, anything, from Jeff O'Neill -- When he was drafted
in 1994, he was hailed as the future star of the franchise,
compared favorably to Doug Gilmour.  Well, four years later, the
franchise star is Keith Primeau, and O'Neill is struggling to
maintain his spot as the second line center.  But while O'Neill
tries to stay consistent (it's a cliche, be he really has
shown flashes of brilliance), many other teams have lined up in
an effort to try to pry him away from the Hurricanes.  This
off-season alone has seen some teams show interest.  That right
there should tell you that he's still got something; he just
needs to find it and harness it.  Memo to Rutherford:  Don't
trade this guy.  Hold on to him, and let him pay off this season. 
If he doesn't do it this time around, you have my permission
to see what you can get for him this time next year.

-- At least one natural center -- Primeau, O'Neill, and Kent
Manderville are it.  That's three centers.  You should really
have four.  It doesn't have to be a scorer; just someone who can
bang some people around, win some faceoffs, and bring some hockey
insight and experience to the dressing room, like perhaps Joel
Otto or Guy Carbonneau.  When the chips were down last year, the
'Canes crumbled.  Another veteran or two who knows what it
takes to win would be the solution to that not happening again.

-- A backup goalie -- Mike Fountain is the only legit candidate
for the position of the guy who re-fills Trevor Kidd's water
bottle, so he could probably use a little competition.  With the
NHL expanding exponentially these days, goaltenders are flying
everywhere.  Perhaps Rutherford should raise a net in the air and
see what he can catch.  Couldn't hurt.

-- Overall peace and harmony -- This won't be hard.  After a year
of turmoil, one that inevitably follows a franchise move, things
should go much more smoothly in Carolina.  Of course, the team
will still have to put up with that two-hour bus ride to HOME
games, but that should be nothing compared to last year.  

Ah, last year, a fleeting memory already.  Consider the slate
wiped clean.  The golf clubs will do for now, but get ready. 
It'll soon be time for another go-round with the NHL's strangest
team.  Here's to hoping we can all make it through.



-----------------------------------------------------------------
MONTREAL CANADIENS  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Alain Vigneault
   
ROSTER: C - Saku Koivu, Marc Bureau, Vincent Damphousse, Scott
Thornton. LW - Shayne Corson, Martin Rucinsky, Benoit Brunet,
Terry Ryan, Brian Savage, Patrick Poulin.  RW - Mark Recchi, Mick
Vukota, Turner Stevenson, Jonas Hoglund. D - Vladimir Malakhov,
Stephane Quintal, Patrice Brisebois, Peter Popovic, Craig Rivet,
Igor Ulanov, Zarley Zalapski.  G - Jocelyn Thibault, Andy Moog.

TEAM NEWS by Jacques Robert

BIG BUCKS WILL DECIDE MONTREAL FUTURE 

The 1997-'98 season was meant to be the one that would mark a
brand new start for the Montreal Canadiens, mostly due to a new
coaching staff headed by the youngest Habs coach ever, Alain
Vigneault, and the "technician" Dave King.

The reality proved that GM Rejean Houle made a good move hiring
those remarkable coaches, who did their best in regard to the
personnel they have to deal with. As a matter of fact, the Habs
had didn't have enough depth on offense or defense, but
goaltending was faultless - the duo of Andy Moog and Jocelyn
Thibault worked out pretty well. However, Moog won't be back next
season, since the 38-year-old goalie retired recently after 18
seasons in the NHL.  "Tbo" is to be the number one goaltender
next year. 

What also changed over the last season was the way Montreal
management figured out how to look at the new reality in the NHL
today. The good old tradition, trademark of the Montreal
Canadiens, is not gone but the Habs are more pragmatic now and
they know that they have to deal with the big business that's
going on in the NHL today instead of relying on their
attractiveness as far as hockey tradition is concerned. In other
words, Houle & Co. will have to choose among players who are
interested in renegotiating their contract. Mark Recchi, Vincent
Damphousse, Saku Koivu and Martin Rucinsky will obviously go
for the big contract and needless to say that, as a Canadian
team, Montreal's budget is not extensible since American dollars
rule in the NHL. Savvy decisions have to be made.

Take Damphousse... this guy earns $3.3 million for 18 goals and
59 points.  Captain "Vinnie" is overrated and he might be gone
before long. Vinnie has been lacking consistency for the last two
years, particularly in the playoffs. That comment does not apply
to Recchi who has been a big asset all season long. Montreal will
have to dig deep in its pocket in order to pay Recchi four- or
five-million dollars a year. But he is worth it!

As for Koivu, he could ask for $10.5 million over the next three
years. What a great deal of money considering Koivu's knee is
injured quite often! 

Now, what about Vladimir Malakhov? This defenseman is a quitter
plain and simple. He makes between $2.5 and $3 millions and he
took the liberty to abandon his teammates for the very last
playoff game of the season. Enough is enough.  On this occasion,
he was set straight by Damphousse and he might have lost some of
his credibility. 

As a matter of fact, after Christmas, Montreal hardly reached the
.500 mark at home while doing well on the road. By Christmas, the
coaching staff brought in enthusiasm but after the Olympics in
Nagano, Montreal proved to lack consistency mostly because of
injuries (Koivu- Ulanov) and fatigue showed by gold medalist
Rucinsky. All in all, the two playoff rounds played by the Habs
were the reflection of their season. Remember:

First Round vs Pens - The Montreal Canadiens remained fragile as
the first two games of the series (1-1) against Pittsburgh are
wrapped up. Undoubtedly, Saku Koivu was being missed big time by
his teammates, but even healthy, Koivu couldn't make up for the
lack of commitment demonstrated by Damphousse or Corson. If the
first game proved to be a very good one offensively and
defensively, Game Two revealed a chronic flaw: the lack of
discipline. And it's costly when comes time to contain guys like
Jaromir Jagr or Stu Barns.

A seventh game was not necessary for Montreal to win the series
against Pittsburgh and advance to the second round for the first
time since 1993 (4-2). Ironically, Damphousse & Co. wrapped up
the series at the Molson Centre in Game Six (3-0), a place where
victories have not come easily this year. Now let's examine what
Montreal did against Buffalo in the second round. 

Second round vs Sabres - One good game, one bad game in
Buffalo... and the Canadiens are trailing by two before the
series moved to Montreal. What a pity Vigneault's boys couldn't
repeat the first game performance that didn't materialize into a
victory due to Hasek's exceptional play!  In the second, lack of
commitment offensively and defensively and poor goaltending
(Moog) was just enough to let Buffalo get back on track and prove
that they should be favored in the series.

And it was tee time sooner than expected! Although the Montreal
Canadiens had significantly improved their game as compared to
last year's performances, this elimination in four straight games
at the hand of the Buffalo Sabres left a bitter taste. 
Vigneault's boys went in overtime (Game One) and even in double
overtime (Game Three) and... lost. The main reason: goalie
Dominik Hasek's outstanding performances and, incidentally,
defensive weakness, not to mention discipline problems displayed
by veterans like Damphousse and Manson.

Now let's see how Houle & Co. will deal with contracts and.. big
bucks.  Needless to say that next season's performance will
depend on how generous the Molson ownership is to keep big shots
in Montreal.

TEAM MVP: Mark Recchi for his commitment to the team all
season long.

SURPRISE: Patrice Brisebois, who was the Montreal
Canadiens player nominated for the Bill Masterton trophy.

DISAPPOINTMENT: Captain Vincent Damphousse. He is not the
leader the Montreal Canadiens could rely on. This was
particularly obvious in the playoffs as he got dumb penalties at
crucial moments (VS Buffalo)

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: On the trading front, Sebastien
Bordeleau was sent to Nashville for future considerations, while
goalie Tomas Vokoun was selected by the Predators in the
expansion draft.


                                                            

-----------------------------------------------------------------
OTTAWA SENATORS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Jacques Martin

Roster: C - Alexei Yashin, Vaclav Prospal, Radek Bonk, Sergei
Zholtok, Shaun Van Allen. LW - Randy Cunneyworth, Shawn
McEachern, Magnus Arvedson, Denny Lambert. RW - Daniel
Alfredsson, Pat Falloon, Andreas Dackell, Bruce Gardiner, Chris
Murray. D - Lance Pitlick, Chris Phillips, Wade Redden, Stan
Neckar, Jason York, Janne Laukkanen, Igor Kravchuk. G - Damian
Rhodes, Ron Tugnutt.

TEAM NEWS by The Nosebleeders

Coming off their best season since rejoining the NHL in 1992, the
Ottawa Senators had hoped to recharge their batteries and avoid
any turmoil over the off-season in the hopes that, come October,
they could pick up where they left off in 1996-97. But, alas, it
was not meant to be.

Even throughout last season, everybody knew that Sens GM Pierre
Gauthier's biggest challenge over the off-season was to re-sign
the Swedish Messiah Daniel Alfredsson. At first, Gauthier seemed
committed to task as he quickly initiated talks with Alfie's
agent Michael Barnett. But then the summer heat must have got to
Gauthier because talks suddenly slowed to a halt. Days turned to
weeks, weeks to months...and Alfie was nowhere to be seen.

Regardless of how promising the 1997-98 edition of the Senators
appeared, the team couldn't escape the dark cloud that hung over
them due to the Alfredsson fiasco. Popular opinion around Bytown
was that Alfie earned his dues, and after playing for a bargain
basement price of $320,000 per year, it was 'time to show him da
money.'

Despite predictions from Sens' GM Pierre Gauthier that Alfredsson 
would never play this season, management eventually relented and
the Swedish Star was signed to a four-year, $10-million contract
just four games into the season.

Controversy aside, the rest of the Senators season was...well...
quite average. Although the team did display marked improvement
in defense over last year - shaving over 25 goals against - the
Sens still struggled at bulging the opposing team's twine. As a
result, Sens fans had to sit back and watch their beloved flirt
with .500 throughout the season, belly flopping above and below
the magic number night in and night out, never once showing any
desire to solidify a winning record. Strong road wins against
Colorado, Dallas and New Jersey would be quickly followed up by
agonizing losses to Carolina, Tampa Bay and the Islanders. You
get the picture.

Thankfully, however, the Sens had just enough ammo to notch their
first winning record in modern franchise history, leading to
their second straight playoff appearance, once again at the
expense of the Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes.

And, once again, it took a brilliant and exciting playoff run
against the Devils and Caps to revive the spirit of Senator fans.
Despite seeing their Cinderella run halted in five games by the
evil Washington Capitals in Round Two, you can bet that those
measly 11 playoff games did wonders to rejuvenate the team's
season ticket sales for next season.

So, after 105 games, 6200 minutes of hockey, and 3.5 seconds of
brilliance from Radek Bonk, let's take a gander at some of the
brightest - and dimmest - moments of the Senators' 1997-98
season.

* SHINE ON - 18-year-old rookie Marian Hossa notches seven points
in the Sens silly season. Although he was sent back to junior
just seven games into the regular season, Hossa's impressive
efforts (he had never skated on a North American-sized rink
before) proved to many that Ottawa, despite picking in the middle
of the first round, walked away with the steal of the 1997 entry
draft. Of course, it didn't hurt that he then went on to lead his
Portland Winter Hawks to the Memorial Cup championships.

* SHINE OFF - In one of the strangest moves of the season, Sens
GM Pierre Gauthier refuses to allow players to wear jersey
numbers above #35 (goaltenders excepted). Alex Daigle (R.I.P)
goes from 91 to 9, Bonk trades in his 76 for 14, and Stan Neckar
dropped from 94 to 24. The decision also prevents rookie Chris
Phillips from wearing his beloved 77. Instead, he opts for #5,
then #4.

Guess that rules out any chances of Wayne Gretzky finishing his
career in Bytown?

* SHINE ON - Last season, Sports Illustrated - you know, the
official magazine for junior bowling championships - showed how
little they knew about professional hockey when they proclaimed
Ottawa to be the worst professional sports franchise in North
America, despite their impressive run to the playoffs. Flash
forward to the beginning of the 1997-98 season, and suddenly the
cobwebs at SI predicted the Senators to finish first in the
Northeast Division. Hmmmm.....

* SHINE OFF - Just five games into the regular season, troubled
forward Radek Bonk notches his third goal of the season in a game
against Anaheim. All signs indicated that Bonk was ready to break
out of his shell. Seventy-seven games later, Bonk finishes with
just four more goals.

* SHINE OFF - In yet another strange front office move, Gauthier
offers notorious underachiever Alexandre Daigle a one-year
extension on his contract for $1.9 million. A few months later,
Gauthier ships him off to the Philadelphia Flyers for Pat Falloon
and Vinnie Prospal. 

* SHINE ON - See Daigle trade above. Falloon looks like another
disaster waiting to happen, but Prospal has a lot of promise. And
at least we managed to finally rid ourselves of a PR nightmare in
Daigle.

* SHINE OFF - Speaking of Philadelphia, who can forget the big
fight between the Flyers' Chris Gratton and Stan Neckar? Final
score had Gratton winning on points, 15-2. 

* SHINE ON/OFF - Early in the new year, Ottawa unveils its third
jersey, a menacing 3-D centurion peering out from a toga swash of
red, white and black. 'Shine On' because the Sens were virtually
unbeatable when wearing the jerseys. 'Shine Off' because they are
just so damn ugly.

* SHINE ON - Ottawa sends two players - Daniel Alfredsson and
Igor Kravchuk - to the All-Star game in Vancouver, making it the
first time since 1993 that more than one Senator participated in
the extravaganza. A few months later, Ottawa sends five of its
boys to the Olympics in Nagano, Japan - Alfie, Kravchuk, Alexei
Yashin, Shawn McEachern and Janne Laukkanen. Way to go, boys!

* SHINE OFF - Proving once again that they prefer ballet style
hockey, the Sens unload tough guy Dennis Vial early in the
season, then leave Denny Lambert unprotected, allowing the
expansion Nashville Predators to gobble him up in the recent
Expansion Draft. To add insult to injury, the Sens had glorious
opportunities to land bruisers like Sandy McCarthy and Gino
Odjick, only to turn a blind eye. The next time Yashin wobbles to
the bench with a bloody mouth, Sens management should know why.

* SHINE ON - Alexei Yashin donates a whopping $1 million to the
National Arts Centre to help promote Canadian and Russian
cultural arts. Remember people, Yashin is only 24-years-old.

* SHINE OFF - That same night, Sens fans learn that Radek Bonk is
busted for drunk driving. Even more embarrassing is the Sens
front office response, promising to reimburse players who decide
to cab it home after a bender. Some role models...making millions
of bucks, and they still need added incentives to do the
'responsible' thing? Puh-lease...

* SHINE ON - The stretch run to the playoffs. For the second
straight year, Sens fans were on the edge of their seats, taking
in each game as if it were Judgement Day. Kinda made up for all
of those February San Jose Shark games we were forced to attend
at gun point.

* SHINE OFF - Steve, one half of the famed Nosebleeders duo,
continues to struggle with names like Alexie Yashin, Ron Tugnut
and Igor Kravhcuk. Dave steadily goes insane.

* SHINE ON - The Corel Centre Faithful. Sellouts to the left of
me, sellouts to the right of me. As for the playoffs...don't get
us started. White towels waving, screaming at the top of their
lungs, blasting out the occasional "Woo-Hoo!". Best fans in the
league. Period.

* SHINE OFF - Ottawa is forced to play Buffalo three times in the
final ten games of the season. Can you spell O-V-E-R-K-I-L-L?

* SHINE ON - Sens big 3-2 OT win March 25 at Madison Square
Garden not only meant a rare win in The Big Apple, but it also
knocked the Rangers out of the playoff race. 

* SHINE OFF - Sens golden prospect Marian Hossa rips his knee to
shreds in the dying minutes of the Memorial Cup final, which his
Portland Winter Hawks went on to clinch. News emerges that Hossa
will need major surgery and at least six months of therapy.

* SHINE ON - Damian Rhodes and the Sens' systematic dismantling
of the first-place New Jersey Devils in Round 1. This was not a
fluke folks. Ottawa dominated New Jersey in every category,
beating the Devils at their own game. As for Rhodes....talk about
making people forget about last season's leg injury fiasco.

* SHINE OFF - Damian's bleach blonde, buzz coif spreads like
wildfire throughout Bytown. Even geriatrics took to the 'do,
making us yearn for the traditional comb-over, or better yet,
stapled rugs.

TEAM MVP: Alexei Yashin.  Normally, Daniel Alfredsson's
name is engraved on the trophy long before the season even
begins. But given his injuries, Alfie could not be considered
this year. That's not to say that Yashin won by default...
nosiree. Yashin emerged this year as the team's true leader, both
on and off the ice. Whether he was scoring sweet goals, setting
up chances, barking commands on the bench, or donating mucho
donair to local arts programs, Yashin did the Senators proud this
year.

Yashin's 'coming of age' comes at the right time, too. The Sens
are one of the youngest teams in the league and steadily climbing
the ladder of respectability. Having a veteran leader like Randy
Cunneyworth helps overcome lack of experience, but having a young
leader like Yashin gives the club's youth motivation to strive
for similar glory.

And, besides, his numbers - 33 goals, 39 assists, 72 points -
were fabulous, given this team's general disdain for scoring
goals. In fact, second best scorer on the team, Shawn McEachern,
was a full 24 points back, despite playing the same number of
games as Yash. Case Closed.

Runner-Up - Wade Redden. Redden has developed into a solid
stay-at-home defenseman who can score when he needs to, as his 21
points attested. He also notched an amazing +17 rating in only
his second full year in the NHL.

SURPRISE: Chris Phillips.  When Phillips held out last
season, many could not believe such a brash attitude by a young
player who had yet to prove himself in the Bigs. Two years later,
we now know why. Everybody knew that Phillips would play this
year, but how many actually thought he would be counted on to
play both forward and defense, would deliver some of the biggest
hits of the season, or score some of the biggest goals of the
year? This is a predominantly young and inexperienced team, and
unlike other clubs, Sens rookies do not have the luxury to
quietly and slowly grow accustomed to the NHL calibre of play a
la Joe Thornton. The pressure to perform is indeed high,
particularly in front of some of the most knowledgeable hockey
fans around.

In his rookie season, Phillips went beyond expectations and, at
times, was the best player on the ice for Ottawa. This lad will
one day be hoisting the Norris Trophy, mark our words.

DISAPPOINTMENT: Radek Bonk.  C'mon now, are you really
shocked?  He started off so well, then dove right back into his
shell, finishing with an awful seven goals and 16 points. Heck,
even Denny Lambert scored more points than Bonk, and he was
recently left unprotected! Even more discouraging is the fact
that Bonk has the size to be a big force in front of the net or
in the corners. That alone would quiet his fiercest critics
(read: Nosebleeders), yet he continuously refuses to use his
biggest assets. Frankly, who really cares that Bonk has developed
into a solid faceoff specialist? After winning the draw, Bonk
promptly phases into the background as a spectator. Not much
benefit in winning a faceoff if you must immediately go
shorthanded for the rest of the shift, right?

Get rid of Bonk, and use the money he's gobbling up for more
productive purposes.

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: If the Sens continue at this pace of
improvement, they should be hoisting Lord Stanley's mug in June
of 2001. First round last year, second round this year,
conference finals next year, finals in 2000, glory in 2001. Yup,
if only life were that predictable...

But if Ottawa truly believes that they can compete for the Cup in
less than two years, then they need to make a few changes,
namely:

1. Get a Natural Goal Scorer.

Gee, Einstein, really? Seriously, Ottawa has two potent
playmakers in Yashin and Alfredsson. But where's their finisher?
Remember the Islander dynasty of the early 1980s? They had Bryan
Trottier, the playmaker, feeding Mike Bossy, the finisher. The
Broad Street Bullies? Clarke the playmaker, Leach the finisher.
The Oilers? Gretzky the playmaker, Messier, Anderson and Kurri
the finishers. 

Ottawa had high hopes that McEachern would fill that role nicely,
but he lacks the consistency to make it happen. Remember the
playoffs, in which he failed to even score one goal? 

What Ottawa needs is a guy who can circle the net looking to tuck
home any rebounds or gently deposit pucks that are so sweetly
placed on the tape of their blades courtesy of Yash and Alfie. He
doesn't have to be huge, nor does he have to command an enormous
price tag. He just has to have the natural (sometimes fluky)
ability to score those key goals. 

If you are still confused as to what I mean, just take a gander
at what Brian Bellows did for Washington in the playoffs this
year.

2. Quit Ballet Lessons.

We already duly noted this point earlier on, but Ottawa has to
wake up and realize that the NHL isn't exactly non-contact
ringette. So long as NHL brass continue to insist that the game
be played by overgrown men skating at warp speed within a tightly
confined 200x85 area, there is going to be hitting, and plenty of
it. Yashin is a big boy, and Alfredsson has the guts to fight
back, but we think we'd rather see them concentrate on scoring
goals than running for their dear lives.

For every championship team with Wayne Gretzky, there was a Dave
Semenko. For every Wayne Cashman, there was a Stan Johnathan. And
for every Steve Yzerman, there was a Darren McCarty. Get the
point?

3. Protect Craig Ramsay at All Costs.

Generally, organizations show good will to their assistant
coaches by allowing them to interview for any vacant head
coaching positions in the league. And Ottawa is no exception, as
assistant coach Craig Ramsay has reportedly shown interest in the
Chicago job. Well, stop that nonsense once and for all!

If you are looking for a reason why Ottawa has improved so much
in recent years - especially with such a young group of players -
then look no further than Craig Ramsay. Ramsay is the Xs and Os
man behind the team's stingy defense and solid goaltending. There
is no question that he will one day make a fine head coach, but
Ottawa should chuck its altruistic character out the window and
do whatever it takes to ensure that he is around to help lead the
team to a Stanley Cup championship.

Just look at what happened in New Jersey in 1996 after assistant
coach Larry Robinson left the Devils to take the L.A. Kings'
helm. Nuff said.

So, what other front office moves are expected? Frankly, who
really knows. GM Pierre Gauthier is about as talkative as a mute
snail in rigor mortis. Chances are good you will not see the
Tugnutt-Rhodes tandem next year as one of them, likely Tugnutt,
will be shipped off to another team. And don't be surprised if
Randy Cunneyworth is forced off the ice and into the front office
a la Brad Marsh. Cunneyworth has proven his worth to the
organization, but slowly that value is shifting away from the
ice.



-----------------------------------------------------------------
PITTSBURGH PENGUINS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach: Kevin Constantine
     
Roster:  C - Ron Francis, Martin Straka, C. Ferraro, Tyler
Wright, Robert Lang, Sean Pronger. LW - Stu Barnes, Andreas
Johansson, Alex Hicks, Garry Valk. RW - Jaromir Jagr, Alexei
Morozov, Ed Olczyk, Robby Brown, Robert Dome. D - Darius
Kasparaitis, Kevin Hatcher, Chris Tamer, Fredrik Olausson, Neil
Wilkinson, Ian Moran, Brad Werenka, Jiri Slegr, Tuomas Gronman. G
- Tom Barrasso, Ken Wregget. 

TEAM NEWS by Michael Dell

1997-98 marked the first season of the Post-Lemieux Era in
Pittsburgh Penguin hockey.  And with the club's Stanley Cup depth
all but drained, it was clear that the franchise needed to go in
a new direction.  The days of beating opponents with sheer talent
alone were over.  Pittsburgh was going to have to survive with an
overall team commitment to defense.  Surprisingly, that's exactly
what happened.  The Penguins won the Northeast Division with a
record of 40-24-18 and finished fourth in team defense, allowing
a mere 188 goals.  That's some wild, wild stuff.

But the transformation wasn't easy.  The first step was finding
the right coach.  After a lengthy interview process, GM Craig
Patrick decided on former San Jose Shark bench boss Kevin
Constantine.  It was a wise decision.  

From his first day on the job, Constantine began shaping the
Penguins in his image.  He demanded hard work and dedication from
his troops and made them accountable for their actions. 
Practices were no longer just for show.  He put the players
through their paces, signaling an end of the "country club"
atmosphere that characterized the Penguins the past several
years.  Jaromir Jagr had the habit of attending practice without
a helmet.  That changed under Constantine.  It may not seem like
much, but Jagr strapping on a hat was symbolic of things to come. 
This was no longer a player-driven team.  Constantine was in
control.    

It's also important to note that Constantine wasn't alone.  He
had four assistant coaches, three more than Eddie Johnston had
the previous season.  And he knew how to take advantage of the
added help.  Constantine delegated authority beautifully.  Don
Jackson was in charge of defense, Mike Eaves was the offensive
coordinator, Rick Kehoe handled the power play, and Troy Ward
stayed upstairs and was in charge of video.  When it was late in
the game and the Penguins needed a goal, it was Eaves that
diagramed the play at the bench, not Constantine.  When they were
protecting a lead late, Jackson took over.  Allowing others to do
their jobs is the sign of a great leader.  But rest assured,
whenever something went wrong, those in question had to answer to
Constantine.

Once the coach was in place, the Penguins next had to address
their personnel problems.  The club's depth was almost
nonexistent the last couple years.  The situation was exasperated
when restricted free agent Petr Nedved declined the club's
contract offers and decided to sit out.  New bodies were needed. 
Not wanting to spend money on high-priced free agents and with no
candidates within the organization ready for promotion, Patrick
took a trip to the junkyard and salvaged the careers of Rob
Brown, Martin Straka, Robert Lang, Brad Werenka, and Jiri Slegr. 
These guys were written off for dead, yet Patrick took a chance
on them and all five became significant contributors, especially
in the defensive end.  It's hard to imagine what the season would
have been like without their surprising efforts.  

Pittsburgh's bid for a new defensive identity also got a major
boost from the return of Tom Barrasso.  After playing in just
five games in 1996-97 because of shoulder surgery, there were all
sorts of rumors that Barrasso would be cut loose from the
organization.  But Patrick never lost confidence in his former
Cup winning goaltender.  He never questioned Barrasso's ability
to make a successful return.  Tommy repaid that loyalty with an
amazing season, posting a 31-14-13 record, a 2.07 goals-against
average, a .922 save percentage, and a franchise record seven
shutouts.  And get this, he even talked to the media.  Barrasso
was simply incredible in every aspect of the game.  His
performance earned him a well deserved Vezina Trophy nomination.  

Having a healthy Barrasso was crucial to the cause since backup
Ken Wregget appeared in only 15 games due to injury.  This meant
that when Barrasso did get banged up a little bit rookie Peter
Skudra was called upon to carry the load.  An unbelievably quick
goaltender, Skudra relied on speed and reflexes to go 6-4-3 with
a 1.83 goals-against and a .924 save percentage.  Those numbers
are excellent, but don't confuse Skudra for '96-97 phenom Patrick
Lalime.  Skudra is faster but has nowhere near the technique or
positioning of his predecessor.  The only reason Skudra got his
chance was that Lalime turned down a two-way contract with the
Penguins and sat out all season before being traded to Anaheim at
the deadline for center Sean Pronger.  With the proper coaching
Skudra could develop into a quality netminder, but he's still an
extremely raw talent.  

Because of Barrasso's stellar play in net, the Penguins were
allowed to feel their way into Constantine's new system over the
first several weeks of the season.  Without Barrasso bailing them
out early and stealing a few games, the transition would have
been much more painful, and would have in all likelihood failed.  

The system Constantine was trying to employ wasn't as obvious as
a left wing lock or neutral zone trap.  While the Penguins would
trap on occasion, their new style was just that... a style.  More
than just Xs and Os, Constantine wanted his players to play
intelligent hockey, concentrating on defense first and letting
the offense come as a result of hard work, not risky gambles or
individual efforts as in the past.  

Pittsburgh needed this team concept because it just didn't have
the talent it once did.  This was a one-line team.  Luckily, that
one line was the highest scoring unit in the league, featuring
Ron Francis, Jaromir Jagr, and Stu Barnes.  

The trio wasn't together all season, tho'.  Rookie Alexei Morozov
started the year with Francis and Jagr, and even scored the
team's first goal of the season on his very first shot of his
first shift.  But the youngster was playing out of position on
the left side and just wasn't ready for such a marquee
assignment.  Andreas Johansson was next in line and played some
solid two-way hockey, but a shoulder injury knocked him out of
action and opened the door for Barnes.  Good ol' Stu was more
than happy to skate with the two superstars and immediately
clicked.  Not only did Barnes register career highs in goals
(30), assists (35), points (65), and power-play goals (15), but
he also became the team's top faceoff man, taking some pressure
off Francis.

Stu's finishing ability was the perfect compliment to Francis'
passing and Jagr's puck possession.  But he was just along for
the ride.  This was still Francis and Jagr's show.  After getting
off to a slow start, the Czech Wonder Kid emerged as the only
100-point scorer in the NHL, bagging 35 goals and 102 points in
77 games.  Many questioned the free-spirited Jagr's ability to
get along with Constantine, but the two made it work.  There was
a reported blowup towards the end of the season, but it was
nothing that was detrimental to the team.  Jagr vented some
frustration with his own play and Constantine let him.  It was as
simple as that.  

One reason that Jagr and Constantine were able to get along was
that Francis often worked as a mediator.  Jagr has tremendous
respect for Francis and would pretty much do whatever his veteran
center tells him.  People think that it was Lemieux that tutored
Jagr, but Francis is the real man behind Jaromir's growth as a
player.  And he did more this year than just keep the peace. 
Francis had yet another remarkable season, recording 25 goals and
87 points while appearing in all 82 games.  

Pittsburgh's next highest scoring forward was Marty Straka.  The
little Czech played both center and wing this season, chipping in
19 goals and 42 points.  While he seemed to misplace some of his
old scoring touch, Straka became a much better defensive player
under Constantine's guidance, even anchoring the penalty kill. 
In fact, he was arguably the club's second best all-around player
behind Francis.              

Likewise, Robby Brown also went through his own defensive
renaissance.  Known as a floater in his first tour of duty with
the Pens, Brown wasn't about to let a second shot at the NHL go
to waste after languishing in the minor leagues the last five
years.  Brown was one of the first to commit to Constantine's
style and won the coach over with an inspired showing at training
camp.  While he still had decent hands around the net, and
finished sixth on the team in scoring with 15 goals and 40
points, Brown found his true niche as a checking winger on the
third line, joining Robert Lang and Alex Hicks to forge a steady
checking unit that often went against the opposition's best. 
Lang even displayed enough skill to step up and center a second
scoring line during the last few games of the regular season.    

The only other talent up front was the aforementioned Morozov and
fellow rookie Robert Dome.  Morozov finished his first NHL
campaign with just 13 goals and 26 points in 76 games, but those
numbers hardly reflect his overwhelming talent.  This kid is
something special.  He'll be an impact player within two years. 
Dome spent much of his season in the AHL, but impressed with his
powerful stride and heavy shot during his 30 games with the big
club.  Both kids should be important keys to the franchise's
future.

Tyler Wright deserves mentioning as the fourth line center. 
Wright was his usual scrappy self, stirring up trouble whenever
he was on the ice.  He didn't play much but when he did everyone
on the ice knew it.  His work was rewarded when the Penguins
protected him during the expansion draft.

Pittsburgh's defense relied on the same six players all year. 
The regular pairings were Kevin Hatcher with Fredrik Olausson,
Darius Kasparaitis with Brad Werenka, and Jiri Slegr with Chris
Tamer.  

Hatcher's 19 goals and 48 points seem swell, but he could have
easily had 25 or more goals if he asserted himself.  Overall he
had a good year, but more is still expected of him.  He just
seemed like a passenger on most nights.  Meanwhile, Olausson had
his usual steady season without garnering much attention.    

One guy who got plenty of attention was Kasparaitis.  The wacky
Lithuanian was real wizard, playing solid defense while busting
heads with his standard array of bone-crushing checks.  His late
season knockout of Eric Lindros has already reached folklore
status.  The team's new defensive approach actually freed up
Kasparaitis to hit more, since he knew he'd be insulated by the
forwards if he stepped up to belt somebody.  And with Darius busy
making friends and influencing people, Werenka just had to
concentrate on staying back and playing safe.  It's something he
did quite well, leading all Penguin defenseman with a +15.

Slegr had a rather up and down season.  After getting off to a
pretty good start, the coaching staff seemed to lose faith in him
and he was actually a healthy scratch.  But then Slegr had a
brilliant showing at the Olympics and returned to play some
quality hockey the rest of the way.  While Slegr was willing to
drop the gloves this season, Tamer remained the club's only true
fighter.  Tamer's 181 penalty minutes led the club.  

In the end, Pittsburgh's first-round playoff loss to the Montreal
Canadiens was a huge disappointment, but it's hard not to be
amazed by the club's progress.  For the first time in years the
Penguins actually showed some character and heart on the ice. 
They put in a full 60 minutes of work each time out.  There's
still a long way to go before the Pens are legitimate Cup
contenders again, but Constantine set the foundation for success
this season.  

TEAM MVP:  This is a really tough call.  Jagr was
obviously huge with his 102 points and Barrasso carried the team
early, but all in all I gotta go with Ron Francis.  He was in the
lineup every night and led the team beautifully through the
growing pains it experienced this season.  Without his
leadership, the Penguins never would have been able to
orchestrate their turnaround.   

SURPRISES:  There were plenty.  First up has to be the
return to form of Tom Barrasso.  Second is the rebirth of
"Downtown" Robby Brown as a defensive forward.  Then throw in the
unexpected contributions from Martin Straka, Robert Lang, Brad
Werenka, and Jiri Slegr.  That's a whole mess of surprises.  The
season was like one big O. Henry story.  Except, you know, the
ending sucked...

DISAPPOINTMENT:  Eddie Olczyk was being counted on to
provide some goals and just didn't deliver.  He ended up with 11
goals and 22 points in 56 games, but most of those goals came
during a seven-game scoring binge early in the season.  I hate to
bring it up, but I said it was a mistake when Patrick traded Glen
Murray for Olczyk at the end of last season.  I guess I could
gloat and say "I told you so...", but I'm not going to do that. 
Instead I'm going to sing it to the tune of "Camptown Races." 
Ahem.  Patrick made a mistake in trading Murray.  I told you so,
I told you so.  Oh, Patrick made a mistake in trading Murray.  I
told you so-o-o.  I told you so all day.  I told you so all
night.  Patrick made a mistake in trading Murray.  Oh, I told you
so.                   

OFF-SEASON CHANGES:  Patrick has already started dealing. 
Fearing he'd lose Kenny Wregget in the expansion draft for
nothing, Patrick sent the veteran netminder to Calgary in
exchange for German Titov.  That's a nice deal.  Titov will be 33
in October, but he's a cool guy that can play all three forward
positions.  He's a nice addition.  

Patrick made a second deal with the Flames, swapping minor-
leaguers Dave Roche and Todd Hlushko.  Roche is a good kid that
will drop the gloves, but I can only recall him winning one fight
as a Penguin and that came after he sucker punched Igor Ulanov. 
And he just isn't a good enough skater to compete at the NHL
level.  Hlushko has the skills to contribute and is coming off a
strong playoff run with Saint John of the AHL, but he's had
problems with concussions in the past.  

Patrick also dealt the rights to restricted free agent holdout
Josef Beranek to the Edmonton Oilers for Tony Hrkac and Bobby
Dollas.  Hrkac's time as a Penguin was brief, as he was selected
by Nashville in the expansion draft.  Dollas, 33, should provide
some veteran depth along the blue line next season.  He's a
pretty good pickup, especially since Beranek was doing a whole
lot of nothing.

Rumors persist that Patrick is close to finally trading Petr
Nedved, but the GM isn't letting on.  He still says that the Pens
would like to re-sign him.  Um, that's doubtful.  Look for Nedved
to get moved at some point during the off-season.

Patrick's main concern this summer, tho', is signing free agents. 
The most important of which is Ron Francis, who is unrestricted
and in serious danger of leaving town.  Patrick has said recently
that the Penguins, who are a bit strapped for cash, would be
willing to re-sign Francis for something in the neighborhood of
$4 million a year.  If the market goes above that, the Birds are
in trouble.  It's impossible to think of the Penguins without
Francis.  But this is Ronnie's last chance to cash in and he
deserves all the money he can get.  He's been underpaid for a
very long time.  Unfortunately, if he goes, the Penguins are
beat.  They were scrap before he arrived, and they'll be scrap
after he's gone.  If it were up to me I'd ditch Kevin Hatcher on
the first sucker to come along and put the money saved towards
Francis.  Hatcher has been a disappointment as a Penguin and
isn't worth having around if it means there isn't enough money to
keep Francis.   

Stu Barnes is also a free agent, but one of the restricted
variety.  Other prominent unrestricted free agents include Alex
Hicks, Andreas Johansson, Garry Valk, Fredrik Olausson, Ed
Olczyk, and Rob Brown.  Hicks became unrestricted when the Pens
failed to make him a qualifying offer.  It's a move that came as
quite a surprise.  Hicks has been a terrific role player for the
club since arriving last season from Anaheim.  It'll be a shame
to see him move.  It would also be nice to see Olausson come
back, but there just might not be enough money to go around.  Of
all the unrestricted guys, Brown is the only one expected to
return.

================================================================
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------
WESTERN CONFERENCE
CENTRAL DIVISION
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Craig Hartsburg
   
roster:  C - Steve Dubinsky, Greg Johnson, Chad Kilger, Jeff Shantz,
Brent Sutter, Alexei Zhamnov.  LW - James Black, Eric Daze,
Jean-Yves Leroux, Kevin Miller, Ethan Moreau, Bob Probert, Reid
Simpson.  RW - Tony Amonte, Sergei Krivokrasov, Ryan
VandenBussche.  D - Chris Chelios, Christian LaFlamme, Jayson More,
Cam Russell, Gary Suter, Michal Sykora, Eric Weinrich, Trent
Yawney.  G - Jeff Hackett, Chris Terreri, Andrei Trefilov. 


TEAM NEWS by Tom Crawford

1997-98: A Season to Forget

Well, it was bound to happen one of these years.  Since the
thrilling playoff run of 1992 which ended in a trip to the Finals,
the Blackhawks have been slowly but steadily sliding from the upper
echelon of the NHL to the neighborhood of April tee times. 

So it was no real surprise when the Hawks failed to qualify for 
postseason play this past year.  Oh, it took some effort.  It's not
easy to slip behind a team like San Jose -- an even less impressive
collection of aging vets and unproven kids than Chicago's -- or
play less consistently than Phoenix, or be shakier on the blue line
than the Oilers.  

But Hawk fans weren't shocked when the end of the season found their
idols not among the top 16 in the league, just disappointed. 
Disappointed in the players, the coaches, and especially in the
organization that has yet to display a commitment to winning or a
notion of how to operate in the NHL of the late 20th century. 

This is an organization that looks for one thing from its employees:
loyalty to the organization.  Toe the company line, don't make noise
about your contract, and you'll be rewarded with the kind of
long-term deal that Chris Chelios and Bob Probert now enjoy.
Criticize management, hire a strong- willed agent, and you're off to
Phoenix.  

This is an organization that has not only not embraced free agency, 
it's not exactly sure what the term means.  This is evidenced by the
string of botched attempts to acquire players like Keith Tkachuk and
Chris Gratton.  

ESPN's Bill Clement puts it this way: "It would help Chicago to get 
NHL-caliber players."  At present, the Hawks are essentially the
Buffalo Sabres with Jeff Hackett in net.  Don't get me wrong,
Hackett is a good guy and an above-average goalie, but he's not
going to take a talent-starved team deep into the playoffs. 
(Imagine the Czech Olympic team with Hackett in goal -- get my
point?)  

The Hawks need more talent at almost every position.  Their forward
corps lacks a first-line center, a physical winger who can score,
and a veteran center to replace the retired Brent Sutter and Denis
Savard.  Their once- vaunted group of defensemen has been hit hard
by age, injury, and trades. Only the goaltending situation seems
solid, with Hackett being ably backed up by veteran Chris Terreri.
 

It is this chronic talent shortage, not a lack of effort from
players or the coaching staff, that is to blame for the 0-7-0 start
and 0-6-1 finish that bookended an unremarkably mediocre season.
 

Nor did the Hawks have the injury excuse to fall back on this year.
No, they put the best the organization had to offer out there night
after night, usually resulting in a home loss to Anaheim or Toronto,
or a rousing tie in the Saddledome.  And eventually resulting in the
first spring in Chicago without playoff hockey in almost 30 years.
 

Ah, it felt good to get that off the old chest.  Now we can move on
to the postseason hardware and some thoughts on what has already
become a busy summer for this hockey team. 

TEAM MVP: This is a tough call, not only because a team that
can't qualify for the NHL playoffs obviously has precious few
valuable players.  An obvious choice would be Hackett, who had
another great year statistically.  His .917 was the sixth best save
percentage in the league last year, and only three netminders had
more than his eight shutouts.  
           
However, when Hackett went down with an injury early in the year, 
Terreri performed almost as well as Hackett would later in the year,
actually posting a better won-lost record.  So it's not obvious that
the Hawks would have suffered greatly with Terreri as their No. 1
goaltender instead of Hackett.  

It's this line of reasoning that argues for choosing Tony Amonte as
the 1997-98 team MVP.  Without Amonte, the 97-98 Hawks would have
been battling not for a playoff spot, but for the rights to select
Vincent Lecavalier in last week's draft. 

On too many occasions this past year, Amonte was not only the only 
offensive threat on the ice for the Hawks, but also the only player
busting his ass on every shift.  "Tony shows up and works his butt
off every night," former coach Craig Hartsburg said.  "I wish
everyone had his effort and played with his passion." 

Needless to say, Amonte led the team in scoring, but he also posted
the best plus-minus mark on the team, weighing in at a plus-22. 
And though this is purely subjective, he seemed to score many more
clutch goals this year than before.  (If you're curious about
official game-winning goals, Eric Daze led the team with seven. 
Amonte had five.)  
  
SURPRISES: For a short time, Dmitri Nabokov had a stone-cold
Steve Austin lock on this baby.  He was called up December 18 and
had four goals in his first four games in the bigs.  However, teams
soon figured out that Dmitri didn't like his 6'2'', 209 lb. frame
to absorb much contact, and he was held to three goals over the
rest of the season and has since been traded.  

So the honor goes to the less flashy, but very deserving young 
defenseman Christian Laflamme.  Laflamme refused to join the parade
of Hawk defenders leaving their assignments and jumping into the
play when the offense was struggling.  As a result, the rookie was
often the best defenseman on the ice, especially compared to his
blue line partner Gary Suter.  

In junior hockey, Laflamme displayed skills that may enable him to
develop into the type of offensive threat that earns berths in the
All-Star game, praise from ESPN announcers, and Norris Ttrophy
consideration.  But right now the Hawks need this promising young
defenseman to keep playing defense.  
        
DISAPPOINTMENTS: For this award we also look to the blue line
and select perennial Norris Trophy candidate Chris Chelios. 
Statistics can tell part of the story, as Cheli had his first minus
year as a Blackhawk and scored fewer goals than any time in his
career as an NHL starter.  

But the real measure of Chelios's season can only be taken by fans
who watched or listened to a majority of the Hawks' 82 games.  More
than ever before, fans saw Chelios out of position, caught in the
offensive zone, or otherwise making decisions that hurt his team.
 

One criticism of Cheli has always been that he tries to do too much,
that if the team can't score, he'll try to force the issue, often
finding himself 100 feet away from a developing counter-attack. 

But in years past, the reward seemed to justify the risk.  More
often than not, Chelios would score that big goal, and if he didn't
he could often use his speed and skill to break up the rush at the
other end.  

Last year Chelios pinched in more than ever, yet only came away with
three goals.  And the consequences of his risk-taking were, more than
ever, disastrous. 

Another disturbing trend in Chelios's play last year was the 
reappearance of his legendary but recently well-controlled temper. 
A spate of misconducts and unsportsmanlike penalties late in the
season landed Cheli in the box or the locker room for parts of
numerous key games.  While Chelios plays best with an edge, no Hawk
fan wants to see a return to the type of outbursts that led my Dad
to remark sometime in the early 90s: "We've got to get rid of that
guy before he kills somebody."  

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: Hmmm, I'm looking in my crystal ball, and
it's telling me that the Hawks are going to fire their coach, hire an
ex-Hawk as a replacement, and acquire a former Norris-trophy winning
defenseman this off-season.  

All right, you caught me, all that stuff has already happened.  But
hey, when your off-season starts in April, you can get a lot done by
the end of the playoffs. 

Whether the Hawks have accomplished anything with these moves is
another question.  There were certainly compelling reasons to
change coaches -- the Hawks may actually have underachieved, even
with their talent-poor lineup -- but is the move from Hartsburg to
Dirk Graham a step up?  

The optimistic view is that Graham could become the Hawks' Mike
Ditka, a hard-nosed, throwback player who immediately commanded his
team's respect and became a supreme motivator as a coach. 

But compared to the pool of proven, high-profile coaches available
this year, Graham unfortunately looks like a yes-man Bill Wirtz
could get on the cheap.  Numbers were not available, but you can be
sure Graham's salary will not rival the $800,000 that ex-Avalanche
coach Marc Crawford is rumored to be asking for. 

Hawks GM Bob Murray also balked at the compensation that would be
due the Avalanche if the Hawks signed Crawford.  "I intend to be
among the top 12 teams and get past the first round of the
playoffs," Murray said, "So we would then owe Colorado a
first-round pick and $600,000."  

Funny, that degree of improvement sounds well worth $600,000 and a
draft pick, but I'm sure Bob knows best. 

Salary considerations also eliminated candidates Terry Murray -- who
has since taken the Florida Panthers job -- and Barry Melrose, who
appears happy to do studio work for another year.  Tough guy Pat
Quinn signed on with the Maple Leafs, and the Hawks are left with
their third straight rookie coach. 

The other big move this past week -- the acquisition of Paul Coffey
from Philadelphia in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick -- also
raises as many questions as it does answers. 

The Hawks hope Coffey can help their moribund power play, among the
worst in the NHL last season.  But Coffey only produced 29 points all
last year and rode the bench for the majority of Philadelphia's short
playoff run.  

There has to be a reason that Flyers' GM Bobby Clarke has given up
on this future Hall-of-Famer, trading him for almost nothing while
also eating a million dollars of his salary over the next two
years.  But the Hawks see this as a no-lose proposition, especially
if they can sign Coffey for a few dollars more than Clarke owes
him.  

"He's great with kids," Bob Murray said.  "Wherever he's been, the 
kids have come along in a big way." 

Paul Coffey as babysitter?  Well, we'll see. 

Other anticipated moves include the pursuit of free agents Brett
Hull and Doug Gilmour.  Oh, but we've heard that one before. 

So much conventional wisdom argues against Hull ending up with the 
Hawks.  He owns the town in St. Louis.  Bill Wirtz would never pay
him what he wants.  He skates along side one of the premier
playmaking centers in the game, Pierre Turgeon, and who would get
him the puck in Chicago?  

In fact, signing Hull without acquiring a centerman worthy of him
would be cruel to Hull and cruel to the fans, akin to handing them
a Winchester 30.06 with no ammunition. 

My crystal ball foresees a perfunctory attempt at signing Hull, with
Gilmour serving as a consolation prize.  And hey, Dougie's better
than what we've got now, but he won't put fannies in those 4,000
empty seats in the United Center. 

At the very least there will be some new faces to watch next year, 
and one or two more moves could stir some interest in the 1998-99
Hawks.  

And it can't possibly be worse than last year, right?


-----------------------------------------------------------------
DALLAS STARS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head coach: Ken Hitchcock

roster: C-Mike Modano, Guy Carbonneau, Joe Nieuwendyk, Bob Bassen,
Brian Skrudland. LW- Dave Reid, Greg Adams, Benoit Hogue, Juha
Lind, Patrick Cote. RW- Mike Keane, Mike Kennedy, Pat Verbeek,
Jamie Langenbrunner, Jere Lehtinen, Grant Marshall. D-Derian
Hatcher, Craig Ludwig, Darryl Sydor, Shawn Chambers, Richard
Matvichuk, Sergei Zubov, Craig Muni. G-Ed Belfour, Roman Turek. 

Team News by Jim Panenka

The Season that Almost Was

Here's the tale of the tape for Dallas' 1997-98 season: 

The team's first-ever President's Trophy. 109 points. 49 victories.
A .665 winning percentage. 27 games over .500. One goal shy (167)
of the Jennings Trophy (166 goals allowed against won the trophy
for the New Jersey Devils). A team record goals-against average of
2.01. A team record low of 22.8 shots average allowed per game. A
23-14-4 road record and 50 points earned away from Reunion Arena. A
20 percent conversion rate on the power play (best in league). An
88 percent penalty-kill percentage (second-best in league). A
league-leading 54.9 percent face-off win percentage. A
regular-season Western Conference championship (best regular record
in the West).  

Pretty damn impressive - that's all you can call that list of
regular-season accomplishments. But, there were only two things
missing from the list, and both (should or would - take your pick)
have happened in the playoffs:  

1) Western Conference playoff championship.
2) Stanley Cup championship. 

But, thanks to a steady stream of injured players and a no-talent
puke named Bryan Marchment, Dallas never had a chance to fulfill
its playoff destiny. More on that later.  

Season Recap

The Stars had an incredible regular season. Dallas followed up their
worst-to-first 48-win, 104-point season in 1996-97 with another
impressive regular-season record of 109 points and 49 wins.  That was
good enough to win Dallas its first- ever President's Trophy for the
best regular-season record. How did it all start? 

During the preseason, Mike Modano was holding out for a contract and
Joe Nieuwendyk quietly geared up for a superb season. The big
distraction was Modano - would he sign, or would he hold out during
the season?  

While that question was being answered, Joey Nieuwendyk put together
a great string of exhibition games and quickly showed everyone that
cared to witness it that he was in great shape, and was ready to
steal away some of Modano's thunder if he got a chance. 

As it turned out, Modano signed in time to play the last exhibition
game prior to the season's opening game against Colorado on Oct. 1.
This early return insured he would get enough playing time to work
out the rust and begin contributing early.  

The Stars started out slowly, failing to get a win in their first
two games. But after the two early stumbles the team charged fully
out of the gate, winning the next four straight games (including a
7-0 thumping of Chicago), and racking up a pretty good record of
9-4-1 for the month of October.  

During October and November, both Modano and Nieuwendyk were
slugging it out for the bragging rights of most productive line for
the team. Both racked up about 10 points apiece in October. They
even traded early hat tricks. Modano scored his in October,
Nieuwendyk scored one in November. However, the edge belonged to
the tandem of Modano and Lehtinen.  

Generally, Ken Hithchcock likes to describe his lines in tandems of
two players rather than a three-man unit. For Dallas, the two main
pairings are Modano-Lehtinen and Nieuwendyk-Verbeek. Alone, each of
these four players constituted a threat. But when paired with their
respective partners, these tandems were potent forces in the
league.  

Modano and Lehtinen were consistently tearing up opponents whenever
the opponent made the slightest of mistakes. Modano had an
impressive three-plus games of at least three or more points per
game. Lehtinen had at least two games with two or more goals.  

The Modano-Nieuwendyk lines were quickly being recognized as one of
the most potent one-two punches in the entire league. Between the
two of them, Modano and Nieuwendyk were collectively averaging
around three points per game! Some nights they would tally five to
six points between them.  

This statistic, coupled with the fact that Dallas' power play was
rapidly gaining ground as one of the best units around, spelled
doom for the Stars' opposition.  

Modano's Swan Season Ended

That was, of course, until fate dealt the Stars a cruel blow - one
that came at the hands of an old nemesis. The date was December 3,
1997. The opponent was: who else? The Edmonton Oilers.  

December 3 was the night that Bryan Marchment flipped his wig and
decided to turn into the anti-superhero. That was the night that
Bryan the Knee-Wrecker officially saw the light of day. That was
the night that Marchment "innocently" allowed a knee-on-knee
collision between himself and Modano at center ice.  

Marchment skated away no worse for the wear, save a major penalty
and a game-ejection. Modano suffered a torn right medial collateral
ligament and would be out the next four to six weeks.  

The good news was, Dallas capitalized on the ensuing power play. In
fact, the Stars scored on two of the eight chances they received
that night. This demonstrated to the league that the Stars would
make any opponent pay for penalties taken. It also helped bolster
the opinion of Ken Hitchcock that his team didn't need an enforcer.
 

The bad news was Modano, who was the league's leading scorer at the
time, had been summarily taken out of the league's point-scoring
race. This ruined Mo's chance to have what potentially could have
been the best season of his entire career. Early projections
predicted Modano could have possibly had a 50-goal, 100-point
season. Thanks to Marchment, he never had the chance to find out.
 

Modano ended up with a measly 21-goal, 38-assist season for 59 total
points. The bonus was he finished with a +/- rating of +24,
positioning himself as not only one of the league's best scorers,
but one of the most defensively sound players as well.  

Picking up the Pieces

The team recovered the best it could. It took two to three games
before Nieuwendyk was able to get back into the saddle and figure
out a way to begin scoring again, now that he lost his relative
anonymity on the ice because of Modano's absence.  

The truth of the matter was that Nieuwendyk and Verbeek were both
doing a pretty good job of keeping things going through
December-January, but the team would need to get its scoring from
other places.  

Luckily for Dallas, the scoring did come from throughout the roster.
The d-men contributed quite heavily during this period. 

The Stars continued steaming along splendidly. Hitchcock kept
rolling out four lines and six d-men at the opposition. Nieuwendyk
and Carbonneau were winning nearly every faceoff they took. Hatcher
and Matvichuk were either punishing or negating (or both) every top
line they faced from the opposition. Zubov and Sydor were keeping
the pressure on from the point during the power play, and were
causing or scoring a lot of goals because of it.  

Dallas had one of the league's top offensive blueliners in Sergei
Zubov this past season, who tied for second in the NHL with 57
points by a defenseman. Zubie had the highest points-per-game
average among NHL defensemen (.78 pts. per game).  

Zubov was considered the best power-play quarterback in the league.
He placed third in the league in power-play assists (29), tied for
sixth in power-play points (34) and ranked ninth in the league in
assists overall.  

Despite missing nine games due to injury, Zubov was on the ice for
122 of Dallas' 242 goals and 61 of the team's 77 power-play goals,
and racked up a serious amount of ice time, routinely breaking 20
minutes a night.  

Zubov's partner on the left point during the power play, Darryl
Sydor, chipped in a few points of his own. Sydor finished with 11
goals and 35 assists for 46 points, was second on the team with 28
power-play points, third with 35 assists, and fourth in +/- at +17.
 

Defensive defenseman Richard Matvichuk was first in the league with
142 blocked shots and fourth with 222 hits. Veteran Craig Ludwig
placed 10th in the league in blocks (113) and moved into 39th place
on the NHL's list of all-time games played (1,176).  

And, all the Stars players quickly became experts at shot-blocking.
 
 
Back between the pipes, Eddie "the Eagle" Belfour quickly gained
superstar status in Dallas because of his heroic backstopping. If
the d-men ever did let anything get through to Eddie, more often
than not he would quickly squelch the opportunity as if it had
never existed to begin with.  

Most times, the opportunities never even materialized for the
opposition. If Dallas wasn't stealing the puck away during the
faceoff, their defensive specialists (Modano, Carbonneau, Lehtinen,
et al) were stealing it away when the opposition turned their heads
for a second.  

Even when the opposition had the power play, the Stars were getting
just plain deadly at forcing a turnover and carrying it on to score
at the other end short-handed.  

Modano tied for third in the league with five shorthanded goals and
seven shorthanded points while Jere Lehtinen tied for 12th in the
NHL with five shorthanded points. Not only was the Modano-Lehtinen
tandem deadly together in the offensive zone, individually they
were just as good at stealing it away and ramming the puck down the
opposition's throat (or goal, take your pick).  

Once they got the puck, the Stars were getting better at
transitioning to the offensive zone and keeping it alive thanks to
the heroics of Zubov and/or Sydor at the points.  

Once they had the puck set up, Dallas would just rotate players in
the zone until a scoring chance presented itself. Many times, they
would convert on that chance.  

However, as the season wore on, Dallas' power-play unit quickly
became the team's only source of goals. Hitchcock could be heard
chanting his "we need to get better at our five-on-five play"
mantra.  

Individually, certain players would have hot streaks. Throughout the
year, Nieuwendyk, Verbeek, Lehtinen, Modano, Adams, Verbeek and the
like would run hot and cold. But overall, most of the scoring came on
the man-advantage. If Dallas did score 5-on-5, it was usually never
by the same player twice. Reid, Marshall, Hogue and the like were
kicking in (in some cases quite literally kicking in) a few ugly,
garbage goals here and there.  

Putting Ghosts Into the Machine

It was too easy to counteract Dallas' strengths. Especially since
Modano's health would be a question mark the remainder of the
season. With only one top-gun left for Dallas (Nieuwendyk), the
opposing team need only shut him down to shut down the Stars. As
long as the opposition scored, played patient and defensive, not
allowing any mistakes, they had a decent chance of beating Dallas
on any given night.  

If that weren't enough, the opposing teams quickly figured out that
the Stars' production on the power play came mostly at the hands of
two players - Zubov and Sydor. Shut these two down at the point by
coming after them physically, and you have effectively rendered the
Stars impotent.  

So, for the remainder of the season, Dallas had to survive by
relying on their superb shot-blocking defense, keeping the puck
after winning the faceoff, as well as trusting their EXTREMELY
stingy netminder. And, by the graces of the hockey gods, that
turned out to be enough - along with the helpful chipped-in goal by
the odd forward - to carry the Stars into the playoff hunt in good
shape.  

Dallas was a club recognized and feared as one of the
hardest-working teams around. All the players bought wholesale into
the team system, and worked it together to win, night after night.
 

"Our system is built around the team rather than one or two
players," said left wing Dave Reid. "A lot of teams will gear
things for certain guys whereas our team isn't geared for anybody
in particular. Our system is built around third line type of play.
Our system is a grinding, checking game."  

The Stars' main weakness was a lack of tough guys. Without a goon in
the lineup, Dallas was seen as a team that could be roughed up and
taken off their game. If the opposition never allowed Dallas to put
"their game" on the ice, that assumption was true.  

Although the Stars liked their team chemistry, when general manager
Bob Gainey had a chance to pull the trigger on a key trade, he didn't
hesitate. On March 24, Gainey traded for Stanley Cup veterans Mike
Keane and Brian Skrudland from the New York Rangers by dealing Todd
Harvey and Bob Errey.  

This one move further insured that the Stars would be making some
serious noise in the playoffs. Both veterans were recognized as
winners that knew what it takes to win, and both had been on the
hot seat before. And as a continuation of the Stars-Montreal
Canadiens ties, both had played for Les Habitantes before.
(Carbonneau, Ludwig, and Gainey were once members of the
Canadiens).  

Keane proved his worth during the first few playoff series.
Skrudland disappeared somewhat, but both definitely made very
important, valuable contributions to the club.  

Marchment Sucks (over and over again) 

Quickly, other teams in the league, for whatever reason, put a price
on the Stars' heads. Player after player would rotate out of the
lineup and onto the injured-reserve list. Modano, Hatcher,
Matvichuk, Adams, Cote, Lehtinen, and Nieuwendyk were just some of
the names that appeared on the IR list for Dallas. The trend
continued off and on for the entire season and even continued into
the playoffs.  

Strangely enough, Bryan Marchment could not be blamed for every
single injury, despite his twisted, sicko, no-talent aspirations.
RETIRE WHILE YOUR BEHIND, YA PUKE!!  

If you can't beat 'em, might as well kill 'em. That seemed to be the
strategy.  

Steaming Full-Speed into Splitsville

It worked. Dallas held the ship together long enough to enter into
the playoffs in great shape, despite dropping players every step
along the way.  

And the Stars defiantly dropped two other opponents on their way to
eventually meeting their match in Detroit.  

Dallas' first-round opponent, San Jose, was simply outclassed. The
Sharks recognized this and turned to goonery in a last-ditch effort
to remain competitive. And the Stars could have easily made it a
4-0 rout, if it wasn't for more of Bryan Marchment's goonery.  

Unfortunately, the old Knee Wrecker was still in the league, ending
up in San Jose after being traded by Edmonton (good move, Glen
Sather!). Marchment took Nieuwendyk out with a dirty run into the
boards from behind during the first game of this series.  

It was a needless retaliation by an inferior opponent in response to
the Stars' complete domination. A brutal act by Marchment, a
humiliated girly-man who noticed his team was being handed their
asses. Dallas had scored twice on their first three shots in that
game. It would have quickly turned R E A L L Y ugly for San Jose.
Instead, the ugly just turned on the Stars.  

This one point is where the Stars' hopes for Lord Stanley
evaporated.  

However, as they had done all year previously, Dallas refused to
slow down, and refused to let these injuries become an excuse for
folding in the tent and tanking the rest of the playoff run.  

Round Two

The next round saw the Cardiac Kids of Edmonton trade punches
back-and-forth with Dallas in what turned out to be a very
entertaining series. Once the Oilers got rid of that loser
Marchment by trading him away, they turned into a much- better
club.  

And, Edmonton coach Ron Low amazingly kept his mouth shut long
enough to let the players do the talking out on the ice. This
series was one of the most honest, true playoff series that were
held throughout the entire playoffs. Both teams played very well,
and both teams were concentrating on nothing but playing good
hockey. All the other BS and hyperbole were ignored.  

Edmonton had the hot young guns, but Dallas had the more
experienced, patient, defensive veterans.  

Dallas survived this series by besting Curtis Joseph. Plain and
simple. Almost all other factors were equal.  

The End is Nigh

The 1997-98 Dallas Stars survived right up to the conference finals,
and were four wins away from a chance at a Stanley Cup championship.
Too bad they only managed one of those necessary four wins. 

In the end, Detroit's defense was too much for Dallas' battered
offense to overcome. As the converse to the Edmonton series, the
Stars played a great series against Detroit, but they simply could
not score on Chris Osgood consistently.  

Ozzy was much-maligned for letting in his occasional softy from
center ice, but when it came right down to it, Osgood out-duelled
Belfour when it counted.  

Dallas pushed the Red Wings to the brink of a momentum change. The
Stars were briefly positioned to firmly challenge Detroit for
control of the series. Had they won the first or third game along
with the second, Dallas could have been knocking on the Red Wings'
door to repossess Lord Stanley's Cup.  

Instead, Beflour blew a gasket and attempted to render Martin
Lapointe impotent with a nasty slash to the groin. Belfour also
happened to dive looking for a penalty that never came, and
subsequently allowed Lapointe to have the last laugh by scoring the
goal that sealed the coffin lid for the Stars.  

Bringing it on Home (so to speak) 

Dallas never recovered from this mental lapse by Belfour. Even
though the team was still playing the best they could up until the
very bitter end, Belfour kept giving up the untimely goals just as
it seemed the Stars were clawing within a few minutes of scoring
themselves.  

In the end, Detroit prevailed and went on to claim its second
consecutive championship.  

The entire event can't be blamed on Belfour, but it was his weakness
at the WORST possible moments that helped finish off his team,
despite a uniquely valiant effort by Dallas.  

The Stars can only be held up on a pedestal and admired for the
amazing feats they were able to accomplish. Despite being bruised,
battered, hacked, whacked, and keyed on during every single shift
of every single game, each individual Dallas Stars player sucked it
up, and battled through true adversity to find a way, some stinkin'
way, to win night after night after night.  

One can only ponder over what might have been... IF... 

TEAM MVP: Well, despite giving it all away at the very end,
there is no question that with the injury to Joe Nieuwendyk, Ed
Belfour was the most valuable player to Dallas this last season.
 

Belfour overcame a pretty good amount of adversity himself by
quickly adapting to the Stars' unusual shot-blocking defense. It
certainly could not have been easy for Belfour; having to decide
whether or not to cover a shot down low whenever Ludwig or
Matvichuk were diving in front of him. Eddie was more used to
defenders staying on their feet around him, as they had done in
Chicago.  

As it turned out, this learning period could be directly blamed for
many of Dallas early losses. The players needed to learn what Eddie
expected of them, and vice versa.  

In the end, the team worked it out. Eddie would cover any high
shots, and the d-men would attempt to block or stop anything coming
in down low.  

This was a dangerous situation, because having large, hulking
defenders in front of the net during fast, high-intensity rushes
could lead to pucks bouncing in off the Stars' defenders into their
own net.  

This happened way too many times. An unofficial count has at least
five to eight of the goals being scored against Dallas going into
the net either directly off the defenders skates, or other body
parts.  

One particularly memorable goal somehow went in after bouncing off a
defender's rear end. I guess an ass CAN score goals in this
league!?!  

But with these weirdities aside, Belfour went on to dominate in net
for the Stars, and turned into one of the stingiest netminders in
the league.  

Belfour finished first in the league in goals-against average
(1.88), the second time he's led the league in that category. He
also ranked second in the league in wins with 37, third in shutouts
with nine and tied for seventh in save percentage at .916.  

Belfour effectively re-wrote the franchise record book for
goaltending, setting new team watermarks for most wins in a season
and lowest goals-against average. Eddie also opened the season with
three shutouts in October, a new career high and team record for
most shutouts during the first month of the season.  

Belfour continued his great early play, going unbeaten in his first
nine road games of the season (7-0-2, Oct. 1 - Nov. 16), the
longest road unbeaten string ever by a Stars goaltender. He also
posted a career-best shutout sequence of 183 minutes, 14 seconds
from Nov. 21-26, second longest in franchise history.  

Eddie had a second nine-game unbeaten streak (5-0-4) from Dec. 15 -
Jan. 9. Belfour also established the current franchise record with
nine shutouts in one season and moved into 21st place on the NHL's
all-time shutout list with 40. Despite playing for Dallas for only
one season, Belfour is tied for third on the Stars all-time career
shutout list with nine, is ninth with 37 wins and 10th on the
all-time list for goaltender minutes played with 3,581.  

His netminding heroics routinely caused the Dallas crowd to go all
loopy with thunderous chants of EDDIE! EDDIE! On the average, it
seemed as if Belfour was so solid and steady in the nets, the team
could quite nearly forget about their defensive duties.  

Obviously, they did not. Belfour routinely turned away the league's
best players after they all but moved mountains to have gotten in
front of him for a scoring chance to begin with.  

Some say because of his lack of work during a game (Belfour would
routinely post wins after having to make a measly 15-25 saves- not
exactly a heavy night of work) any goaltender could have posted
good numbers with Dallas.  

But, it was Eddie's uncanny ability to make the big save at the big
time against the big player that earned him the recognition as the
Stars' MVP for the 1997-1998 season.  

SURPRISES: Guy Carbonneau, hands-down. Carbo is definitely
nearing the end of his stellar career, so nobody expected him to be
much more than a defensive-specialist for the Stars. As it turned
out, Carbo proved he is nowhere near finished, as far as he is
concerned, thank you very much.  

Guy shared the Stars' faceoff specialist award with Joe Nieuwendyk
(59.5%), managing also to place third in the league at 59.4 percent
faceoffs-won. It was this specialty that marked his most important,
productive season since joining the Stars.  

Not only did Carbo specialize in faceoffs, he also transformed into
one of the Stars' most tenacious forecheckers, as well as being one
of the most solid penalty-killers on the team.  

Guy contributed a modest seven goals, 17 assists for 24 points
during the regular season.  

However, it was his heroics in the overtime of Game 5 vs. Detroit
that will forever cement Carbo into the minds and hearts of Stars
fans everywhere.  

The Wings had a 3-1 series lead over Dallas going into Game 5, and
the Stars had to go against traditional wisdom and history and win
three straight games to advance. Not many teams had been able to do
it.  

"They can talk about the history, but no one in this dressing room
thinks it's over," said Guy Carbonneau. "We still want to go to the
end. To do that, we've got to get back to Dallas and win the next
one."  

They did win the next one, thanks to Carbo. The following describes
on of the hardest-working single shifts ever turned in by a Star:
 

The Red Wings were less than two minutes away from a return trip to
the Stanley Cup Finals when Carbonneau took matters into his own
hands. Carbo crashed behind the Detroit net full speed, stole the
puck from Nicklas Lidstrom, attempted a goal-mouth feed but got
tripped up.  

He got back on his feet, sent it back to Sergei Zubov at the right
point, and took a return feed at the bottom of the right faceoff
circle. Carbonneau's severe-angle wrist shot just barely defelected
off Lidstrom's stick and over Osgood's shoulder with 1:25
remaining.  

"All we were trying to do is create a chance and just try to get
something on the net," Carbonneau said. "We were very desperate at
that time and we dug down and did all we could do. Nobody wanted
the season to be over."  

And, thanks to Guy's heroic efforts, he helped to insure his career
playoff game No. 190 wasn't his last. So far, Carbonneau appears
ready to return for one last season, putting off temporary plans to
take a coaching position in the league after he's finally done.
 

DISAPPOINTMENTS: Of all time? Absolutely, positively, can't
be any other thing than the terrible crime that was Bryan
Marchment's hit on Joe Nieuwendyk. With one run to the boards,
Marchment stole away any hopes the Stars had to advance to the Cup
finals.  

Nieuwendyk had already taken the team lead in scoring and
leadership (captain Derian Hatcher aside), and was recognized
league-wide as one of the most-talented, best-persevering centers
still playing the game.  

Nieuwendyk has been in the unenviable position of playing
second-fiddle to Modano ever since he arrived in Dallas. But, this
last season saw Joe emerge from Modano's shadow and back into the
limelight, reclaiming his spot as one of the league's premier
centermen.  

Of course, Modano could have stolen all the glory had he not been 
injured, but Joe's contributions to the team transcended point scoring. 

Nieuwendyk's 39 goals were seventh in the NHL and he finished as the
highest-scoring Canadian-born player. Joe wrapped up the regular
season with a bang, scoring 14 points (seven goals and seven assists)
over his final nine games, including multiple-point games in four of
five contests from April 6 through April 15.  

On April 13, Nieuwendyk was named the NHL's Player of the Week for
the period ending April 12. During that week, Nieuwendyk had five
goals and three assists.  

Overall, Nieuwendyk was second in the league and set a new Stars
record with 11 game-winning goals. He also finished fifth in the
NHL with a shooting percentage of 19.2, tied for fifth in power
play goals with 14 and tied for 22nd in points with 69. Nieuwendyk
paced the Stars in goals, points, power play goals, game-winning
goals, shooting percentage and shots on goal (203) while finishing
fourth in assists with 30.  

His 59.5% faceoff-win percentage was the best in the league. 

It Just Should Not Have Happened This Way, People. 

At the 2:22 mark of the first period of the first game vs. San Jose
of the 1997-1998 playoffs for Dallas, Joe Nieuwendyk cruised in
uncontested, with his talented Finnish winger Juha Lind buzzing at
his side, easily scoring a sweet goal on the breakaway against San
Jose's Mike Vernon. 37 seconds later, Joe's linemate Juha Lind
broke in and scored again, just about as easily. Were those pylons
or Sharks defenders?  

Instead of finishing the game, and continuing on as the Stars' MVP,
as well as helping his team claim the Stanley Cup, a scant few
minutes later Joe Nieuwendyk lay on the ice of Reunion Arena,
writhing in pain, his hockey career flashing before his eyes.  

A surprised Bryan Marchment skated away sheepishly, looking up in
disbelief and smiling as he surveyed the damage, much like the
possessed girl Megan in the Exorcist movie did as she looked in
disbelief at the dead old priest that lay before her on the floor.
Her/his devilish grin only hiding the black, dark, unfathomable
evil that lurked just behind the eye's cold, glassy stare...  

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: Dallas lost it's only enforcer, Patrick
Cote, to the expansion draft. The Dallas team claims it can win by
being team-tough, but that theory requires that you have a fully
staffed team dressed for the game. Without a goon in the lineup,
Dallas lost all its best talent to - G O O N S.  See how that
works? Dallas needs an enforcer. You can't be team tough when your
team is short-handed and banged up.  

* Cote never had a chance to make his mark in Dallas, having missed
most of the season with a mysterious shoulder injury. 

* Most of the team will be returning. The major question marks
concern aging veterans such as Craig Muni, Guy Carbonneau, and
Craig Ludwig. Of the three, only Carbonneau appears to be a sure
thing to return so far. Ludwig will probably return, but he and
Muni might end up being the odd-men out if push came to shove.  

* Jere Lehtinen was awarded the Selke Trophy for best defensive
forward. This was his first win, coming after his second-straight
nomination. Congratulations are in order all the way around for
Lehtinen, who also just got married in his native Finland.  

* Nieuwendyk should be returning to play stronger than even last
season, because he will have two, fresh reconstructed knees to play
on. Joe had been playing with some injury to one of the knees the
entire season. Marchment's hit just wrecked the other and forced
the issue. Modano will most likely have a serious run for his money
by Joe Nieuwendyk. Look out, Mo! Better start scoring early!  

* Craig Muni, Pat Verbeek, and Ed Belfour all have undergone minor
surgeries, and all three are expected back by preseason. 

* Richard Matvichuk's agent inexplicably advised Matty to wait
several weeks after the season ended to undergo major surgery to
his damaged knee. Matty played with a brace for the last three
months of the season. Since he waited to get the surgery, Matvichuk
will now be out of the Stars lineup until well into December.  

That isn't the way this reporter would have attempted to have his
client's stock rise in the Dallas Stars franchise. Now Matty won't
get a chance to prove his worth to the team for a new contract
negotiation until a fair amount of the season has already been
played.  

Them damn agents, ruining the whole damn game!  What a smart guy
this is!  DUH!  Hey, Matty - I will be your agent for much less
than that puke is stealing from you - and I will advise you in YOUR
best interests, not mine! Gimme a call - I'm available
immediately!  : )  

* Dallas still needs one more scoring center to take the pressure
off of Modano and Nieuwendyk.  

* The Stars absolutely have to stock up on big, tough, wings that
can finish. Now that Greg Adams' career appears to be waning
because of recurring injuries, Dallas will soon be in the market
for a few power forwards on the wing. Especially on the left wing,
where Benoit Hogue and Juha Lind will be pretty much the only
threats left on the left. Huh? Whatsat?  

* Barring any moves by Richard Matvichuk, the only moves for the
d-men may be to trade or release Muni and Ludwig for youth and
mobility. Zubov, Hatcher, Chambers and Sydor aren't likely to be
changing a thing.  

* Otherwise, it's pretty much more of the same for Dallas. Belfour
should come back as strong as ever. Hitchcock now has the
all-important trial by fire he needed at the NHL level in the
playoffs, so his strategies should be even that much more sound for
next year.  

* Now, if they can just figure out how to score a few more goals at
even strength...  

Congratulations on an amazing season, Dallas. Thanks for some
seriously cool memories. Looking forward to seeing that Cup in
Big-D next season! 


-----------------------------------------------------------------
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. D - Nicklas Lidstrom, Bob Rouse, Slava
Fetisov, Larry Murphy, Dmitri Mironov, Jamie Macoun, Aaron Ward,
Anders Eriksson, Mathieu Dandenault. G - Chris Osgood, Kevin
Hodson. 

TEAM NEWS by Dino Cacciola

Believe. 

That word became the base of the Red Wings' season.  It was the one
thing that the Wings had going for them to repel any doubt or fears
of a possible failed season. Anything short of repeating  would be a
failure. 

After all, this team was not supposed to win anything.  This team
lost its best defensemen, if not best player, to a  serious auto
accident.  This team chose not to re-sign the Conn Smythe winner 
from the 1997 Cup team, goalie Mike 
Vernon. 

This team had an aging defense that was thought to be too slow and
too small to do anything.  This team was not as exciting as the
Avalanche or the Stars in the West.  After all it was assumed that
the Avs had more talent.   And the Flyers and the Devils were
supposed to rise in the East as legitimate powerhouses.  Then there
was the holdout of star center Sergei Fedorov for most of the
season.  

The odds of repeating as Stanley Cup Champions are not very high to
say the least.  So with a little luck and a lot of faith, this team
did what it had to do to win and remain Stanley Cup Champions.  

The Wings remained in second place in their division for most of the
season. The high flying Stars were on a roll and the Wings could not
pass them for the lead.   It seemed that the Wings were  basically
just going through the motions,  waiting for the playoffs to begin.


The Wings also started the season without the services of Kirk
Maltby who had a separated shoulder.  The team was virtually the same
team from a year ago less the services of Fedorov, the  injured
Konstantinov, and the departed Tomas  Sandstrom and Mike Vernon. 
The new face of Brent Gilchrist, acquired from the  Stars as a free
agent, hoped to add  stability to the forward lines with his
experience.  The Red Wings also had  hopes in the youngsters as well,
Jamie  Pushor, Tomas Holmstrom and Anders Ericksson, to finally make
an impact.   Mike  Knuble played quite a bit as well and showed signs
of great potential.  This season also marked the emergence of 
Holmstrom as a bona-fide NHL power 
forward. 

So in this compact season due to the rescheduling from the Olympics,
the Wings did a pretty good job of playing near  the top of the
league standings.  They are a very well balanced team that 
continuously throws four lines on the ice. Scotty Bowman constantly
mixed up lines to thwart opponents and keep players happy with loads
of playing time.  So with the absence of Sergei for the better part
of the season, the Wings seemed like the playoffs were well within
reach. 

But questions of Chris Osgood's play were the main focus throughout
the season and heading into the playoffs.  Constant comparisons to
Mike Vernon and the doubts that he could equal his  output from a
year ago were brought up  all the time. 

On April 1, the Red Wings played their archrivals Colorado in a game
that was supposed to be the prerequisite to a  possible Conference
Finals meeting.  Shades of last year, when the famed brawl  took
place, a similar act was about to unfold.  Patrick Roy urged Osgood
to fight him during a melee that had broken out minutes earlier. 
So the smaller Osgood obliged and held his ground pretty well
against the towering Roy.  The actual fight was a draw but Ozzie
had just won the hearts of the fans and the support of his
teammates as Vernon did a year ago.  He showed that he had fight
and he had character.  This team was not about to back down or go
out without a fight.  This may have been the turning point in many
of the fans' eyes for the team.  Some say it was the return of
Fedorov in the lineup. But most will always say that this team
BELIEVED, and that was the key.   

Trades:  To answer the question of an aging defense, the Wings did
little if anything to squelch that label.  In fact they probably
reinforced it with the acquisition of 37-year-old Jamie Macoun from
the Toronto Maple Leafs for a draft pick. They also traded young
defenseman Jamie Pushor to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks for Dmitri
Mironov.  Both were acquired to bring experience for the playoff
run.  Macoun brought size and was a stay at home defenseman that
can hit. Mironov was nominally one-dimensional with a blistering
slapshot.  Both brought to the table aspects that were missing with
the loss of Konstantinov.  Macoun played very steady and was a
force to be reckoned with.  Quietly he did his job and did not look
too out of step since Murphy and Fetisov are old as well and not
exactly gazelles.     

Playoffs: The Wings were the third seed in the Western Conference
and headed into the Playoffs with a first round match up with the
Phoenix Coyotes.  The Coyotes matched well against the Wings for
the most part, taking them to six games.  The Wings lost the
services of Doug Brown heading into the playoffs with a separated
shoulder. But the Left Wing Lock system worked and the depth of the
Wings ultimately prevailed.  But questions of soft goals by Chris
Osgood in the series again spurred doubts.  Clearly the best
players in this series were Fedorov, Shanahan, and suprisingly
Tomas Holmstrom.   Fedorov clearly was playing spectacular hockey,
as it was in his contract to receive $12 million if the Wings made
the Conference finals.     

In the second round the Wings played the St. Louis Blues.  The Red
Wings had eliminated the Blues two seasons in a  row and revenge was
a major factor in this series.  Chris Osgood's play was  again
questioned when he let a 90-foot  slapshot from Al MacInnis past him
with just under a minute to play in one of  the games.  So the
doubters were out in  full force again as the Blues took the Wings to
six games.  The Wings held off  for the most part the wicked power
play  that the Blues presented to them.  The Blues primarily played
four defensemen  and by Game 6 the Wings were just too much for the
Blues to handle.  The depth of the Wings, not to mention the 
scoring ability from many players, was the  key.  Fedorov had just
earned his $12 million bonus for helping the Wings get to  the
Conference finals. 

The Conference finals claimed to be the series to watch, and it was
widely believed that the winner would be the  favorite to win the
Stanley Cup.  It was definitely a nail biter from both  teams'
perspectives.  The Stars were without  one of their best players, Joe
Nieuwendyk, and it clearly showed. The Stars  could not muster much
offense with the  three lines that they threw against the Wings.
Brendan Shanahan was playing  with an injured back and was for the
most part invisible on the ice.  Brent Gilchrist, a former Star, was
playing with a pulled groin, which turned into a tear  at the end of
the series.  Again the highlight or lowlight of the series was the 
long shot Ozzie allowed by Jamie  Langenbrunner to send the a game
into overtime in which the Wings eventually  lost.  The nay-sayers
were out in full  force to say the least.  Hockeytown was uneasy.
But Ozzie and the Wings proved  to be resilient in their efforts.
The  Wings won the series in six games and dethroned the favorites
from playoff  competition. 

The Stanley Cup finals. 

The Red Wings took on the Washington Capitals to try and defend
their championship.  And so they did with a second consecutive year
sweep in the finals.  Each game was close, but none defined what
the Red Wings were more than Game 2.  In Game 2, the Wings were
down 4-2 and came back to win 5-4 in the third period -- perhaps
the best third period of the entire season for the Red Wings. 
Their backs were against the wall and they showed great focus and 
determination to win it. 

Granted, the defensive system the Wings had was just too
overpowering for the Caps in the end.  Chris Osgood  hunkered down
and Steve Yzerman captured the Conn Smythe trophy as the most 
valuable player.  All season long the  Wings were focused on winning
the Cup, and when things were looking good or if a  bad goal was
scored they just  remained focused and believed.  After all, what
Vladimir Konstantinov and Sergie  Mnkastakanov have to endure is far
greater than any hockey game could ever be.  With that in mind, who
was going to stop them? 

Believe. 

TEAM MVP:  Nicklas Lidstrom.  This quiet, unsung hero has
become the talk of the NHL.  He was an all-star, and Olympian, and
the runner-up for the Norris Trophy as the league's best
defenseman.  He was paired with veteran Larry Murphy and led all
defensemen in the league with his scoring prowess.  He has great
mobility, is strong on his skates, and has a very strong shot from
the point.  He kills penalties and quarterbacks the first
power-play unit.  He does not take stupid penalties, has a great
plus/minus rating, and is very well respected in the league for his
clean play. This Swede came to play in the absence of Vladimir
Konstantinov.  His best asset is his hand eye coordination, which 
allows him to keep the puck on the boards and in the offensive zone.
 

St. Nick was the MVP of this team.  But the unsung hero would have
to go to Sergei and Vlady. Their presence was felt the whole season
and their inspiration to the Red Wings can never be overlooked.
Runner up would have to be the Grind Line of Maltby, Drapes, and
Kocur.  

SURPRISES:  The surprise player could be chosen from quite a
few on the team. Martin Lapointe,  Dougie Brown or even Ozzie.  But
the consensus pick would have to be Tomas  "Homer" Holmstrom.  He
camped  himself on every goalie's doorstep and drew countless
penalties throughout the  playoffs. His timely goals and his play
along the boards was nothing short of spectacular.  During the
regular season he  would not play that much and was even scratched
from some games. But he has evolved into a tenacious power  forward
to be reckoned with.  The  Demolition Man has finally arrived in
Hockeytown. 
 
DISAPPOINTMENTS:  Well it could be Dmitri Mironov, who only
played in seven playoff games because he  was a defensive liability.
It could be the fact that Aaron Ward was in Bowman's  doghouse.
Perhaps the declining goal  production of Shanny, but he did do well
on the power play.  Maybe it was the  fact that Steve Yzerman was
left off the  list of that other magazine for being one of the top 50
players of all time.  It  is really hard to say that there is one
major  disappointment with this team.  The tragedy from a year ago
kind of shadowed  every event.  Not much could disappoint after that.
When you win the Stanley Cup, it can't be said that  there is any
disappointment in any event that  happened. 

OFF-SEASON CHANGES:  It would seem that Slava Fetisov will
retire before next season begins.  The 40 year old has done  a very
fine job and the end is near.  The loss of Doug Brown to expansion
is a real killer.  He came through with clutch  goals and this was
his best offensive season of his career.  He is a leader on  and
off the ice and is a great presence in the  locker room, as well. 
The Wings may try to trade to get him back as he surely  will be
missed.  Mironov may not return  either. The Wings will give Yan
Golubovsky and Maxim Kuznetsov every opportunity  to make the
transition from Adirondack. Scotty Bowman should return for one
final season behind the bench. Jamie Macoun has been signed for 
another year.  Bob Rouse needs to be signed, as well.  The Wings
are very interested in signing Uwe Krupp, a Scotty  Bowman
favorite.  Nicklas Lidstrom will decide if this is his last season
or not  in the NHL. He wants to return to Sweden.   All in all,
don't look for too many changes as the Wings are very  deep.  Why
try to fix something when it is  working so good?  If it ain't
broke then don't fix it! 

-----------------------------------------------------------------
PHOENIX COYOTES
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach: Jim Schoenfeld 

Roster: C - Jeremy Roenick, Craig Janney, Cliff Ronning, Bob Corkum,
Mike Stapleton, Juha Ylonen. LW - Keith Tkachuk, Darrin Shannon, Jim
McKenzie. RW - Rick Tocchet, Dallas Drake, Mike Gartner, Brad
Isbister, Jocelyn Lemieux. D - Teppo Numminen, Oleg Tverdovsky, John
Slaney, Norm Maciver, Jim Johnson, Murray Baron, Deron Quint, Jason
Doig, Jay More, Michel Petit, Sean Gagnon. G - Nikolai Khabibulin,
Jimmy Waite, Scott Langkow. 

TEAM NEWS by Matthew Secosky
Season Recap

As time passes, sports teams tend to develop an image that 
encompasses and defines that team. This image in turn seems
to become a part of the teams' collective consciousness to
the point that it dictates present events in some sort
of mystic self-prophecy.

For example, what is the first thing that comes to mind when
you think about the Montreal Canadiens? Or the Detroit Red Wings?
Or perhaps even, dare I say, the Tampa Bay Lightning?     

In all those cases you can conjure an idea of what you'd 
expect from those teams. It could be pride, it could be
tradition, or it could be a dire lack of both. As they say
during those football referee quizes - you make the call. 

So where do the Phoenix Coyotes stand in the mist of this
adjectivial waterfall? Well let's just say they're neither up 
or down, left or right, or slightly off center. You see my
friends, the Coyotes are caught in the land of mediocrity.

It just seems every year that Phoenix fields a good team
full of promise on the ice and every year they just finish
up o.k. Not good or great, not terrible or bad...but somewhere 
in the middle. Just think of the Coyotes as the show that 
came between Seinfeld and ER on NBC must-see-tv. I think
that sums it up.

As for this year's memorable moments: Oleg Tverdovsky held 
out for mad cash, Rick Tocchet got suspended not once but 
twice for mauling people with his knees of death, and
half of the team was injured for the playoff race at the
end of the year. Sure, Phoenix made the playoffs and put a 
scare in Detroit early but then Mr. Mediocrity reared his
ugly head and Detroit continued on to the Cup. What a year, 
what a year, what a year.
         
TEAM MVP:  Captain Keith Tkachuk led the team with 
40 goals and 66 points so he must be team MVP, right? 

Well in one word, no. Keith may have led the team in scoring but
when it came to directing and leading the troops he was
sitting out games trying to negotiate a new big $$$ contract
for himself. A team MVP has to be a leader on and off the
ice not just on the score sheet. 

In that regard, Rick Tocchet is an easy choice for MVP.
He was the heart and soul of Phoenix for most of the year
and especially in the playoffs when he scored in five
consecutive games. He will do anything to win and inspires
others to match that intensity. If that is not MVP stuff
then I don't know what is.

GOOD SURPRISE :-) Good surprises make me smile. And this year 
little Cliffy Ronning made me grin from cheek to cheek. At the 
end of the year when fellow centers Craig Janney and Jeremy
Roenick were battling injuries, Ronning took over the offensive 
load and kept the Coyotes in the playoff race. It was the first 
time all year he got the chance to play a major role in the teams'
success and he didn't back down from the challenge. 

BAD SURPRISE :-( Bad surprises make me cry and I'd rather not 
re-live such negative experiences. Gotta make way for the positive 
day.

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: 
 
Janney Go, Janney Gone

As expected, the Phoenix Coyotes dealt Craig Janney
in a less-than-blockbuster deal with the Tampa Bay 
Lightning. In exchange for Janney, Phoenix received
left wing Louie DeBrusk and a fifth-round pick in last 
weekend's NHL entry draft. 

Janney has appeared in 704 games during an 11-year 
career. Last season he had 10 goals and 43 assists in 68 
games for the Coyotes.  

"Craig Janney is a premier playmaking center in this league, 
and that was one of our biggest needs," Lightning general 
manager Phil Esposito said. "He's a player who has proven 
he can make players around him better."

DeBrusk, 26, had one goal and two assists in 54 games for 
Tampa Bay last season. 

Craig Janney's Regular Season Stats


 Year     Team    GP   G   A  PTS
 1987-88  BOS     15   7   9   16
 1988-89  BOS     62  16  46   62
 1989-90  BOS     55  24  38   62
 1990-91  BOS     77  26  66   92
 1991-92  BOS-STL 78  18  69   87
 1992-93  STL     84  24  82  106
 1993-94  STL	  69  16  68   84
 1994-95  STL-SJS 35   7  20   27
 1995-96  SJS-WIN 84  20  62   82
 1996-97  PHO     77  15  38   53
 1997-98  PHO     68  10  43   53
      Totals     704 183 541  724



Hey Ma! I've Been Drafted!

Sure, Nikolai Khabibulin played all but 12 games last 
season, but Phoenix still lacks goaltending depth in the organization.
To remedy this they opted to pick Patrick Desrochers, who was 
ranked as the top goaltender by NHL Central Scouting, with
their 14th overall pick.
 
"I honestly didn't have any idea where I was going today," 
Desrochers said. "I was excited and looking forward to seeing 
where I'd end up. My only real goal is to play in the NHL 
some day and get a chance at the Stanley Cup. The last year 
or so, it crossed my mind about being the first goalie taken. 
It's definitely a nice feeling."

Desrochers covers a lot of net with his 6-3 1/2, 195 pound
frame and was 26-17-11 with a 3.35 goals-against average for 
Sarnia of the Ontario League. He also led the OHL 
with four shutouts in 1996-97. 

Below is a round-by-round list of Phoenix draft picks.

1. Patrick Desrochers, G, Sarnia (OHL)
2. Ossi Vaananen, D, Jokerit Jr. (Finland)
3. Pat O'Leary, C, Armstrong (USHS)
4. Ryan Vanbuskirk, D, Sarnia (OHL)
5. Jay Leach, D, Providence (Hockey East)
5. Josh Blackburn, D, Lincoln (Jr.A)
5. Robert Schnabel, D, Red Deer (WHL)
6. Rickard Wallin, C, Farjestad (Sweden)
7. Erik Westrum, C, Minnesota (WCHA)
8. Justin Hansen, RW, Moose Jaw (WHL)


Mike Gartner a Coyote No More

Rumor has it that Phoenix right wing Mike Gartner has already 
sold his Phoenix house and has moved back to his native Toronto 
home, despite the Coyotes giving him an option to return to the 
team next season.

Gartner has also stated that after 19 years of hockey it may
be time for him to retire. But he was hesitant to close this
chapter of his life so fast, especially if the right team
came calling. "I know I still have some hockey left in me -- 
there's no question in my mind about that. Signing with 
the Maple Leafs would be great. That's a situation that 
could be appealing."

Till Next Time --- Have a Bitchin' Summer!

-----------------------------------------------------------------
ST. LOUIS BLUES
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach: Joel Quenneville
   
Roster: C  - Pierre Turgeon, Darren Turcotte, Craig Conroy Mike
Eastwood; LW - Geoff Courtnall, Tony Twist, Pavol Demitra, Scott
Pellerin, Michel Picard, Pascal Rheaume; RW - Brett Hull, Jim
Campbell, Kelly Chase, Terry Yake, Blair Atcheynum; D  - Al
MacInnis, Chris Pronger, Steve Duchesne, Marc Bergevin, Chris
McAlpine, Jamie Rivers, Ricard Persson, Todd Gill, Rudy Poeschek;
G  - Grant Fuhr, Jamie McLennan. 


TEAM NEWS by Tom Cooper

The Season Synopsis

For the St. Louis Blues, the 1997-98 season was one big surprise. 

The Blues finished the regular season campaign with the fourth-best 
record in the NHL, not bad for a team that many people expected to
just barely qualify for the postseason, if they even made it at
all.  

And the major reason they shocked their doubters was goal scoring, a
crutch they have relied on to stay standing for the majority of the
90s. The Blues put the puck in the net a league-leading 256 times. On
31 occasions St. Louis scored four or more goals, winning 28 times
and losing only once. And, although most of their goals occurred
during even -strength situations, their power play was a force to be
reckoned with.  

The man-advantage for the Blues produced a goal 16.8 percent of the
time, the ninth best percentage in the league. But why should it be
a surprise to anyone that the power play was so impressive? Just
look at the names they throw out there: Brett Hull, Al MacInnis,
Pierre Turgeon, Geoff Courtnall, Steve Duchesne. Those names have
been synonymous with scoring for the majority of this decade. With
a first unit like that, and a second unit that can hold its own
with any team in the league, it's no wonder teams didn't want to
commit penalties against the Blues all season long. (Right, Los
Angeles?)  

If people were surprised by the offense, then the quality of the 
defensive play must have made them pinch themselves to see if they
were dreaming. 

The Blues actually presented a defensive unit this year that played
defense. In the past, the Blues were a "let's score goals and  pray
our goalie keeps us in this one" team. This season, with the 
emergence of Chris Pronger, the Blues could play a physical,
defensive game. Pronger's play was so important to his team that it
earned his a nomination for the Norris Trophy. 

But the rest of his blue line mates  could keep their own, too.
Veteran defenseman MacInnis and Duchesne  helped Pronger solidify the
back of the forces, while bringing along  start-up defenseman Chris
McAlpine, Jamie Rivers, and Rudy Poeschek,  defenseman who, if the
St. Louis front office plays their cards right,  could be a vital
part of Cup runs in the years to come. 

No matter who the Blues have on defense, the play of the goaltending
is what the defense will be known for. And their goaltending stepped
up this year. Once again, Grant Fuhr showed the hockey world that,
yeah, he may be 35 years old, but he can still move around like he's
in his 20s. His goals against average of 2.53 is the best of his
17-year career. But when he was sidelined for the majority of March
after surgery to repair some torn cartilage in his right knee, the
Blues needed somebody to come up big and fill the big shoes. And they
found that man in Jamie McLennan. 

When the Blues called on him, McLennan was outstanding. The
27-year-old netminder won 16 games this season, nearly half of his
career total. Every time he was asked to play in place of Fuhr, he
always came up with the big performance. 

But if his play was impressive, then the fact that he was able to
play was astonishing to all. 

Two years ago, McLennan contracted a life-threatening case of
bacterial meningitis. His  condition was so bad that McLennan lost
the ability to walk. But, after a year of hard work in therapy and
dedication to the game he loves, he  was able to not only walk again,
but put on a sweater and pair of  skates and play in goal once again.
For his efforts, McLennan received the Bill Masterton Memorial
Trophy, handed out to the player that best displays perseverance,
sportsmanship, and dedication to hockey. 

From overcoming hardships to proving "the critics" wrong, the St.
Louis Blues certainly turned some heads this season. No longer are
they a member of the mediocre teams in the NHL. Now they are
expected to play with the league's elite. With its potent offense,
its powerful defense and its solid goaltending, this St. Louis
Blues team is poised on the brink of greatness, but it must be very
careful. The moves made this off-season will decide the future of
not only the franchise, but the future of hockey in the city of St.
Louis. It's an exciting time for Blues hockey, but the wrong
off-season move may cause this team with so much potential to take
a swift fall from stardom.  

Whatever happens in the summer, fans of hockey both inside and
outside of St. Louis are sure to be in for an exciting season once
the 1998- 99 St. Louis Blues take the ice next November. 

TEAM MVP: When announcing the re-signing of superstar
defenseman Al MacInnis, Blues' general manager Larry Pleau declared
his hot-shooting defensman to be "our most valuable player."
Although MacInnis's presence on the St. Louis roster is vital, I
wouldn't go as far as saying he's the team's most valuable player.
 

This year, my MVP nod goes to goaltender Grant Fuhr. 

Fuhr finished up the regular season with a 29-21-6 record with a
2.53 GAA and a .898 save percentage. Although these aren't exactly
stellar numbers, his presence on the ice was what primarily made
this team the success it was. 

With Grant Fuhr, the Blues know that they have a goaltender who can 
come up with the big save. It's a lot easier to play a game knowing
you have a goaltender behind you who can stop almost anything that
comes his way instead of having the defense worry about every
player that charges the blue line. 

Congratulations, Grant Fuhr. Your trophy's in the mail, that is if I 
can find enough stamps to ship it. 

SURPRISE: Well, let's see. What could be a surprise? 

The team having the best record in the NHL up until early November?
 

The team leading the league in scoring? 

The team finishing fourth in the league? 

Well, those are all good and pleasant surprises, but, when it comes
to one player's performance that shocked the poop out of me, I have
to go with the play of Chris Pronger. 

Now, don't get me wrong, "Prongs" was playing well last season.  What
surprises me is how much his play and his importance to the team has
changed in one season. Ever since coach Joel Quenneville gave him the
captain's "C" at the beginning of the season, Chris Pronger has
become not just one of the leaders on this team, but also one of the
best players this club has to put on the ice. 

Now, instead of figuring out ways to nuetralize Brett Hull, opposing
clubs need to find some way to get around the 6-foot-5, 207-pound
defenseman. His presence on the ice is only topped by his
physicality. His punishing hits and vicious body checks helped to
set the tone for the Blues' defense this season.  

Chris Pronger, a Norris Trophy finalist this season, will only get 
better. And that's good news for St. Louis. 

DISAPPOINTMENT: Not too many things have been disappointing
this year when it comes to the Blues. Maybe one thing that stands
out is the fact that they lost to the frickin' Red Wings again in
the playoffs. (That will get to you.) 

But when it comes to a player performances, I have to say the most 
disappointing aspect of the season was the scoring, or lack of
scoring, of Brett Hull. At one point in his career, Hull was the
most feared goal-scorer in skates, but not right now. The man who
made a career of finding the right place on the ice to wait for the
puck scored only 27 goals this season, the fewest he's scored in a
full season since the 1987-88 campaign when he was still with
Calgary. Hell, he scored 29 goals in the lockout shortened 1994-95
season.  

Luckily, for Hull and his team, the rest of the lineup decided to
pitch in and score some goals, making Hull's short-comings seem 
insignificant. The team did lead the league in goals, so things can't 
be that bad. 

So, in summary, I'd like to say, "Come on, Brett. What are you
doing? Let's go. Get with the program here. 

"You know something, if you would really like that big free-agent 
contract, you need to make the puck hit the twine a little more."
 

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: Well, it's gonna be interesting, to say
the least. 

Three of the team's big named players - Brett Hull, Steve Duchesne,
and Geoff Courtnall - are all unrestricted free-agents as of July 1.
They have already made moves to keep other potential free agents.
Around the trading deadline back in March, the Blues locked up
goaltenders Grant Fuhr and Jamie McLennan for another three years.
And, in mid-June, the Blues announced they had reached a deal with
defenseman Al MacInnis.  

So, the money's flying, but who it will be going to is the major 
question. But an even bigger question is how much money will be
thrown around, considering the fact that Blues management has
already announced its intentions to cut the team payroll by a
couple million dollars, meaning not all of the big-named free
agents are going to be signed. 

Will the Blues decide to stay loyal to the man that has meant so
much to the franchise for the past 10 seasons? Or will they decide
to go with someone else, someone that may mean more to their
franchise in the long-run? 

Whatever choice is made will be an interesting one, but, if I were a
betting man, I would put my money on the fact that Bobby Hull's
number with the Blackhawks is coming out of retirement next
season. 


-----------------------------------------------------------------
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach: Mike Murphy

Roster: C - Darby Hendrickson, Steve Sullivan, Alyn McCauley. LW -
Fredrik Modin, Wendel Clark, Todd Warriner, Derek King, Kris King,
Igor Korolev. RW - Mats Sundin, Sergei Berezin, Tie Domi, Mike
Johnson, Martin Prochazka, Lonny Bohonos. D - Sylvain Cote, Dimitri
Yushkevich, Mathieu Schneider, Jason Smith, Rob Zettler, Daniil
Markov, David Cooper. G - Felix Potvin, Glenn Healy. 

TEAM NEWS by Jonah A. Sigel

Another Year of Disappointment...When Will It End?

It has become a very bad habit. 

Maple Leaf seasons come and go and the team continues to  struggle
in all its old ways.  Looking back over the last couple of years,
with the exception of a few blips on the map, it has become much
more of a rule than the exception that the Leafs plain stink.  

Like any  other commodity, be it a house, a car or a relationship,
years of misuse, lack of proper attention, care and yes, even love,
will eventually cost a heavy price. 

For Leaf fans this means mediocrity.  Actually, some would  settle
for such a classification.  In the last couple of years the team has
been downright awful and has shown very little improvement.  The
numbers don't lie.  Over the course of the season the point increase
is marginal at best, one point or two.  Two successive years of not
making the playoffs, an inability to put the puck in the net, to keep
it out of their own net and, worst of all, the lack of respect for
the uniform to compete on a nightly basis.  

This season was supposed to be different.  Money was spent last
off-season on free agents, new players were brought in, young kids
were more mature, they had a new president in Hall of Fame
goaltender Ken Dryden, a new management team (a four-headed one in
that) and for the most part all were busts.  The players never
produced like they were supposed to.  The oddity was that all the
players that were signed came from the past regime.  The only
casualty of the Cliff Fletcher era, besides Cliff was his
secretary.  Ah, yes she was responsible for all the blunders.  

No, the same scouts and support staff were all left  to do their
jobs. And what a job they did.  Not one of the players produced to
the level they had hoped.  A telling sign was late in the season
when the playoffs were a few points out of reach in a game against
Detroit.  With a few minutes left in the game, none of the summer
additions were on the ice. Not one.  

Quite frankly, Ken Dryden's inability to hire a general manager
last season cost the Leafs this season.  He spent so much time
trying to persuade others to come to Toronto, but nobody would
listen. Then when no one was left, he named himself GM.  By that
time the summer was over and it was time for training camp.  

The one caveat management had was that it made no promises of
success prior to the season.  There were no grand visions of the
Stanley cup returning to the cash box on Carlton.  

The coach, however,  set three goals for himself: 1. To reduce the
number of shots given up considerably; 2. Reduce number of goals 
allowed per game and 3. To make the playoffs.  Coach Murphy failed
on all three.  

Right from the  starting faceoff, pundits questioned the teams
inability to score, yet not one roster move was made to aide  the
team.  It was not until months down the line that the Leafs traded a
draft pick for Jeff Brown, a deal that was discussed under the same
parameters after training camp.  Then at the deadline, the same Brown
was shipped to Washington for Sylvain Cote and Jamie Macoun was dealt
away to Detroit, where he would carry the Cup.  As for Cote,
apparently he was steamed from the moment he arrived in town.  Nobody
came to meet or great the new Leaf and word was abound that Toronto
was quickly becoming the worst organization to play for in the
league.  

All the time the season was playing out, behind the scenes the
ongoing saga regarding the Leafs, the Raptors and a new arena
finally unfolded.  The Leafs ended up with the Raptors and with the
arena they vowed was too small and they would never play in.  

One has to speculate that much like Dryden's preoccupation the past
summer with hiring a GM cost the Leafs dearly, was Dryden so
involved with these discussions that the team suffered again?  If
so, it appears that someone or someones have their priorities out
of kilter. 

Dryden also was able to finish what Cliff Fletcher had started in an
expedited fashion. He was able to convince or confuse the other NHL
governors into allowing the Leafs to move into the Eastern
Conference this season as opposed to some time in the future.  If
Dryden does not do one more thing for the Maple Leafs, than it will
be this that he will be remembered for.  

Once the season did end, Dryden promised an entire review of the
whole organization, including the coaching staff.  With rumors
abound that Murphy was going to get gassed, Dryden was persistent
that a decision had yet to be made and that one would be
forthcoming prior to the Entry Draft.  

At a press  conference to announce the new ticket price structure at
the new arena, Dryden was cornered by media who had apparently caught
him in a lie.  The previous day he had been asked whether he had
interviewed other applicants for the coaching position, to which he
replied that he had not.  Yet a report broke that said he indeed
had conversations with at least one other candidate, Terry Murray. 
Dryden tried to explain, without much success, that he
misunderstood the question.  He thought he asked if he had
"negotiated" with other candidates, which he claimed he had not.
 

A few days later after Murray refused to come to Toronto, the  Leafs
fired Murphy.  The decision was not a surprise. However, not naming
a successor was.  It had been thought that Dryden did not want to
fire Murphy, a coach who did not cost Dryden a lot of money, until
he knew he had the person he wanted lined up.  That time came
shortly after, two days later to be exact, when Pat Quinn was named
the new head coach.  

All in all it was a season with lots of twists and turns for the
Leafs.  Some on the ice, but most off it. In Dryden's speech at
Murphy's dismissal, he noted that the reason for the firing was
that the team failed to make the playoffs two years in a row. 
Should they fail to make the playoffs this season then it will be
three years in a row, but, more importantly, two years under
Dryden.  While it appears that the Leafs don't care much for the
attitudes or thoughts of the overly critical media, it should be
interesting to see how they respond to a fan base, which is faced
with higher ticket prices, going into a new building with a lousy
product.  

As the Murphy saga dragged on it became more and apparent that the
Honeymoon for the current Leaf regime is over.  If the Leafs fail
to make considerable improvements both in the off-season and in the
standings next year, heads should once again roll.  The precedent
has been set.  Two successive years of failing to make the playoffs
resulted in the firing of a coach.  If it happens again, they won't
fire Quinn, or at least they shouldn't.  

TEAM MVP: Mats Sundin. He had another very good year
considering that the opposition had only him to be concerned with. 
To put up the numbers he did with this group has to place him among
the elite in the league.  The knock on him continues to be the
same.  He is unable, or unwilling, to work hard for the entire
season.  In his defense, he has had a World Cup and an Olympics to
play to add to the already too long NHL season.  

SURPRISES: Rookie Mike Johnson played fairly well all season
long.  Kudos to Dryden for expediting the realignment process. The
move to the arena, which was too small, that they'd never play in.
And peace with the Raptors.  

DISAPPOINTMENTS: Where to start?  Dryden hiring Dryden as GM,
Dryden hiring Smith as associate GM.  Dryden sticking with the
current personnel department and scouting department.  Leaf
management's abandonment of the team and unwillingness to make any
moves to help.  The Murphy Saga.  

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: Quinn is one.  Expect Smith to be named
GM, or at least in duties anyway. Wendel Clark most likely will not
return.  Rob Zettler was lost to expansion.  The Leafs have some
money to spend this summer, apparently.  It will be interesting to
see who they go after.  It is unlikely they will go after any big
name forwards, which they really need.  Reinforcements up front
will likely come from trades, however John MacLean and Steve Thomas
have been rumored to be interested in coming to the Leafs. 
Apparently the team will pursue Uwe Krupp and or Jyrki Lumme.  

It is a quick summer for the NHL season.  Training camp is less than
two months away.  Let's hope it is a busy, productive off-season and
that next year's year-in-review will be more upbeat.
================================================================


=================================================================
TEAM REPORTS
=================================================================
WESTERN CONFERENCE
PACIFIC DIVISION
-----------------------------------------------------------------
ANAHEIM MIGHTY DUCKS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Pierre Page
   
ROSTER: C - Matt Cullen, Travis Green, J.F. Jomphe, Josef Marha,
Steve Rucchin; LW - Shawn Antoski, Ted Drury, Paul Kariya, Tomas
Sandstrom, Brent Severyn, Jeremy Stevenson; RW - Frank Banham, Jeff
Nielsen, Teemu Selanne, Scott Young; D - Drew Bannister, Mike
Crowley, Doug Houda, David Karpa, Jason Marshall, Jamie Pushor,
Ruslan Salei, Pavel Trnka; G - Guy Hebert, Mikhail Shtalenkov, Tom
Askey. 


TEAM NEWS by Alex Carswell

THE SEASON

Where to begin? 

How about at the end. 

What a letdown: failing to qualify for the hardly exclusive NHL
playoffs just a year after pushing eventual Stanley Cup champion
Detroit to OT in three of four thrilling second-round games. And
finishing ahead of just equally hapless Vancouver (64 points) in
the Western Conference.  

But the drop-off hardly came as a surprise to Anaheim Duckwatchers,
whose season opened on a sour note that remained -- save for a few
sweet moments courtesy of Teemu Selanne -- in their mouths all year
long. 

So much has already been said about the pointless firing of Ron
Wilson that it's equally pointless to rehash the whole mess; we'll
let the team's newest ex-coach do that (see below). But it's worth
remembering that the season also began with Paul Kariya on the
sidelines, and not due to injury, as was the case two years back.
Kariya missed critical ice time because of a contract dispute; yet
another off-ice distraction for a franchise that has allowed far
too many in its brief existence.  

Would Kariya's presence from the beginning have made a difference in
the team's overall finish? Who knows, but it couldn't have hurt.  And
while it's impossible to say whether his season-ending concussion,
courtesy of Chicago's Gary Suter, would have happened anyway, an
early start for Kariya might have allowed the team to jell
differently -- and perhaps alter the entire course of events during
this sorry campaign.  

Nonetheless, between the holdout and the concussion, #9 was pretty
much a non-factor this year, which opened the door for Teemu
Selanne to "emerge" as a legitimate NHL superstar. The quotes are
for the benefit of those who don't pay attention to tundra
(Winnipeg) or West Coast hockey, and didn't already recognize the
Finnish Flash for what he is: a top-five NHL player. But after
leading the league in goals (along with Peter Bondra, who needed
three extra games to tie Selanne's total of 52), becoming the first
European to be named All-Star MVP, and earning a nomination for the
Hart Trophy as league MVP, Selanne's star has officially risen even
in the east.  

Even more impressive than his totals, however, was the grit and
determination Selanne showed to battle through suffocating
clutch-and-grab checking and brutal dirty play from the opposition,
as well as a resolute lack of help (on the score sheet and in the
trenches) from Anaheim's supporting cast. Teemu's 52 goals
accounted for over 25 percent of the team's pitiful, record-low
goal-scoring output. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? You
decide.  

Though nobody could have been expected to oust Dominik Hasek as MVP,
there's no doubt that Selanne merited consideration as a player
"adjudged to be most valuable to his team." For the record, Selanne
finished third in the Hart balloting, behind Hasek and Pittsburgh's
Jaromir Jagr. He also was second to Pittsburgh's Ron Francis in the
Lady Byng voting -- a testament to his level-headedness, given the
amount of retaliation infractions he was duly entitled to take over
the course of the year.  

Selanne aside, the season was an unmitigated disaster. From the
start, Pierre Page demonstrated a debilitating lack of patience
with his lineup that destroyed any chance of cohesion the team
might have had. He changed his line combinations from
shift-to-shift, period-to-period and game-to-game. He praised
players after good performances then scratched them from following
games. He personably threw other-sport analogies at the media on a
nightly basis, but applied little sound hockey philosophy to his
constantly foundering team.  

Management was equally indecisive on personnel issues, creating a
near-daily shuttle from Cincinnati (AHL) while waffling between a
commitment to struggling or injured veterans and the development of
unpolished youth. In the end -- but only AT the end, when the season
was a total loss -- youth won out, which should be a good thing over
the seasons ahead. But veterans, with old bones and timing geared
toward the season's dog days and playoffs, often start slowly and
round into form at a time of year when their experience and
leadership is critical. In this forgettable season, many were not
permitted to do so.  

On the positive side of the ledger, the late-season acquisitions of
Travis Green and Josef Marha seem like sound moves. And the return
to health of Steve Rucchin, who suffered a pre-season groin pull
that seriously hampered him right up until the Olympic break, and
Scott Young, who suffered several nagging injuries, bodes well.
Those two were among the team's most consistent offensive
performers down the everybody-get-ready-to-go-home stretch. And if
-- but it's the proverbial "big if" -- the youngsters (Marha, Matt
Cullen, Frank Banham, Jeff Nielsen) can produce when something is
actually at stake, there may be a solid nucleus in the making.  

And speaking of the nucleus, Kariya recently said that he is showing
no post-concussion symptoms and is working out vigorously and
regularly.  

"Before," he told the Los Angeles Times on June 24, "I
couldn't remember the last time I felt good. Now, I can't remember
the last time I felt bad."  

And that should make Ducks fans -- and hockey lovers everywhere --
feel very good indeed. 

TEAM MVP: THE ENVELOPE PLEASE...  Our choice for team
MVP might have been clouded had Suter not knocked Kariya into next
Tuesday. But if you get the nod as a Hart Trophy finalist, odds are
you merit your own team's most valuable player award. And so the
coveted LCS Hockey MVP award -- along with the attendant respect,
glory and valuable prize package that accompanies it -- goes to
Teemu Selanne.  

In truth, no one else was even close. Teemu did it all, and he did
it all alone. Let's hope next year brings a repeat performance from
the Finnish Flash, but a lot more internal competition from his
mates. In the meantime: Bravissimo, Teemu! You da man! 

SURPRISES: QUEL SURPRISE; QUEL DOMAGE... Here's where
we're supposed to give the nod to  omeone who exceeded expectations,
and there's a strong temptation to leave this section blank because,
frankly, no one did. Instead, I'm going to split the award between
defensemen Jason Marshall and Ruslan Salei who, though they had
their ups and downs, at least lived up to expectations as
up-and-coming blueliners on a team without much commitment to
defense. Or any semblance of a defensive system. 

Marshall (3-6-9, 189 PIM) was often the team's only physical force,
although he occasionally committed untimely infractions. But with
experience comes wisdom, and he will likely benefit from a solid
season, his second full campaign. 

Salei rebounded from a disappointing rookie year (30 GP, 0-1-1, -8)
in which he was drafted, ninth overall, from Las Vegas of the IHL in
hopes that he could step into a regular role with Anaheim.  That
didn't happen. But his steady play and decent numbers this year (66
GP, 5-10-15, +7) made amends. 

DISAPPOINTMENT: As for the team's biggest disappointment,
there's no contest: Tomas Sandstrom. The poor guy couldn't buy a
goal with any of his $1 million salary. He finished with 9-8-17
totals, carried a -25 rating, and went from January 10 to March 13
-- a span of 35 games -- without lighting the lamp. Ouch. We love
Tomas, whose grit and determination can add a lot to a team, but
he's got to do better than that (even under the Page reign of
confusion).  

SING FOR ME

LCS Hockey doesn't have an official "Unsung Hero" award, but we do,
and for the fourth straight year it goes to center Steve Rucchin.
Rooch played with a seriously tweaked groin all year and took heat
for not putting up numbers. But he never hurt the team, played an
important role and -- once healed courtesy of the NHL's three-week
folly in Nagano -- was back to his old self down the stretch. 

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: BOWIE TIME... Many changes
already, many more to come. It may appear that Anaheim has
cleaned house, first by (in the words of team President Tony
Tavares) "taking out" assistants Don Hay and Walt Kyle, and then by
firing Page. The truth, however, is that upper management has
merely dusted a little and swept what we view as the real issues
under the rug.  

The why's and wherefore's aren't really important, but here are
everyone's takes: Tavares said Hay and Kyle were let go on the
advice of GM Jack Ferreira, who made the decision along with Page,
who was still on board at the time and scheduled to remain so. Page
was fired after first agreeing on a particular course of action
with the GM and then, Ferreira said, pushing for a different
agenda. For his part, Page believes he was fired strictly because
Ron Wilson's appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals (which coincided
with Page's axing) was embarrassing the front office.  

As the coaching door was slamming Page in the rear, Page slammed
Ducks management: "I don't believe what Jack said (about
philosophical differences being the reason he was fired). It's
their organization."  

GOOD NEWS, BAD NEWS

The good news is that Page is gone. In point of fact, he never
should have been hired -- even if you buy that Wilson had to go.
Page's methodology and record behind the bench is highly
unimpressive (a .463 winning percentage over seven prior seasons as
a head coach, including just one winning campaign -- 47-27-10 with
Quebec in 92-93 -- followed by a first-round playoff loss). And
anyone who knew his propensity for speaking his mind (which is to
say anyone who knows hockey), knew he was absolutely the wrong fit
for an organization that just fired an actually GOOD coach for
being too outspoken.  

Will it get better? Possibly, although it seems unlikely. 

Despite the presence of several high-profile coaches on the market
(Marc Crawford and Ted Nolan come to mind), the Ducks seem intent
on yet another low-budget, low-profile alternative. Not that they
couldn't do well with someone like Butch Goring (Utah, IHL) or even
John VanBoxmeer (Long Beach, IHL). But they ought to quickly
discard candidates like Barry Melrose and Craig Hartsburg, whose
sole merits are that they preach team toughness. Besides, both men
are talkers, which should disqualify them from consideration. And
at least in Melrose's case, mercifully, the price tag is likely to
be too high.  

As for Nolan, one highly publicized battle with upper management
along with, again, a significant price tag, should keep him out of
the running.  

It may be the price tag -- both in dollars and the compensatory
draft pick -- that's likely to push the team away from Crawford,
but he would seem the ideal candidate for the job. He has
experience with star players (Sakic, Forsberg et al) and has
managed to get his tough guys to do their jobs. The only knock on
him is that he couldn't get along with Patrick Roy, but with the
exception of PGA pro Fred Couples, who can?  

Besides, Crawford comes out of a very small-minded organization
himself. Instead of being up front about wanting him out, Colorado
manipulated the situation to force Crawford's hand. Plus, the Avs
director of media relations, Jean Martineau, with the approval of
GM Pierre Lacroix, has banned his players from speaking with
certain reporters and publications which have dared to criticize
the team. That should make the Disney requirement of towing the
company line seem like a walk in the amusement park. 

Our guess is that Goring will get the nod. He was a heady player who
has earned his head coaching stripes at the minor-league level.  And
while he may ultimately pan out, we would love to be proven wrong:
Disney would be better served to deliver their fans a proven
commodity to go along with Selanne, Kariya & Co. rather than risk
another year of uncertainty behind the bench. 

ON THE ROSTER

Losing G Mikhail Shtalenkov to Nashville was predictable, but
nonetheless significant. That commits the team to using Guy Hebert
as a workhorse, which is fine as long as he stays healthy. Patrick
Lalime is likely to get the backup job, and we're not completely
sold on the youngster. Yes, he had the record-setting rookie start,
but he was being torched soon thereafter. He was in a tough spot,
looking for a big contract while playing behind Tom Barrasso and
Ken Wregget, but we've yet to be convinced he has legitimate NHL
talent.  

Otherwise, the team has talked big about adding to the blue line
after the free agent signing period begins on July 1. Certainly
such help would be welcome. With Al MacInnis already in the St.
Louis fold, Steve Duchesne -- with SoCal hockey roots -- would seem
a logical fit, although Gary Suter's name (ah, the irony) has been
bandied about as well.  

Anaheim already added a goon, er, toughness, by sending J.F. Jomphe
to Phoenix in exchange for Jim McKenzie who, it is said, "knows his
role." That means you can say good-bye (no surprise) to Shawn
Antoski.  

DRAFT WINDS BLOW

Ferreira's draft was something of a surprise to this observer. With
a chance to nab Manny Malhotra -- tabbed as a defensively-solid,
possibly NHL-ready two-way center with good size -- the Ducks
instead took Ukranian native Vitaly Vishnevsky. Vishnevsky, a
defenseman, is likely to play at least one more year of junior
hockey in Russia, then spend some time in the North American minor
league ranks. Three years or so down the road, what will Vishnevsky
bring to the table? Either "an edge," says Ferreira, who describes
the 6'1", 187-pound teenager as a budding Darius Kasparaitis-type.
Or "the ability to get the puck out of our zone," says Assistant GM
David McNab, who describes him as offensively gifted.  

But in Malhotra, the Ducks passed on (and the NY Rangers grabbed)
exactly the type of player every GM claims to want: a big, mature,
skilled, responsible center. The question is, why? 

Yes, Anaheim is building depth at center in Rucchin, Green, Marha
and Cullen. But Rucchin has always had a hinky back; Green has yet
to live up to his early promise with the Islanders; and youngsters
Marha and Cullen, while talented, haven't proven they can do it
every night. And besides, can you ever have too much strength down
the middle? And which one of those four are you going to designate
as your dependable checking center? That's a role Cullen is
ill-suited for, and the others would likely disdain.  

Want an outside shot? We've heard rumors -- and now spread them --
that the Ducks might make a play for Jeremy Roenick of the Coyotes.
To us, that would be huge. And while GM Bobby Smith has always said
JR isn't available, whining bad boy Keith Tkachuk apparently feels
the spotlight isn't big enough for the both of them, and wants
Roenick run.  

Tell you what: When Tkachuk wanted Selanne dusted from the frozen
ponds of Winnipeg, Anaheim was more than happy to step in with an
offer. If Ferreira could snag Roenick without giving up too much,
the fans may just be willing to forget the futility and frustration
of last season.


-----------------------------------------------------------------
CALGARY FLAMES
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Brian Sutter
   
roster:  C - Andrew Cassels, Michael Nylander, Cory Stillman.  RW -
Eric Andersson, Valeri Bure, Theoren Fleury, Jarome Iginla, Sandy
McCarthy, Ron Stern.  LW - Chris Dingman, Hnat Domenichelli, Todd
Hlushko, Marty McInnis, German Titov, Ed Ward.  D - Tommy Albelin,
Jamie Allison, Joel Bouchard, Kevin Dahl, Denis Gauthier, Cale
Hulse, Derek Morris, James Patrick, Todd Simpson, Rocky Thompson. 
G - Tyler Moss, Dwayne Roloson, Rick Tabaracci. 

TEAM NEWS by Jim Iovino

The 1997-98 season saw Calgary's Young Guns produce nothing but
blanks.  

The youth movement in Calgary stalled this past season as none of
the highly touted young players made much of an impact on the
team.  Jarome Iginla struggled during his sophomore campaign. 
Jason Wiemer didn't show the offensive ability he's supposed to
have.  Hnat Domenichelli showed a hint of promise in his brief
31-game stint but not enough to make anyone salivate with
excitement. Chris Dingman was disappointing the whole year.  Aaron
Gavey struggled.  

And that's just the offense. 

The young defensemen on the team didn't do as bad as the forwards,
but there was still a lack of progress made that scared many in
Calgary.  Being a team that can't afford to run out and sign
big-name free agents to lucrative contracts, the Flames employed a
strategy to build their franchise from within.  They're supposed to
stockpile picks, draft well and let their talent develop into NHL
stars.  

One question: What if that talent never shows up? 

The answer: You're team looks like the 1997-98 Calgary Flames. 

But the youngsters weren't the only ones to blame for the Flames
non-playoff season.  The veteran Flames did little to ease the
transition from today's team to tomorrow's. 

Theo Fleury was his usual self, scoring at a decent clip and logging
a ton of ice time.  But besides the little guy, no one else pulled
his weight.  Cory Stillman was second on the team in points, but he
only had 49 points in 72 games.  That's not good. 

Stillman did pot 27 goals, though.  That's the most in his
four-year career, with his previous high of 16 coming in 95-96.
Stillman also scored nine times on the power play. 

Outside of Stillman and Fleury, there wasn't much to cheer about
offensively. Marty McInnis didn't live up to expectations, scoring
44 points in 75 games. Andrew Cassels was disappointing, as well. 
The crafty playmaker should have easily exceeded the 44 points he
scored this past season.  

But that's the problem with the Flames offense.  There are plenty
of setup men on the team, but no pure goal scorers.  German
Titov should have been the main offensive weapon for the club, but
he struggled the entire season and ended up with 18 goals.  More on
him later.  

The goaltending situation was just as much a mess as the rest of the
team. After the Flames traded Trevor Kidd, the starting job was up
for grabs. Unfortunately, no one wanted it. 

Rick Tabaracci, Dwayne Roloson and Tyler Moss all had their chances
at taking control of the situation, but all three displayed
inconsistent play, leaving the team without a stable force between
the pipes.  

So that's the Flames' season in a nutshell.  The veterans didn't
produce.  The rookies didn't grow up.  And the goaltenders didn't
show up.  

Since the Flames don't have the money to go out and correct their
problems by signing free agents, fans can expect more of the same
next season.  

TEAM MVP: Theo Fleury.  He had no one to pass to.  There was
no one to pass to him.  He was hounded by two men every time he
touched the puck.  But despite all of that, Fleury was still among
the top 10 scorers in the league, scoring 78 points (27 goals) in
82 games.  

This was an especially frustrating year for Theo because there
really wasn't much more he could do to help the team win.  He
doesn't have the skills to blow through a defense and score by
himself.  But if he doesn't do it, no one else will. 

Theo played the point on the power play, he killed penalties and
logged a ton of ice time at even strength. And despite not wearing
the "C", Fleury was the leader on ice. 

Sure, Theo dogged it a little toward the end of the year, but by
that time the team was out of contention and the little guy was out
of gas after playing every game during the season AND playing a
regular shift in the Olympics for Team Canada. 

For Fleury fans, the 97-98 campaign was actually kind of sad.  He
plays his heart out, but he still can't lead his team to victory. 
At this point in his career, Fleury deserves to play on a winning
team.  It will be up to management to see if they can grant him
that wish with a trade this off-season or next season. 

SURPRISES: Rookie defenseman Derek Morris played all 82 games
for the Flames this season.  And you know what?  He played pretty
damn well.  

Morris has great wheels for a defenseman, loves to join the rush and
has a cannon of a shot.  Although his game is still rough around the
edges, it looks like the Flames might have a keeper in this guy.
Morris scored nine goals and added 20 assists this season. Those
numbers should rise in the years to come...if the Flames offense gets
better, that is.  Remember Derek Morris's name when you're drafting
your fantasy teams next season.  The Flames are glad they picked him.
 

Speaking of flames, Zippy the Wonder Chimp saw some in his driveway
this morning.  Zippy, you see, is a cheap bastard who won't go out
and by a new car. Zip's got mad cash, but he's too cheap to spend
it.  Therefore, he's been trying to keep the old clunker he has now
running as long as he can.  

But this morning, the car finally gave out.  He was driving it to
work, but something wasn't right and he decided to take it back
home and get his parents' car instead.  As soon as he parked the
car in his driveway, the damn thing caught on fire.  Zip had to
call the fire department in to put out the blaze. 

Now we at LCS are glad that Zip didn't get hurt and all, but ya know
what? Zippy deserved it!  Everyone else should take this as a
lesson.  If you've got enough money to get a new car, please go out
and buy one.  Zip tried to be stingy and milk the one he had for
all it's worth, but now he's without a car, he wasted taxpayer
money by calling in the fire department, he lost hours at work and
he has to get the burned up car towed away.  

So in conclusion, don't be a weasel like Zippy.  See, you learn
something every day. 

Now where were we... 

DISAPPOINTMENTS: German Titov has to be the biggest
disappointment of the year.  This guy has a ton of talent, but for
some reason he couldn't get things going this year.  Titov has
scored close to 30 goals twice in his career, but this season he
only managed 18.  That's not good.  

There have also been some rumors that Titov was a problem in the
locker room. Could that be a reason why the Flames traded him to
the Pittsburgh Penguins for Ken Wregget?  Could be... 

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: The biggest change was the
above-mentioned Wregget trade.  Wregget will get the chance to
take grasp of the No. 1 job in goal while Moss and J.S. Giguere
gain more experience.  

Valeri Bure, who was acquired from Montreal late in the season,
provided an offensive spark to the Flames and was already
re-signed.  

Ronnie Stern, who was supposed to have a big season for Calgary and
then get a big free agent contract from another team after the
year, suffered a season-ending injury early in the year.  That
killed his hopes of landing a big contract, but also left hope that
he would return to Calgary.  

The only other major change is the addition of a third jersey for
next season. It's all black with red and yellow trim, has the
flamin' "C" on the shoulders and, get this, a horse's head with
flames coming out of the nostrils on the front of the jersey. 
That's right, a horse head with flames spurtin' out the shnoz. 

At the Entry Draft, Flames management said the horse represents the
cowboy heritage of Western Canada.  Damn, if I would have known
they had fire-breathing horses in Calgary I would have made
vacation plans a long time ago. 


-----------------------------------------------------------------
COLORADO AVALANCHE
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Marc Crawford
   
Roster:  C - Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, Stephane Yelle, Jari Kurri,
Tom Fitzgerald. LW - Valeri Kamensky, Rene Corbet, Eric Lacroix.  RW
- Claude Lemieux, Adam Deadmarsh, Keith Jones, Jeff Odgers, Shean
Donovan, Brad Larsen, Warren Rychel. D - Sandis Ozolinsh, Sylvain
Lefebvre, Uwe Krupp, Adam Foote, Alexei Gusarov, Jon Klemm, Aaron
Miller, Eric Messier, Francois Leroux, Wade Belak.  G - Patrick Roy,
Craig Billington. 

TEAM NEWS by Greg D'Avis

Hopefully, the Avalanche's excellent draft -- where they picked up
scoring, defense and toughness in the first two rounds -- marks a
turnaround from what, first-place Pacific finish aside, was a lousy
year. Bad trades, locker room dissension, a quick playoff exit and
a fired coach made this a year that won't look good as a highlight
film.  

The season started off optimistic -- Jari Kurri, we were sure, would
replace Mike Keane's leadership. Francois Leroux was finally the
replacement for Chris Simon's mean streak. And with youngsters like
Josef Marha, Christian Matte, Wade Belak and Eric Messier in the
wings, the future was bright indeed.  

Unfortunately, Kurri should have retired a year earlier. Leroux was
often worthless. And by the end of the season, Marha was a Mighty
Duck, Messier was burnt out, and Matte and Belak proved they
weren't ready for the big leagues. 

Despite having more talent than most teams have in a decade, the
most common knock against the Avs -- lack of heart -- was proven
right. The team was never dominant, never consistent. Keane's grit,
and eventually Mike Ricci's, were severely missed. The few players
who came to play every night -- Rene Corbet, Stephane Yelle, Jeff
Odgers, Jon Klemm -- were all third- and fourth-liners and not the
players who can carry a team.  

The team still seems to lack the cohesive spirit that marked their
Stanley Cup winning-club. While players like Keane, Ricci, Simon
and Curtis Leschyshyn weren't stars, they were important, and the
character players the team has now haven't been around long enough
to establish a locker room personality. Watching the Stanley Cup
playoffs, I was struck by how much of a "family" personality teams
like Buffalo, St. Louis and especially Detroit had. Colorado is a
team that doesn't seem to be friends.  

The playoff loss to Edmonton exposed a lot of the character flaws.
Edmonton newspapers aside, it was obvious to everyone that Colorado
was 10 times as talented as the Oilers. But the Oilers cared. The
Avalanche, aside from Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic, looked ready
for golf.  

Changes are, at least, being made. While firing Marc Crawford may
not prove to be a good move, it at least shakes things up, and Bob
Hartley comes highly regarded. Uwe Krupp and Kurri are gone, and
more players will follow soon. The 1998-99 Avalanche will be the
most severely different from the Stanley Cup winners of 1996, and
that, oddly, may be the best thing the team can do.  

TEAM MVP: If he stayed healthy, Peter Forsberg would've won
the Art Ross and been a Hart finalist. As it is, he has to settle
for being the best forward currently in the game today, and one of
the very few players who can dominate in all areas of the game. He
also answered questions about his playoff intensity by being just
about the only Av who could score against Edmonton. He's got too
many skills to count, he's smart on defense, he's tough and he's
not afraid to throw around the cheap shots. And we love him.  

SURPRISE: Well, that first-round loss to Edmonton was a
surprise, but not a good one. Not many players exceeded
expectations this year. However, Aaron Miller, after being a
healthy scratch much of the season, played well in every facet of
the game in the later season and the playoffs. He's finally
learning to use his size well, he plays smart, and while it's a
stretch to say he could be a dominant defenseman, he at least has
the tools and intelligence to be a Sylvain Lefebvre-type player.
 

Other than that, Rene Corbet is emerging as a good potential
second-liner, one with both skills and tenacity - he's expanded his
game from a hot junior scorer to become an excellent agitator,
defensive forward with offensive skills, and most important, he's
the one Colorado player who gives 100 percent every night.  

DISAPPOINTMENT: There's any number of candidates for this
section -- Adam Deadmarsh, Keith Jones, Eric Lacroix, Francois
Leroux -- but the winner never even stepped on the ice. After
earning a reputation as a shrewd trader in his first two years in
Colorado, General Manager Pierre Lacroix did his best to alter that
in 1997-98. Virtually every move made backfired.  
 
Leroux, signed to be a physical presence, routinely got beaten up by
smaller opponents -- when he wasn't injured. Mike Ricci was traded
for Shean Donovan; the Avs never replaced Ricci's grit and
character, and Donovan was a routine scratch. 

More disturbing is the question of what direction the Avs want to go
in. After stockpiling draft picks for this year, they traded away two
top young prospects, Josef Marha and Mark Parrish, for Warren Rychel
and Tom Fitzgerald, respectively. Marha proceeded to go nuts for
Anaheim; Rychel proceeded to get punched a lot. Parrish could be a
high scorer in the NHL; Fitzgerald is an aging grinder who is an
unrestricted free agent this summer. What's the point of getting
youth, Pierre, if you're just going to trade it away for tomato cans?
Look where it got the Rangers.  

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: Two of the biggest have already been made
-- coach Marc Crawford was fired or quit, depending on who you ask,
and defenseman Uwe Krupp (an unrestricted free agent) went to
Nashville in the expansion draft.  

There'll be plenty more. Really, only a few players should be
untouchable -- Patrick Roy, Peter Forsberg and Joe Sakic, and maybe
Adam Foote as well. The rest should all be considered available.
 

Some of the names which could have an impact in upcoming months: 

Valeri Kamensky -- His name was already mentioned in draft-day talks
with the Rangers. While he's a high-scoring winger who can dominate a
game, and has good chemistry with Forsberg, he's got a few things
going against him:  

* He's aging, he's been injury-prone and he's an unrestricted free
agent next summer.

* He's the ultimate in hot and cold: he's a superstar one game and
invisible the next.

* He held out once. Lacroix doesn't like holdouts -- witness that of
all players who have held out since the team came to Colorado
(Wendel Clark, Martin Rucinsky, Scott Young, Chris Simon) only
Kamensky is still with the team.  

On the other hand, I have a Kamensky jersey, so it would suck if he
got traded.  

Adam Deadmarsh -- Again, he was rumored to be gone by draft day but
wasn't traded. Good power forwards are rare, but the Avalanche have
to be sick of waiting for him to reach his potential. 

Keith Jones -- He was great in 96-97, then injured in 97-98 and
lousy in the playoffs. He's a good agitator who can score, and he
gives the Avs two good scoring lines, but he could be gone for the
right price.  

Craig Billington -- Never has a backup goalie, who plays 10 games a
year, been so important. The Avs have a big decision to make about
the Biller, who's an unrestricted free agent. 

Do they:
* Sign Billington for one more year to give Goalie-of-the-Future
Marc Denis another year to develop after a poor 97-98? 

* Jettison Billington and bring in Denis to start his
apprenticeship?  

* Go with neither and bring up Petr Franek, who isn't the
Goalie-of-the -Future but did better at Hershey, and risk ruining
Denis' confidence?  

Probably stick with Billington -- after all, there's another
expansion draft next year. 

Plenty more could be gone. Alexei Gusarov? Almost definitely. At
least one of Francois Leroux, Warren Rychel or Jeff Odgers is on
the way out. Stephane Yelle, Jon Klemm, and Sylvain Lefebvre could
all be gone for the right price.  

Lacroix has a difficult task ahead of him this summer: rebuild a
team that is only two seasons removed from a Stanley Cup. He's
still got a good nucleus; the challenge is to rebuild the outer
layers without damaging the delicate core. 


-----------------------------------------------------------------
EDMONTON OILERS
----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Ron Low
   
Roster:  C - Doug Weight, Todd Marchant, Tony Hrkac. LW - Dean
McAmmond, Rem Murray, Valeri Zelepukin, Ryan  Smyth, Mats Lindgren,
Bill Huard, Mike Watt. RW - Bill Guerin, Mike Grier, Andrei
Kovalenko, Kelly Buchberger, Georges Laraque, Dennis Bonvie. D -
Bobby Dollas, Sean Brown, Greg deVries, Kevin Lowe, Roman Hamrlik,
Boris Mironov, Drake Berehowsky, Frank Musil, Janne Niinimaa.  G -
Curtis Joseph, Bob Essensa. 

TEAM NEWS by Simon D. Lewis

The Edmonton Oilers entered the 1997-98 season with high hopes for
their on-ice performance.  They were coming off their first playoff
appearance in five years.  They'd beaten Dallas in a spirited
series and shown a game effort against the powerful Avalanche.  The
core of the team was intact and there were great expectations for
some of the youngsters.  

There was also a black cloud hanging over the boys in blue and gold.
The team was up for sale.  Houston magnate Les Alexander was making
noises like he really wanted the Oilers.  The owner at the time,
Peter Pocklington, was infamous for his twisted approach to
business.  Not many Edmontonians trusted that Peter Puck would
leave the city with a happy outcome.  This was the guy who traded
Gretzky!  

Throughout the season the "Sale" was the background in front of
which every game was played.  Though the Oilers started slowly,
they managed to pick up their game enough that you could say the
games actually went pretty well.  The team never rose too far in
the standings, but was in the hunt the whole year.  

Curtis Joseph in goal was the anchor for this sometimes storm-tossed
ship.  His season started shakily, but he soon got his sea legs under
him.  Captain Kelly Buchberger manned the con as well as any swarthy,
salt- encrusted, veteran skipper could.  Bucky led by example.  There
was no shot too hard to block, no check too unimportant to finish.
The part of the first mate was played to a tee by Doug Weight.  The
overall points leader on the team was the "go-to guy". 

At the risk of stretching this metaphor beyond all tolerance, we'll
just say that there were some other able seamen aboard the Good
Ship Oiler.  Dean McAmmond became a scoring threat.  Boris Mironov
developed into the offensive defenceman who was not nearly so often
a liability in his own end.  Ryan Smyth reacted well to the
increased checking attention he got.  He didn't manage to post the
big scoring numbers, but he had to fight through an injury.  Mats
Lindgren and Todd Marchant often reminded this writer of Buffalo's
mid- 70s penalty killing duo of Don Luce and Craig Ramsay. 
Aggressive and stifling come to mind.  

About mid-season, GM Glen Sather decided to cut his losses and a
cancer from the team.  The enigmatic Jason Arnott was traded to New
Jersey for Bill Guerin.  Most fans were more than happy to see the
unmotivated Arnott hit the road.  Guerin, who was already good
buddies with Doug Weight, proved to be a welcome addition who later
supplied some timely scoring in the first round of the playoffs.
 

The Oilers made the playoffs by going 5-1 to finish off the season
and wound up facing the same two teams as they had the previous
season.  This time they upset Colorado and lost to Dallas.  The
script was quite similar.  They looked like they were down and out
as the Avalanche charged out to a three games to one lead. 
Somebody call the ski patrol!  Some inspired play and a seemingly
flat Colorado team (see:  Mark Crawford, firing of) led to the big
three-game comeback and a victory for the team from the Great White
North.  

Dallas was another story.  The story was goaltending.  Belfour
marginally outplayed Joseph in a very low scoring affair.  The
series was characterised by stifling checking and bad ice in
Dallas.  It really reminded you why hockey is a winter sport best
played between November and March in cold climates.  Anyway, the
Oilers went down and, once more, said, "Wait until next year."  

Only problem there is that Curtis Joseph and Doug Weight are free
agents.  

Oh yeah!  That sale thing.  It happened.  A group of roughly 30
interested Northern Albertans ponied up the cash to buy the team. 
It was like pulling teeth, but it showed that despite the all-time
low Canadian dollar and the unholy amounts American teams are
shelling out to the Marty McSorleys of the world, that the people
of Edmonton really want this team.  You can bet the folks in
Winnipeg and Quebec City are nodding there heads sadly and wishing
they'd done the same.  

TEAM MVP: So...the brain trust at LCS Guide to Hockey (see: 
domination, world) wants you to know who the Most Valuable Player
was on the Edmonton Oilers.  If you're any kind of fan you'll
already know the answer to this one:  CUJO CUJO CUJO  (see: 
Joseph, Curtis).  Without the kind of goaltending this guy comes up
with on a regular basis, the Oilers would not be the same team. 
Period.  At this writing he's still an Oiler.  Look for the big
chequebooks to lure him away.  Hint: They say the neon lights are
bright on Broadway.  

SURPRISE: Had to be a guy called Michael Largue.  He ain't no
hockey player.  He tried to buy the team at one point...kinda. 
Here's what we wrote in LCS Hockey in March:  

"And if you believe that, I've got some swamp land..." -- In the
frenzied search for funding for the Oilers, it looked like a guy
with a white hat was about to come to the rescue.  His name -
Michael Largue.  He said he had a bankroll of $100 million from a
Swiss millionaire named Lester Mittendorf who owned the Bern Bears.
He said he was a former hockey player who had actually played for
the Bears.   

Wrong!! 

After Largue swept into Edmonton on a wave of media hype he was
proven to be an absolute and total liar. 

Turns out that Mr. Largue, among other accomplishments, has been
convicted of defrauding his apartment co-op of $39,000.  He arrived
in Edmonton after clearing the trip with his parole officer.   On
May 21, 1993 his name appeared on a list of people and companies
who were fined and suspended from the National Association of
Security Dealers.  His estranged wife says, "I'll tell you
something...he's a loser.  He's a loser and he doesn't have any
money."  The phrase, pathological liar was thrown around.  

Nice job, Mike.  Now get back in your hole and stop wasting
everyone's time.  Snake oil anyone?  

DISAPPOINTMENT: For the Oiler faithful it was frustrating and
heartbreaking to see Kevin Lowe have to sit out the season.  The
original Oiler NHL draft pick and the scorer of their first NHL goal
had returned to the team in 96-97 as an elder statesman, a guide for
the young bucks on the blue line.  In October he was put on the IR
because of labyrynthitis.  In English that means that he had inner
ear problems that made him so dizzy he couldn't stand, let alone
skate.  He was more worried about his life than his career.  The
prognosis was varied:  could be a few months, could be longer. 

Lowe managed to recover enough to get into a handful of games at the
end of the season and one in the playoffs...a major disappointment.
 

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: There was some talk that GM Glen Sather
might jump ship if he didn't like the way the new owners dealt with
him.  That seems to be history.  He wouldn't budge for the Leafs,
the Canucks or the Atlanta Thrashers (didn't they used to have a
team down there?).  

Where the change is coming is in goal.  Free agent Curtis Joseph has
to take the money and run.  The Oilers have already acquired Eric
Fichaud as security.  

Doug Weight is another likely free-agent flyer although Sather says
he will try to sign both him and Joseph. 

Scott Fraser, the 26-year-old rookie who finally made the big time
is also a free agent.  With expansion and the crazy financial
climate in the league, you just know he's going to get an offer. 
Sather probably has another guy like him in mind.  He's proven over
the years that he knows where to find overlooked talent.  

That's it.  It's Next Year Country!


-----------------------------------------------------------------
LOS ANGELES KINGS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Larry Robinson

Roster:  C - Jason Morgan, Ray Ferraro, Ian Laperriere, Yanic
Perreault, Jozef Stumpel, Nathan Lafayette, Roman Vopat.  LW -
Craig Johnson, Matt Johnson, Luc Robitaille, Vladimir Tsyplakov,
Steve McKenna, Dan Bylsma.  RW - Sandy Moger, Glenn Murray, Russ
Courtnall.  D - Aki Berg, Rob Blake, Phillipe Boucher, Garry
Galley, Mattias Norstrom, Sean O'Donnell, Doug Zmolek, Jan Vopat. 
G - Jamie Storr, Stephane Fiset. 

TEAM NEWS by Matt Moore

Another season finished and the Kings are still a few years away
from challenging for the Stanley Cup.  But definite progress could
be seen through the season, except for some serious regression at
the end and in the playoffs.  

The team still shows signs of being one of the youngest in the
league and were inconsistent throughout the year.  Only when the
older "leaders" stepped up in mid- to late-January did the Kings
put together a winning streak that showed what they will hopefully
do in the 1998-99 season.  

TEAM MVP: A tie between goaltender Stephane Fiset and
defenseman Rob Blake. Without Fiset the Kings would have easily
been a sub-.500 team.  He gives the Kings their first goaltender
since an in-his- prime Kelly Hrudey who can go on a tear and win
streaks of games in spite of his team not playing defense. His
acquisition from the Colorado Avalanche two seasons ago could turn
out to be one of the best trades in the history of the franchise.
 

Rob Blake, who won the Norris Trophy, came back from several seasons
of injuries to show that he is truly one of the best defensemen in
the league.  He kept on being one of the most punishing checkers in
the league, with one particular hit on Devil Patrik Elias coming to
mind.  But Blake also developed into an effective scorer, leading the
league's defensemen in goals.  Heck, his offense carried the team
through many of the scoring droughts that hit the Kings, which is
pretty sad now that I think of it...  

SURPRISES:  Glen Murray and Jozef Stumpel. Murray was always
one of those guys who has disappointed at all of his prior stops in
the NHL.  So one would expect for him to blow goats in LA, land of
the underachiever.  But Murray decided to turn it on this season,
going on to score career highs in goals and points.  Combining with
Vladimir Tsyplakov, Jozef Stumpel, and to a certain extent, Yanic
Perreault, he turned into the power forward that the Kings needed. 
And in the playoffs he seemed to be the most consistent and
aggressive forwards on the team.  
  
Jozef Stumpel came over in a preseason trade with the Bruins and was
a practical godsend.  In the trade that got rid of Dimitri
Khristich, who was a drag on the clubhouse atmosphere and a guy who
was more concerned with making the one on one move than the team
play, the Kings received a big young centerman who would be the
first No. 1 center and the best playmaker since Wayne Gretzky left
town.  Averaging over a point per game, he was the best forward on
the team.  

DISAPPOINTMENTS:  Where should I start?  Ray Ferraro was
hampered by injuries, so I can't really get on him for going out
and playing like he was carrying lead weights.  So the goat of the
year has to go to Yanic Perreault.  Perreault had a good enough
year, scoring 28 goals, but that is crap considering he scored the
majority of those goals in a three-week period early in the
season.  After that, he disappeared, going so far as being benched
for his lackadaisical play.  Sure, he can go on great goal-scoring
streaks that make people forget his crappy play for a while, but
the Kings will never get to be a contender until they find someone
else to be a No. 2 center.  

OFF-SEASON CHANGES:  Well, the Kings have already unveiled
their new logo, which is a stylized version of the logo that they
used to have before they went to the gangbanger black-and-white
version.  Now if only they would keep the crown logo and get rid of
the other nonsense, then they would look sharp.  The "coat of arms"
logo just makes me want to puke, with it being just too busy. 
Simplicity is a virtue, particularly when they go to the point of
putting sunglasses on the lion.  

The Kings also traded Jan Vopat away, which really is un-news since
he was AWOL during the past season. That is quite sad considering
that he had shown some potential during the previous year.  But in
97-98 he was a non-factor and could have easily been replaced by a
dead seal out on the ice, except the dead seal would have probably
blocked a few more shots and has better lateral movement.  

There continues to be a feeling around town that Larry Robinson
might not stay with the Kings for the full rebuilding process. 
Apparently some feel that Larry might just say "screw it" to the
travel and the work needed, and head on off to the polo field,
where he can make horses work harder than Yanic Perreault did
during the second half of the season.  

Doug Bodger was acquired from the Devils in exchange for a
fourth-round pick before the expansion draft. He will provide some
additional depth at defense along the blue line and will hopefully
play a role similar to Garry Galley by adding leadership and some
old-time hustle. 


-----------------------------------------------------------------
SAN JOSE SHARKS
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach: Darryl Sutter 
     
roster: C - Bernie Nicholls, Ron Sutter, Patrick Marleau, Marco
Sturm, Mike Ricci, Jeff Friesen, Alex Korolyuk. LW - Shawn Burr,
Murray Craven, Stephane Matteau, Dave Lowry. RW - Tony Granato,
Owen Nolan,  Todd Ewen, John MacLean, Joe Murphy D - Ken Sutton,
Bryan Marchment, Bill Houlder, Al Iafrate, Marty McSorley, Marcus
Ragnarsson, Mike Rathje, Andrei Zyuzin. G - Mike Vernon, Kelly
Hrudey. 

Team News by Michael Dell


Al Swanson's team report never arrived, so I will try and recap
the San Jose Sharks' season as only I can.  That's right...
through Haiku.

<center>
Sharks swam to playoffs. 
San Jose fans quite happy. 
Yeah, Sharks! Yeah, Sharks! Yeah!
</center>

Thank you very much.  Be sure to look for my book of Haikus,
entitled "Haikus? I Got Your Haikus Right Here", at better
bookstores and gas stations everywhere.  

TEAM MVP:  I'm gonna go with Jeff Friesen.  No doubt, he
sucked in the playoffs, but he was the man during the regular
season.  Friesen led the Sharks in scoring with a career high 31
goals and 63 points.  He also led the club with seven power-play
goals, six short-handed goals, and seven game-winners.  That's a
nice season.

SURPRISE:  Rookie defenseman Andrei Zyuzin performed above
expectations.  In 56 games, Zyuzin had six goals, 13 points, and
was a +8.  He should have a bright future in the Shark Tank. 

DISAPPOINTMENT:  He's one of LCS Hockey's favorite
players, but Owen Nolan had a brutal season.  Nolan clocked just
14 goals and 41 points in 75 games.  Ugh, I feel sick after
reading those numbers... somebody pass the Nyquil.  It's the
coughing, sneezing, Nolan sucked so you can rest medicine.  

OFF-SEASON CHANGES:  The Sharks have already taken a bite
out of the free agent market, signing Gary Suter to a three-year,
$10-million contract.  Suter will be a quality addition.  I'd
tell you more about the Sharks, but it's not really my job.  But
if you'd like to hear another Haiku, just let me know...
  

 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
VANCOUVER CANUCKS 
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Head Coach:  Mike Keenan

Roster:  C - Mark Messier, Peter Zezel, Dave Scatchard, Brandon
Convery;  LW - Markus Naslund, Brad May, Donald Brashear, Larry
Courville;  RW - Alex Mogilny, Pavel Bure, Brian Noonan, Scott
Walker, Todd Bertuzzi  D - Jyrki Lumme, Dana Murzyn, Matthias
Ohlund, Bret Hedican, Bryan McCabe, Adrian Aucoin, Steve Staios,
Jamie Huscroft, Chris McAllister, Bert Robertsson, Jason
Strudwick;  G - Garth Snow, Arturs Irbe. 

TEAM NEWS by Carol Schram

When Ron McLean opened up this year's NHL Awards broadcast, one of
his first jokes was "We only have an hour. So, like Mike Keenan
said when he arrived in Vancouver - don't worry, I won't keep you
long."  

Given the implications of that statement, let's begin this season
summary with a look back at all the bodies that flew through the
revolving door at GM Place this season.  

More than half the team's roster turned over in the last 12 months.
Of the players who finished 1996-97 with the big club, 12
maintained their employment with the Canucks organization, although
Corey Hirsch and Dave Roberts ended their years in the minors.  

Meanwhile, 13 players moved on to new addresses. The Canucks lost
five men last summer, while seven players were traded after the
Keenan regime took over.  Finally, Scott Walker became this
summer's first casualty after being chosen by the Nashville
Predators in the expansion draft. Of the 13 players who replaced
that bunch, two were signed last summer as free agents, four have
come up through the Canucks' system, and seven were acquired in
Mike Keenan's trades.  

Still, that's not the whole story.  Another good-sized group spent
just part of the season with the Canucks. Here's to free agent
signing Grant Ledyard, shipped to Boston for a draft choice; trade
acquisitions Sean Burke, Geoff Sanderson, and Enrico Ciccone,
acquired together but traded separately; and farmhands Chris
McAllister, Lubomir Vaic, Brandon Convery, Larry Courville and Mark
Wotton, each of whom spent some time with the big club this year.
 

Mike Keenan is famous for his quick player turnover.  Despite
proclaiming himself a new man after leaving St. Louis, there's one
habit that definitely didn't die.  

Keenan also thinks he can still be a winner.  The Canucks
organization has already started trying to persuade fans to forget
about the first half of last season and start looking toward the
future.  They sent out a year-end review videocassette to season
ticket holders as a way of softening the blow when ticket-renewal
forms appeared in the mail.  Interestingly, though this season's
bright light Matthias Ohlund was featured on the packaging, the
content was largely about the Canucks' history, leading up to that
stellar Game 7 moment in the 1994 playoffs.  Of course, that
footage is a strong reminder of better days for Canuck fans, and
the irony is amplified by the fact that the two men most
responsible for Vancouver's loss, Mike Keenan and Mark Messier, are
now the architects of the team's future.  

The video was respectful of fans' attachments to the many faces that
left Vancouver this year, including old favorites like Trevor
Linden, Martin Gelinas, Gino Odjick, and even former superboss Pat
Quinn.  Of course, the organization paid tribute to Quinn's legacy
in a much more meaningful fashion when it finally filled its
long-vacant general manager position with a former Quinn protege,
Brian Burke.  

1996-97 was a disappointment.  1997-98 was much worse, no matter
how you look at it.  For the second straight year, goal scoring
dropped while goals against remained exactly the same.  When
scoring is dropping league-wide, that explains why Vancouver's
offense is down, but does nothing to address the fact that their
defense isn't improving like everyone else's.  Plus, with their
high salary base, the 1997-98 Vancouver Canucks have to be one of
the least cost-efficient teams in NHL history, if you were to look
at victories or points per dollar spent on player salaries.  

Looking backward is pretty unpleasant, so Keenan and the rest of the
organization are trying to get the team's followers to look forward.
On the bright side, Matthias Ohlund alone is a great reason for
optimism. He may have lost the Calder Trophy for rookie of the year
to flashy Russian Sergei Samsonov, but Ohlund must be highly
commended.  He was a plus-defenseman on one of the worst defensive
teams in the league, his play remained steady and plentiful through a
long season that included a disappointing Olympics and a gold medal
at the World Championships, and he showed tremendous grace under
pressure.  Ohlund smoothly adjusting to a new league, and a new
lifestyle and culture, with the additional pressure of an
organization that seemed to be falling apart around him. 

Another young player who showed promise this year is Ohlund's
roommate, Dave Scatchard.  The Salmon Arm, B.C. native also played
a steady role, as a checking center.  Scatchard showed both a
willingness to use his size and a bit of a nose for the net, which
should both bode well for his future.  

Donald Brashear also continued to carve out a niche for himself, to
the point where he made longtime fan favorite Gino Odjick
expendable.  And of course, Keenan is quick to sing the praises of
the players he acquired this season.  Bryan McCabe looks like he
will be a solid, physical blueliner, young Jason Strudwick appeared
competent during our brief look at the end of the year, and veteran
Jamie Huscroft is practically a dead ringer for the ousted Dave
Babych.  

This year, the Canucks drafted another big tough blueliner, Bryan
Allen, with their fourth-overall pick, and he appears to be cut
from much the same cloth as last year's first-rounder, the feisty
Brad Ference.  This influx of young talent, coupled with the fact
that only free agent Jyrki Lumme's future with the squad is in
doubt, may mean that we will see deals or renoucements on some of
the young-ish defenders who Keenan used sparingly or at forward
positions this season: Steve Staios, Bert Robertsson, Adrian
Aucoin, and Chris McAllister.  

Up front, the enigmatic Todd Bertuzzi has done his best, so far, to
make Mike Milbury regret trading him.  As for Brad May, he's no
sniper, but his enthusiasm was so contagious that a rumor is now
circulating that Tom Renney had wanted to acquire May back when he
was coaching the Canucks - an odd sort of endorsement for Keenan's
maneuvering.  

Okay.  Now, let's take the briefest of looks back at the year that
was:  

* Mark Messier arrived to a hero's welcome.
* The Ducks and Canucks started the year in Japan.  
* Mark sustained his first mysterious injury in the first game, but
still played every game of the year.   
* Pavel started scoring and accumulated 51 goals in all, but never
did explain his 'trade request'. 
* The goaltending stunk from start to finish, with only little Arturs
Irbe exceeding expectations. 
* The team-worst 10-game losing streak in October and November cost
both Pat Quinn and Tom Renney their jobs. 
* Mike Keenan's hiring did not make any immediate impact in the
standings. 
* Management-by-committee led to the trade of Kirk McLean and Martin
Gelinas, but all three players acquired in that deal were gone by
the end of the year. 
* Once granted the authority to make his own deals, Keenan moved
fast and furiously. 
* The team got younger, tougher, and bigger, but never made a real
run at the playoffs. 
* The Canucks became the worst defensive team in the league and
currently do not have one major-league goalie under contract going
into next season.  Brian Burke suggests free agents are overpriced
and would like to trade for one. 
* The new GM is hired.  Draft day has come and gone. But most of the
big questions still loom around the Vancouver Canucks.  Have they
finally hit rock bottom?  

As I said in this space last year (knock on wood), "Here's hoping
that the worst is over."  

TEAM MVP: Pavel Bure. At this point, it's easy enough to take
Pavel Bure's achievements this season for granted.  After all, he
'only' got 51 goals - he's gotten 60 twice before.  But Bure was
only one goal short of the league lead this year, playin' without a
whole lot of help.  And this was the year that the NHL decided to
implement what Dominik Hasek calls "anti-goalie rules" so we can
tell NHL scores apart from World Cup matches.  In 1994, Pavel
signed his current five-year contract.  There was a clause stating
that if he scored 50 goals in 1997-98, he would earn he average of
the top three salaries in the NHL the following season.  Back then,
50 goals was not a superhuman achievement.  It was a worthy
challenge for Pavel to meet, but then again, the rewards are also
much greater than they would have been back when the contract was
signed.  

At the beginning of this season, serious doubts lingered about
whether or not Bure could return to his previous form after two
straight sub-par seasons.  Last summer's "I want a trade"
controversy didn't help, and while Pavel seemed happy enough on the
ice, his off-ice demeanor never really changed.  A late- season
outpouring of emotion from worried fans helped to overshadow the
team's lame crawl to the finish line, as the last few games became
celebrations of 'maybe the last time we'll see Bure in a Canuck
uniform'. During his drive for 50, Pavel promised to speak out at
the end of the year.  Now, he's off on summer vacation without a
word.  Still, nothing has been resolved.  

When asked about the situation, Brian Burke sounded remarkably like
Pat Quinn, Tom Renney and Mike Keenan before him when he said, "I
will have to sit down with Pavel and talk about this.  Before I do,
he's not going anywhere."  There were rumors that San Jose was
interested in a draft-day trade for Bure, but even if Vancouver was
to deal him, surely a team within the conference would be the worst
possible option.  It appears the Sharks feel similarly, since they
stonewalled the Canucks' interest in their second-overall draft
choice, instead peddling it off to Nashville for a much lower price
than the one they had tried to extract from Burke.  

Pavel Bure also did one extraordinary thing this year - he managed
to stay almost completely out of Mike Keenan's line of fire.  Only
one small incident surfaced in the press, about an argument between
Bure and Keenan on the bench during a game, which was likely blown
out of proportion.  Unlike Keenan's treatment of his last
high-scoring right winger, Brett Hull, Bure was pretty much left
alone to play his game.  

On many nights, especially through the first two-thirds of the
season, Pavel's explosive offense was about the only bright spot in
a Canuck fan's night.  His outstanding performance at the Olympics
was also a proud moment for Vancouverites, as the world saw just
what kind of single-handed influence this player can have. But the
uncertainly surrounding Bure's future prevents fans from getting
too optimistic about the future.  At this point, it looks like
we're in for a repeat of last year, where a lot gets said but
nothing gets solved.  Bure does become a restricted free agent at
the end of this year, so there is a very real possibility that,
come next summer, the most exciting player in Canuck history soon
may no longer play for Vancouver.  It's gonna have to be a helluva
trade to make us forget.  

SURPRISES: The upheaval. When selecting a subject to accompany this
heading, I thought about Matthias Ohlund's strong play - but no, I
expected that.  I thought about Arturs Irbe's solid performance.  I
don't think he got enough recognition for what he did or how he did
it this year, but I think part of the reason is that people weren't
'surprised' exactly, that he could pull this off.  

But I think most folks were shocked that the Canucks got off to
another terrible start, and that a little over a month into the
season, their longtime leader was suddenly history.  I think they
were surprised that Quinn got canned before Renney did.  I think
they were surprised that Marty Gelinas wasn't "Keenan's kind of
player" and that Trevor Linden, Mike Sillinger, Gino Odjick, and
Dave Babych added their names to that list. If you had told anyone,
even after the Messier signing last year, that the Canucks would
now be led by Brian Burke and Mike Keenan, I think they would have
referred you to the nearest mental health facility.  

I also think everyone was surprised, after a bad year in 1996-97,
that the Canucks could actually suck this much worse this season.
 

'Nuff said. 

DISAPPOINTMENTS: Mark Messier's leadership. Has the Moose
been tamed?  Has the Moose gorged himself so completely with
Stanley Cups that he no longer has the hunger?  Or is the Moose
simply getting old and tired?  

These questions may be answered next season.  Right now, one of the
most easily definable characters in pro sports continues to shill
potato chips, but has become something of an enigma on the ice. 

When Messier first arrived in Vancouver, he promised to help put the
fire back in Pavel's belly and make hockey fun again - by winning.
Moose and Bure played together all season long, in every possible
capacity. The fire did seem to be there, but the winning sure wasn't.
And a lot of the time, the winning was jeopardized by defensive
errors or poor judgement calls - by Messier.  

Now, this guy is one of the greatest hockey players ever.  What
right do I have to say that he's making mistakes on the ice?
Probably none, so let's just say that Messier's play did reflect
the fact that he is now 37 years old.  When Messier was left off
the Olympic team, it certainly underlined the fact that he was no
longer the centerpiece of Canadian hockey that he had been for so
many years.  

While it "wasn't an excuse" the specter of injury appeared
regularly.  Could Mess have played better if he had rested his
weary bones now and then?  How useful was he as a center when he
literally was unable to take any draws for a long stretch of games
toward the end of the season?  

But much more surprising than the decline in Messier's play was the
fact that he didn't seem to inspire the sort of devotion that had
pulled his old Ranger teammates Richter and Leetch into season-long
funks.  Early on, Mess seemed to be trying to build that guy-to-guy
team spirit.  His efforts may have been foiled by the immense media
attention he was receiving, often at the expense of other players.
He also seemed to be disrupting existing relationships - like the
long-term friendship between Pavel Bure and Gino Odjick. 

Then, when Pat Quinn was fired and Mark's old buddy Mike Keenan was
brought in, there was much talk about Messier having input into
player decisions, and being closer to management than he was to his
team- mates.  These locker-room leaks dried up toward the end of
the year, and the new Canucks seem much more like Mess's kind of
guys.  Yet there was never a defining moment, in the midst of all
the troubles this season, when Mark Messier was able to
single-handedly rally the forces and make fans believe that this
hockey team is one united, organic entity.  He talked the talk in
the papers, but is he walking the walk?  

And what of veterans like Bure and Mogilny?  Will these talented
Europeans, in their hockey primes, really buy into the leadership
of a man who is now almost certainly in the twilight of his
career?  More often than not, when that age-related decline begins,
it remains steady.  A resurgence, like with Wayne Gretzky, is
usually caused by a change of scenery or a major change in
linemates, and usually doesn't last more than a couple of seasons. 
Bure himself showed tremendous leadership as captain of a
hodgepodge Russian team at the Olympics.  If Pavel does stay, and
if there is any jealousy between the team's two most high-profile
players, there may yet be a real power play for control of the
dressing room.  

OFF-SEASON CHANGES: Since the dawn of the Orca Bay era in
1995, the Canucks have made the front page each off-season with
some major announcement regarding the future of the organization.
First, Alex Mogilny was going to add another dimension of firepower
to Pavel Bure's explosiveness, opening new General Motors Place
with a bang.  

But the pair weren't comfortable on a line together, and Bure's knee
injury 13 games into the season put a quick end to that experiment.
The next summer, coach Tom Renney was supposed to bring in discipline
and an effective system. His tenure started shakily and ended last
November with the worst losing streak in team history. Last year, of
course, Mark Messier was supposed to teach the Canucks how to win.
Instead, the Canucks seemed to inspire him to the sorriest mediocrity
of his career.  

This summer's announcement is the appointment of the Vancouver
Canucks' new general manager, Brian Burke. The announcement came
just one week before the entry draft, when the Orcans seemed to
decide that they couldn't wait on the indecisive Glen Sather any
longer.  

Burke's appointment is surprising for two reasons. One, he had said
all along that he was not real excited about relocating too far from
the east coast, where his family resides.  Furthermore, Burke has
ties to the Minnesota area and seemed like a perfect fit when their
expansion team begins play in two years. Plus, Brian is extremely
close to Pat Quinn, the man who employed him as Assistant GM and
Director of Hockey Operations for the Canucks from 1988 to 1992. Even
as a so-called 'impartial' league executive, Burke expressed personal
outrage when Quinn was fired by Orca Bay last fall. 

It seems surprising that Burke would be willing to sign on with
these men as his new employers, particularly when you know he would
have gotten the skinny from Quinn before putting his name on the
dotted line. The only real answer is actually a heart-warming one:
that Quinn still loves the city and the organization enough that he
would encourage a man he virtually created in his image to take the
reins in an attempt to finally make the Stanley Cup Dream a reality
in Vancouver.  

Of course, now that Quinn is head coach in Toronto, this clouds the
issue a little. For one thing, I bet Quinn's now officially wishing
that he hadn't acted on the Canucks' behalf in matching Toronto's
offer sheet to Matthias Ohlund last summer. But more importantly, the
rivalry between these two cities and their hockey teams has been
intense for years - really, a representation of two fundamentally
opposite Canadian philosophies.  

The goaltending question looms huge. The three netminders who
finished last season under contract to the Canucks are all free
agents. Arturs Irbe, who carried the majority of the load and
recorded the best numbers, is unrestricted, while late-season
acquisition Garth Snow and Corey Hirsch, who spent much of the year
in the minors, are each restricted free agents. One hint of the
Canucks' future thoughts may lie with the fact that they did choose
to protect Hirsch over Snow for the expansion draft; however, rules
governing goaltender selection by expansion teams may complicate
that picture further.  

General consensus says the Canucks need to acquire a name-brand
goalie if they hope to be significantly better next year. If they
go the free-agent route, let's assume Sean Burke and Curtis Joseph
are off the list. That leaves second-stringers like Bob Essensa and
Craig Billington, really-old-guys like John Vanbiesbrouck and Kelly
Hrudey, and two other possibilities: Arturs Irbe and Mike Richter.
 

Irbe performed beyond the call of duty this year and got little in
return - a relatively small salary, limited recognition, and no
real respect. Keenan would turn to him only when his latest 'number
one' had let him down, whether that was McLean, Hirsch, Burke, or
Snow. And while Iron Mike is notorious for playing mind games with
his goalies and did not go out of his way to make Irbe's life any
easier, little Archie didn't seem too fazed by the goings-on,
putting in steady performances more often than not.  

Richter, of course, is a close personal friend of Mike n' Mark's,
and it is widely believed that his poor performance this year is a
direct result of the chaos surrounding the Rangers after Messier's
departure. Nashville's selection of Richter's rights in the
expansion draft clouds the picture further, as does the Canucks'
protecting Corey Hirsch after playing him for two whole periods of
NHL hockey all season.  Now, Brian Burke is saying he wants to
trade for a goalie.  But who's available?  And what can the Canucks
afford to give?  

The Canucks' other unrestricted free agents are two Keenan
favorites, and one guy on the bubble.  With all the trades this
season, Jyrki Lumme is now the longest-serving Canuck.  But, he had
a brutal season, which could affect his prospects.  It may also
explain why, towards the end of the season, his agent was implying
that Lumme would still accept less than market value to stay and
finish out his career in Vancouver.  The Canucks must think they
have a shot at re-signing him, or else they would have dealt him at
the trade deadline.  

But free agent defensemen are in pretty short supply this summer, so
that could inflate prices of the few who are available.  On the
other hand, last year's highest-profile UFA defenseman, Luke
Richardson, turned out to be a bust for the Flyers, so maybe teams
won't be quite so eager to take the plunge this year.  Bottom line
with Lumme - who knows?  I'd call that one 50/50.  

It seems likely that Brian Noonan and Peter Zezel could both be back
if they want to continue their NHL careers.  Even at age 32, Zezel
did a surprisingly decent job as a second-line center after he was
rescued from New Jersey's farm system, and he remains one of the best
face-off guys in the league.  Plus, with Scott Walker now gone, the
gaping hole at center ice just got a little bit bigger, even if young
Josh Holden can make the jump from the minors and remain injury free.
 

Zezel also has a knack for saying just the right thing at the right
time, and his dealing with his ill young niece warmed hearts during
the year.  Brian Noonan is also an acceptable checking-line
grinder.  With both these players, one simple fact looms: it is
unlikely that any other organization would covet them more than
Mike Keenan would.

Now - I wonder if Stephane Matteau is available??
================================================================
    
        
    
  




-----------------------------------------------------------------
LCS Hockey Summer Schedule
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Well, that's another season in the books.  As it looks now, LCS
Hockey will be back for the 1998-99 season, our fifth in the
reporting business.  Please, hold your applause.  But, as usual,
we'll all be going our separate ways over the summer.  I, myself,
will be running away to join the circus, spending July and August
guessing people's weights and rubbing elbows with some of the
best freaks ever loaded into a train.  God bless carny folk.

Our next issue will be the annual Player Ratings Extravaganza,
due out around September 1.  However, this past season was
especially trying, so it might take us longer than usual to get
back to work.  Just check the main page of the web site for
publishing updates.      

Until then, I'd like to wish everyone a safe and swell summer.   
It's been a fun four years... sort of.  And I'm looking forward
to next season... well, not really, but what the hell else am I
supposed to say?  

Thanks,

Michael Dell 
LCS Hockey 
       
----------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL 1997-98 PLAYER STATS
----------------------------------------------------------------            
TEAM P NO  PLAYER              GP   G   A PTS +/-  PIM PP SH GW GT   S  PCTG
---- - --  ------------------- -- --- --- --- --- ---- -- -- -- -- --- -----
ANA  R  8  TEEMU SELANNE       73  52  34  86  12   30 10  1 10  3 268  19.4
ANA  C 20  STEVE RUCCHIN       72  17  36  53   8   13  8  1  3  0 131  13.0
ANA  C 39  TRAVIS GREEN        76  19  23  42 -29   82  9  0  2  2 141  13.5
ANA  R 48  SCOTT YOUNG         73  13  20  33 -13   22  4  2  1  0 187   7.0
ANA  L  9  PAUL KARIYA         22  17  14  31  12   23  3  0  2  1 103  16.5
ANA  C 45 *MATT CULLEN         61   6  21  27  -4   23  2  0  0  0  75   8.0
ANA  C 10 *JOSEF MARHA         23   9   9  18   4    4  3  0  0  0  31  29.0
ANA  R 17  TOMAS SANDSTROM     77   9   8  17 -25   64  2  1  0  1 136   6.6
ANA  C 13  TED DRURY           73   6  10  16 -10   82  0  1  0  0 110   5.5
ANA  D 24  RUSLAN SALEI        66   5  10  15   7   70  1  0  0  1 104   4.8
ANA  D 33  DAVE KARPA          78   1  11  12  -3  217  0  0  0  0  64   1.6
ANA  R 29 *FRANK BANHAM        21   9   2  11  -6   12  1  0  0  2  43  20.9
ANA  C 12  KEVIN TODD          27   4   7  11  -5   12  3  0  1  0  30  13.3
ANA  R 19 *JEFF NIELSEN        32   4   5   9  -1   16  0  0  0  0  36  11.1
ANA  D 23  JASON MARSHALL      72   3   6   9  -8  189  1  0  0  0  68   4.4
ANA  D  4  JAMIE PUSHOR        64   2   7   9   3   81  0  0  0  0  51   3.9
ANA  L 40 *JEREMY STEVENSON    45   3   5   8  -4  101  0  0  1  0  43   7.0
ANA  D  5  DREW BANNISTER      61   0   8   8  -9   89  0  0  0  0  50    .0
ANA  D  7 *PAVEL TRNKA         48   3   4   7  -4   40  1  0  0  1  46   6.5
ANA  D  6  DOUG HOUDA          55   2   4   6 -11   99  0  1  0  0  24   8.3
ANA  D 38 *MIKE CROWLEY         8   2   2   4   0    8  0  0  1  0  17  11.8
ANA  R 46  JEAN-FRANCOIS JOMPHE 9   1   3   4   1    8  0  0  0  0   8  12.5
ANA  R 22  BRENT SEVERYN       37   1   3   4  -3  133  0  0  0  0  27   3.7
ANA  C 21 *ESPEN KNUTSEN       19   3   0   3 -10    6  1  0  0  1  21  14.3
ANA  R 52 *PETER LEBOUTILLIER  12   1   1   2  -1   55  0  0  0  0   6  16.7
ANA  C 32  RICHARD PARK        15   0   2   2  -3    8  0  0  0  0  14    .0
ANA  L 11  SHAWN ANTOSKI        9   1   0   1   1   18  0  0  0  0   6  16.7
ANA  D 34  DANIEL TREBIL       21   0   1   1  -8    2  0  0  0  0  11    .0
ANA  G 35  M. SHTALENKOV       40   0   1   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
ANA  G 31  GUY HEBERT          46   0   1   1   0    4  0  0  0  0   0    .0
ANA  L 42  BARRY NIECKAR        1   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
ANA  R 36 *TONY TUZZOLINO       1   0   0   0  -2    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
ANA  D 37 *MARC MORO            1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
ANA  L 50 *BOB WREN             3   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   4    .0
ANA  C 44 *ANTTI AALTO          3   0   0   0  -1    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
ANA  G 67 *TOM ASKEY            7   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
ANA  L 27 *MIKE LECLERC         7   0   0   0  -6    6  0  0  0  0  11    .0
BOS  C 41  JASON ALLISON       81  33  50  83  33   60  5  0  8  2 158  20.9
BOS  R 12  DMITRI KHRISTICH    82  29  37  66  25   42 13  2  1  0 144  20.1
BOS  D 77  RAY BOURQUE         82  13  35  48   2   80  9  0  3  1 264   4.9
BOS  L 14 *SERGEI SAMSONOV     81  22  25  47   9    8  7  0  3  0 159  13.8
BOS  R 23  STEVE HEINZE        61  26  20  46   8   54  9  0  6  0 160  16.3
BOS  C 33  ANSON CARTER        78  16  27  43   7   31  6  0  4  0 179   8.9
BOS  L 21  TED DONATO          79  16  23  39   6   54  3  0  5  1 129  12.4
BOS  C 26  TIM TAYLOR          79  20  11  31 -16   57  1  3  0  1 127  15.7
BOS  L 19  ROB DIMAIO          79  10  17  27 -13   82  0  0  4  1 112   8.9
BOS  R 11 *PER AXELSSON        82   8  19  27 -14   38  2  0  1  0 144   5.6
BOS  D 18  KYLE MCLAREN        66   5  20  25  13   56  2  0  0  0 101   5.0
BOS  D 36  GRANT LEDYARD       71   4  20  24  -4   20  2  0  0  0  90   4.4
BOS  D 44  DAVE ELLETT         82   3  20  23   3   67  2  0  1  0 129   2.3
BOS  L 42  MIKE SULLIVAN       77   5  13  18  -1   34  0  0  2  0  83   6.0
BOS  D 32  DON SWEENEY         59   1  15  16  12   24  0  0  0  0  55   1.8
BOS  D 20  DARREN VAN IMPE     69   3  11  14  -6   40  2  0  0  0  71   4.2
BOS  C  6 *JOE THORNTON        55   3   4   7  -6   19  0  0  1  0  33   9.1
BOS  D 25 *HAL GILL            68   2   4   6   4   47  0  0  0  0  56   3.6
BOS  R 27  LANDON WILSON       28   1   5   6   3    7  0  0  0  0  26   3.8
BOS  G 34  BYRON DAFOE         65   0   3   3   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
BOS  C 17 *SHAWN BATES         13   2   0   2  -3    2  0  0  0  0  12  16.7
BOS  D 37  MATTIAS TIMANDER    23   1   1   2  -9    6  0  0  0  0  17   5.9
BOS  D 29  DEAN MALKOC         40   1   0   1 -12   86  0  0  0  0  15   6.7
BOS  R 10 *CAMERON MANN         9   0   1   1   1    4  0  0  0  0   6    .0
BOS  L 22  KEN BAUMGARTNER     82   0   1   1 -14  199  0  0  0  0  28    .0
BOS  C 39 *JOEL PRPIC           1   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
BOS  D 28  DEAN CHYNOWETH       2   0   0   0  -4    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
BOS  R 43  JEAN-YVES ROY        2   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
BOS  C 16 *RANDY ROBITAILLE     4   0   0   0  -2    0  0  0  0  0   5    .0
BOS  R 60 *KIRK NIELSEN         6   0   0   0  -1    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
BOS  G 30  JIM CAREY           10   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
BOS  G 35  ROBBIE TALLAS       14   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
BUF  L 81  MIROSLAV SATAN      79  22  24  46   2   34  9  0  4  0 139  15.8
BUF  D 44  ALEXEI ZHITNIK      78  15  30  45  19  102  2  3  3  2 191   7.9
BUF  R 28  DONALD AUDETTE      75  24  20  44  10   59 10  0  5  1 198  12.1
BUF  C 27  MICHAEL PECA        61  18  22  40  12   57  6  5  1  1 132  13.6
BUF  C 19  BRIAN HOLZINGER     69  14  21  35  -2   36  4  2  1  1 116  12.1
BUF  D  5  JASON WOOLLEY       71   9  26  35   8   35  3  0  2  1 129   7.0
BUF  C 26  DEREK PLANTE        72  13  21  34   8   26  5  0  1  0 150   8.7
BUF  L 18  MICHAL GROSEK       67  10  20  30   9   60  2  0  1  0 114   8.8
BUF  L 80  GEOFF SANDERSON     75  11  18  29   1   38  2  0  2  1 197   5.6
BUF  R 36  MATTHEW BARNABY     72   5  20  25   8  289  0  0  2  0  96   5.2
BUF  L 37  CURTIS BROWN        63  12  12  24  11   34  1  1  2  1  91  13.2
BUF  R 15  DIXON WARD          71  10  13  23   9   42  0  2  3  1  99  10.1
BUF  D  8  DARRYL SHANNON      76   3  19  22  26   56  1  0  1  0  85   3.5
BUF  D 42  RICHARD SMEHLIK     72   3  17  20  11   62  0  1  0  0  90   3.3
BUF  D 74  JAY MCKEE           56   1  13  14  -1   42  0  0  0  0  55   1.8
BUF  C 22  WAYNE PRIMEAU       69   6   6  12   9   87  2  0  1  0  51  11.8
BUF  R 25 *VACLAV VARADA       27   5   6  11   0   15  0  0  1  1  27  18.5
BUF  L 12  RANDY BURRIDGE      30   4   6  10   0    0  1  0  1  0  40  10.0
BUF  L 24  PAUL KRUSE          74   7   2   9 -11  187  0  0  2  1  52  13.5
BUF  D  4  MIKE WILSON         66   4   4   8  13   48  0  0  1  0  52   7.7
BUF  R 32  ROB RAY             63   2   4   6   2  234  1  0  1  0  19  10.5
BUF  C  9 *ERIK RASMUSSEN      21   2   3   5   2   14  0  0  0  0  28   7.1
BUF  D  6  BOB BOUGHNER        69   1   3   4   5  165  0  0  0  0  26   3.8
BUF  G 39  DOMINIK HASEK       72   0   2   2   0   12  0  0  0  0   0    .0
BUF  D 40 *RUMUN NDUR           1   0   0   0  -1    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
BUF  D 21  MIKE HURLBUT         3   0   0   0  -1    2  0  0  0  0   3    .0
BUF  C 45 *SCOTT NICHOL         3   0   0   0   0    4  0  0  0  0   5    .0
BUF  G 31 *STEVE SHIELDS       16   0   0   0   0   17  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CGY  R 14  THEOREN FLEURY      82  27  51  78   0  197  3  2  4  1 282   9.6
CGY  C 16  CORY STILLMAN       72  27  22  49  -9   40  9  4  1  1 178  15.2
CGY  L 18  MARTY MCINNIS       75  19  25  44   1   34  5  4  0  0 128  14.8
CGY  C 21  ANDREW CASSELS      81  17  27  44  -7   32  6  1  2  1 138  12.3
CGY  L 13  GERMAN TITOV        68  18  22  40  -1   38  6  1  2  0 133  13.5
CGY  R  8  VALERI BURE         66  12  26  38  -5   35  2  0  2  0 179   6.7
CGY  C 92  MICHAEL NYLANDER    65  13  23  36  10   24  0  0  2  0 117  11.1
CGY  R 12  JAROME IGINLA       70  13  19  32 -10   29  0  2  1  0 154   8.4
CGY  D 53 *DEREK MORRIS        82   9  20  29   1   88  5  1  1  1 120   7.5
CGY  D 32  CALE HULSE          79   5  22  27   1  169  1  1  0  0 117   4.3
CGY  L 24  JASON WIEMER        79  12  10  22 -10  160  3  0  2  0 122   9.8
CGY  D  5  TOMMY ALBELIN       69   2  17  19   9   32  1  0  2  0  88   2.3
CGY  D  3  JAMES PATRICK       60   6  11  17  -2   26  1  0  1  0  57  10.5
CGY  C 17 *HNAT DOMENICHELLI   31   9   7  16   4    6  1  0  1  2  70  12.9
CGY  C 34  JIM DOWD            48   6   8  14  10   12  0  1  0  0  58  10.3
CGY  D  6  JOEL BOUCHARD       44   5   7  12   0   57  0  1  1  0  51   9.8
CGY  D  2 *JAMIE ALLISON       43   3   8  11   3  104  0  0  1  0  27  11.1
CGY  L 42  ED WARD             64   4   5   9  -1  122  0  0  0  1  52   7.7
CGY  L  7 *CHRIS DINGMAN       70   3   3   6 -11  149  1  0  0  0  47   6.4
CGY  D 27  TODD SIMPSON        53   1   5   6 -10  109  0  0  1  0  51   2.0
CGY  C 23  AARON GAVEY         26   2   3   5  -5   24  0  0  1  0  27   7.4
CGY  G 30  DWAYNE ROLOSON      39   0   4   4   0   10  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CGY  R 29  ERIK ANDERSSON      12   2   1   3  -4    8  0  0  0  0  11  18.2
CGY  D 19 *CHRIS O'SULLIVAN    12   0   2   2   4   10  0  0  0  0  12    .0
CGY  C 11 *ERIC LANDRY         12   1   0   1  -2    4  0  0  0  0   7  14.3
CGY  R 26 *LADISLAV KOHN        4   0   1   1   2    0  0  0  0  0   2    .0
CGY  L 20  TODD HLUSHKO        13   0   1   1   0   27  0  0  0  0   7    .0
CGY  D  4  KEVIN DAHL          19   0   1   1  -3    6  0  0  0  0  17    .0
CGY  G 31  RICK TABARACCI      42   0   1   1   0   14  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CGY  L 58 *SERGEI VARLAMOV      1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CGY  D 38  ERIC CHARRON         2   0   0   0   0    4  0  0  0  0   1    .0
CGY  C 28 *MARTY MURRAY         2   0   0   0   1    2  0  0  0  0   2    .0
CGY  L 43 *TRAVIS BRIGLEY       2   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   1    .0
CGY  C 57 *STEVE BEGIN          5   0   0   0   0   23  0  0  0  0   2    .0
CGY  G  1 *TYLER MOSS           6   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CGY  D 24 *DENIS GAUTHIER      10   0   0   0  -5   16  0  0  0  0   3    .0
CGY  D 55 *ROCKY THOMPSON      12   0   0   0   0   61  0  0  0  0   3    .0
CGY  L  8  MIKE PELUSO         23   0   0   0  -6  113  0  0  0  0   8    .0
CAR  C 55  KEITH PRIMEAU       81  26  37  63  19  110  7  3  2  0 180  14.4
CAR  R 24  SAMI KAPANEN        81  26  37  63   9   16  4  0  5  0 190  13.7
CAR  L 10  GARY ROBERTS        61  20  29  49   3  103  4  0  2  1 106  18.9
CAR  R 19  NELSON EMERSON      81  21  24  45 -17   50  6  0  4  1 203  10.3
CAR  C 92  JEFF O'NEILL        74  19  20  39  -8   67  7  1  4  1 114  16.7
CAR  R 26  RAY SHEPPARD        71  18  19  37 -11   23  7  0  2  0 169  10.7
CAR  R 18  ROBERT KRON         81  16  20  36  -8   12  4  0  2  1 175   9.1
CAR  L 23  MARTIN GELINAS      64  16  18  34  -5   40  3  2  5  0 147  10.9
CAR  D  3  STEVE CHIASSON      66   7  27  34  -2   65  6  0  0  0 173   4.0
CAR  D  2  GLEN WESLEY         82   6  19  25   7   36  1  0  1  0 121   5.0
CAR  R 11  KEVIN DINEEN        54   7  16  23  -7  105  0  0  1  0  96   7.3
CAR  L 28  PAUL RANHEIM        73   5   9  14 -11   28  0  1  2  0  77   6.5
CAR  D  7  CURTIS LESCHYSHYN   73   2  10  12  -2   45  1  0  1  0  53   3.8
CAR  D  6  ADAM BURT           76   1  11  12  -6  106  0  1  0  0  51   2.0
CAR  R 27  STEPHEN LEACH       45   4   5   9 -19   42  1  1  2  0  60   6.7
CAR  C 44  KENT MANDERVILLE    77   4   4   8  -6   31  0  0  0  0  80   5.0
CAR  D  5  KEVIN HALLER        65   3   5   8  -5   94  0  0  0  0  67   4.5
CAR  L 32  STU GRIMSON         82   3   4   7   0  204  0  0  1  0  17  17.6
CAR  D 22  SEAN HILL           55   1   6   7  -5   54  0  0  0  0  53   1.9
CAR  L 33 *JON BATTAGLIA       33   2   4   6  -1   10  0  0  1  0  21   9.5
CAR  R 12  STEVEN RICE         47   2   4   6 -16   38  0  0  0  0  39   5.1
CAR  D 14 *STEVEN HALKO        18   0   2   2  -1   10  0  0  0  0   7    .0
CAR  D  4 *NOLAN PRATT         23   0   2   2  -2   44  0  0  0  0  11    .0
CAR  D 46 *MIKE RUCINSKI        9   0   1   1   0    2  0  0  0  0   3    .0
CAR  L  3  JEFF DANIELS         2   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
CAR  G 30 *MICHAEL FOUNTAIN     3   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CAR  C 34  STEVE MARTINS        3   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CAR  R 29  KEVIN BROWN          4   0   0   0  -2    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CAR  G 39  PAT JABLONSKI        5   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CAR  G 37  TREVOR KIDD         47   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CHI  R 10  TONY AMONTE         82  31  42  73  21   66  7  3  5  0 296  10.5
CHI  C 36  ALEXEI ZHAMNOV      70  21  28  49  16   61  6  2  3  1 193  10.9
CHI  L 55  ERIC DAZE           80  31  11  42   4   22 10  0  7  1 216  14.4
CHI  D 20  GARY SUTER          73  14  28  42   1   74  5  2  0  0 199   7.0
CHI  D  7  CHRIS CHELIOS       81   3  39  42  -7  151  1  0  0  0 205   1.5
CHI  C 22  GREG JOHNSON        74  12  22  34  -2   40  4  0  3  0  89  13.5
CHI  C 11  JEFF SHANTZ         61  11  20  31   0   36  1  2  2  0  69  15.9
CHI  R 25  SERGEI KRIVOKRASOV  58  10  13  23  -1   33  1  0  2  0 127   7.9
CHI  D  2  ERIC WEINRICH       82   2  21  23  10  106  0  0  0  0  85   2.4
CHI  L 19  ETHAN MOREAU        54   9   9  18   0   73  2  0  0  0  87  10.3
CHI  C 14  STEVE DUBINSKY      82   5  13  18  -6   57  0  1  0  0 112   4.5
CHI  L 38  JAMES BLACK         52  10   5  15  -8    8  2  1  3  1  90  11.1
CHI  L 23 *JEAN-YVES LEROUX    66   6   7  13  -2   55  0  0  0  0  57  10.5
CHI  D  4  JAY MORE            58   5   7  12   7   61  0  1  0  0  57   8.8
CHI  C 15  CHAD KILGER         32   3   9  12   0   10  2  0  1  0  32   9.4
CHI  C 46 *DMITRI NABOKOV      25   7   4  11  -1   10  3  0  2  0  34  20.6
CHI  C 16  JARROD SKALDE       30   4   7  11  -2   18  0  0  0  0  34  11.8
CHI  R 17  KEVIN MILLER        37   4   7  11  -4    8  0  0  1  0  37  10.8
CHI  D  3 *CHRISTIAN LAFLAMME  72   0  11  11  14   59  0  0  0  0  75    .0
CHI  C 12  BRENT SUTTER        52   2   6   8  -6   28  0  1  0  0  43   4.7
CHI  L 33  REID SIMPSON        44   3   2   5  -3  118  1  0  0  0  24  12.5
CHI  L 14 *BRIAN FELSNER       12   1   3   4   0   12  0  0  0  0  14   7.1
CHI  D  6  MICHAL SYKORA       28   1   3   4 -10   12  0  0  0  0  35   2.9
CHI  L 24  BOB PROBERT         14   2   1   3  -7   48  2  0  0  0  18  11.1
CHI  R 39 *CRAIG MILLS         20   0   3   3   1   34  0  0  0  0   5    .0
CHI  R 34 *RYAN VANDENBUSSCHE  20   1   1   2  -2   43  0  0  0  0   2  50.0
CHI  D  8  CAM RUSSELL         41   1   1   2   3   79  0  0  1  0  18   5.6
CHI  C 26 *TODD WHITE           7   1   0   1   0    2  0  0  0  0   3  33.3
CHI  D  5  TRENT YAWNEY        45   1   0   1  -5   76  0  0  0  0  19   5.3
CHI  G 40  CHRIS TERRERI       21   0   1   1   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CHI  L 31 *RYAN HUSKA           1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CHI  L 29 *PERI VARIS           1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CHI  R 14  MARTIN GENDRON       2   0   0   0  -1    0  0  0  0  0   3    .0
CHI  G 29  ANDREI TREFILOV      6   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
CHI  L  7 *DANIEL CLEARY        6   0   0   0  -2    0  0  0  0  0   4    .0
CHI  G 31  JEFF HACKETT        58   0   0   0   0    8  0  0  0  0   0    .0
COL  C 21  PETER FORSBERG      72  25  66  91   6   94  7  3  7  1 202  12.4
COL  L 13  VALERI KAMENSKY     75  26  40  66  -2   60  8  0  4  0 173  15.0
COL  C 19  JOE SAKIC           64  27  36  63   0   50 12  1  2  1 254  10.6
COL  R 22  CLAUDE LEMIEUX      78  26  27  53  -7  115 11  1  1  1 261  10.0
COL  D  8  SANDIS OZOLINSH     66  13  38  51 -12   65  9  0  2  1 135   9.6
COL  R 18  ADAM DEADMARSH      73  22  21  43   0  125 10  0  6  3 187  11.8
COL  L 28  ERIC LACROIX        82  16  15  31   0   84  5  0  6  0 126  12.7
COL  D  4  UWE KRUPP           78   9  22  31  21   38  5  0  2  0 149   6.0
COL  L 20  RENE CORBET         68  16  12  28   8  133  4  0  4  2 117  13.7
COL  C 26  STEPHANE YELLE      81   7  15  22 -10   48  0  1  0  0  93   7.5
COL  C 17  JARI KURRI          70   5  17  22   6   12  2  0  0  0  61   8.2
COL  R 14  TOM FITZGERALD      80  12   6  18  -4   79  0  2  1  0 119  10.1
COL  R 12  SHEAN DONOVAN       67   8  10  18   6   70  0  0  0  0  81   9.9
COL  D 52  ADAM FOOTE          77   3  14  17  -3  124  0  0  1  0  64   4.7
COL  D 29 *ERIC MESSIER        62   4  12  16   4   20  0  0  0  0  66   6.1
COL  D 24  JON KLEMM           67   6   8  14  -3   30  0  0  0  1  60  10.0
COL  D  5  ALEXEI GUSAROV      72   4  10  14   9   42  0  1  1  0  47   8.5
COL  R 16  JEFF ODGERS         68   5   8  13   5  213  0  0  0  0  47  10.6
COL  L 10  WARREN RYCHEL       71   5   6  11 -11  221  1  0  0  0  66   7.6
COL  R 11  KEITH JONES         23   3   7  10  -4   22  1  0  2  0  31   9.7
COL  D  2  SYLVAIN LEFEBVRE    81   0  10  10   2   48  0  0  0  0  66    .0
COL  D  3  AARON MILLER        55   2   2   4   0   51  0  0  0  0  29   6.9
COL  D 27  FRANCOIS LEROUX     50   1   2   3  -3  140  0  0  0  0  14   7.1
COL  G 33  PATRICK ROY         65   0   3   3   0   39  0  0  0  0   1    .0
COL  D  6 *WADE BELAK           8   1   1   2  -3   27  0  0  1  0   2  50.0
COL  L 15  YVES SARAULT         2   1   0   1   1    0  0  0  0  0   1 100.0
COL  D  7 *PASCAL TREPANIER    15   0   1   1  -2   18  0  0  0  0   9    .0
COL  L 40 *BRAD LARSEN          1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
COL  R 14 *CHRISTIAN MATTE      5   0   0   0   0    6  0  0  0  0   5    .0
COL  G  1  CRAIG BILLINGTON    23   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
DAL  C 25  JOE NIEUWENDYK      73  39  30  69  16   30 14  0 11  0 203  19.2
DAL  C  9  MIKE MODANO         52  21  38  59  25   32  7  5  2  1 191  11.0
DAL  R 16  PAT VERBEEK         82  31  26  57  15  170  9  0  8  1 190  16.3
DAL  D 56  SERGEI ZUBOV        73  10  47  57  16   16  5  1  2  1 148   6.8
DAL  L 15  JAMIE LANGENBRUNNER 81  23  29  52   9   61  8  0  6  1 159  14.5
DAL  D  5  DARRYL SYDOR        79  11  35  46  17   51  4  1  1  0 166   6.6
DAL  R 26  JERE LEHTINEN       72  23  19  42  19   20  7  2  6  1 201  11.4
DAL  L 23  GREG ADAMS          49  14  18  32  11   20  7  0  1  0  75  18.7
DAL  D  2  DERIAN HATCHER      70   6  25  31   9  132  3  0  2  0  74   8.1
DAL  C 21  GUY CARBONNEAU      77   7  17  24   3   40  0  1  1  0  81   8.6
DAL  D 27  SHAWN CHAMBERS      57   2  22  24  11   26  1  1  0  0  73   2.7
DAL  R 12  MIKE KEANE          83  10  13  23 -12   52  2  0  1  0 128   7.8
DAL  L 33  BENOIT HOGUE        53   6  16  22   7   35  3  0  1  0  55  10.9
DAL  R 10  TODD HARVEY         59   9  10  19   5  104  0  0  1  0  88  10.2
DAL  R 29  GRANT MARSHALL      72   9  10  19  -2   96  3  0  1  0  91   9.9
DAL  L 14  DAVE REID           65   6  12  18 -15   14  3  0  1  0  90   6.7
DAL  D 24  RICHARD MATVICHUK   74   3  15  18   7   63  0  0  0  0  71   4.2
DAL  C 10  BRIAN SKRUDLAND     72   7   6  13  -6   49  0  0  1  0  55  12.7
DAL  C 28  BOB BASSEN          58   3   4   7  -4   57  0  0  1  0  40   7.5
DAL  D  3  CRAIG LUDWIG        80   0   7   7  21  131  0  0  0  0  46    .0
DAL  L 46 *JAMIE WRIGHT        21   4   2   6   8    2  0  0  2  0  15  26.7
DAL  L 11 *JUHA LIND           39   2   3   5   4    6  0  0  0  0  27   7.4
DAL  D  6  DAN KECZMER         17   1   2   3   5   26  0  0  0  0   9  11.1
DAL  D 22  CRAIG MUNI          40   1   1   2   0   25  0  0  1  0  12   8.3
DAL  R 18  CHRIS TANCILL        2   0   1   1  -1    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
DAL  D 37 *BRAD LUKOWICH        4   0   1   1  -2    2  0  0  0  0   2    .0
DAL  C 39  MIKE KENNEDY        15   0   1   1  -1   16  0  0  0  0  12    .0
DAL  R 39  PETER DOURIS         1   0   0   0  -1    0  0  0  0  0   3    .0
DAL  G 30 *EMMANUEL FERNANDEZ   2   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
DAL  D 34 *PETR BUZEK           2   0   0   0   1    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
DAL  L 17 *PATRICK COTE         3   0   0   0  -1   15  0  0  0  0   3    .0
DAL  L 38 *JASON BOTTERILL      4   0   0   0  -1   19  0  0  0  0   2    .0
DAL  R 36 *JEFFREY MITCHELL     7   0   0   0   0    7  0  0  0  0   3    .0
DAL  D  4 *SERGEY GUSEV         9   0   0   0  -5    2  0  0  0  0   5    .0
DAL  G  1  ROMAN TUREK         23   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
DAL  G 20  ED BELFOUR          61   0   0   0   0   18  0  0  0  0   0    .0
DET  C 19  STEVE YZERMAN       75  24  45  69   3   46  6  2  0  2 188  12.8
DET  D  5  NICKLAS LIDSTROM    80  17  42  59  22   18  7  1  1  1 205   8.3
DET  L 14  BRENDAN SHANAHAN    75  28  29  57   6  154 15  1  9  1 266  10.5
DET  L 13  VYACHESLAV KOZLOV   80  25  27  52  14   46  6  0  1  0 221  11.3
DET  D 55  LARRY MURPHY        82  11  41  52  35   37  2  1  2  0 129   8.5
DET  C  8  IGOR LARIONOV       69   8  39  47  14   40  3  0  2  1  93   8.6
DET  D 15  DMITRI MIRONOV      77   8  35  43  -7  119  3  0  1  0 170   4.7
DET  R 17  DOUG BROWN          80  19  23  42  17   12  6  1  5  0 145  13.1
DET  R 25  DARREN MCCARTY      71  15  22  37   0  157  5  1  2  0 166   9.0
DET  R 20  MARTIN LAPOINTE     79  15  19  34   0  106  4  0  3  2 154   9.7
DET  C 41  BRENT GILCHRIST     61  13  14  27   4   40  5  0  3  1 124  10.5
DET  L 18  KIRK MALTBY         65  14   9  23  11   89  2  1  3  0 106  13.2
DET  C 33  KRIS DRAPER         64  13  10  23   5   45  1  0  4  0  96  13.5
DET  L 96  TOMAS HOLMSTROM     57   5  17  22   6   44  1  0  1  0  48  10.4
DET  D 44 *ANDERS ERIKSSON     66   7  14  21  21   32  1  0  2  0  91   7.7
DET  C 91  SERGEI FEDOROV      21   6  11  17  10   25  2  0  2  0  68   8.8
DET  R 11  MATHIEU DANDENAULT  68   5  12  17   5   43  0  0  0  0  75   6.7
DET  D  2  VIACHESLAV FETISOV  58   2  12  14   4   72  0  0  1  0  55   3.6
DET  R 22 *MICHAEL KNUBLE      53   7   6  13   2   16  0  0  0  0  54  13.0
DET  D  3  BOB ROUSE           71   1  11  12  -9   57  0  0  0  0  54   1.9
DET  R 26  JOEY KOCUR          63   6   5  11   7   92  0  0  2  0  53  11.3
DET  D 27  AARON WARD          52   5   5  10  -1   47  0  0  1  0  47  10.6
DET  D 34  JAMIE MACOUN        74   0   7   7 -17   65  0  0  0  0  78    .0
DET  D 28 *YAN GOLUBOVSKY      12   0   2   2   1    6  0  0  0  0   9    .0
DET  C 21 *DARRYL LAPLANTE      2   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   2    .0
DET  G 34 *NORM MARACLE         4   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
DET  G 31 *KEVIN HODSON        21   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
DET  G 30  CHRIS OSGOOD        64   0   0   0   0   31  0  0  0  0   0    .0
EDM  C 39  DOUG WEIGHT         79  26  44  70   1   69  9  0  4  0 205  12.7
EDM  L 37  DEAN MCAMMOND       77  19  31  50   9   46  8  0  3  0 128  14.8
EDM  D  2  BORIS MIRONOV       81  16  30  46  -8  100 10  1  1  1 203   7.9
EDM  D 24  JANNE NIINIMAA      77   4  39  43  13   62  3  0  1  0 134   3.0
EDM  D 22  ROMAN HAMRLIK       78   9  32  41 -15   70  5  1  3  0 198   4.5
EDM  R  9  BILL GUERIN         59  18  21  39   1   93  9  0  4  0 178  10.1
EDM  L 26  TODD MARCHANT       76  14  21  35   9   71  2  1  3  0 194   7.2
EDM  L 94  RYAN SMYTH          65  20  13  33 -24   44 10  0  2  2 205   9.8
EDM  C 20  TONY HRKAC          49  13  14  27   3   10  7  0  1  0  57  22.8
EDM  C 14  MATS LINDGREN       82  13  13  26   0   42  1  3  3  0 131   9.9
EDM  C 18 *SCOTT FRASER        29  12  11  23   6    6  6  0  2  0  61  19.7
EDM  L 51  ANDREI KOVALENKO    59   6  17  23 -14   28  1  0  2  1  89   6.7
EDM  R 16  KELLY BUCHBERGER    82   6  17  23 -10  122  1  1  1  0  86   7.0
EDM  L 21  VALERI ZELEPUKIN    68   4  18  22  -2   89  0  0  0  0 101   4.0
EDM  L 17  REM MURRAY          61   9   9  18  -9   39  2  2  0  0  59  15.3
EDM  R 25  MIKE GRIER          66   9   6  15  -3   73  1  0  1  0  90  10.0
EDM  D  5  GREG DE VRIES       65   7   4  11 -17   80  1  0  0  0  53  13.2
EDM  D  6  BOBBY DOLLAS        52   2   6   8  -6   49  0  0  0  0  38   5.3
EDM  D 15  DRAKE BEREHOWSKY    67   1   6   7   1  169  1  0  1  0  58   1.7
EDM  C 19 *BOYD DEVEREAUX      38   1   4   5  -5    6  0  0  0  0  27   3.7
EDM  D 32 *CRAIG MILLAR        11   4   0   4  -3    8  1  0  0  0  10  40.0
EDM  L 12 *JOE HULBIG          17   2   2   4  -1    2  0  0  1  0   8  25.0
EDM  C  9 *MIKE WATT           14   1   2   3  -4    4  0  0  1  0  14   7.1
EDM  D  8  FRANK MUSIL         17   1   2   3   1    8  0  1  1  0   8  12.5
EDM  G 31  CURTIS JOSEPH       71   0   2   2   0    4  0  0  0  0   0    .0
EDM  D 23 *SEAN BROWN          18   0   1   1  -1   43  0  0  0  0   9    .0
EDM  L 28  BILL HUARD          30   0   1   1  -5   72  0  0  0  0  12    .0
EDM  D 40 *SCOTT FERGUSON       1   0   0   0   1    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
EDM  D 21 *LADISLAV BENYSEK     2   0   0   0  -2    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
EDM  D 29  JASON BOWEN          4   0   0   0   0   10  0  0  0  0   3    .0
EDM  R 36 *DENNIS BONVIE        4   0   0   0   0   27  0  0  0  0   0    .0
EDM  D  4  KEVIN LOWE           7   0   0   0  -3   22  0  0  0  0   5    .0
EDM  D  6 *BRYAN MUIR           7   0   0   0   0   17  0  0  0  0   6    .0
EDM  D 38 *TERRAN SANDWITH      8   0   0   0  -4    6  0  0  0  0   4    .0
EDM  R 27 *GEORGES LARAQUE     11   0   0   0  -4   59  0  0  0  0   4    .0
EDM  G 30  BOB ESSENSA         16   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
EDM  L  8  DOUG FRIEDMAN       16   0   0   0   0   20  0  0  0  0   8    .0
FLA  L 14  RAY WHITNEY         77  33  32  65   9   28 12  0  2  0 175  18.9
FLA  C 15  DAVE GAGNER         78  20  28  48 -21   55  5  1  1  0 165  12.1
FLA  D 24  ROBERT SVEHLA       79   9  34  43  -3  113  3  0  0  0 144   6.3
FLA  R 27  SCOTT MELLANBY      79  15  24  39 -14  127  6  0  1  0 188   8.0
FLA  R 19  RADEK DVORAK        64  12  24  36  -1   33  2  3  0  1 112  10.7
FLA  R 22  DINO CICCARELLI     62  16  17  33 -16   70  5  0  4  2 161   9.9
FLA  C 25  VIKTOR KOZLOV       64  17  13  30  -3   16  5  2  0  0 165  10.3
FLA  C  9  KIRK MULLER         70   8  21  29 -14   54  1  0  3  1 115   7.0
FLA  L 11  BILL LINDSAY        82  12  16  28  -2   80  0  2  5  0 150   8.0
FLA  D 55  ED JOVANOVSKI       81   9  14  23 -12  158  2  1  3  1 142   6.3
FLA  R 51  DAVID NEMIROVSKY    41   9  12  21  -3    8  2  0  1  0  62  14.5
FLA  C 17 *STEVE WASHBURN      58  11   8  19  -6   32  4  0  2  0  61  18.0
FLA  D  5  GORD MURPHY         79   6  11  17  -3   46  3  0  0  0 123   4.9
FLA  D  6  JEFF NORTON         56   4  13  17 -32   44  4  0  0  1  61   6.6
FLA  C 44  ROB NIEDERMAYER     33   8   7  15  -9   41  5  0  2  0  64  12.5
FLA  C 23  CHRIS WELLS         61   5  10  15   4   47  0  1  0  0  57   8.8
FLA  D  3  PAUL LAUS           77   0  11  11  -5  293  0  0  0  0  64    .0
FLA  D  2  TERRY CARKNER       74   1   7   8   6   63  0  0  1  0  34   2.9
FLA  L 29  JOHAN GARPENLOV     39   2   3   5  -6    8  0  0  0  0  43   4.7
FLA  D  7  RHETT WARRENER      79   0   4   4 -16   99  0  0  0  0  66    .0
FLA  G 34  J. VANBIESBROUCK    60   0   3   3   0    6  0  0  0  0   0    .0
FLA  C 16 *RYAN JOHNSON        10   0   2   2  -4    0  0  0  0  0   6    .0
FLA  D  8  DALLAS EAKINS       23   0   1   1   1   44  0  0  0  0  16    .0
FLA  G  1  KIRK MCLEAN         44   0   1   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
FLA  D 12 *CHRIS ALLEN          1   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   1    .0
FLA  D  4 *JOHN JAKOPIN         2   0   0   0  -3    4  0  0  0  0   1    .0
FLA  G  1 *KEVIN WEEKES        11   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
FLA  L 28 *PETER WORRELL       19   0   0   0  -4  153  0  0  0  0  15    .0
LAK  C 15  JOZEF STUMPEL       77  21  58  79  17   53  4  0  2  1 162  13.0
LAK  R 27  GLEN MURRAY         81  29  31  60   6   54  7  3  7  0 193  15.0
LAK  L  9  VLADIMIR TSYPLAKOV  73  18  34  52  15   18  2  0  1  0 113  15.9
LAK  D  4  ROB BLAKE           81  23  27  50  -3   94 11  0  4  0 261   8.8
LAK  C 44  YANIC PERREAULT     79  28  20  48   6   32  3  2  3  0 206  13.6
LAK  L 20  LUC ROBITAILLE      57  16  24  40   5   66  5  0  7  0 130  12.3
LAK  L 23  CRAIG JOHNSON       74  17  21  38   9   42  6  0  2  0 125  13.6
LAK  D  3  GARRY GALLEY        74   9  28  37  -5   63  7  0  0  0 128   7.0
LAK  R 45  SANDY MOGER         62  11  13  24   4   70  1  0  2  0  89  12.4
LAK  C 22  IAN LAPERRIERE      77   6  15  21   0  131  0  1  1  0  74   8.1
LAK  R 19  RUSS COURTNALL      58  12   6  18  -2   27  1  4  4  0  97  12.4
LAK  D  6  SEAN O'DONNELL      80   2  15  17   7  179  0  0  1  0  71   2.8
LAK  D 28  PHILIPPE BOUCHER    45   6  10  16   6   49  1  0  0  0  80   7.5
LAK  C 26  RAY FERRARO         40   6   9  15 -10   42  0  0  2  0  45  13.3
LAK  D 14  MATTIAS NORSTROM    73   1  12  13  14   90  0  0  0  0  61   1.6
LAK  L 42  DAN BYLSMA          65   3   9  12   9   33  0  0  0  1  57   5.3
LAK  C 24  NATHAN LAFAYETTE    34   5   3   8   2   32  1  0  1  0  60   8.3
LAK  L  7 *STEVE MCKENNA       62   4   4   8  -9  150  1  0  0  1  42   9.5
LAK  D  2  DOUG ZMOLEK         46   0   8   8   0  111  0  0  0  0  23    .0
LAK  D  5  AKI BERG            72   0   8   8   3   61  0  0  0  0  58    .0
LAK  C 10 *DONALD MACLEAN      22   5   2   7  -1    4  2  0  0  0  25  20.0
LAK  L 17  MATT JOHNSON        66   2   4   6  -8  249  0  0  0  0  18  11.1
LAK  D 33  JAN VOPAT           21   1   5   6   8   10  0  0  1  0  13   7.7
LAK  C 12  ROMAN VOPAT         25   0   3   3  -7   55  0  0  0  0  36    .0
LAK  C 52 *JASON MORGAN        11   1   0   1  -7    4  0  0  0  0   5  20.0
LAK  R 43  VITALI YACHMENEV     4   0   1   1   1    4  0  0  0  0   4    .0
LAK  G 35  STEPHANE FISET      60   0   1   1   0    8  0  0  0  0   0    .0
LAK  C 21 *OLLI JOKINEN         8   0   0   0  -5    6  0  0  0  0  12    .0
LAK  G 31  FREDERIC CHABOT     12   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
LAK  G  1 *JAMIE STORR         17   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
MTL  R  8  MARK RECCHI         82  32  42  74  11   51  9  1  6  0 216  14.8
MTL  C 25  VINCENT DAMPHOUSSE  76  18  41  59  14   58  2  1  5  0 164  11.0
MTL  C 11  SAKU KOIVU          69  14  43  57   8   48  2  2  3  0 145   9.7
MTL  L 27  SHAYNE CORSON       62  21  34  55   2  108 14  1  1  0 142  14.8
MTL  L 26  MARTIN RUCINSKY     78  21  32  53  13   84  5  3  3  0 192  10.9
MTL  D 38  VLADIMIR MALAKHOV   74  13  31  44  16   70  8  0  2  0 166   7.8
MTL  L 49  BRIAN SAVAGE        64  26  17  43  11   36  8  0  7  2 152  17.1
MTL  D 43  PATRICE BRISEBOIS   79  10  27  37  16   67  5  0  1  0 125   8.0
MTL  D 22  DAVE MANSON         81   4  30  34  22  122  2  0  0  0 148   2.7
MTL  L 17  BENOIT BRUNET       68  12  20  32  11   61  1  2  2  1  87  13.8
MTL  L 44  JONAS HOGLUND       78  12  13  25  -7   22  4  0  0  0 186   6.5
MTL  C 28  MARC BUREAU         74  13   6  19   0   12  0  0  2  0  82  15.9
MTL  L 37  PATRICK POULIN      78   6  13  19  -4   27  0  1  1  0  88   6.8
MTL  D  5  STEPHANE QUINTAL    71   6  10  16  13   97  0  0  0  0  88   6.8
MTL  C 24  SCOTT THORNTON      67   6   9  15   0  158  1  0  1  2  51  11.8
MTL  D  3  ZARLEY ZALAPSKI     63   3  12  15 -13   63  2  1  1  0  73   4.1
MTL  C 71  SEBASTIEN BORDELEAU 53   6   8  14   5   36  2  1  0  1  55  10.9
MTL  R 23  TURNER STEVENSON    63   4   6  10  -8  110  1  0  0  0  43   9.3
MTL  D 55  IGOR ULANOV         49   2   8  10  -7   97  1  0  0  0  36   5.6
MTL  D 34  PETER POPOVIC       69   2   6   8  -6   38  0  0  0  0  40   5.0
MTL  G 41  JOCELYN THIBAULT    47   0   2   2   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
MTL  D 52  CRAIG RIVET         61   0   2   2  -3   93  0  0  0  0  26    .0
MTL  C 15 *ERIC HOUDE           9   1   0   1  -3    0  0  0  1  0   4  25.0
MTL  D 29 *BRETT CLARK         41   1   0   1  -3   20  0  0  0  0  26   3.8
MTL  R 21  MICK VUKOTA         64   1   0   1  -4  192  0  0  0  0  23   4.3
MTL  D 48 *FRANCOIS GROLEAU     1   0   0   0   1    0  0  0  0  0   3    .0
MTL  R 51 *DAVID LING           1   0   0   0  -1    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
MTL  C 46 *MATT HIGGINS         1   0   0   0  -1    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
MTL  L 14 *TERRY RYAN           4   0   0   0   0   31  0  0  0  0   0    .0
MTL  G 35  ANDY MOOG           42   0   0   0   0    4  0  0  0  0   0    .0  
NJD  C 16  BOBBY HOLIK         82  29  36  65  23  100  8  0  8  1 238  12.2
NJD  D 27  SCOTT NIEDERMAYER   81  14  43  57   5   27 11  0  1  0 175   8.0
NJD  C 93  DOUG GILMOUR        63  13  40  53  10   68  3  0  5  0  94  13.8
NJD  R 21  RANDY MCKAY         74  24  24  48  30   86  8  0  5  0 141  17.0
NJD  L 23  DAVE ANDREYCHUK     75  14  34  48  19   26  4  0  2  0 180   7.8
NJD  R 26 *PATRIK ELIAS        74  18  19  37  18   28  5  0  6  1 147  12.2
NJD  C 17  PETR SYKORA         58  16  20  36   0   22  3  1  4  0 130  12.3
NJD  C 25  JASON ARNOTT        70  10  23  33 -24   99  4  0  2  0 199   5.0
NJD  L 14  BRIAN ROLSTON       76  16  14  30   7   16  0  2  1  0 185   8.6
NJD  C 10  DENIS PEDERSON      80  15  13  28  -6   97  7  0  1  1 135  11.1
NJD  D  4  SCOTT STEVENS       80   4  22  26  19   80  1  0  1  0  94   4.3
NJD  R 32  STEVE THOMAS        55  14  10  24   4   32  3  0  4  1 111  12.6
NJD  D 24  LYLE ODELEIN        79   4  19  23  11  171  1  0  0  0  76   5.3
NJD  D  5  DOUG BODGER         77   9  11  20  -1   57  3  0  1  0  96   9.4
NJD  C 19  BOB CARPENTER       66   9   9  18  -4   22  0  1  1  0  81  11.1
NJD  D  2 *SHELDON SOURAY      60   3   7  10  18   85  0  0  1  0  74   4.1
NJD  C  9 *BRENDAN MORRISON    11   5   4   9   3    0  0  0  1  1  19  26.3
NJD  D 28  KEVIN DEAN          50   1   8   9  12   12  1  0  0  0  28   3.6
NJD  D  6 *BRAD BOMBARDIR      43   1   5   6  11    8  0  0  0  0  16   6.3
NJD  C 18  SERGEI BRYLIN       18   2   3   5   4    0  0  0  0  1  20  10.0
NJD  L 29 *KRZYSZTOF OLIWA     73   2   3   5   3  295  0  0  2  0  53   3.8
NJD  L 20  JAY PANDOLFO        23   1   3   4  -4    4  0  0  0  0  23   4.3
NJD  L 22  SCOTT DANIELS       26   0   3   3   1  102  0  0  0  0  17    .0
NJD  G 30  MARTIN BRODEUR      70   0   3   3   0   10  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NJD  D  5  VLASTIMIL KROUPA     2   0   1   1   1    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
NJD  G  1  MIKE DUNHAM         15   0   1   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NJD  D  3  KEN DANEYKO         37   0   1   1   3   57  0  0  0  0  18    .0
NJD  G 31  PETER SIDORKIEWICZ   1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NJD  G 35  RICH SHULMISTRA      1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NJD  L  8  SASHA LAKOVIC        2   0   0   0   0    5  0  0  0  0   2    .0
NYI  R 16  ZIGMUND PALFFY      82  45  42  87  -2   34 17  2  5  1 277  16.2
NYI  C 21  ROBERT REICHEL      82  25  40  65 -11   32  8  0  2  2 201  12.4
NYI  D 34  BRYAN BERARD        75  14  32  46 -32   59  8  1  2  1 192   7.3
NYI  C 20  BRYAN SMOLINSKI     81  13  30  43 -16   34  3  0  4  0 203   6.4
NYI  D 29  KENNY JONSSON       81  14  26  40  -2   58  6  0  2  0 108  13.0
NYI  R 44  JASON DAWE          81  20  19  39   8   42  4  1  3  1 134  14.9
NYI  C 32  TREVOR LINDEN       67  17  21  38 -14   82  5  2  2  0 133  12.8
NYI  L 14  TOM CHORSKE         82  12  23  35   7   39  1  4  2  0 132   9.1
NYI  C 17  SERGEI NEMCHINOV    74  10  19  29   3   24  2  1  1  0  94  10.6
NYI  R 25  MARIUSZ CZERKAWSKI  68  12  13  25  11   23  2  0  1  0 136   8.8
NYI  R 10  JOE SACCO           80  11  14  25   0   34  0  2  2  0 122   9.0
NYI  D 36  J.J. DAIGNEAULT     71   2  21  23  -9   49  1  0  1  0  92   2.2
NYI  C 13  CLAUDE LAPOINTE     78  10  10  20  -9   47  0  1  3  0  82  12.2
NYI  D  7  SCOTT LACHANCE      63   2  11  13 -11   45  1  0  0  0  62   3.2
NYI  L 18  MIKE HOUGH          74   5   7  12  -4   27  0  0  0  0  44  11.4
NYI  D  2  RICHARD PILON       76   0   7   7   1  291  0  0  0  0  37    .0
NYI  L 24  GINO ODJICK         48   3   2   5  -2  212  0  0  1  0  52   5.8
NYI  L 33  KEN BELANGER        37   3   1   4   1  101  0  0  1  0  10  30.0
NYI  C 54  KIP MILLER           9   1   3   4  -2    2  0  0  0  0  11   9.1
NYI  D 28  DENNIS VASKE        19   0   3   3   2   12  0  0  0  0  16    .0
NYI  R 36  DANE JACKSON         8   1   1   2   1    4  0  0  1  0   5  20.0
NYI  D 55 *VLAD CHEBATURKIN     2   0   2   2  -1    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NYI  D 58  YEVGENY NAMESTNIKOV  6   0   1   1  -1    4  0  0  0  0   2    .0
NYI  R 42  DAN PLANTE           7   0   1   1  -1    6  0  0  0  0   7    .0
NYI  R 49 *VLADIMIR ORSAGH     11   0   1   1  -3    2  0  0  0  0   9    .0
NYI  D 60 *RAY SCHULTZ         13   0   1   1   3   45  0  0  0  0   4    .0
NYI  G 30  WADE FLAHERTY       16   0   1   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NYI  D  3 *ZDENO CHARA         25   0   1   1   1   50  0  0  0  0  10    .0
NYI  G 35  TOMMY SALO          62   0   1   1   0   31  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NYI  D 37 *JEFF LIBBY           1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NYI  R 52 *MARK LAWRENCE        2   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   4    .0
NYI  L 11 *SEAN HAGGERTY        5   0   0   0  -3    0  0  0  0  0   2    .0
NYI  R 48 *WARREN LUHNING       8   0   0   0  -4    0  0  0  0  0   6    .0
NYI  D 46 *JASON HOLLAND        8   0   0   0  -4    4  0  0  0  0   6    .0
NYI  G  1  ERIC FICHAUD        17   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NYI  R  8  STEVE WEBB          20   0   0   0  -2   35  0  0  0  0   6    .0
NYR  C 99  WAYNE GRETZKY       82  23  67  90 -11   28  6  0  4  2 201  11.4
NYR  C 16  PAT LAFONTAINE      67  23  39  62 -16   36 11  0  2  3 160  14.4
NYR  R 27  ALEXEI KOVALEV      73  23  30  53 -22   44  8  0  3  1 173  13.3
NYR  D  2  BRIAN LEETCH        76  17  33  50 -36   32 11  0  2  2 230   7.4
NYR  R 24  NIKLAS SUNDSTROM    70  19  28  47   0   24  4  0  1  0 115  16.5
NYR  L 17  KEVIN STEVENS       80  14  27  41  -7  130  5  0  3  1 144   9.7
NYR  L  9  ADAM GRAVES         72  23  12  35 -30   41 10  0  2  1 226  10.2
NYR  R 37  TIM SWEENEY         56  11  18  29   7   26  2  0  1  1  75  14.7
NYR  D 33  BRUCE DRIVER        75   5  15  20  -3   46  1  0  0  0 116   4.3
NYR  D  5  ULF SAMUELSSON      73   3   9  12   1  122  0  0  2  0  59   5.1
NYR  L 12  BOB ERREY           71   2   9  11   2   53  0  0  0  0  45   4.4
NYR  C 32  HARRY YORK          60   4   6  10  -1   31  0  0  0  0  44   9.1
NYR  D 25  ALEXANDER KARPOVTSEV47   3   7  10  -1   38  1  0  1  0  46   6.5
NYR  L 18  BILL BERG           67   1   9  10 -15   55  0  0  0  0  74   1.4
NYR  R 14 *PETER FERRARO       30   3   4   7  -4   14  0  0  0  0  37   8.1
NYR  D 26  JEFF FINLEY         63   1   6   7  -3   55  0  0  0  0  32   3.1
NYR  L 15  DARREN LANGDON      70   3   3   6   0  197  0  0  0  0  15  20.0
NYR  C 10 *MARC SAVARD         28   1   5   6  -4    4  0  0  0  0  32   3.1
NYR  C 28 *P.J. STOCK          38   2   3   5   4  114  0  0  1  0   9  22.2
NYR  D 23  JEFF BEUKEBOOM      63   0   5   5 -25  195  0  0  0  0  23    .0
NYR  R 39 *VLADIMIR VOROBIEV   15   2   2   4 -10    6  0  0  1  0  27   7.4
NYR  R  8  BRAD SMYTH          10   1   3   4  -1    4  0  0  0  0  13   7.7
NYR  L 21  JOHAN LINDBOM       38   1   3   4   4   28  0  0  0  0  38   2.6
NYR  D  6  DOUG LIDSTER        36   0   4   4   2   24  0  0  0  0  25    .0
NYR  D 29  ERIC CAIRNS         39   0   3   3  -3   92  0  0  0  0  17    .0
NYR  L 36  DANIEL GONEAU       11   2   0   2  -4    4  0  0  1  0  13  15.4
NYR  D 14  GEOFF SMITH         15   1   1   2  -4    6  1  0  0  0  11   9.1
NYR  D  4 *MAXIM GALANOV        6   0   1   1   1    2  0  0  0  0   5    .0
NYR  G 35  MIKE RICHTER        72   0   1   1   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NYR  D 30 *SYLVAIN BLOUIN       1   0   0   0   0    5  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NYR  D 38  RONNIE SUNDIN        1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NYR  L 36  PIERRE SEVIGNY       3   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   1    .0
NYR  G 34 *DAN CLOUTIER        12   0   0   0   0   19  0  0  0  0   0    .0
OTW  C 19  ALEXEI YASHIN       82  33  39  72   6   24  5  0  6  0 291  11.3
OTW  L 15  SHAWN MCEACHERN     81  24  24  48   1   42  8  2  4  2 229  10.5
OTW  R 11  DANIEL ALFREDSSON   55  17  28  45   7   18  7  0  7  0 149  11.4
OTW  D 29  IGOR KRAVCHUK       81   8  27  35 -19    8  3  1  1  1 191   4.2
OTW  R 10  ANDREAS DACKELL     82  15  18  33 -11   24  3  2  2  1 130  11.5
OTW  L 20 *MAGNUS ARVEDSON     61  11  15  26   2   36  0  1  0  1  90  12.2
OTW  C 13 *VACLAV PROSPAL      56   6  19  25 -11   21  4  0  0  0  88   6.8
OTW  C 16  SERGEI ZHOLTOK      78  10  13  23  -7   16  7  0  1  1 127   7.9
OTW  D  6  WADE REDDEN         80   8  14  22  17   27  3  0  2  0 103   7.8
OTW  D 27  JANNE LAUKKANEN     60   4  17  21 -15   64  2  0  2  0  69   5.8
OTW  L 28  DENNY LAMBERT       72   9  10  19   4  250  0  0  1  1  76  11.8
OTW  C 22  SHAUN VAN ALLEN     80   4  15  19   4   48  0  0  0  0 104   3.8
OTW  R 12  PAT FALLOON         58   8  10  18  -8   16  3  0  0  0 136   5.9
OTW  C 25  BRUCE GARDINER      55   7  11  18   2   50  0  0  0  0  64  10.9
OTW  C 14  RADEK BONK          65   7   9  16 -13   16  1  0  0  0  93   7.5
OTW  D  4 *CHRIS PHILLIPS      72   5  11  16   2   38  2  0  2  0 107   4.7
OTW  D 33  JASON YORK          73   3  13  16   8   62  0  0  0  0 109   2.8
OTW  L  7  RANDY CUNNEYWORTH   71   2  11  13 -14   63  1  0  0  0  81   2.5
OTW  R 17  CHRIS MURRAY        53   5   4   9   3  118  0  0  2  0  51   9.8
OTW  D  2  LANCE PITLICK       69   2   7   9   8   50  0  0  0  0  66   3.0
OTW  D  3  PER GUSTAFSSON      31   1   5   6  -2   16  0  0  0  0  36   2.8
OTW  D 24  STANISLAV NECKAR    60   2   2   4 -14   31  0  0  0  0  43   4.7
OTW  R 26  PHILIP CROWE         9   3   0   3   3   24  0  0  1  0   6  50.0
OTW  C 42  DEREK ARMSTRONG      9   2   0   2   1    9  0  0  1  0   8  25.0
OTW  L 18 *MARIAN HOSSA         7   0   1   1  -1    0  0  0  0  0  10    .0
OTW  G  1  DAMIAN RHODES       50   0   1   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
OTW  D 23  RADIM BICANEK        1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
OTW  R 48 *IVAN CIERNIK         2   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
OTW  L 38  JASON ZENT           3   0   0   0   0    4  0  0  0  0   1    .0
OTW  L 21  DENNIS VIAL         19   0   0   0   0   45  0  0  0  0   9    .0
OTW  G 31  RON TUGNUTT         42   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHI  L 10  JOHN LECLAIR        82  51  36  87  30   32 16  0  9  1 303  16.8
PHI  L 17  ROD BRIND'AMOUR     82  36  38  74  -2   54 10  2  8  0 205  17.6
PHI  C 88  ERIC LINDROS        63  30  41  71  14  134 10  1  4  0 202  14.9
PHI  C 55  CHRIS GRATTON       82  22  40  62  11  159  5  0  2  0 182  12.1
PHI  R 19  ALEXANDRE DAIGLE    75  16  26  42  -8   14  8  0  5  1 146  11.0
PHI  R 20  TRENT KLATT         82  14  28  42   2   16  5  0  3  0 143   9.8
PHI  C 11  MIKE SILLINGER      75  21  20  41 -11   50  2  4  1  0  96  21.9
PHI  R  9  DAINIUS ZUBRUS      69   8  25  33  29   42  1  0  5  0 101   7.9
PHI  D 37  ERIC DESJARDINS     77   6  27  33  11   36  2  1  0  0 150   4.0
PHI  D  3  DANIEL MCGILLIS     80  11  20  31 -21  109  6  0  3  1 137   8.0
PHI  D 77  PAUL COFFEY         57   2  27  29   3   30  1  0  1  0 107   1.9
PHI  L 25  SHJON PODEIN        82  11  13  24   8   53  1  1  2  0 126   8.7
PHI  L 12 *COLIN FORBES        63  12   7  19   2   59  2  0  2  0  93  12.9
PHI  D  6  CHRIS THERIEN       78   3  16  19   5   80  1  0  1  0 102   2.9
PHI  D 23  PETR SVOBODA        56   3  15  18  19   83  2  0  0  0  44   6.8
PHI  D 44  DAVE BABYCH         53   0   9   9  -9   49  0  0  0  0  46    .0
PHI  C 29  JOEL OTTO           68   3   4   7  -2   78  0  0  0  1  53   5.7
PHI  D 22  LUKE RICHARDSON     81   2   3   5   7  139  2  0  0  0  57   3.5
PHI  C 32  DANIEL LACROIX      56   1   4   5   0  135  0  0  0  0  28   3.6
PHI  R 26  JOHN DRUCE          23   1   2   3   0    2  0  0  0  0  18   5.6
PHI  D 28  KJELL SAMUELSSON    49   0   3   3   9   28  0  0  0  0  23    .0
PHI  L 21  DAN KORDIC          61   1   1   2  -4  210  0  0  0  0  12   8.3
PHI  G 33  SEAN BURKE          52   0   2   2   0   20  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHI  C 14  CRAIG DARBY          3   1   0   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   3  33.3
PHI  D 24  CHRIS JOSEPH        15   1   0   1   1   19  0  0  1  0  20   5.0
PHI  R 38 *PAUL HEALEY          4   0   0   0   0   12  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHI  R 18  BRANTT MYHRES       23   0   0   0  -1  169  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHI  G 27  RON HEXTALL         46   0   0   0   0   10  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHO  L  7  KEITH TKACHUK       69  40  26  66   9  147 11  0  8  1 232  17.2
PHO  C 97  JEREMY ROENICK      79  24  32  56   5  103  6  1  3  1 182  13.2
PHO  C 77  CLIFF RONNING       80  11  44  55   5   36  3  0  0  1 197   5.6
PHO  C 15  CRAIG JANNEY        68  10  43  53   5   12  4  0  0  0  72  13.9
PHO  D 27  TEPPO NUMMINEN      82  11  40  51  25   30  6  0  2  0 126   8.7
PHO  R 92  RICK TOCCHET        68  26  19  45   1  157  8  0  6  0 161  16.1
PHO  R 11  DALLAS DRAKE        60  11  29  40  17   71  3  0  2  0 112   9.8
PHO  R 22  MIKE GARTNER        60  12  15  27  -4   24  4  0  2  1 145   8.3
PHO  D  3  KEITH CARNEY        80   3  19  22  -2   91  1  1  0  0  71   4.2
PHO  C 21  BOB CORKUM          76  12   9  21  -7   28  0  5  0  0 105  11.4
PHO  D 10  OLEG TVERDOVSKY     46   7  12  19   1   12  4  0  1  1  83   8.4
PHO  D  4  GERALD DIDUCK       78   8  10  18  14  118  1  0  4  0 104   7.7
PHO  R 16 *BRAD ISBISTER       66   9   8  17   4  102  1  0  1  0 115   7.8
PHO  D 26  JOHN SLANEY         55   3  14  17  -3   24  1  0  1  0  74   4.1
PHO  L 34  DARRIN SHANNON      58   2  12  14   4   26  0  0  0  0  57   3.5
PHO  C 18  MARK JANSSENS       74   5   7  12 -21  154  0  0  1  0  53   9.4
PHO  C 36 *JUHA YLONEN         55   1  11  12  -3   10  0  1  0  0  60   1.7
PHO  R 19  SHANE DOAN          33   5   6  11  -3   35  0  0  3  0  42  11.9
PHO  D  5  DERON QUINT         32   4   7  11  -6   16  1  0  1  0  61   6.6
PHO  C 14  MIKE STAPLETON      64   5   5  10  -4   36  1  1  1  0  69   7.2
PHO  D 44  NORM MACIVER        41   2   6   8 -11   38  0  1  0  0  37   5.4
PHO  L 33  JIM MCKENZIE        64   3   4   7  -7  146  0  0  0  0  35   8.6
PHO  D 24  MICHEL PETIT        32   4   2   6  -4   77  1  0  0  0  34  11.8
PHO  R 32  JOCELYN LEMIEUX     30   3   3   6   0   27  1  0  0  0  32   9.4
PHO  D  2  MURRAY BARON        45   1   5   6 -10  106  0  0  0  0  23   4.3
PHO  D  8  JIM JOHNSON         16   2   1   3   0   18  0  0  0  0  17  11.8
PHO  G 35  N. KHABIBULIN       70   0   2   2   0   22  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHO  R 20  JIM CUMMINS         75   0   2   2 -16  225  0  0  0  0  43    .0
PHO  C 54 *DANIEL BRIERE        5   1   0   1   1    2  0  0  0  0   4  25.0
PHO  D 55 *JASON DOIG           4   0   1   1  -4   12  0  0  0  0   1    .0
PHO  D 48 *SEAN GAGNON          5   0   1   1   1   14  0  0  0  0   3    .0
PHO  L 72  JEFF CHRISTIAN       1   0   0   0  -1    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHO  D 39  BRAD TILEY           1   0   0   0   1    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHO  R 29  SCOTT LEVINS         2   0   0   0  -1    5  0  0  0  0   2    .0
PHO  G 31 *SCOTT LANGKOW        3   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHO  G 28  JIM WAITE           17   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PIT  R 68  JAROMIR JAGR        77  35  67 102  17   64  7  0  8  2 262  13.4
PIT  C 10  RON FRANCIS         81  25  62  87  12   20  7  0  5  2 189  13.2
PIT  C 14  STU BARNES          78  30  35  65  15   30 15  1  5  0 196  15.3
PIT  D  4  KEVIN HATCHER       74  19  29  48  -3   66 13  1  3  1 169  11.2
PIT  C 82  MARTIN STRAKA       75  19  23  42  -1   28  4  3  4  1 117  16.2
PIT  R 44  ROB BROWN           82  15  25  40  -1   59  4  0  4  0 172   8.7
PIT  D 23  FREDRIK OLAUSSON    76   6  27  33  13   42  2  0  1  0  89   6.7
PIT  R 95 *ALEXEI MOROZOV      76  13  13  26  -4    8  2  0  3  0  80  16.3
PIT  R 16  ED OLCZYK           56  11  11  22  -9   35  5  1  1  0 123   8.9
PIT  C 20  ROBERT LANG         54   9  13  22   7   16  1  1  2  0  66  13.6
PIT  C 12  SEAN PRONGER        67   6  15  21 -10   32  1  0  3  0  73   8.2
PIT  L 33  ALEX HICKS          58   7  13  20   4   54  0  0  1  1  78   9.0
PIT  D  5  BRAD WERENKA        71   3  15  18  15   46  2  0  0  0  50   6.0
PIT  D 71  JIRI SLEGR          73   5  12  17  10  109  1  1  0  0 131   3.8
PIT  C 38  ANDREAS JOHANSSON   50   5  10  15   4   20  0  1  0  0  49  10.2
PIT  D 11  DARIUS KASPARAITIS  81   4   8  12   3  127  0  2  0  0  71   5.6
PIT  C 15 *ROBERT DOME         30   5   2   7  -1   12  1  0  0  0  29  17.2
PIT  R 57 *CHRIS FERRARO       46   3   4   7  -2   43  0  0  0  0  42   7.1
PIT  C 29  TYLER WRIGHT        82   3   4   7  -3  112  1  0  0  0  46   6.5
PIT  R 24  IAN MORAN           37   1   6   7   0   19  0  0  1  0  33   3.0
PIT  D  2  CHRIS TAMER         79   0   7   7   4  181  0  0  0  0  55    .0
PIT  D  6  NEIL WILKINSON      34   2   4   6   0   24  1  0  0  0  19  10.5
PIT  L 18  GARRY VALK          39   2   1   3  -3   33  0  0  0  1  32   6.3
PIT  D 42 *TUOMAS GRONMAN      22   1   2   3   3   25  1  0  1  0  33   3.0
PIT  G 35  TOM BARRASSO        63   0   2   2   0   14  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PIT  G  1 *PETER SKUDRA        17   0   1   1   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PIT  D 22 *SVEN BUTENSCHON      8   0   0   0  -1    6  0  0  0  0   4    .0
PIT  G 31  KEN WREGGET         15   0   0   0   0    6  0  0  0  0   0    .0
SJS  L 39  JEFF FRIESEN        79  31  32  63   8   40  7  6  7  0 186  16.7
SJS  R 15  JOHN MACLEAN        77  16  27  43  -6   42  6  0  3  1 213   7.5
SJS  R 11  OWEN NOLAN          75  14  27  41  -2  144  3  1  1  0 192   7.3
SJS  C 14 *PATRICK MARLEAU     74  13  19  32   5   14  1  0  2  0  90  14.4
SJS  D  2  BILL HOULDER        82   7  25  32  13   48  4  0  2  0 102   6.9
SJS  C 19 *MARCO STURM         74  10  20  30  -2   40  2  0  3  0 118   8.5
SJS  L 37  STEPHANE MATTEAU    73  15  14  29   4   60  1  0  2  2  79  19.0
SJS  L 22  MURRAY CRAVEN       67  12  17  29   4   25  2  3  3  0 107  11.2
SJS  C  9  BERNIE NICHOLLS     60   6  22  28  -4   26  3  0  0  0  81   7.4
SJS  C 18  MIKE RICCI          65   9  18  27  -4   32  5  0  2  0  91   9.9
SJS  L 21  TONY GRANATO        59  16   9  25   3   70  3  0  2  0 119  13.4
SJS  D 10  MARCUS RAGNARSSON   79   5  20  25 -11   65  3  0  2  0  91   5.5
SJS  R 17  JOE MURPHY          37   9  13  22   9   36  4  0  0  0  81  11.1
SJS  D 40  MIKE RATHJE         81   3  12  15  -4   59  1  0  0  0  61   4.9
SJS  D 20 *ANDREI ZYUZIN       56   6   7  13   8   66  2  0  2  0  72   8.3
SJS  D 27  BRYAN MARCHMENT     61   2  11  13  -3  144  0  0  0  0  56   3.6
SJS  L 28  SHAWN BURR          42   6   6  12   2   50  0  0  0  0  63   9.5
SJS  D 33  MARTY MCSORLEY      56   2  10  12  10  140  0  0  0  0  46   4.3
SJS  D 43  AL IAFRATE          21   2   7   9  -1   28  2  0  0  0  37   5.4
SJS  C 12  RON SUTTER          57   2   7   9  -2   22  0  0  1  0  57   3.5
SJS  L 26  DAVE LOWRY          57   4   4   8  -1   53  0  0  1  0  51   7.8
SJS  C 27 *ALEXANDER KOROLYUK  19   2   3   5  -5    6  1  0  0  0  23   8.7
SJS  D  7 *RICHARD BRENNAN     11   1   2   3  -4    2  1  0  0  0  24   4.2
SJS  L 17  STEPHEN GUOLLA       7   1   1   2  -2    0  0  0  0  0   9  11.1
SJS  G 29  MIKE VERNON         62   0   2   2   0   24  0  0  0  0   0    .0
SJS  L 24  BARRY POTOMSKI       9   0   1   1   1   30  0  0  0  0   4    .0
SJS  L 34  NIKLAS ANDERSSON     5   0   0   0  -1    2  0  0  0  0   6    .0
SJS  G 30  JASON MUZZATTI       7   0   0   0   0   10  0  0  0  0   0    .0
SJS  C 16  DODY WOOD            8   0   0   0  -3   40  0  0  0  0   4    .0
SJS  D  5  KEN SUTTON          21   0   0   0  -3   21  0  0  0  0  12    .0
SJS  G 32  KELLY HRUDEY        28   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
STL  R 16  BRETT HULL          66  27  45  72  -1   26 10  0  6  0 211  12.8
STL  C 77  PIERRE TURGEON      60  22  46  68  13   24  6  0  4  0 140  15.7
STL  L 14  GEOFF COURTNALL     79  31  31  62  12   94  6  0  5  0 189  16.4
STL  D 28  STEVE DUCHESNE      80  14  42  56   9   32  5  1  1  0 153   9.2
STL  L 38  PAVOL DEMITRA       61  22  30  52  11   22  4  4  6  1 147  15.0
STL  D  2  AL MACINNIS         71  19  30  49   6   80  9  1  2  0 227   8.4
STL  C 22  CRAIG CONROY        81  14  29  43  20   46  0  3  1  0 118  11.9
STL  R 10  JIM CAMPBELL        76  22  19  41   0   55  7  0  6  1 147  15.0
STL  D 44  CHRIS PRONGER       81   9  27  36  47  180  1  0  2  0 145   6.2
STL  D  5  TODD GILL           75  13  17  30 -11   41  7  0  2  0 122  10.7
STL  L 33  SCOTT PELLERIN      80   8  21  29  14   62  1  1  0  0  96   8.3
STL  R 23  BLAIR ATCHEYNUM     61  11  15  26   5   10  0  1  3  0 103  10.7
STL  R 27  TERRY YAKE          65  10  15  25   1   38  3  1  4  0  60  16.7
STL  C  9  DARREN TURCOTTE     62  12   6  18   6   26  3  0  1  0  75  16.0
STL  L 25 *PASCAL RHEAUME      48   6   9  15   4   35  1  0  0  0  45  13.3
STL  C 32  MIKE EASTWOOD       58   6   5  11  -2   22  0  0  1  0  38  15.8
STL  D 19  CHRIS MCALPINE      54   3   7  10  14   36  0  0  0  0  35   8.6
STL  D  4  MARC BERGEVIN       81   3   7  10  -2   90  0  0  0  0  40   7.5
STL  L 34  MICHEL PICARD       16   1   8   9   3   29  0  0  0  0  19   5.3
STL  D 20  RUDY POESCHEK       50   1   7   8  -5   64  0  0  0  0  29   3.4
STL  R 39  KELLY CHASE         67   4   3   7  10  231  0  0  1  0  29  13.8
STL  D  6 *JAMIE RIVERS        59   2   4   6   5   36  1  0  1  0  53   3.8
STL  L 18  TONY TWIST          60   1   1   2  -4  105  0  0  0  0  17   5.9
STL  R 12 *CHRISTOPHER KENADY   5   0   2   2   1    0  0  0  0  0   3    .0
STL  G 31  GRANT FUHR          58   0   2   2   0    6  0  0  0  0   0    .0
STL  D 43  LIBOR ZABRANSKY      6   0   1   1  -3    6  0  0  0  0   2    .0
STL  D  7  RICARD PERSSON       1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
STL  G 30 *RICH PARENT          1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
STL  G 29  JAMIE MCLENNAN      30   0   0   0   0    4  0  0  0  0   0    .0
TBL  L 15  PAUL YSEBAERT       82  13  27  40 -43   32  2  1  0  0 144   9.0
TBL  R 20  MIKAEL RENBERG      68  16  22  38 -37   34  6  3  0  1 175   9.1
TBL  R 29  ALEXANDER SELIVANOV 70  16  19  35 -38   85  4  0  3  1 206   7.8
TBL  L 44  STEPHANE RICHER     40  14  15  29  -6   41  5  0  2  0  95  14.7
TBL  L  7  ROB ZAMUNER         77  14  12  26 -31   41  0  3  4  1 126  11.1
TBL  C 18  DAYMOND LANGKOW     68   8  14  22  -9   62  2  0  1  0 156   5.1
TBL  C 16  DARCY TUCKER        74   7  13  20 -14  146  1  1  0  0  63  11.1
TBL  R 10  SANDY MCCARTHY      66   8  10  18 -19  241  1  0  1  0  94   8.5
TBL  R 34  MIKAEL ANDERSSON    72   6  11  17  -4   29  0  1  1  0 105   5.7
TBL  D 14  KARL DYKHUIS        78   5   9  14  -8  110  0  1  0  0  91   5.5
TBL  C 64 *JASON BONSIGNORE    35   2   8  10 -11   22  0  0  0  0  29   6.9
TBL  D  4  CORY CROSS          74   3   6   9 -24   77  0  1  0  0  72   4.2
TBL  R 21  JODY HULL           49   4   4   8   3    8  0  1  2  0  51   7.8
TBL  D 33  YVES RACINE         60   0   8   8 -23   41  0  0  0  0  76    .0
TBL  C 19  BRIAN BRADLEY       14   2   5   7  -9    6  2  0  0  0  24   8.3
TBL  D  6  DAVID WILKIE        34   2   5   7 -22   21  0  0  1  0  48   4.2
TBL  C 79  VLADIMIR VUJTEK     30   2   4   6  -2   16  0  0  1  0  44   4.5
TBL  L 17 *BRENT PETERSON      19   5   0   5  -2    2  0  0  0  0  15  33.3
TBL  C 11 *STEVE KELLY         43   2   3   5 -13   23  1  0  0  0  22   9.1
TBL  R 62  ANDREI NAZAROV      54   2   2   4 -13  170  0  0  0  0  50   4.0
TBL  D 39  ENRICO CICCONE      39   0   4   4  -2  175  0  0  0  0  22    .0
TBL  D  3 *PAVEL KUBINA        10   1   2   3  -1   22  0  0  0  0   8  12.5
TBL  D  5  JASSEN CULLIMORE    28   1   2   3  -4   26  1  0  0  0  18   5.6
TBL  L 36  LOUIE DEBRUSK       54   1   2   3  -2  166  0  0  0  0  14   7.1
TBL  R 10  PAUL BROUSSEAU      11   0   2   2   0   27  0  0  0  0   6    .0
TBL  D 27  DAVID SHAW          14   0   2   2  -2   12  0  0  0  0  12    .0
TBL  C 28  COREY SPRING         8   1   0   1  -1   10  0  0  0  0  12   8.3
TBL  D  2 *MIKE MCBAIN         27   0   1   1 -10    8  0  0  0  0  17    .0
TBL  G 30  MARK FITZPATRICK    46   0   1   1   0   16  0  0  0  0   0    .0
TBL  L 16  TROY MALLETTE        3   0   0   0   0    7  0  0  0  0   0    .0
TBL  G 35 *DEREK WILKINSON      8   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
TBL  C 25  ALAN EGELAND         8   0   0   0   0    9  0  0  0  0   4    .0
TBL  G  1 *ZAC BIERK           13   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
TBL  G 32  COREY SCHWAB        16   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
TBL  G 93  DAREN PUPPA         26   0   0   0   0    6  0  0  0  0   0    .0
TOR  C 13  MATS SUNDIN         82  33  41  74  -3   49  9  1  5  1 219  15.1
TOR  R 20 *MIKE JOHNSON        82  15  32  47  -4   24  5  0  0  1 143  10.5
TOR  L  7  DEREK KING          77  21  25  46  -7   43  4  0  3  0 166  12.7
TOR  C 22  IGOR KOROLEV        78  17  22  39 -18   22  6  3  5  0  97  17.5
TOR  D 72  MATHIEU SCHNEIDER   76  11  26  37 -12   44  4  1  1  0 181   6.1
TOR  L 19  FREDRIK MODIN       74  16  16  32  -5   32  1  0  4  0 137  11.7
TOR  R 94  SERGEI BEREZIN      68  16  15  31  -3   10  3  0  3  1 167   9.6
TOR  C 11  STEVE SULLIVAN      63  10  18  28  -8   40  1  0  1  0 112   8.9
TOR  D  3  SYLVAIN COTE        71   4  21  25  -3   42  1  0  1  0 103   3.9
TOR  L 17  WENDEL CLARK        47  12   7  19 -21   80  4  0  3  0 140   8.6
TOR  C 18 *ALYN MCCAULEY       60   6  10  16  -7    6  0  0  1  0  77   7.8
TOR  D 25  JASON SMITH         81   3  13  16  -5  100  0  0  0  0  97   3.1
TOR  R 28  TIE DOMI            80   4  10  14  -5  365  0  0  0  1  72   5.6
TOR  L  8  TODD WARRINER       45   5   8  13   5   20  0  0  1  0  73   6.8
TOR  C 14  DARBY HENDRICKSON   80   8   4  12 -20   67  0  0  0  0 115   7.0
TOR  D 36  DIMITRI YUSHKEVICH  72   0  12  12 -13   78  0  0  0  0  92    .0
TOR  R 16  LONNY BOHONOS       37   5   4   9  -8    8  0  0  0  0  50  10.0
TOR  D 55 *DANIIL MARKOV       25   2   5   7   0   28  1  0  0  0  15  13.3
TOR  D  2  ROB ZETTLER         59   0   7   7  -8  108  0  0  0  0  28    .0
TOR  L 12  KRIS KING           82   3   3   6 -13  199  0  0  2  0  53   5.7
TOR  L 21 *MARTIN PROCHAZKA    29   2   4   6  -1    8  0  0  0  0  40   5.0
TOR  D 38 *YANNICK TREMBLAY    38   2   4   6  -6    6  1  0  0  0  45   4.4
TOR  C 16  JAMIE BAKER         13   0   5   5   1   10  0  0  0  0  16    .0
TOR  D 33 *DAVID COOPER         9   0   4   4   2    8  0  0  0  0  13    .0
TOR  G 31 *MARCEL COUSINEAU     2   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
TOR  D 23 *JEFF WARE            2   0   0   0   1    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
TOR  C 42 *KEVYN ADAMS          5   0   0   0   0    7  0  0  0  0   3    .0
TOR  D 26  CRAIG WOLANIN       10   0   0   0  -9    6  0  0  0  0   5    .0
TOR  G 30  GLENN HEALY         21   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
TOR  G 29  FELIX POTVIN        67   0   0   0   0    8  0  0  0  0   0    .0
VAN  R 10  PAVEL BURE          82  51  39  90   5   48 13  6  4  1 329  15.5
VAN  C 11  MARK MESSIER        82  22  38  60 -10   58  8  2  2  0 139  15.8
VAN  R 89  ALEXANDER MOGILNY   51  18  27  45  -6   36  5  4  1  1 118  15.3
VAN  L 19  MARKUS NASLUND      76  14  20  34   5   56  2  1  0  0 106  13.2
VAN  L 27  TODD BERTUZZI       74  13  20  33 -17  121  2  1  2  0 102  12.7
VAN  D 21  JYRKI LUMME         74   9  21  30 -25   34  4  0  1  1 117   7.7
VAN  D  2 *MATTIAS OHLUND      77   7  23  30   3   76  1  0  0  0 172   4.1
VAN  D  3  BRET HEDICAN        71   3  24  27   3   79  1  0  0  1  84   3.6
VAN  R 28  BRIAN NOONAN        82  10  15  25 -19   62  1  0  2  2  87  11.5
VAN  C 20 *DAVE SCATCHARD      76  13  11  24  -4  165  0  0  1  1  85  15.3
VAN  D 23  BRYAN MCCABE        82   4  20  24  19  209  1  1  0  0 123   3.3
VAN  L  9  BRAD MAY            63  13  10  23   2  154  4  0  2  0  97  13.4
VAN  C 22  PETER ZEZEL         30   5  15  20  15    2  2  0  1  0  40  12.5
VAN  L  8  DONALD BRASHEAR     77   9   9  18  -9  372  0  0  1  1  64  14.1
VAN  R 24  SCOTT WALKER        59   3  10  13  -8  164  0  1  1  0  40   7.5
VAN  D  5  DANA MURZYN         31   5   2   7  -3   42  0  0  2  0  29  17.2
VAN  R 25  STEVE STAIOS        77   3   4   7  -3  134  0  0  1  0  45   6.7
VAN  D  6  ADRIAN AUCOIN       35   3   3   6  -4   21  1  0  1  0  44   6.8
VAN  D 48 *BERT ROBERTSSON     30   2   4   6   2   24  0  0  0  0  19  10.5
VAN  D  7  JAMIE HUSCROFT      51   0   4   4  -2  177  0  0  0  0  26    .0
VAN  D 36 *CHRIS MCALLISTER    36   1   2   3 -12  106  0  0  0  0  15   6.7
VAN  C  9 *LUBOMIR VAIC         5   1   1   2  -2    2  0  0  0  0   8  12.5
VAN  L  7  DAVID ROBERTS       13   1   1   2  -1    4  0  0  0  0  14   7.1
VAN  C 26  BRANDON CONVERY      7   0   2   2   0    0  0  0  0  0   2    .0
VAN  D 34 *JASON STRUDWICK     28   0   2   2  -2   65  0  0  0  0   8    .0
VAN  G 31  COREY HIRSCH         1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
VAN  D 27  MARK WOTTON          5   0   0   0  -2    6  0  0  0  0   3    .0
VAN  L 22 *LARRY COURVILLE     11   0   0   0  -7    5  0  0  0  0   3    .0
VAN  G 32  ARTURS IRBE         41   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
VAN  G 30  GARTH SNOW          41   0   0   0   0   22  0  0  0  0   0    .0
WSH  R 12  PETER BONDRA        76  52  26  78  14   44 11  5 13  2 284  18.3
WSH  C 77  ADAM OATES          82  18  58  76   6   36  3  2  3  0 121  14.9
WSH  D  6  CALLE JOHANSSON     73  15  20  35 -11   30 10  1  1  2 163   9.2
WSH  L 22  STEVE KONOWALCHUK   80  10  24  34   9   80  2  0  2  0 131   7.6
WSH  C 90  JOE JUNEAU          56   9  22  31  -8   26  4  1  1  0  87  10.3
WSH  D 96  PHIL HOUSLEY        64   6  25  31 -10   24  4  1  0  0 116   5.2
WSH  D 28  JEFF BROWN          60   4  24  28   5   32  4  0  0  0 102   3.9
WSH  L 44 *RICHARD ZEDNIK      65  17   9  26  -2   28  2  0  2  0 148  11.5
WSH  C 32  DALE HUNTER         82   8  18  26   1  103  0  0  1  0  82   9.8
WSH  L 18  ANDREW BRUNETTE     28  11  12  23   2   12  4  0  2  2  42  26.2
WSH  D 55  SERGEI GONCHAR      72   5  16  21   2   66  2  0  0  0 134   3.7
WSH  L 11  ESA TIKKANEN        48   3  18  21 -11   18  1  0  2  0  67   4.5
WSH  D 24  MARK TINORDI        47   8   9  17   9   39  0  1  0  0  57  14.0
WSH  L 17  CHRIS SIMON         28   7  10  17  -1   38  4  0  1  0  71   9.9
WSH  C 13  ANDREI NIKOLISHIN   38   6  10  16   1   14  1  0  1  0  40  15.0
WSH  C  8 *JAN BULIS           48   5  11  16  -5   18  0  0  0  1  37  13.5
WSH  L 27  CRAIG BERUBE        74   6   9  15  -3  189  0  0  0  0  68   8.8
WSH  L 10  KELLY MILLER        76   7   7  14  -2   41  0  3  3  1  68  10.3
WSH  L  9  TODD KRYGIER        45   2  12  14  -3   30  0  0  1  0  71   2.8
WSH  L 21  JEFF TOMS           46   4   6  10 -17   15  0  0  1  0  69   5.8
WSH  D 29  JOE REEKIE          68   2   8  10  15   70  0  0  1  0  59   3.4
WSH  L 23  BRIAN BELLOWS       11   6   3   9  -3    6  5  0  2  0  26  23.1
WSH  C 20  MICHAL PIVONKA      33   3   6   9   5   20  0  0  1  0  38   7.9
WSH  D 19  BRENDAN WITT        64   1   7   8 -11  112  0  0  0  0  68   1.5
WSH  D  2  KEN KLEE            51   4   2   6  -3   46  0  0  1  0  44   9.1
WSH  L 34 *JAROSLAV SVEJKOVSKY 17   4   1   5  -5   10  2  0  1  0  29  13.8
WSH  L 36  MIKE EAGLES         36   1   3   4  -2   16  0  0  0  0  25   4.0
WSH  C 28 *JAN BENDA            9   0   3   3   1    6  0  0  0  0   8    .0
WSH  D 38 *NOLAN BAUMGARTNER    4   0   1   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   4    .0
WSH  C 48 *BENOIT GRATTON       6   0   1   1   1    6  0  0  0  0   5    .0
WSH  G 30  BILL RANFORD        22   0   1   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
WSH  G 37  OLAF KOLZIG         64   0   1   1   0   12  0  0  0  0   0    .0
WSH  C 14  PAT PEAKE            1   0   0   0   0    4  0  0  0  0   0    .0
WSH  L 25 *BRAD CHURCH          2   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   4    .0
WSH  L 42 *DWAYNE HAY           2   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   1    .0
WSH  C 26 *RYAN MULHERN         3   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
WSH  D 43  DAVID HARLOCK        6   0   0   0   2    4  0  0  0  0   2    .0
WSH  D  4  STEWART MALGUNAS     8   0   0   0   1   12  0  0  0  0   5    .0
 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
FINAL 1997-98 GOALIE STATS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
TM  NO  GOALTENDER       GPI MINS   AVG  W  L  T EN SO  GA   SA  SPCT G  A PIM
--- --  ---------------- --- ---- ----- -- -- -- -- -- --- ---- ----- - -- ---
ANA 67 *TOM ASKEY          7  273  2.64  0  1  2  2  0  12  113  .894 0  0   0
ANA 31  GUY HEBERT        46 2660  2.93 13 24  6  4  3 130 1339  .903 0  1   4
ANA 35  M. SHTALENKOV     40 2049  3.22 13 18  5  3  1 110 1031  .893 0  1   0
BOS 35  ROBBIE TALLAS     14  788  1.83  6  3  3  0  1  24  326  .926 0  0   0
BOS 34  BYRON DAFOE       65 3693  2.24 30 25  9  8  6 138 1602  .914 0  3   2
BOS 30  JIM CAREY         10  496  2.90  3  2  1  0  2  24  225  .893 0  0   0
BUF 39  DOMINIK HASEK     72 4220  2.09 33 23 13  3 13 147 2149  .932 0  2  12
BUF 31 *STEVE SHIELDS     16  785  2.83  3  6  4  0  0  37  408  .909 0  0  17
CGY 31  RICK TABARACCI    42 2419  2.88 13 22  6  2  0 116 1087  .893 0  1  14
CGY 30  DWAYNE ROLOSON    39 2205  2.99 11 16  8  4  0 110  997  .890 0  4  10
CGY  1 *TYLER MOSS         6  367  3.27  2  3  1  0  0  20  186  .892 0  0   0
CAR 37  TREVOR KIDD       47 2685  2.17 21 21  3  6  3  97 1238  .922 0  0   2
CAR 33  SEAN BURKE        25 1415  2.80  7 11  5  2  1  66  655  .899 0  1   6
CAR 39  PAT JABLONSKI      5  279  3.01  1  4  0  1  0  14  115  .878 0  0   0
CAR  1  KIRK MCLEAN        8  401  3.29  4  2  0  1  0  22  180  .878 0  1   0
CAR 30 *MICHAEL FOUNTAIN   3  163  3.68  0  3  0  0  0  10   68  .853 0  0   2
CHI 31  JEFF HACKETT      58 3441  2.20 21 25 11  3  8 126 1520  .917 0  0   8
CHI 40  CHRIS TERRERI     21 1222  2.41  8 10  2  4  2  49  519  .906 0  1   2
CHI 29  ANDREI TREFILOV    6  299  3.41  1  4  0  0  0  17  145  .883 0  0   0
COL  1  CRAIG BILLINGTON  23 1162  2.32  8  7  4  2  1  45  588  .923 0  0   2
COL 33  PATRICK ROY       65 3835  2.39 31 19 13  5  4 153 1825  .916 0  3  39
DAL 30 *EMMANUEL FERNANDE  2   69  1.74  1  0  0  0  0   2   35  .943 0  0   0
DAL 20  ED BELFOUR        61 3581  1.88 37 12 10  1  9 112 1335  .916 0  0  18
DAL  1  ROMAN TUREK       23 1324  2.22 11 10  1  3  1  49  496  .901 0  0   2
DET 34 *NORM MARACLE       4  178  2.02  2  0  1  0  0   6   63  .905 0  0   0
DET 30  CHRIS OSGOOD      64 3807  2.21 33 20 11  5  6 140 1605  .913 0  0  31
DET 31 *KEVIN HODSON      21  988  2.67  9  3  3  1  2  44  444  .901 0  0   2
EDM 30  BOB ESSENSA       16  825  2.55  6  6  1  2  0  35  404  .913 0  0   0
EDM 31  CURTIS JOSEPH     71 4132  2.63 29 31  9  6  8 181 1901  .905 0  2   4
FLA 34  J. VANBIESBROUCK  60 3451  2.87 18 29 11  4  4 165 1638  .899 0  3   6
FLA 30  MARK FITZPATRICK  12  640  3.00  2  7  2  0  1  32  265  .879 0  0   2
FLA  1  KIRK MCLEAN        7  406  3.25  4  2  1  0  0  22  207  .894 0  0   0
FLA  1 *KEVIN WEEKES      11  485  3.96  0  5  1  1  0  32  247  .870 0  0   0
LAK  1 *JAMIE STORR       17  920  2.22  9  5  1  0  2  34  482  .929 0  0   0
LAK 35  STEPHANE FISET    60 3497  2.71 26 25  8  4  2 158 1728  .909 0  1   8
LAK 31  FREDERIC CHABOT   12  554  3.14  3  3  2  0  0  29  267  .891 0  0   0
MTL 41  JOCELYN THIBAULT  47 2652  2.47 19 15  8  1  2 109 1109  .902 0  2   0
MTL 35  ANDY MOOG         42 2337  2.49 18 17  5  1  3  97 1024  .905 0  0   4
NJD 30  MARTIN BRODEUR    70 4128  1.89 43 17  8  4 10 130 1569  .917 0  3  10
NJD 35  RICH SHULMISTRA    1   62  1.94  0  1  0  0  0   2   30  .933 0  0   0
NJD  1  MIKE DUNHAM       15  773  2.25  5  5  3  0  1  29  332  .913 0  1   0
NJD 31  PETER SIDORKIEWIC  1   20  3.00  0  0  0  0  0   1    8  .875 0  0   0
NYI 30  WADE FLAHERTY     16  694  1.99  4  4  3  0  3  23  309  .926 0  1   0
NYI 35  TOMMY SALO        62 3461  2.64 23 29  5  9  4 152 1617  .906 0  1  31
NYI  1  ERIC FICHAUD      17  807  2.97  3  8  3  1  0  40  422  .905 0  0   0
NYR 34 *DAN CLOUTIER      12  551  2.50  4  5  1  0  0  23  248  .907 0  0  19
NYR 35  MIKE RICHTER      72 4143  2.66 21 31 15  6  0 184 1888  .903 0  1   2
NYR 30  JASON MUZZATTI     6  313  3.26  0  3  2  1  0  17  156  .891 0  0  10
OTW 31  RON TUGNUTT       42 2236  2.25 15 14  8  6  3  84  882  .905 0  0   0
OTW  1  DAMIAN RHODES     50 2743  2.34 19 19  7  3  5 107 1148  .907 0  1   0
PHI 27  RON HEXTALL       46 2688  2.17 21 17  7  2  4  97 1089  .911 0  0  10
PHI 30  GARTH SNOW        29 1651  2.43 14  9  4  0  1  67  682  .902 0  0  18
PHI 33  SEAN BURKE        11  632  2.56  7  3  0  0  1  27  311  .913 0  0   0
PHO 28  JIM WAITE         17  793  2.12  5  6  1  1  1  28  322  .913 0  0   2
PHO 35  N. KHABIBULIN     70 4026  2.74 30 28 10  4  4 184 1835  .900 0  2  22
PHO 31 *SCOTT LANGKOW      3  137  4.38  0  1  1  0  0  10   60  .833 0  0   0
PIT  1 *PETER SKUDRA      17  851  1.83  6  4  3  2  0  26  341  .924 0  1   2
PIT 35  TOM BARRASSO      63 3542  2.07 31 14 13  8  7 122 1556  .922 0  2  14
PIT 31  KEN WREGGET       15  611  2.75  3  6  2  2  0  28  293  .904 0  0   6
SJS 29  MIKE VERNON       62 3564  2.46 30 22  8  2  5 146 1401  .896 0  2  24
SJS 32  KELLY HRUDEY      28 1360  2.74  4 16  2  4  1  62  600  .897 0  0   2
SJS 30  JASON MUZZATTI     1   27  4.44  0  0  0  0  0   2   13  .846 0  0   0
STL 30 *RICH PARENT        1   12   .00  0  0  0  0  0   0    1 1.000 0  0   0
STL 29  JAMIE MCLENNAN    30 1658  2.17 16  8  2  1  2  60  618  .903 0  0   4
STL 31  GRANT FUHR        58 3274  2.53 29 21  6  5  3 138 1354  .898 0  2   6
TBL 93  DAREN PUPPA       26 1456  2.72  5 14  6  6  0  66  660  .900 0  0   6
TBL 32  COREY SCHWAB      16  821  2.92  2  9  1  2  1  40  370  .892 0  0   2
TBL 30  MARK FITZPATRICK  34 1938  3.16  7 24  1  5  1 102  975  .895 0  1  14
TBL 35 *DEREK WILKINSON    8  311  3.28  2  4  1  1  0  17  148  .885 0  0   0
TBL  1 *ZAC BIERK         13  433  4.16  1  4  1  0  0  30  210  .857 0  0   0
TOR 31 *MARCEL COUSINEAU   2   17   .00  0  0  0  0  0   0    9 1.000 0  0   0
TOR 29  FELIX POTVIN      67 3864  2.73 26 33  7  4  5 176 1882  .906 0  0   8
TOR 30  GLENN HEALY       21 1068  2.98  4 10  2  4  0  53  453  .883 0  0   0
VAN 32  ARTURS IRBE       41 1999  2.73 14 11  6  3  2  91  982  .907 0  0   2
VAN 30  GARTH SNOW        12  504  3.10  3  6  0  0  0  26  262  .901 0  0   4
VAN 33  SEAN BURKE        16  838  3.51  2  9  4  1  0  49  396  .876 0  1  14
VAN  1  KIRK MCLEAN       29 1583  3.68  6 17  4  1  1  97  800  .879 0  0   0
VAN 31  COREY HIRSCH       1   50  6.00  0  0  0  0  0   5   34  .853 0  0   0
WSH 37  OLAF KOLZIG       64 3788  2.20 33 18 10  5  5 139 1729  .920 0  1  12
WSH 30  BILL RANFORD      22 1183  2.79  7 12  2  3  0  55  555  .901 0  1   0
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Final 1997-98 Playoff Stats - Players
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
TEAM P NO  PLAYER              GP   G   A PTS +/-  PIM PP SH GW GT   S  PCTG
---- - --  ------------------- -- --- --- --- --- ---- -- -- -- -- --- -----
BOS  C 41  JASON ALLISON        6   2   6   8   0    4  1  0  0  0  13  15.4
BOS  L 14 *SERGEI SAMSONOV      6   2   5   7   1    0  0  0  1  0  18  11.1
BOS  D 77  RAY BOURQUE          6   1   4   5  -2    2  1  0  0  0  42   2.4
BOS  R 12  DMITRI KHRISTICH     6   2   2   4   1    2  2  0  0  0  15  13.3
BOS  D 20  DARREN VAN IMPE      6   2   1   3   0    0  1  0  1  1  19  10.5
BOS  C 33  ANSON CARTER         6   1   1   2  -3    0  0  0  0  0  19   5.3
BOS  L 19  ROB DIMAIO           6   1   0   1  -3    8  0  0  0  0  14   7.1
BOS  D 18  KYLE MCLAREN         6   1   0   1  -3    4  1  0  0  0  21   4.8
BOS  R 11 *PER AXELSSON         6   1   0   1  -3    0  0  0  0  0  13   7.7
BOS  D 44  DAVE ELLETT          6   0   1   1  -1    6  0  0  0  0  11    .0
BOS  L 42  MIKE SULLIVAN        6   0   1   1   0    2  0  0  0  0  10    .0
BOS  R 27  LANDON WILSON        1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
BOS  L 21  TED DONATO           5   0   0   0  -3    2  0  0  0  0   3    .0
BOS  L 22  KEN BAUMGARTNER      6   0   0   0   0   14  0  0  0  0   1    .0
BOS  D 36  GRANT LEDYARD        6   0   0   0  -3    2  0  0  0  0   8    .0
BOS  G 34  BYRON DAFOE          6   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
BOS  R 23  STEVE HEINZE         6   0   0   0  -4    6  0  0  0  0  15    .0
BOS  C 26  TIM TAYLOR           6   0   0   0  -2   10  0  0  0  0  10    .0
BOS  D 25 *HAL GILL             6   0   0   0  -1    4  0  0  0  0   3    .0
BOS  C  6 *JOE THORNTON         6   0   0   0   0    9  0  0  0  0   3    .0
BUF  R 36  MATTHEW BARNABY     15   7   6  13   6   22  3  0  1  0  25  28.0
BUF  R 28  DONALD AUDETTE      15   5   8  13  -4   10  3  0  2  0  31  16.1
BUF  C 19  BRIAN HOLZINGER     15   4   7  11  -2   18  1  1  0  0  24  16.7
BUF  R 15  DIXON WARD          15   3   8  11   8    6  0  0  0  0  29  10.3
BUF  D  5  JASON WOOLLEY       15   2   9  11   8   12  1  0  1  0  32   6.3
BUF  L 18  MICHAL GROSEK       15   6   4  10   5   28  2  0  3  1  40  15.0
BUF  L 81  MIROSLAV SATAN      14   5   4   9  -9    4  4  0  1  0  20  25.0
BUF  R 25 *VACLAV VARADA       15   3   4   7   3   18  0  0  0  0  24  12.5
BUF  D  8  DARRYL SHANNON      15   2   4   6   0    8  0  1  0  0  15  13.3
BUF  C 27  MICHAEL PECA        13   3   2   5   4    8  0  0  1  1  24  12.5
BUF  L 80  GEOFF SANDERSON     14   3   1   4   0    4  1  0  1  1  25  12.0
BUF  C 22  WAYNE PRIMEAU       14   1   3   4  -1    6  0  0  0  0  10  10.0
BUF  D  6  BOB BOUGHNER        14   0   4   4   9   15  0  0  0  0   7    .0
BUF  L 37  CURTIS BROWN        13   1   2   3   6   10  1  0  0  0  23   4.3
BUF  C 26  DEREK PLANTE        11   0   3   3   1   10  0  0  0  0  13    .0
BUF  D 44  ALEXEI ZHITNIK      15   0   3   3   1   36  0  0  0  0  24    .0
BUF  D 42  RICHARD SMEHLIK     15   0   2   2   3    6  0  0  0  0  12    .0
BUF  L 24  PAUL KRUSE           1   1   0   1   1    4  0  0  0  0   2  50.0
BUF  D  4  MIKE WILSON         15   0   1   1  -4   13  0  0  0  0  16    .0
BUF  D 74  JAY MCKEE            1   0   0   0  -1    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
BUF  R 32  ROB RAY             10   0   0   0  -2   24  0  0  0  0   2    .0
BUF  G 39  DOMINIK HASEK       15   0   0   0   0    4  0  0  0  0   0    .0
COL  C 21  PETER FORSBERG       7   6   5  11   3   12  2  0  0  0  18  33.3
COL  D  8  SANDIS OZOLINSH      7   0   7   7  -3   14  0  0  0  0  19    .0
COL  R 22  CLAUDE LEMIEUX       7   3   3   6   2    8  1  0  1  0  29  10.3
COL  C 19  JOE SAKIC            6   2   3   5   0    6  0  1  2  1  24   8.3
COL  L 13  VALERI KAMENSKY      7   2   3   5   1   18  1  0  0  0  17  11.8
COL  R 18  ADAM DEADMARSH       7   2   0   2  -1    4  1  0  0  0  14  14.3
COL  C 26  STEPHANE YELLE       7   1   0   1  -3   12  0  0  0  0   7  14.3
COL  R 14  TOM FITZGERALD       7   0   1   1  -2   20  0  0  0  0   8    .0
COL  D  5  ALEXEI GUSAROV       7   0   1   1   1    6  0  0  0  0   3    .0
COL  D  4  UWE KRUPP            7   0   1   1   2    4  0  0  0  0  18    .0
COL  G 33  PATRICK ROY          7   0   1   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
COL  G  1  CRAIG BILLINGTON     1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
COL  L 20  RENE CORBET          2   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   5    .0
COL  C 17  JARI KURRI           4   0   0   0  -1    0  0  0  0  0   2    .0
COL  D 24  JON KLEMM            4   0   0   0   1    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
COL  L 10  WARREN RYCHEL        6   0   0   0  -2   24  0  0  0  0   4    .0
COL  R 16  JEFF ODGERS          6   0   0   0  -1   25  0  0  0  0   4    .0
COL  D  2  SYLVAIN LEFEBVRE     7   0   0   0  -1    4  0  0  0  0   4    .0
COL  D 52  ADAM FOOTE           7   0   0   0  -1   23  0  0  0  0  12    .0
COL  R 11  KEITH JONES          7   0   0   0  -1   13  0  0  0  0  12    .0
COL  L 28  ERIC LACROIX         7   0   0   0  -2    6  0  0  0  0   5    .0
COL  D  3  AARON MILLER         7   0   0   0   0    8  0  0  0  0   6    .0
DAL  C  9  MIKE MODANO         17   4  10  14   4   12  1  0  1  0  49   8.2
DAL  D 56  SERGEI ZUBOV        17   4   5   9   3    2  3  0  1  0  34  11.8
DAL  R 12  MIKE KEANE          17   4   4   8   7    0  0  1  1  1  23  17.4
DAL  R 26  JERE LEHTINEN       12   3   5   8   0    2  1  0  0  0  31   9.7
DAL  L 33  BENOIT HOGUE        17   4   2   6   0   16  1  0  2  1  23  17.4
DAL  D  2  DERIAN HATCHER      17   3   3   6  -1   39  2  0  0  0  22  13.6
DAL  R 16  PAT VERBEEK         17   3   2   5  -3   26  2  0  1  0  25  12.0
DAL  L 15  JAMIE LANGENBRUNNER 16   1   4   5  -5   14  0  0  1  1  35   2.9
DAL  D  5  DARRYL SYDOR        17   0   5   5   5   14  0  0  0  0  38    .0
DAL  C 21  GUY CARBONNEAU      16   3   1   4   0    6  0  0  0  0  19  15.8
DAL  L 23  GREG ADAMS          12   2   2   4   4    0  0  0  2  0  14  14.3
DAL  L 11 *JUHA LIND           15   2   2   4   4    8  0  0  1  0  15  13.3
DAL  L 14  DAVE REID            5   0   3   3  -2    2  0  0  0  0   8    .0
DAL  D 27  SHAWN CHAMBERS      14   0   3   3   5   20  0  0  0  0  16    .0
DAL  D 24  RICHARD MATVICHUK   16   1   1   2   2   14  0  0  0  0  20   5.0
DAL  R 29  GRANT MARSHALL      17   0   2   2   0   47  0  0  0  0   8    .0
DAL  C 25  JOE NIEUWENDYK       1   1   0   1   1    0  0  0  0  0   1 100.0
DAL  C 28  BOB BASSEN          17   1   0   1  -3   12  0  0  0  0  13   7.7
DAL  D  3  CRAIG LUDWIG        17   0   1   1   0   22  0  0  0  0  10    .0
DAL  C 10  BRIAN SKRUDLAND     17   0   1   1   0   16  0  0  0  0  14    .0
DAL  G 30 *EMMANUEL FERNANDEZ   1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
DAL  D  6  DAN KECZMER          2   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   2    .0
DAL  D 22  CRAIG MUNI           5   0   0   0  -2    4  0  0  0  0   1    .0
DAL  L 46 *JAMIE WRIGHT         5   0   0   0   3    0  0  0  0  0   6    .0
DAL  G 20  ED BELFOUR          17   0   0   0   0   18  0  0  0  0   0    .0
DET  C 19  STEVE YZERMAN       22   6  18  24  10   22  3  1  0  0  65   9.2
DET  C 91  SERGEI FEDOROV      22  10  10  20   0   12  2  1  1  0  86  11.6
DET  L 96  TOMAS HOLMSTROM     22   7  12  19   9   16  2  0  0  0  27  25.9
DET  D  5  NICKLAS LIDSTROM    22   6  13  19  12    8  2  0  2  0  59  10.2
DET  R 20  MARTIN LAPOINTE     21   9   6  15   6   20  2  1  1  0  55  16.4
DET  D 55  LARRY MURPHY        22   3  12  15  12    2  1  2  1  0  36   8.3
DET  L 13  VYACHESLAV KOZLOV   22   6   8  14   4   10  1  0  4  0  47  12.8
DET  C  8  IGOR LARIONOV       22   3  10  13   5   12  0  0  0  0  27  11.1
DET  R 25  DARREN MCCARTY      22   3   8  11   9   34  0  0  1  0  46   6.5
DET  L 14  BRENDAN SHANAHAN    20   5   4   9   5   22  3  0  2  1  60   8.3
DET  R 17  DOUG BROWN           9   4   2   6  -1    0  3  0  1  0  19  21.1
DET  D 44 *ANDERS ERIKSSON     18   0   5   5   7   16  0  0  0  0  17    .0
DET  R 26  JOEY KOCUR          18   4   0   4  -3   30  0  0  0  0  13  30.8
DET  L 18  KIRK MALTBY         22   3   1   4   2   30  0  1  0  0  31   9.7
DET  D 34  JAMIE MACOUN        22   2   2   4   3   18  0  0  2  0  21   9.5
DET  C 33  KRIS DRAPER         19   1   3   4   4   12  0  0  1  1  20   5.0
DET  C 41  BRENT GILCHRIST     15   2   1   3   2   12  0  0  0  0  17  11.8
DET  D 15  DMITRI MIRONOV       7   0   3   3   1   14  0  0  0  0  15    .0
DET  D  2  VIACHESLAV FETISOV  21   0   3   3   4   10  0  0  0  0  14    .0
DET  D  3  BOB ROUSE           22   0   3   3   2   16  0  0  0  0  22    .0
DET  R 11  MATHIEU DANDENAULT   3   1   0   1  -2    0  1  0  0  0   4  25.0
DET  R 22 *MICHAEL KNUBLE       3   0   1   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
DET  G 30  CHRIS OSGOOD        22   0   1   1   0   12  0  0  0  0   0    .0
DET  G 31 *KEVIN HODSON         1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
EDM  C 39  DOUG WEIGHT         12   2   7   9  -4   14  2  0  1  0  26   7.7
EDM  R  9  BILL GUERIN         12   7   1   8  -6   17  4  0  0  0  47  14.9
EDM  D  2  BORIS MIRONOV       12   3   3   6  -3   27  1  0  1  0  26  11.5
EDM  D 22  ROMAN HAMRLIK       12   0   6   6  -4   12  0  0  0  0  19    .0
EDM  L 17  REM MURRAY          11   1   4   5  -1    2  0  0  0  0  15   6.7
EDM  L 37  DEAN MCAMMOND       12   1   4   5   0   12  0  0  0  0  22   4.5
EDM  R 25  MIKE GRIER          12   2   2   4   4   13  0  0  1  0  14  14.3
EDM  L 94  RYAN SMYTH          12   1   3   4  -2   16  1  0  0  0  24   4.2
EDM  L 21  VALERI ZELEPUKIN     8   1   2   3   3    2  0  0  0  0   8  12.5
EDM  D 15  DRAKE BEREHOWSKY    12   1   2   3   1   14  0  0  1  0   4  25.0
EDM  R 16  KELLY BUCHBERGER    12   1   2   3   0   25  0  0  0  0  13   7.7
EDM  C 20  TONY HRKAC          12   0   3   3   2    2  0  0  0  0  11    .0
EDM  C 18 *SCOTT FRASER        11   1   1   2   0    0  0  0  0  0  17   5.9
EDM  D 24  JANNE NIINIMAA      11   1   1   2   3   12  0  0  1  0  20   5.0
EDM  C 14  MATS LINDGREN       12   1   1   2   0   10  0  0  0  0  16   6.3
EDM  L 26  TODD MARCHANT       12   1   1   2   0   10  0  0  0  0  17   5.9
EDM  G 30  BOB ESSENSA          1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
EDM  D  4  KEVIN LOWE           1   0   0   0   0    4  0  0  0  0   0    .0
EDM  L 51  ANDREI KOVALENKO     1   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   2    .0
EDM  L 28  BILL HUARD           4   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   3    .0
EDM  D  8  FRANK MUSIL          7   0   0   0   1    6  0  0  0  0   0    .0
EDM  D  5  GREG DE VRIES        7   0   0   0  -4   21  0  0  0  0   2    .0
EDM  D  6  BOBBY DOLLAS        11   0   0   0   2   16  0  0  0  0  10    .0
EDM  G 31  CURTIS JOSEPH       12   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
LAK  L 20  LUC ROBITAILLE       4   1   2   3   1    6  0  0  0  0  13   7.7
LAK  C 15  JOZEF STUMPEL        4   1   2   3   2    2  0  0  0  0   7  14.3
LAK  C 44  YANIC PERREAULT      4   1   2   3  -1    6  1  0  0  0   7  14.3
LAK  D  5  AKI BERG             4   0   3   3   3    0  0  0  0  0   7    .0
LAK  R 27  GLEN MURRAY          4   2   0   2   2    6  0  0  0  0  13  15.4
LAK  L 23  CRAIG JOHNSON        4   1   0   1   0    4  0  0  0  0   3  33.3
LAK  D  6  SEAN O'DONNELL       4   1   0   1   1   36  0  0  0  0   7  14.3
LAK  C 22  IAN LAPERRIERE       4   1   0   1   0    6  0  0  0  0   6  16.7
LAK  D 33  JAN VOPAT            2   0   1   1   1    2  0  0  0  0   1    .0
LAK  C 26  RAY FERRARO          3   0   1   1   1    2  0  0  0  0   5    .0
LAK  L  7 *STEVE MCKENNA        3   0   1   1   1    8  0  0  0  0   3    .0
LAK  D  3  GARRY GALLEY         4   0   1   1  -2    2  0  0  0  0   6    .0
LAK  L  9  VLADIMIR TSYPLAKOV   4   0   1   1  -1    8  0  0  0  0   4    .0
LAK  G 35  STEPHANE FISET       2   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
LAK  L 42  DAN BYLSMA           2   0   0   0  -3    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
LAK  D  2  DOUG ZMOLEK          2   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
LAK  G  1 *JAMIE STORR          3   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
LAK  D  4  ROB BLAKE            4   0   0   0  -4    6  0  0  0  0  15    .0
LAK  R 19  RUSS COURTNALL       4   0   0   0  -2    2  0  0  0  0   7    .0
LAK  C 24  NATHAN LAFAYETTE     4   0   0   0  -2    2  0  0  0  0   4    .0
LAK  D 14  MATTIAS NORSTROM     4   0   0   0  -1    2  0  0  0  0   3    .0
LAK  L 17  MATT JOHNSON         4   0   0   0  -1    6  0  0  0  0   0    .0
MTL  R  8  MARK RECCHI         10   4   8  12   2    6  0  0  2  0  22  18.2
MTL  L 27  SHAYNE CORSON       10   3   6   9   3   26  1  0  1  0  33   9.1
MTL  C 25  VINCENT DAMPHOUSSE  10   3   6   9  -4   22  1  0  0  0  42   7.1
MTL  D 38  VLADIMIR MALAKHOV    9   3   4   7  -3   10  2  0  0  0  19  15.8
MTL  R 23  TURNER STEVENSON    10   3   4   7   1   12  0  0  0  0  21  14.3
MTL  C 11  SAKU KOIVU           6   2   3   5   4    2  1  0  0  0  14  14.3
MTL  D 55  IGOR ULANOV         10   1   4   5   3   12  0  0  0  0   6  16.7
MTL  L 26  MARTIN RUCINSKY     10   3   0   3  -2    4  1  0  0  0  35   8.6
MTL  C 28  MARC BUREAU         10   1   2   3  -1    6  0  0  0  0  16   6.3
MTL  L 44  JONAS HOGLUND       10   2   0   2  -1    0  0  0  0  0   7  28.6
MTL  D 34  PETER POPOVIC       10   1   1   2   2    2  0  0  0  0   3  33.3
MTL  D  5  STEPHANE QUINTAL     9   0   2   2   2    4  0  0  0  0  12    .0
MTL  C 24  SCOTT THORNTON       9   0   2   2   0   10  0  0  0  0  13    .0
MTL  L 49  BRIAN SAVAGE         9   0   2   2  -2    6  0  0  0  0  24    .0
MTL  L 17  BENOIT BRUNET        8   1   0   1   1    4  0  0  1  1   5  20.0
MTL  D 43  PATRICE BRISEBOIS   10   1   0   1  -5    0  0  0  0  0  26   3.8
MTL  G 41  JOCELYN THIBAULT     2   0   1   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
MTL  D  3  ZARLEY ZALAPSKI      6   0   1   1  -3    4  0  0  0  0   0    .0
MTL  D 22  DAVE MANSON         10   0   1   1   0   14  0  0  0  0  25    .0
MTL  R 21  MICK VUKOTA          1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
MTL  L 37  PATRICK POULIN       3   0   0   0  -1    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
MTL  G 60 *JOSE THEODORE        3   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
MTL  D 52  CRAIG RIVET          5   0   0   0  -2    2  0  0  0  0   5    .0
MTL  C 71  SEBASTIEN BORDELEAU  5   0   0   0  -1    2  0  0  0  0   1    .0
MTL  G 35  ANDY MOOG            9   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NJD  C 93  DOUG GILMOUR         6   5   2   7   4    4  1  0  1  0  12  41.7
NJD  R 32  STEVE THOMAS         6   0   3   3   1    2  0  0  0  0  12    .0
NJD  D 24  LYLE ODELEIN         6   1   1   2   2   21  1  0  1  0   7  14.3
NJD  C 10  DENIS PEDERSON       6   1   1   2   0    2  0  1  0  0   8  12.5
NJD  L 20  JAY PANDOLFO         3   0   2   2   0    0  0  0  0  0   1    .0
NJD  C 25  JASON ARNOTT         5   0   2   2   1    0  0  0  0  0   6    .0
NJD  D 27  SCOTT NIEDERMAYER    6   0   2   2   0    4  0  0  0  0  15    .0
NJD  D 28  KEVIN DEAN           5   1   0   1  -1    2  0  0  0  0   4  25.0
NJD  L 23  DAVE ANDREYCHUK      6   1   0   1  -2    4  1  0  0  0  17   5.9
NJD  C 19  BOB CARPENTER        6   1   0   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   3  33.3
NJD  D  4  SCOTT STEVENS        6   1   0   1   4    8  0  0  0  0  11   9.1
NJD  L 14  BRIAN ROLSTON        6   1   0   1   2    2  0  1  0  0  14   7.1
NJD  C  9 *BRENDAN MORRISON     3   0   1   1  -1    0  0  0  0  0   4    .0
NJD  D  2 *SHELDON SOURAY       3   0   1   1   0    2  0  0  0  0   1    .0
NJD  L 26 *PATRIK ELIAS         4   0   1   1  -2    0  0  0  0  0   9    .0
NJD  D  3  KEN DANEYKO          6   0   1   1   0   10  0  0  0  0   7    .0
NJD  R 21  RANDY MCKAY          6   0   1   1  -1    0  0  0  0  0   7    .0
NJD  G 30  MARTIN BRODEUR       6   0   1   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NJD  L 22  SCOTT DANIELS        1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
NJD  C 17  PETR SYKORA          2   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   5    .0
NJD  D  5  DOUG BODGER          5   0   0   0  -5    0  0  0  0  0   8    .0
NJD  C 16  BOBBY HOLIK          5   0   0   0  -4    8  0  0  0  0  18    .0
NJD  L 29 *KRZYSZTOF OLIWA      6   0   0   0   0   23  0  0  0  0   5    .0
OTW  R 11  DANIEL ALFREDSSON   11   7   2   9  -4   20  2  1  1  0  36  19.4
OTW  C 19  ALEXEI YASHIN       11   5   3   8  -6    8  3  0  2  1  42  11.9
OTW  D 29  IGOR KRAVCHUK       11   2   3   5  -2    4  0  0  0  0  24   8.3
OTW  D 27  JANNE LAUKKANEN     11   2   2   4  -3    8  1  0  1  0  14  14.3
OTW  C 25  BRUCE GARDINER      11   1   3   4  -2    2  0  0  1  1  21   4.8
OTW  L 15  SHAWN MCEACHERN     11   0   4   4  -6    8  0  0  0  0  27    .0
OTW  D 33  JASON YORK           7   1   1   2  -2    7  1  0  0  0  13   7.7
OTW  R 10  ANDREAS DACKELL     11   1   1   2  -4    2  1  0  0  0  14   7.1
OTW  D  6  WADE REDDEN          9   0   2   2  -5    2  0  0  0  0  11    .0
OTW  C 16  SERGEI ZHOLTOK      11   0   2   2  -1    0  0  0  0  0  23    .0
OTW  D  4 *CHRIS PHILLIPS      11   0   2   2  -2    2  0  0  0  0  24    .0
OTW  R 17  CHRIS MURRAY        11   1   0   1  -2    8  0  0  0  0  12   8.3
OTW  L  7  RANDY CUNNEYWORTH    6   0   1   1   0    6  0  0  0  0   2    .0
OTW  C 22  SHAUN VAN ALLEN     11   0   1   1  -3   10  0  0  0  0  16    .0
OTW  D  2  LANCE PITLICK       11   0   1   1  -3   17  0  0  0  0   6    .0
OTW  L 20 *MAGNUS ARVEDSON     11   0   1   1  -6    6  0  0  0  0  21    .0
OTW  R 12  PAT FALLOON          1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   2    .0
OTW  D  3  PER GUSTAFSSON       1   0   0   0  -2    0  0  0  0  0   3    .0
OTW  G 31  RON TUGNUTT          2   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
OTW  C 14  RADEK BONK           5   0   0   0  -3    2  0  0  0  0   6    .0
OTW  C 13 *VACLAV PROSPAL       6   0   0   0  -2    0  0  0  0  0   7    .0
OTW  D 24  STANISLAV NECKAR     9   0   0   0  -4    2  0  0  0  0   4    .0
OTW  G  1  DAMIAN RHODES       10   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
OTW  L 28  DENNY LAMBERT       11   0   0   0   2   19  0  0  0  0   5    .0
PHI  L 17  ROD BRIND'AMOUR      5   2   2   4   2    7  0  0  0  0  15  13.3
PHI  C 88  ERIC LINDROS         5   1   2   3  -3   17  0  0  0  0  13   7.7
PHI  D  3  DANIEL MCGILLIS      5   1   2   3   0   10  1  0  0  0  14   7.1
PHI  C 55  CHRIS GRATTON        5   2   0   2  -1   10  0  0  0  0  16  12.5
PHI  L 10  JOHN LECLAIR         5   1   1   2  -4    8  1  0  1  0  19   5.3
PHI  R 19  ALEXANDRE DAIGLE     5   0   2   2   0    0  0  0  0  0   6    .0
PHI  C 11  MIKE SILLINGER       3   1   0   1   1    0  0  0  0  0   7  14.3
PHI  D 44  DAVE BABYCH          5   1   0   1   2    4  1  0  0  0  12   8.3
PHI  D 23  PETR SVOBODA         3   0   1   1  -1    4  0  0  0  0   1    .0
PHI  D 37  ERIC DESJARDINS      5   0   1   1  -3    0  0  0  0  0  17    .0
PHI  D  6  CHRIS THERIEN        5   0   1   1  -1    4  0  0  0  0  15    .0
PHI  R  9  DAINIUS ZUBRUS       5   0   1   1   2    2  0  0  0  0   6    .0
PHI  G 27  RON HEXTALL          1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHI  D 24  CHRIS JOSEPH         1   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   2    .0
PHI  D 28  KJELL SAMUELSSON     1   0   0   0   1    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHI  R 26  JOHN DRUCE           2   0   0   0  -1    2  0  0  0  0   3    .0
PHI  C 32  DANIEL LACROIX       4   0   0   0   0    4  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHI  G 33  SEAN BURKE           5   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHI  C 29  JOEL OTTO            5   0   0   0  -1    0  0  0  0  0   8    .0
PHI  D 22  LUKE RICHARDSON      5   0   0   0  -3    0  0  0  0  0   2    .0
PHI  R 20  TRENT KLATT          5   0   0   0  -6    0  0  0  0  0   6    .0
PHI  L 25  SHJON PODEIN         5   0   0   0  -1   10  0  0  0  0   5    .0
PHI  L 12 *COLIN FORBES         5   0   0   0   2    2  0  0  0  0   9    .0
PHO  R 92  RICK TOCCHET         6   6   2   8   0   25  3  0  0  0  12  50.0
PHO  C 97  JEREMY ROENICK       6   5   3   8  -1    4  2  2  2  0  20  25.0
PHO  D 10  OLEG TVERDOVSKY      6   0   7   7  -2    0  0  0  0  0   7    .0
PHO  L  7  KEITH TKACHUK        6   3   3   6  -1   10  0  0  0  0  24  12.5
PHO  C 77  CLIFF RONNING        6   1   3   4  -1    4  0  0  0  0  17   5.9
PHO  C 15  CRAIG JANNEY         6   0   3   3  -2    0  0  0  0  0   6    .0
PHO  D  2  MURRAY BARON         6   0   2   2   2    6  0  0  0  0   4    .0
PHO  D  4  GERALD DIDUCK        6   0   2   2  -4   20  0  0  0  0  14    .0
PHO  R 22  MIKE GARTNER         5   1   0   1  -2   18  1  0  0  0  11   9.1
PHO  C 21  BOB CORKUM           6   1   0   1  -3    4  0  0  0  0   3  33.3
PHO  R 19  SHANE DOAN           6   1   0   1  -2    6  0  0  0  0   7  14.3
PHO  R 11  DALLAS DRAKE         4   0   1   1  -4    2  0  0  0  0   4    .0
PHO  G 35  N. KHABIBULIN        4   0   1   1   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHO  L 34  DARRIN SHANNON       5   0   1   1  -1    4  0  0  0  0   2    .0
PHO  D 44  NORM MACIVER         6   0   1   1   0    2  0  0  0  0   6    .0
PHO  C 18  MARK JANSSENS        1   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHO  L 33  JIM MCKENZIE         1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHO  D 27  TEPPO NUMMINEN       1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHO  R 20  JIM CUMMINS          3   0   0   0   0    4  0  0  0  0   2    .0
PHO  G 28  JIM WAITE            4   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PHO  D 24  MICHEL PETIT         5   0   0   0  -1    8  0  0  0  0   4    .0
PHO  R 16 *BRAD ISBISTER        5   0   0   0  -1    2  0  0  0  0   6    .0
PHO  C 14  MIKE STAPLETON       6   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   5    .0
PHO  D  3  KEITH CARNEY         6   0   0   0  -3    4  0  0  0  0   2    .0
PIT  R 68  JAROMIR JAGR         6   4   5   9   5    2  1  0  0  0  23  17.4
PIT  C 14  STU BARNES           6   3   3   6   2    2  0  0  1  0  12  25.0
PIT  C 10  RON FRANCIS          6   1   5   6   5    2  0  0  0  0  19   5.3
PIT  D 71  JIRI SLEGR           6   0   4   4   3    2  0  0  0  0  10    .0
PIT  D 23  FREDRIK OLAUSSON     6   0   3   3   0    2  0  0  0  0  17    .0
PIT  C 20  ROBERT LANG          6   0   3   3  -4    2  0  0  0  0   6    .0
PIT  R 16  ED OLCZYK            6   2   0   2  -3    4  1  1  1  0   6  33.3
PIT  C 82  MARTIN STRAKA        6   2   0   2  -3    2  0  1  0  0  10  20.0
PIT  R 44  ROB BROWN            6   1   0   1  -4    4  1  0  0  0  10  10.0
PIT  D  4  KEVIN HATCHER        6   1   0   1   1   12  1  0  0  0  15   6.7
PIT  D  5  BRAD WERENKA         6   1   0   1  -3    8  0  1  0  0   3  33.3
PIT  D  2  CHRIS TAMER          6   0   1   1  -1    4  0  0  0  0   2    .0
PIT  C 29  TYLER WRIGHT         6   0   1   1   0    4  0  0  0  0   3    .0
PIT  R 95 *ALEXEI MOROZOV       6   0   1   1  -3    2  0  0  0  0  10    .0
PIT  C 38  ANDREAS JOHANSSON    1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PIT  D 42 *TUOMAS GRONMAN       1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PIT  C 12  SEAN PRONGER         5   0   0   0  -1    4  0  0  0  0   4    .0
PIT  D 11  DARIUS KASPARAITIS   5   0   0   0  -2    8  0  0  0  0   3    .0
PIT  G 35  TOM BARRASSO         6   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PIT  R 24  IAN MORAN            6   0   0   0  -1    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
PIT  L 33  ALEX HICKS           6   0   0   0  -5    2  0  0  0  0   6    .0
SJS  R 15  JOHN MACLEAN         6   2   3   5   1    4  1  0  0  0  18  11.1
SJS  C  9  BERNIE NICHOLLS      6   0   5   5  -2    8  0  0  0  0   6    .0
SJS  R 11  OWEN NOLAN           6   2   2   4  -1   26  2  0  1  0  16  12.5
SJS  C 18  MIKE RICCI           6   1   3   4   0    6  0  0  0  0   8  12.5
SJS  D  2  BILL HOULDER         6   1   2   3   0    2  0  0  0  0   8  12.5
SJS  L 22  MURRAY CRAVEN        6   1   1   2  -2    0  0  0  0  0   6  16.7
SJS  R 17  JOE MURPHY           6   1   1   2  -1   20  1  0  0  0  10  10.0
SJS  D 43  AL IAFRATE           6   1   0   1  -4   10  1  0  0  0  10  10.0
SJS  C 12  RON SUTTER           6   1   0   1  -1   14  0  0  0  0   7  14.3
SJS  D 40  MIKE RATHJE          6   1   0   1  -3    6  1  0  0  0   2  50.0
SJS  D 20 *ANDREI ZYUZIN        6   1   0   1  -2   14  0  0  1  1   6  16.7
SJS  L 37  STEPHANE MATTEAU     4   0   1   1   1    0  0  0  0  0   2    .0
SJS  C 14 *PATRICK MARLEAU      5   0   1   1  -1    0  0  0  0  0   2    .0
SJS  L 39  JEFF FRIESEN         6   0   1   1  -1    2  0  0  0  0   9    .0
SJS  L 21  TONY GRANATO         1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   2    .0
SJS  G 32  KELLY HRUDEY         1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
SJS  C 19 *MARCO STURM          2   0   0   0  -2    0  0  0  0  0   3    .0
SJS  L 28  SHAWN BURR           6   0   0   0  -1    8  0  0  0  0   4    .0
SJS  L 26  DAVE LOWRY           6   0   0   0   0   18  0  0  0  0   3    .0
SJS  D 27  BRYAN MARCHMENT      6   0   0   0   1   10  0  0  0  0   5    .0
SJS  G 29  MIKE VERNON          6   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
SJS  D 10  MARCUS RAGNARSSON    6   0   0   0   2    4  0  0  0  0   4    .0
STL  R 10  JIM CAMPBELL        10   7   3  10  -1   12  4  0  2  0  23  30.4
STL  L 14  GEOFF COURTNALL     10   2   8  10  -2   18  1  0  0  0  24   8.3
STL  D 44  CHRIS PRONGER       10   1   9  10  -2   26  0  0  0  0  24   4.2
STL  C 77  PIERRE TURGEON      10   4   4   8  -5    2  2  0  0  0  27  14.8
STL  D  2  AL MACINNIS          8   2   6   8   1   12  1  0  0  0  27   7.4
STL  R 16  BRETT HULL          10   3   3   6  -3    2  1  0  1  0  32   9.4
STL  L 38  PAVOL DEMITRA       10   3   3   6  -3    2  0  0  0  0  32   9.4
STL  D  5  TODD GILL           10   2   2   4  -3   10  1  1  0  0  16  12.5
STL  L 25 *PASCAL RHEAUME      10   1   3   4   0    8  1  0  0  0  10  10.0
STL  D 28  STEVE DUCHESNE      10   0   4   4  -8    6  0  0  0  0  28    .0
STL  R 27  TERRY YAKE          10   2   1   3  -3    6  2  0  1  0   6  33.3
STL  C 22  CRAIG CONROY        10   1   2   3  -1    8  0  0  1  0  17   5.9
STL  L 33  SCOTT PELLERIN      10   0   2   2   1   10  0  0  0  0  10    .0
STL  C 32  MIKE EASTWOOD        3   1   0   1  -1    0  0  0  1  0   4  25.0
STL  D  4  MARC BERGEVIN       10   0   1   1  -1    8  0  0  0  0   6    .0
STL  G 31  GRANT FUHR          10   0   1   1   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
STL  G 29  JAMIE MCLENNAN       1   0   0   0   0    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
STL  D 20  RUDY POESCHEK        2   0   0   0  -2    6  0  0  0  0   0    .0
STL  R 39  KELLY CHASE          7   0   0   0  -2   23  0  0  0  0   0    .0
STL  C  9  DARREN TURCOTTE     10   0   0   0  -4    2  0  0  0  0   5    .0
STL  R 23  BLAIR ATCHEYNUM     10   0   0   0  -2    2  0  0  0  0  13    .0
STL  D 19  CHRIS MCALPINE      10   0   0   0  -1   16  0  0  0  0   5    .0
WSH  C 90  JOE JUNEAU          21   7  10  17   6    8  1  1  4  2  54  13.0
WSH  C 77  ADAM OATES          21   6  11  17   8    8  1  1  1  0  31  19.4
WSH  C 13  ANDREI NIKOLISHIN   21   1  13  14   4   12  1  0  0  0  29   3.4
WSH  L 23  BRIAN BELLOWS       21   6   7  13   6    6  2  0  1  1  62   9.7
WSH  R 12  PETER BONDRA        17   7   5  12   4   12  3  0  2  1  48  14.6
WSH  D 55  SERGEI GONCHAR      21   7   4  11   2   30  3  1  2  0  37  18.9
WSH  L 44 *RICHARD ZEDNIK      17   7   3  10   0   16  2  0  0  0  40  17.5
WSH  D  6  CALLE JOHANSSON     21   2   8  10   9   16  0  0  0  0  42   4.8
WSH  L 11  ESA TIKKANEN        21   3   3   6  -2   20  1  0  0  0  23  13.0
WSH  D 96  PHIL HOUSLEY        18   0   4   4  -2    4  0  0  0  0  27    .0
WSH  C 32  DALE HUNTER         21   0   4   4  -1   30  0  0  0  0  14    .0
WSH  L  9  TODD KRYGIER        13   1   2   3  -2    6  0  0  1  1  12   8.3
WSH  D 29  JOE REEKIE          21   1   2   3   4   20  0  0  0  0  16   6.3
WSH  D 24  MARK TINORDI        21   1   2   3   6   42  0  0  0  0  14   7.1
WSH  C 20  MICHAL PIVONKA      13   0   3   3   5    0  0  0  0  0  16    .0
WSH  D 28  JEFF BROWN           2   0   2   2   1    0  0  0  0  0   2    .0
WSH  L 36  MIKE EAGLES         12   0   2   2   1    2  0  0  0  0   7    .0
WSH  D  2  KEN KLEE             9   1   0   1   2   10  0  0  0  0   6  16.7
WSH  D 19  BRENDAN WITT        16   1   0   1  -1   14  0  0  0  0   9  11.1
WSH  L 17  CHRIS SIMON         18   1   0   1  -3   26  0  0  0  0  17   5.9
WSH  L 27  CRAIG BERUBE        21   1   0   1   0   21  0  0  1  0  15   6.7
WSH  L 10  KELLY MILLER        10   0   1   1   2    4  0  0  0  0   8    .0
WSH  L 21  JEFF TOMS            1   0   0   0  -1    0  0  0  0  0   0    .0
WSH  L 34 *JAROSLAV SVEJKOVSKY  1   0   0   0   0    2  0  0  0  0   0    .0
WSH  G 37  OLAF KOLZIG         21   0   0   0   0    4  0  0  0  0   0    .0

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Final 1997-98 Playoff Stats - Goaltenders
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
TM  NO  GOALTENDER       GPI MINS   AVG  W  L  T EN SO  GA   SA  SPCT G  A PIM
--- --  ---------------- --- ---- ----- -- -- -- -- -- --- ---- ----- - -- ---
BOS 34  BYRON DAFOE        6  422  1.99  2  4     1  1  14  159  .912 0  0   0
BUF 39  DOMINIK HASEK     15  948  2.03 10  5     0  1  32  514  .938 0  0   4
COL  1  CRAIG BILLINGTON   1    1   .00  0  0     0  0   0    0  .000 0  0   0
COL 33  PATRICK ROY        7  430  2.51  3  4     1  0  18  191  .906 0  1   0
DAL 30 *EMMANUEL FERNANDE  1    2   .00  0  0     0  0   0    0  .000 0  0   0
DAL 20  ED BELFOUR        17 1039  1.79 10  7     1  1  31  399  .922 0  0  18
DET 31 *KEVIN HODSON       1    0   .00  0  0     0  0   0    0  .000 0  0   0
DET 30  CHRIS OSGOOD      22 1361  2.12 16  6     1  2  48  588  .918 0  1  12
EDM 31  CURTIS JOSEPH     12  716  1.93  5  7     1  3  23  319  .928 0  0   2
EDM 30  BOB ESSENSA        1   27  2.22  0  0     0  0   1   11  .909 0  0   0
LAK  1 *JAMIE STORR        3  145  3.72  0  2     0  0   9   77  .883 0  0   0
LAK 35  STEPHANE FISET     2   93  4.52  0  2     0  0   7   61  .885 0  0   0
MTL 60 *JOSE THEODORE      3  120   .50  0  1     1  0   1   35  .971 0  0   0
MTL 35  ANDY MOOG          9  474  3.04  4  5     1  1  24  204  .882 0  0   0
MTL 41  JOCELYN THIBAULT   2   43  5.58  0  0     1  0   4   16  .750 0  1   0
NJD 30  MARTIN BRODEUR     6  366  1.97  2  4     1  0  12  164  .927 0  1   0
OTW  1  DAMIAN RHODES     10  590  2.14  5  5     3  0  21  236  .911 0  0   0
OTW 31  RON TUGNUTT        2   74  4.86  0  1     0  0   6   25  .760 0  0   0
PHI 27  RON HEXTALL        1   20  3.00  0  0     0  0   1    8  .875 0  0   0
PHI 33  SEAN BURKE         5  283  3.60  1  4     0  0  17  121  .860 0  0   0
PHO 28  JIM WAITE          4  171  3.86  0  3     0  0  11   97  .887 0  0   0
PHO 35  N. KHABIBULIN      4  185  4.22  2  1     0  0  13  106  .877 0  1   0
PIT 35  TOM BARRASSO       6  376  2.71  2  4     1  0  17  171  .901 0  0   2
SJS 29  MIKE VERNON        6  348  2.41  2  4     1  1  14  138  .899 0  0   0
SJS 32  KELLY HRUDEY       1   20  3.00  0  0     0  0   1    6  .833 0  0   0
STL 31  GRANT FUHR        10  616  2.73  6  4     2  0  28  297  .906 0  1   2
STL 29  JAMIE MCLENNAN     1   14  4.29  0  0     0  0   1    4  .750 0  0   0
WSH 37  OLAF KOLZIG       21 1351  1.95 12  9     0  4  44  740  .941 0  0   4
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lcshockeylcshockeylcshockeylcshockeylcshockeylcshockeyisthistheendforlcshockeyl
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