The relationship has been frosty between Blackhawks coach Darryl Sutter and two of his former teammates, Doug Wilson and Denis Savard, ever since the latter two were traded out of Chicago.
Neither player was high on Sutter`s list as possessing the qualities he thinks are needed to win. Although Sutter diplomatically skirted questions about Wilson recently when that San Jose Shark reached his 1,000-game NHL milestone in a matchup with the Hawks, he appears to have softened in his view of Savard, who plays Sunday night at the Stadium with the Montreal Canadiens. Savard has 22 assists so far this season, reviving memories of his 87 assists and 131 points for the Hawks in 1987-88.
”He`s a more mature guy now,” Sutter said. ”He felt harnessed by
(former Hawks coach) Mike Keenan and (former Canadiens coach) Pat Burns, but they made him a better player. Some tough coaches have helped him.
”He`s a stronger player who keeps a more level head and plays through situations. We talked in London (in September) when we played Montreal in those exhibitions, and I think he`s more at ease with himself and with the game.”
Sutter defined Savard`s greatest weakness as a Hawk as his emotional fluctuations.
”Either he was at the top of the mountain or all the way at the bottom,” Sutter said. ”He struggled with his emotions and keeping himself on an even keel. But now he probably doesn`t need a coach to motivate him anymore. He is one of those players who will have average nights, but no bad nights.”
Crossing over: Lloyd Pettit thinks a significant number of Blackhawks fans would travel to Milwaukee if he gets a NHL franchise. Plus the Hawks` audience could grow as well, in his opinion.
”If there was an NHL team here, you`d see people up from Chicago,”
Pettit said last week at the Hawks-Kings game in Milwaukee. ”And you`d see a lot of Milwaukee people in Chicago for games.”
One reason the NHL balked at putting a team in Hamilton, Ontario, was its proximity to Toronto and Buffalo. Officials feared attendance would sag in those NHL cities. But Pettit doesn`t see an analogy.
”There are plenty of fans to go around,” he said.
Former Hawk Curt Fraser, now coaching Pettit`s Milwaukee Admirals in the International League, thinks an NHL franchise in Milwaukee could draw fans
”who can`t get tickets for Hawks games.”
On the brink: The smart money thinks the team most likely to end up in Milwaukee, if a move happens, will be Hartford. Whalers General Manager Brian Burke acknowledges he is trying to reshape the club using the same blueprint that he and coach-GM Pat Quinn relied on in Vancouver. Burke was player personnel director with the Canucks before taking the Hartford job this year. ”The parallels between Vancouver and Hartford are frighteningly similar,” Burke said. ”We are trying to regain the public confidence, and the crowds are way down. The difference is that Vancouver is a natural hockey market and the economy is better. We have people wandering the streets in Hartford who can`t afford a meal, much less a ticket to a hockey game.”
Burke has taken a few raps for trading John Cullen to Toronto recently for only a second-round draft pick. But he shot back: ”The court of opinion I value most is from other general managers, and they think it was an excellent move.”
Not again: All season, the talk has centered on how fighting has been diminished in the league. Until last Wednesday.
The New York Rangers` Tie Domi and Detroit`s Bob Probert changed that pitch with their ballyhooed fight at Madison Square Garden.
”If he takes a run at my teammates, my job is to protect them,” Domi said beforehand. ”There shouldn`t be a sideshow.”
The falsity of this statement was shown when Domi and Probert tangled only seconds into the game. No reason for it, except this is what Domi does for a living, and Probert is a willing fighter any time.
”What`s wrong with just challenging a guy instead of all the talking?”
Detroit coach Bryan Murray wondered with a jab at Domi, who promoted this fight as if he were Don King and Muhammad Ali rolled into one.
NHL President Gil Stein is investigating the fight, even though it was a simple five-minute penalty to both players. By next weekend, Stein might be out of a job if the board of governors names Gary Bettman and not him as commissioner.
Stein may want to leave with one last decision to remember him by in his crusade to reduce fighting.
Weapon under wraps: Hawks enforcer Stu Grimson didn`t see replays of the recent Tie Domi-Bob Probert brawl, but heard lots about it.
”I want to tell you one thing,” Grimson said. ”No one ever was paralyzed in a hockey fight. I feel really bad for what happens to those guys.”
Grimson alluded to the paralysis suffered by the New York Jets` Dennis Byrd last week. There were similar tragedies on NFL fields for Darryl Stingley in 1978 and Mike Utley in 1991.
But Grimson typifies the problem that NHL clubs are facing. Even last Thursday in a physical game against Toronto, Sutter used him very sparingly. He often plays only one to three shifts a game.
However, Sutter doesn`t think Grimson is taking up space that could be better used for a more skilled forward. Like other NHL coaches, he sees him as the former Soviet Union and U.S. used to look at nuclear weapons-as a deterrent they hope they don`t have to use but feel is necessary to keep the other side in line.
R and R: That stands for rough and Ruuttu when it comes to the Montreal Canadiens.
”I`ve always hated them,” the Hawks` Christian Ruuttu said about Montreal when he had some unexpected physical battles with them in those games in London.
When Ruuttu was with Buffalo, he played more frequently against Adams Division rival Montreal, and it wouldn`t be surprising if more bad blood surfaces Sunday between him and the Canadiens.
For sale: While Ruuttu is having a strong comeback year, fellow Finn Esa Tikkanen is on the downhill with Edmonton. After the Hawks beat the Oilers on Nov. 27, coach Ted Green scratched Tikkanen the next two games and ripped into him for lack of heart and commitment.
”He`s on a four-goal pace,” Green said.
He gave the ”A” on Tikkanen`s jersey to ex-Hawk Dave Manson, now the alternate captain. ”We`re not selling Manson,” insisted Oilers owner Peter Pocklington, trying to shoot down trade rumors.
Million-dollar man: Eric Lindros was fingerprinted and photographed at a police station Saturday in Ontario after turning himself in on assault charges. A warrant was issued for his arrest Thursday after a woman complained a man elbowed her in the face, dumped beer on her head and spat on her at a bar.
The Philadephia rookie went to a police station in Pickering with lawyer Earl Levy to have his warrant processed, then was released. Lindros is scheduled to be in court Dec. 14 in Oshawa, Ontario, said Durham Regional police Staff Sgt. Bob Peacock.
The Lindros situation is serious stuff in Toronto, judging by the in-depth front-page news report Saturday and a large picture of the woman accusing him.
Lynn Nunney, 24, claims that Lindros, who was charged with common assault, told her outside Koo Koo Bananas, a sports bar: ”I make $3.5 million a year. What are you going to do?”
Lindros retorted that he might file countercharges against Nunney, a factory worker in Whitby. ”If you let people take advantage of you once, well . . .” he said. ”Maybe I should make this an example . . . do some homework and see what I can do about this.”
Nunney`s side of the story is that Lindros and some friends started to elbow her group into a smaller and smaller corner at the crowded club. ”Then there was a lot of beer being poured over my head,” she said. ”I turned and had a mouthful of beer spat in my face (by Lindros).
”He`s the local hero. He`s been going into that bar since he was 17. He`s the main attraction. But to me he`s nothing.”
