Skip Prince, the new director of broadcasting in the National Hockey League, predicts the league is primed for the kind of popularity boost and economic growth the National Basketball Association experienced in the 1970s. ”It`s just ready to pop,” said Prince, who comes to the NHL from the Chicago law firm of Gottlieb and Schwartz, where he was involved in sports and entertainment and helped establish the Arena Football League.
Prince sees himself on the cutting edge after enthusiasm was raised in the last few days by the appointment of Gary Bettman as NHL commissioner and the expansion to Anaheim, Calif., and Miami in 1993 or 1994.
”There`s a sense the NHL`s time has come,” Prince said. ”I never knew anybody who could go to just one hockey game. Like that potato chip commercial, you can`t watch just one.”
Paying the toll: If Milwaukee ever buys out an existing NHL franchise and moves it to Wisconsin, Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz won`t reap as big a harvest as the $25 million Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall pocketed as a result of Disney entering his territory with the Anaheim franchise.
But Wirtz noted neither would the infringement costs be as small as the $2 million recently mentioned by former Hawks broadcaster Lloyd Pettit, who said he was talking to two current NHL teams about buying them.
”I don`t know where Lloyd got that figure,” Wirtz said.
He voiced a concern Pettit`s age would be a factor in approving any transfer to Milwaukee.
”Lloyd`s also six, seven years older than me (Wirtz is 63). If something happened to him, who`d carry on the team in Milwaukee?
”It`s hard to tell if they`re viable. Three years ago they might have made it in the league. But the costs have gone up so much in the last three years-tickets everywhere too expensive-that I don`t know if Milwaukee could make it.”
By the way: If Wirtz had banked $25 million while he was NHL chairman of the board during his 18 years, the way McNall did after only seven months into his job as Wirtz`s successor, the media reaction would have been outrage. They would have called for an investigation. Just goes to show McNall has better rapport with the media.
Sissy goals: Enough about board-room power plays for just a second. Getting back to the ice, the quote of last week goes to Washington`s Al Iafrate.
With the Capitals on their way to a 6-5 victory last Monday in Ottawa, Iafrate surprised onlookers when he dumped the puck in the corner in the closing seconds rather than score into an empty net.
”Empty-net goals are for sissies,” Iafrate said.
Rumor mill: You will continue to hear a lot of speculation former Hawks coach and general manager Mike Keenan will wind up in Miami. That`s because rumor has it Keenan`s buddy, Gary Green, is headed for the general manager`s job with that organization.
And yet Keenan has to be keeping an eye on the Detroit situation. The Red Wings are openly admitting their displeasure with coach-General Manager Bryan Murray and are experiencing a difficult time at present.
”Some guys are upset with him, no doubt about it, because of ice time or contracts, whatever,” said Wing Gerard Gallant. ”But it doesn`t help to come to the game, sit on the bench and sulk. It`s not the coach`s fault. It`s not going to help to get Bryan Murray fired.”
Some players may go before Murray, especially if trade rumors involving Winnipeg defenseman Phil Housley going to Detroit are true. The Jets reportedly want defenseman Steve Chiasson and either Keith Primeau, Paul Ysebaert or Sheldon Kennedy.
Defensive gains: Murray wants to shake up his defense and add a new face or two because of the talent he sees on the Hawks` blue line. ”Everybody knew Chicago was strong,” he said, ”but their improvement on defense still impresses me.”
Mikey likes it: Keenan said about the prospect of coaching Miami: ”There is something to be said about starting out with a new franchise and working on a long-term approach.”
But could he handle all the losing that would come his way as an expansion coach?
Spurned and angry: People in Hamilton, Ontario, may be the only ones not enthused about the prospects of success in Anaheim and Miami. ”It`s another bush-league, back-door move by the NHL old boys network to walk over Hamilton,” said city alderman Domenic Agostino, alluding to the fact Hamilton has long lobbied for a NHL team.
”It`s an insult to Hamilton and all of Canada,” he added. ”It throws the Canada-U.S. ratio of NHL teams out of whack. They`re dreaming in Technicolor if they think they`ll sell hockey down there.”
Just plane folks: How do millionaires meet? McNall has known Disney chairman Michael Eisner for years on the California social circuit. He met Wayne Huizenga, owner of the new Miami franchise, when Huizenga talked to him about the possibility of buying a plane from him to use for his baseball expansion Florida Marlins. McNall, who once used the plane for the Kings, didn`t close that deal, but eventually came up with a better one last Friday when Huizenga joined the NHL.
Not alone: Hartford General Manager Brian Burke advised his old business partner, Bob Goodenow, head of the players union, to work with Bettman, not fight him. ”It wasn`t just David Stern (NBA commissioner) who had the vision to turn around that league, but also Larry Fleischer, the head of the NBA players union.”
Music critic: New Jersey coach Herb Brooks didn`t rip into his players after a 4-2 loss to Boston at the Meadowlands as much as he slammed his home arena and his crowd.
”This is a dead building,” Brooks said. ”The worst I`ve seen in hockey. The organist here should take two weeks off and then retire.”
Someone should tell Brooks no one`s there. All organ music at the Meadowlands is on tape.
No shark bite: San Jose Vice President Dean Lombardi admits that many people think the Sharks are worse this year than last year. But he claims that perception comes from the fact ”it was all new (last year) and everyone was more fired up, including the fans.”
Still, he wonders if the good weather in California isn`t an obstacle for the Sharks. ”I think there`s something to what Charles Barkley once said about playing basketball in Phoenix,” he said. ”Barkley said it`s real tough to play tough in a good climate. Back East in the wintertime, you wake up ticked off because the weather is rotten, the roads are icy and it`s a pain to get up and go to work. It`s hard to get as angry if you live where the weather`s nice.”
King me: Edmonton General Manager Glen Sather has a reputation as a genius. Why then has no Oiler first-rounder since Jeff Beukeboom in 1983 made the team? And why are the two first-rounders the Oilers drafted with the picks from their Wayne Gretzky trade to Los Angeles in 1988 no longer in the organization?
All this may help explain why the Oilers now appear to be a crumbling mansion, their glory days forgotten.
The pressure is on chief scout Barry Fraser right now. He has one remaining first-round pick from the Gretzky deal, which gave the Oilers the Kings` choice in that round in 1989, 1991 and 1993.
The first chance they had, Edmonton took Corey Foster 17th overall, and dumped him to Philadelphia in a deal that featured Jari Kurri in May 1991. Two years later, the Oilers drafted Martin Rucinsky 20th overall and peddled him to Quebec for Ron Tuggnut in March 1992.
The Kings are playing so well now it`s not out of the question they could finish first in the regular season and the Oilers would be stuck with their 24th pick in next June`s draft. They need a miracle draft pick to make up for letting Gretzky go.
High on Lowe: Friday, Sather finally completed the trade of Kevin Lowe to the New York Rangers, getting Russian winger Roman Oksyuta and the Rangers` third- round draft pick in 1993. Lowe will earn $800,000 this year and $850,000 next season in a two-year deal.
”It`s sad to think of all the fun we had with all those great players,” Sather said of the dispersal of his former stars. ”I thought Kevin might be the only guy to start and finish his career with us. But we have to start a new era.”
Around the league: The NHL has announced the 1995 All-Star Game will be in San Jose, while the 1994 entry draft will be hosted by Hartford and in 1995 by Winnipeg. . . . Last week, Boston defenseman Gord Roberts became the first American-born player to reach 1,000 NHL games. ”I`m proud for American hockey,” said Roberts, 35, who is from Detroit. ”I`m sure guys like Pat LaFontaine and Al Iafrate will eventually pass me, but`s kind of nice to be the first.” . . . The Rangers have received a spark from four recent minor-league callups: ”Steven King, Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Zubov and Corey Hirsch. King and Kovalev were linked with second-year pro Doug Weight. ”We`ve been pretty much searching for the right combination all year,” said coach Roger Neilson, ”and we might have found something.” . . . Hartford is betting on a new casino to pump more life into its economy and downtown night life in two or three years.
