Hockey players aren’t considered very domestic. Their general image is that of brutes who would tread mud on the carpet and nonchalantly toss a beer can into the corner.
But Boston’s Dave Poulin is proof that civilized people play in the National Hockey League. In fact, he has a cleaning fetish. Don’t get in his way when he’s holding a dust rag.
“I’ll come home sometimes and say to my wife, `Honey, I’m going to clean now,’ ” Poulin said of the way he handles stress and adversity. “It’s just the way I am.
“You’d probably think the opposite, right . . . something’s bugging you and so your house is a mess? Not me, and my wife knows it. She’d never mess with my lemon Pledge.”
Calling Ann Landers: Maybe Poulin’s teammate, Gordie Roberts, should pick up a vacuum cleaner. But he can’t. His arms remain numb and painful, and he thinks it’s all from a very serious case of the flu.
Since reading of his physical dilemma, Boston fans have called in with advice and tips. A plumber said he had arm problems for two years after an extreme bout of flu, and another guy advised Roberts to seek a chiropractor, because that was the only way he solved the same arm pains after six months with the ailment.
The defenseman already has seen specialists in cardiac, blood, neurology and orthopedics. A chiropractor is next on his list.
Player of month: It’s got to be Wayne Gretzky, even if he plays only half of January. Gretzky is expected to return to Los Angeles in the next few weeks, although the Kings say he isn’t expected to play Jan. 10 in the Stadium when Los Angeles plays the Blackhawks.
They are saving him for a home game, maybe Jan. 16 against Winnipeg. In the meantime, Gretzky is revving up his engines.
“We have to get a lasso for him,” Kings President Roy Mlakar said. “He’s awfully aggressive.”
In the doghouse: The Blackhawks’ Rob Brown isn’t the only player sitting and wondering where his career took a wrong turn. New Jersey Devils coach Herb Brooks isn’t a big John MacLean fan, and like Brown, MacLean is suffering from the way he is being played.
A 45-goal, 78-point producer last season for the Devils and a 40-plus goal scorer the last three seasons, MacLean has five goals and five assists in 34 games this year.
Brooks explained in five words why he is playing MacLean mostly on the fourth line: “Slow hands and bad timing.”
Given time, Brooks may change some faces in New Jersey and try to improve his team speed. Reportedly, he is ready to let Claude Lemieux go in the right deal.
True grit: On Dec. 18, Edmonton coach Ted Green checked himself out of the hospital after kidney-stone surgery and was behind the bench for a game.
He followed that act with a better one last Tuesday, coaching on crutches against Montreal after leaving the hospital earlier that day after surgery on both knees for cartilage problems he experienced when he played.
“He’s giving the rest of us coaches a bad reputation,” Canadiens coach Jacques Demers said. “We can’t even complain about a sore throat or headache anymore. (Boston coach) Brian Sutter was tough (as a player), but Teddy’s even tougher.”
Not tough enough, though, to coach the Oilers Thursday night in Winnipeg. You have to traverse the ice to get to the visiting benches.
The yapper: Calgary’s Craig Berube is looking forward to a few fights with Winnipeg’s Tie Domi now that the New York Rangers have traded Domi into the Smythe Division. In fact, when their clubs meet Tuesday in the Saddledome, look for the pair to hook up.
“He’s OK by me,” Berube said of Domi. “We’ll line up and he’ll lean over and say, `So, chief, we going tonight?’ “
But Berube does wish Domi would learn when to shut up.
“His only problem is he yaps too much,” Berube said. “That’s what got him traded out of New York.”To my face: The players want management to rip them to their face in arbitration hearings. That is a current negotiating point as a handpicked team of experts tries to formulate new rules for arbitration.
In the past, general managers would try to downgrade a player for the arbiter only with the player’s agent in the room. Now the players want to hear these negatives straight from the GMs.
Facing off: Eric Lindros is scheduled to face a charge of simple assault Jan. 20 in front of an Ontario provincial court judge. The Philadelphia Flyers rookie will address accusations from a Whitby, Ont., woman who claims he elbowed and spat beer on her Nov. 29 at a Whitby sports bar.
The season has been a frustrating one for Lindros on and off ice. He twisted his left knee during practice last week, the same knee that he needed four weeks to get back in playing shape after he sprained it Nov. 22.
The latest setback isn’t considered serious enough to sideline him for long, but doctors have told Lindros he could notice minor irritations in that knee for the next three months. The vulnerability makes him susceptible to another serious injury if that knee is hit or turned the wrong way.
The Flyers didn’t miss Lindros in two West Coast games last week, totaling 16 goals in victories at Los Angeles and San Jose.
Kings coach Barry Melrose was asked after his 10-2 loss to Philadelphia if he kicked the furniture. “The furniture didn’t lose the game,” he said. “In fact, I thought our furniture was great tonight.”
Winging it: Is Bryan Murray coaching the Detroit Red Wings or is he just sort of looking on as they do what they want?
You have to question whether Murray will survive as coach-general manager the way the Wings are flapping around. They have the best talent in the Norris Division, but the Hawks and Minnesota North Stars may be better teams.
For example, the lack of discipline showed by Detroit last week in losing to the Hawks 6-3 called into question whether the team is listening to Murray. Even though the Hawks had a comfortable lead late in the game, the Wings took themselves off two power plays by silly retaliation penalties.
Plus, Sergei Fedorov developed flu symptoms that forced him to leave the game only after the Hawks charged ahead 5-0 in the first period. Is that the kind of mental toughness that wins in the playoffs?
Detroit seems tailor-made for former Hawks boss Mike Keenan to rescue. But it might not happen until after the season.
Hot lines: Michel Goulet has the most biting wit in the Hawks’ dressing room. Last week, he used it on goalies Ed Belfour and Jimmy Waite.
Noticing yet another headline with Belfour in it, Goulet was off and jabbing. “Belfour, Waite. Belfour, Waite,” he said with joking sarcasm. “You would think they did everything. Goalies get all the credit. You do know it’s their job to stop the puck.
“Go ahead and sit down, Eddie,” Goulet told Belfour earlier during practice as he headed for the bench. “Thirty minutes of practice is enough for a guy who makes a million a year.”
Waite retorted that Goulet didn’t have the order quite right in repeating Belfour, Waite. “It’s Belfour, Belfour, Belfour, Belfour, Waite,” the backup said.
