His friends from Alaska-Anchorage, where Mike Peluso played college hockey, always asked him the same question when he played for the Blackhawks.
They wondered why he was constantly staring threats into opponents’ eyes in a game of intimidation rather than keeping his eyes open for plays and pucks that would land in the net.
“They said: `Why are you fighting in games all the time? Why don’t you just play hockey more? You know you can,’ ” Peluso said. “I don’t regret what I did in Chicago. There were so many good players ahead of me, but with Ottawa I’ve fallen back on the abilities I always had, and things couldn’t be better.”
Peluso returns to Chicago Sunday for the first time since the Ottawa Senators claimed him from the Hawks in last June’s expansion draft. He comes with 20 fighting majors, half of his total last season when he led the NHL with 408 penalty minutes.
More significantly, he arrives with 13 goals and 23 points, an upgrade from his six goals and nine points last season.
“I used to only play around with the puck in practice in Chicago, go one-on-one with Jeremy Roenick,” Peluso said. “I never dared to do it in games, though, for fear of making a mistake and being taken out of the lineup. I didn’t have the confidence to do it.
“In my new role with Ottawa, I feel more confident handling the puck. I’ve brought all the things here that I learned from (Hawks coach) Darryl Sutter and expanded on what I did in Chicago. When I looked around at training camp last September when I got to Ottawa, I just knew I was better than most of the players there.”
Peluso’s story would seem to support the growing feeling under the new NHL administration of Commissioner Gary Bettman that fighting is largely a needless activity, stopping players such as Peluso from realizing the full extent of their talents.
Stretch run: The race for Hartford defenseman Zarley Zalapski between the Hawks and Vancouver is coming down to the wire. The offensive-minded defenseman is being actively sought by both Campbell Conference leaders as the March 20 trading deadline nears.
Zalapski could make the difference come the conference finals if the Canucks and Hawks reach that point.
The Hawks’ only fear is that Zalapski tends to fall asleep at the switch occasionally. But he had 12 goals and 50 points at last look, and seven of those goals came on power plays.
That is good enough for the Hawks to take a chance on him. It all depends on what Whalers General Manager Brian Burke wants. He needs a little of everything, including the kind of good, young defensemen the Hawks have in their system.
The Hawks also are checking out Ottawa defenseman Norm Maciver, formerly of Edmonton. They like his way with the puck on the power play, a presence they are missing.
Life’s a beach: Hawks defenseman Chris Chelios, on his way to his second Norris Trophy, was remembering the other day how he happened to go from a job as bag boy in a supermarket in San Diego to a hockey career that soon landed him in the 1984 Olympics with the U.S. team.
“I don’t know where I’d be if it wasn’t for Bobby Parker,” Chelios said. “I’d been cut from the U.S. International University team in San Diego and was on the beach one day when Parker came along. He was still on the U.S. International team.
“He said, `Why don’t the two of us go to Moose Jaw (Saskatchewan) and play Junior Tier II?’ I didn’t know how the system worked, so I went and was the only American on the team and got a scholarship to Wisconsin from playing there.”
The rest, as they say, is history. And where is Bobby Parker now?
“Last I heard he was working in a supermarket in Moose Jaw,” Chelios said. “That was really one of the best jobs I ever had, bag boy. I started at $7 an hour.”
But he never would have been promoted to a position that pays him $1.1 million a year as the Hawks do.
Might-have-beens: Buffalo’s Pat LaFontaine was wondering how great the Red Army hockey team would have been without the breakup of the Soviet Union. For example, there could have been a line made up of Alexander Mogilny, Pavel Bure and Sergei Fedorov. Mogilny with the Sabres and Bure in Vancouver are among the NHL’s top goal scorers, while Fedorov plays second fiddle to Steve Yzerman in the Detroit symphony.
“Imagine if they had stayed together,” LaFontaine said. “It probably would have been one of the greatest lines in history. But having them here makes for a more exciting league.
“I think we’re better off imagining how good they would have been. It’s like making a sequel to `Slap Shot.’ It’s a good thing they didn’t because the original is a classic. You’d think a sequel might be better. But it’s never as good as the original.”
Mogilny isn’t a coach’s dream, though, despite his talents.
“Well, I’ve always been a little different or something,” he said. “It’s probably why I always had problems with my coaches. Because I don’t like it when somebody tells me something. What to do and stuff like that. If I think it’s wrong, I try to do it my own way.”
He’s the one: Troy Murray admits his bias because he played with Teemu Selanne all season in Winnipeg. But the Hawks center believes the flashy Finn should win NHL Rookie of the Year and that it’s unfair for him to lose points from voters who think he isn’t defensive-minded enough.
“They haven’t asked him to play defense,” he said. “They need his offense too much. He’s probably done as much defensively as expected. He’s a great player, one of the fastest I’ve seen. I haven’t seen much of (Boston rookie) Joe Juneau, so it’s hard to compare. But I definitely would vote for Selanne.”
Selanne received a $1.5 million signing bonus this year to go with his $400,000 salary. But because his contract has no personal bonuses, he’ll be a pretty good bargain next year-the second of a three-year deal-for the same $400,000.
Welcome back: Mario Lemieux was wearing a turtleneck when he returned last week in a game against Philadelphia after four weeks of radiation treatment for Hodgkin’s disease. It covered up a tender red spot on the left side of his neck, one of the treatment’s side effects. Lemieux also has a dry mouth and has lost his sense of taste.
Penguins linemate Kevin Stevens was happy to see Lemieux back, both from a personal and professional perspective. After all, Stevens gets more room to skate and score when Lemieux is out there.
“My job when he’s here is to score goals,” Stevens said. “And when he’s not here, I have to do the same thing. But it makes it a little bit harder.
“Other teams have to worry about stopping him, and when he’s not in there, there’s not as much open ice for you.”
Stevens signed a $5.375 million, five-year contract two years ago when Pittsburgh matched Boston’s offer sheet. That’s a bargain by today’s standards, and there is speculation he may want to renegotiate.
“I’m not much worried about how much money I deserve or whether I should go back in there (and renegotiate),” Stevens said. “If we keep winning, we’ll see what happens.”
