Gary Bettman deserves better. After working overtime to iron out all the wrinkles of National Hockey League realignment, the commissioner finds himself hung out to dry and clotheslined because of league President Gil Stein’s Hall of Fame move.
Bettman told Stein to take himself out of the voting for this year’s Hall, according to sources. But Stein, in the best tradition of administrative blundering in this league, wasn’t humble enough to see the pitfalls. His subsequent election to the Hall in the builders category has raised a stink.
Stein was so eager for the acclaim he didn’t want to hear Bettman tell him another nomination for him a year or two from now would be more seemly. The perception of influence-peddling was there, Bettman knew, with Stein recently appointing several voting members to the Hall of Fame’s board of directors.
Whether the vote was fixed with the wink of an eye isn’t the point. Perception, as we all know, is as good as reality in this day and age.
Stein probably knew all too well his power base would have waned and weakened a year from now. But his greedy grab for recognition has blown up in his face with a media uproar.
On lighter side: Don Cherry finds the humor in every situation. The former Boston Bruins coach, now a notable curmudgeon on Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts, planned to “take it easy” on Stein in his normal Saturday night routine telecast across Canada. But Cherry still had a good jab.
“This guy’s in power five months,” he said of the former league attorney’s interim rule after replacing John Ziegler, “and he arranges this big pension (for himself) and wins the Patrick Award and gets in the Hall. All I can say is, if I’m ever up for murder, I want Stein for my lawyer.”
Shutt your mouth: With Luc Robitaille scoring his 61st goal Thursday night and surpassing Steve Shutt’s NHL record of 60 for left wings, Shutt at least should be happy to hear Robitaille once was a true fan of his when he was a youngster in Montreal and Shutt played for the Canadiens.
“My dad was always down on him,” Robitaille said. “I was always defending him.”
By the way, Robitaille also has surged past two Chicago left wings in the record book this season. Ex-Hawks superstar Bobby Hull scored 58 goals in 1968-69, and Michel Goulet, under pressure from coach Darryl Sutter to score more consistently now, scored 57 in 1982-83.
Maybe, maybe not: Injured Gary Roberts is insisting he will be ready for the playoffs with Calgary. But Flames coach Dave King isn’t as confident the broken blood vessel in Roberts’ thigh will be healed completely.
“You can’t do miracles,” King said. “Your body can take only so much.”
Roberts isn’t being discouraged by that kind of talk, which is why he is considered the Flames’ leader. “Medically, everything is good,” he said. “It comes down to whether I can get my level of conditioning up where I want it to be.”
A bad move: Granted, John Vanbiesbrouck and Mike Richter haven’t played well in goal of late. But to call up rookie Corey Hirsch from the minors and throw him into the boiling cauldron Wednesday appeared to be a poor decision by the New York Rangers. Hirsch and his teammates lost 5-2 to New Jersey.
Decisions like this are almost certain to erase any chance, no matter how small, for interim coach Ron Smith to be given the job again next season. When times get tough, you don’t go away from the players you have depended on all season. It ruins confidence, sorely missing already in the Rangers.
General Manager Neil Smith has had a sinking feeling during the recent slump, in which the Rangers have let four two-goal leads slip away.
“You don’t know what to expect from one period to the next,” Smith said. “I’ve seen so much of this. It’s like watching a never-ending tape.”
One-way street: Although Scotty Bowman is earning $350,000 this season to coach the Stanley Cup champion Penguinss, who are favored to win their third title in a row, he reportedly didn’t sign a contract with the organization. So the possibility exists Bowman could walk out after this season.
The proposed agreement with Pittsburgh wasn’t to tie down Bowman longer than one year to coach, though he was offered four more years to work in the front office. If another team wants him, he would be more than willing to listen.
And he would like to get a raise that puts him in the exclusive range Mike Keenan is asking as he plots his return to the NHL. When will Philadelphia announce Keenan’s rehiring?
For sale: Want to buy a piece of a hockey club? Dick Patrick is said to be shopping his one-third interest in the Washington Capitals. His real estate holdings have taken a beating.
By the way, Caps GM David Poile also is expected to jump ship. Some say Bettman already has offered Poile the position as his right-hand man and as liaison to management.
Beer bath: Norm Green purposely has stayed away from Minnesota since he signed an agreement with Dallas to move the Stars there next season. The furor has been such in the Twin Cities that Green sought to avoid it. But a Stars fan caught him by surprise last weekend at the Forum in Los Angeles during a game with Minnesota. He walked up to Green on press row and dumped a beer on him, telling him that he had been a longtime Minnesota fan.
On the ropes? Hartford owner Richard Gordon continues to contend the Whalers aren’t for sale, but some wonder if Connecticut Gov. Lowell Weicker might not be working behind the scenes to force a sale and bring in an ownership that can own the Civic Arena, where the team plays.
Weicker announced last week the state will open negotiations to buy the arena from the city of Hartford to strengthen chances the Whalers won’t jump to Minnesota or Houston. Yep, word is Gordon took a look at proposed deals from the Summit in Houston and the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Looking good: Players Association executive director Bob Goodenow isn’t making any promises with the collective bargaining negotiations coming up, but he compliments Bettman on the change in tenor and mood that he already has witnessed in preliminary talks. Goodenow and NHL managements, represented by president John Ziegler, ran smack into a strike last year.
“It’s a whole new approach, a whole new way of doing business,” Goodenow said of Bettman. “It looks like it might be a little easier.”
The invites: Keenan is paring down his list for Team Canada as he sees which teams are going to miss the playoffs. For example, if the Rangers don’t make it, Keenan plans to invite Mark Messier, Adam Graves and Mike Gartner to play for him in the world championships in Munich later this month. But do you think Messier will want to go? His former coach, Roger Neilson, is Keenan’s assistant, and Messier is blamed for running him out of New York.
Edmonton’s Bill Ranford and Hartford’s Sean Burke are expected to be Team Canada’s goalies. On defense, there will be Hartford’s Zarley Zalapski, Ottawa’s Norm Maciver and Edmonton’s Dave Manson. The Oilers’ Shayne Corson and Kelly Buchberger are also invited, along with Philadelphia’s Mark Recchi and Eric Lindros. In fact, there is talk Recchi and Lindros will play on a line with the University of Maine’s Paul Kariya.
Russ Courtnall and Dave Gagner will be the Minnesota invitees if the Stars miss the playoffs, while St. Louis’ Jeff Brown, Brendan Shanahan and maybe Garth Butcher will be asked to the dance if Minnesota edges out the Blues.
Nothing’s sacred: Former Hawk Trent Yawney hasn’t scored a goal all season with Calgary. And his wife is starting to dig at him for that “accomplishment.” He said she told him sarcastically: “Don’t be afraid to get out of bed in the morning.”
