IF it is a foregone con clusion that the Caps will use the first over all pick in the June 26 Entry Draft to select the universally acclaimed Alexander Ovechkin, that might be news to Don Meehan, the agent who represents the Russian winger.
Meehan yesterday told Slap Shots that he’s yet to have been contacted by Washington GM George McPhee, inaction that seems rather bizarre given the complexities that lay ahead in attempting to get Ovechkin – who has one year remaining on his deal with Dynamo Moscow – under an NHL contract.
Then again, the league seems to be putting all business on hold. The new CBA will certainly be less favorable to incoming players than the current one. So perhaps McPhee is waiting for the new agreement before dealing with Ovechkin; perhaps those are the orders from Ted Leonsis, already among those owners to have fired people in pre-lockout lockdown.
Or perhaps the Caps are not committed to Ovechkin, whose rights are worth a veritable bounty in a trade to an organization that would have no qualms in laying out cash now to get the kid under contract.
The Rangers seem to have been caught in a vise concerning Henrik Lundqvist, the Swedish goaltender the Blueshirts had hoped to sign and have in Hartford for the start of the AHL season. Lundqvist, selected by the Rangers in the seventh round of the 2000 Entry Draft, and who earned all-star honors at the World Championship and a spot on his country’s World Cup squad, has one year remaining on his contract with Frolundia of the Swedish Elite League that he’s not going to be able to void. We’re told that Frolundia asked the Rangers for $450,000 in order to release Lundqvist, but the Blueshirts refused to make the payment. Hence, it appears as though it will be at least one more year before the 22-year-old gets his first North American experience.
Meanwhile, Slap Shots has learned that Glen Sather asked Lou Lamoriello for permission to speak to Larry Robinson for a third straight summer regarding the Ranger head-coaching job, only to be denied, with the Devils presumably pending word on Pat Burns.
Why should the NHL reward the team surrendering the fewest goals with the prestigious Jennings Trophy when there is no equivalent recognition for the team that scores the most goals? Why not institute, oh, The Mike Bossy Trophy that would be awarded to the leading goal-scorer of the NHL’s highest-scoring team? And why not have, say, a $250,000 bonus attached that would go the coach of the Bossy-winning club? That might create more creativity. Or at least more open minds among coaches.
No arguments here. Kris Draper was deserving of the landslide victory that won him the Selke Trophy as the league’s best defensive forward. But that’s an award where the vote should be turned over to the players. Far better anyone watching from a distance, they know the toughest guys to play against. We’re betting that with the vote in the hands of his peers, Bobby Holik would have won a couple of those trophies before crossing the Hudson over to the dark side.
What was the hurry in giving Detroit’s Derian Hatcher only a three-game suspension at the start of the next regular season for the elbow to the face he gave Calgary’s Matthew Lombardi in the elimination Game 6 of the Western semis? The blow from the incorrigible Hatcher not only knocked Lombardi out of the remainder of the tournament to thus cost him the opportunity of a lifetime, but may well have prevented the Flames from winning the Cup, given how depleted they were up front at the end.
If Colin Campbell waited to check Vincent Lecavalier’s health before sentencing Ville Nieminen, then what was the VP’s rush on Hatcher? Fact is, Hatcher should have gotten 15-20 games. Fact is, the league should have Arthur Levitt do an audit of its justice system.
From Page Six: Which well-known firm of agents has cancelled all interviews between its draft-eligible clients and a certain NHL team because of what it perceives to be improper communication between the team GM and one of the firm’s NHL players?
Ray Bourque and Paul Coffey in on their respective first shots at the Hall of Fame, of course. But Larry Murphy in on the first ballot while Glenn Anderson is overlooked again? Don’t think so. The discussions and voting are all conducted behind closed doors by a secretive panel, so who knows why Anderson – 498 goals, six Cups, and a resume of huge big-game performances – still has his nose pressed up against the glass? But there’s something rotten about it.
Finally, Al Arbour – one of the greatest to ever grace our New York sports community – has been laid up at his home in Sarasota with an infection of unknown origins that first struck nearly a year ago. Get well, coach.