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Sunday, September 17, 2000

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

It was mid-June when Tyler Wright picked up the phone at his Saskatchewan home and heard the Penguins were exposing him in the expansion draft. Within two weeks, he was plucked by the Columbus Blue Jackets.

He didn't take it well.

"At the time, I was a little ticked off, to say the least. I want to win the Stanley Cup. That's what my goal is. At the time, I thought Pittsburgh was my best opportunity to do that."

The Penguins were allowed to protect nine forwards but decided Wright didn't fit in.

Even though he was only 27 and coming off his best NHL season with 12 goals and 10 assists in 50 games.

Even though they found room to protect Robert Dome, whom they have since deemed expendable enough to allow him to sign a three-year contract with a Czech club.

Even though they still have no clear candidate to fill the role of No. 3 center between Matthew Barnaby and Rene Corbet.

Asked if he expects the Penguins will miss him, Wright replied, "I hope so. I think that anytime you play on a team and leave, you want to leave an impression that maybe it was a mistake. There were some hard decisions to be made, and it's a business. I understand that. But Columbus has shown a lot of faith in me, playing me a lot. I'm happy to be a Blue Jacket."

Columbus is glad to have him.

"I feel really good about Tyler," General Manager Doug MacLean said. "You feel really lucky that a team has trouble protecting a player like him. But, hey, when we pay $80 million or so to get the franchise, you deserve to get the odd guy like him, right?"

Wright was at his best in the Blue Jackets' 3-2 loss to the Penguins two nights ago at Mellon Arena. He registered four shots, won 14 of 23 faceoffs, traded facewashes with Darius Kasparaitis, leveled Janne Laukkanen into the boards and scored on a nifty one-timer in the third period which made it 2-2.

"It felt good. Anytime you play against your old team, you want to have a good game," Wright said. "But that's not what I'm thinking about now. I want to do well for this team, and I think we can do good things. We may be an expansion team, but we've got some good players here. We want to make a statement that we're not just going to be some team you can get token wins against. We're not out to win just eight or 10 games."

Icy chips

MacLean admitted to getting a bit choked up when the Blue Jackets first hit Mellon Arena ice. "To come out here and see our players skate out in the sweaters I designed -- and my son designed the pants -- was a pretty amazing experience." ... NHL referees are visiting all 30 training camps this month to stress to players how strictly they plan to enforce the rules this season in an attempt to decrease injuries. The league is even taking the unusual step of making team captains sign a document to confirm that all players have been informed of how games will be called. ... The Philadelphia Flyers' final contract offer to left winger John LeClair was for four years and $34 million. LeClair, 31, called it a "tremendous offer" but rejected it and plans to become an unrestricted free agent next summer. ... Glen Sather, the New York Rangers' new general manager, has been speaking to Harry Sinden, his counterpart with the Boston Bruins, about acquiring right winger Anson Carter. Carter, 26, is a restricted free agent mired in a contract impasse. ... Looks like Rangers goaltender Mike Richter won't be ready to suit up until late October because of knee surgery he had in the spring. ... The Toronto Maple Leafs are so frustrated by negotiations with defenseman Alexander Karpovtsev, a restricted free agent, that they apparently are ready to trade him. Karpovtsev's agent is Mark Gandler, who also represents Alexei Yashin. ... The San Jose Sharks are in a fiscal bind. They still have eight restricted free agents to sign -- including right winger Owen Nolan, defenseman Marcus Ragnarsson and goaltender Steve Shields -- yet have only $13.5 million left in their budget. ... Yujiro Nakajimaya, a 29-year-old Japanese defenseman attending Nashville's camp as a goodwill gesture to commemorate the team's trip to Tokyo next month, has shown he is no threat to join the Predators' organization. But he is upbeat. "I'm going to give 100 percent and make good relationships with the players," he told the Tennessean. "When we go to Japan, I hope we beat the Penguins." ... Only 17 days until the NHL's first puck drops in Dallas.

Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@ post-gazette.com.