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Sunday, July 08, 2001

The Los Angeles Kings are interested in acquiring Jaromir Jagr from the Penguins.

No, they're not.

Yes, they are.

No, they're not.

One day a team is in the Jagr hunt, the next it's out. It's possible to read or hear both in a span of three or four days.

And yet, hard as this may seem to believe, it really is possible it could all be the truth on that given day, or as close to the truth as it's possible to get with a story as wildly wandering as this one.

Here's an example, this from an actual incident in the past week. Naturally, we'll keep the names secret to protect the innocent.

A reporter in another NHL city approaches his team's owner in the corner of a news conference room, and he asks the owner if his club is interested in trading for Jagr. The owner confirms -- off the record, of course -- that he is.

The reporter then works his way across the room to run this information past a high-ranking front-office guy. The front-office guy, momentarily startled, tells the reporter in cautious terms that his boss' version is off-base, that the team actually has no interest in Jagr. Again, all off the record.

So, what does the reporter do?

He can phone his editor and say, "Hey, my team is hot for Jagr!" Or he can phone in and say, "No, forget it, Jagr's out." For this day, the owner and the front-office guy are his only sources, so he must decide.

The reporter opts for the latter, trusting the front-office guy mostly because he is closer to the hockey operation. And the story he writes reflects that Jagr is out.

The reporter's interpretation of the events, once published, then influences other articles across the continent, mostly in Pittsburgh and New York, where the Rangers' beat writers also are closely monitoring Jagr developments.

The rub is this: Another reporter in that same room might have come away with exactly the opposite story, and he would have written his with the same conviction as the other reporter.

Therein lies the challenge of working to get it right.

Teams don't issue press releases such as, "CAPITALS SEEK JAGR." Nor do they have any real obligation to tell the truth in dealings with any members of the media.

The best any reporter can do is to talk to as many sources as possible, particularly those in regular contact with general managers, then relay the sum of his information to his readers to the best of his ability.

Not to complain, though. There are worse jobs.

Icy chips

Just in case anyone thinks all the pressure in the Jagr deal is on Craig Patrick ... consider that Rangers General Manager Glen Sather is being fried in the New York tabloids and on the talk shows for failing to produce a star player. Eric Lindros is not the player the fans there want. It's Jagr. Lindros repeated for a year that he had no desire to play in Manhattan, and the public there apparently hasn't forgotten, even though he changed his mind this week.

The only way pressure could have been heaped on Patrick is if Mario Lemieux had instructed him to trade Jagr by summer's end. But, as Lemieux has stated several times since the end of the season, in no uncertain terms, if Jagr can't be dealt, he will stay with the Penguins. "If Craig can't make a deal with anybody," Lemieux reiterated Thursday, "Jaromir's going to be at training camp."

It is being estimated that nearly a total of $400 million was spent on NHL free agents in the past week. Don't think the NHL Players Association will forget this when the owners cry poor in 2004, the year the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires.

Of that amount, the Penguins spent $2.65 million, all on Mike Wilson.

Biggest payroll boost, by far, belongs to the Blues. At the start of last season, they were at $36 million, only $5 million more than the Penguins'. Now, they're shelling out $54 million, highlighted by the five-year, $40 million contract given this week to Doug Weight. And yet, they still haven't managed to get the goaltender they have needed for so long. Unless you consider dumping Roman Turek for Fred Brathwaite to be an upgrade.

The Stars told their leading goal-scorer, Brett Hull, to go away. They then invested millions in signing Pierre Turgeon, who was all but expelled from St. Louis by Blues teammates who questioned his effort in the playoffs. And Valeri Kamensky, whose contract was just bought out by the Rangers. And Donald Audette, who netted all of two goals in 12 playoff games for the Sabres this past spring. All are 31 or older. Youth movement?

If Hull would be, in his words, "the bargain of the century" if he signed with the Penguins, what does that say for Lemieux playing for the NHL's average salary?

The Avalanche's success at keeping Joe Sakic, Rob Blake and Patrick Roy was greeted with applause by Lemieux. As he told the Denver Post while golfing there this past weekend, "It's a great organization. That's why people want to stay here. Sometimes a player goes somewhere else for more money and doesn't get any rings. I think those guys made the right decision."

If Tom Barrasso does return to the NHL next season at age 36, he will do so as a backup, which he seems amenable to doing. But if his real motivation is to reach 400 wins -- he is only 47 shy of that rarefied plateau -- how much support might he be expected to provide to his No. 1 guy?

The NHL's new slogan for next season is "Hockey rules." No word on whether it will be changed for the third period of each game.

The Penguins might lead the NHL in Olympians by the time full rosters are announced this winter. So far, 52 players have been named, and the Penguins and Avalanche are tied for the league lead with five representatives each. Of course, two of those Penguins are Jagr and Darius Kasparaitis, so ...

Only 85 days until the puck drops between Lemieux and Sakic.

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