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Sunday, December 16, 2001

Compiled by Dejan Kovacevic

The day before Groundhog Day, the Penguins traded Matthew Barnaby to the Lightning because he was unhappy with his reduced role, feeling he was no longer part of the team.

And, just like in the movie, the scene played out exactly the same way in Tampa Bay.

The Lightning moved Barnaby to the Rangers for Zdeno Ciger in large part because he expressed displeasure when his average ice time dipped below eight minutes. He had no points, 70 penalty minutes and a minus-7 rating.

"It was tough only playing two or three minutes. You can't go out and play the way that makes you successful," Barnaby told the New York Post. "It's tough to get under people's skin when you're playing two minutes because players would be, like, 'I'm not going to bother with you because you won't be back on the ice again.' I needed to play more minutes to add my full dimension to the team."

Rangers General Manager Glen Sather is optimistic he will be a good fit in New York.

"He's a guy who is going to bring another dimension of energy and enthusiasm to the team."

Step one of a Mike Keenan era is smiling nice for the cameras. Step two is accusing his players of being soft. The latter kicked in with a 4-1 loss to Carolina Wednesday. "They went a lot harder to the net, obviously," he told the Miami Herald. "They sought out an opportunity to play against what they perceived I'm sure as a soft defense. And we didn't disappoint them." Step three, usually, is winning.

The Penguins were one of the teams keen on Yanic Perreault this past summer, and now you know why. He has 14 goals in his first 29 games with the Canadiens, who signed him to a three-year contract that pays $2.8 million this season. "I didn't know what to expect," he told the Montreal Gazette. "There's always an adjustment period when you go to a new team and I didn't know how long it would take. So far, it's going well."

Patrik Elias, the Devils' top scorer, was furious about being benched for one period of a 3-1 loss Monday at Columbus and pointed not at Coach Larry Robinson but at assistant Jay Leach for recommending the action behind his back. "I would like to know," Elias told the Newark Star-Ledger. "If somebody has something against the way I play, they should come up to me and say something." Elias and Leach talked it over the next day and made up.

Chris Gratton looks to be wearing out yet another welcome. The Sabres are unhappy paying him $2 million to play on their fourth line, and they don't feel his play merits a promotion. Gratton has three goals.

There is a trading freeze that kicks in Wednesday and lasts until Dec. 27, so expect speculation on several fronts to heat up.

The Hurricanes' Darren Langdon and the Sabres' Rob Ray engaged in a two-minute bout for the ages Friday. Carolina Coach Paul Maurice was gushing about it yesterday at Mellon Arena: "Great fight. Unbelievable. I mean, that either of those guys played another shift was amazing. Outstanding. You know what's a great fight? When you look afterward at the bench ... normally, just one team is pumped up, but this went so long that there's almost a sense of the guys going, 'Ooooh, that could have been me.' You know what I mean? It's like they're thinking, 'Ooooh, those are two tough guys.' Wow."