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Sunday, January 20, 2002

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Remember the fuss stirred up last summer when the Pirates confiscated a fan's banner criticizing Cam Bonifay at PNC Park?

Looks like the Canadiens are no less sensitive.

Before a game at the Molson Centre Monday, arena security confiscated banners criticizing unpopular defenseman Patrice Brisebois from about 60 fans. Among them: "Brise-boo!" and "$17 million wasted," a reference to the four-year contract extension Brisebois signed last month.

Team spokesman Donald Beauchamp said the signs were taken down because they would upset other fans, which, coincidentally, was one of the various excuses the Pirates attempted to offer amid cries of stifling freedom of speech.

The reaction was no less hostile among Montrealers than it was in Pittsburgh.

"What, you're not allowed to say a millionaire hockey player is overpaid anymore?" construction worker Al Penta told the Canadian Press. "I think it sucks."

The Penguins permit all homemade banners at Mellon Arena, critical or not, as long as they are in good taste and do not block advertising signs or the view of other fans.

Eric Lindros has been accused of playing soft, frequently and colorfully, by the New York media of late. Now, opponents are piling on. "I thought Eric was a little timid," the Devils' Bobby Holik told reporters after a 6-4 victory Thursday against the Rangers. "I don't watch the Rangers enough to analyze his game as opposed to before he was injured, but he was timid." Lindros has no points and a minus-5 rating since returning from his seventh concussion. "I'm not worried about being hit," he insisted. "I've just got myself in a bad rut right now, but I'll get out of it."

Lifelong Devil Ken Daneyko, 37, is plenty frustrated by having been scratched three times in the past week. And he bitterly rejects the notion he might be finished. "I'm no different than I was six months ago when I was one of the key guys in the Stanley Cup playoffs," he told the Newark Star-Ledger. "In five or six months, you don't lose your position as a go-to guy ... to being finished."

Nice deal signed by Stu Barnes Tuesday in Buffalo, and it's not bad news for the Penguins only because it's another reminder he would still look good in black and gold. Barnes will get $8.4 million over the next three years, an average of $2.8 million. That's only $100,000 less than an arbitrator awarded Robert Lang last summer after Lang produced 80 points. How much does that make Lang worth when he can become an unrestricted free agent in July?

On the surface, the Panthers' acquisition of Sandis Ozolinsh, one of the game's most gifted offensive defensemen but notorious for being careless in his zone, doesn't seem to match the Mike Keenan mold. What does add up is that Keenan wanted someone to be able to spring Pavel Bure for breakaways -- his favorite method of scoring -- and Ozolinsh is quite adept at the home-run pass.

All of Canada is aghast that the Bruins' Joe Thornton is not on the Olympic team. Imagine how much additional heat Wayne Gretzky will feel should Thornton be leading the NHL in scoring while the Games are going on in Utah.