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Sunday, February 23, 2003

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Darius Kasparaitis hardly is the first player to go to the Rangers, become best known for his gaudy salary and fall shy of expectations.

But that doesn't mean he likes it.

"A lot of people expected me to come in and help the team, and I've failed," he told reporters Wednesday in St. Paul, Minn. "People like to think about my salary now, more than me as a player. People love to count money. There's nothing I can do about it. I have to improve myself and play better every game."

The Rangers have received poor value for the six-year, $25.5 million contract they gave Kasparaitis last summer. He has 13 points and, more relevant in his case, a minus-8 rating that is worst among the team's defensemen.

Glen Sather, New York's coach and general manager, was so upset with Kasparaitis earlier in the week that he met with him privately and threatened to scratch him.

Asked if he has discussed sound defense with Kasparaitis, Sather replied: "Maybe 8 million times."

Kasparaitis insisted he is still happy to be in New York.

"I don't regret anything," he said. "I just wish things were different."

Janne Laukkanen is skating with the Rangers but still uncertain if he can play again because of his arthritic hip. As he did in his final days with the Penguins, he is hinting that he will retire after this season. He also said he might play in his native Finland, where the top league has half as many games.

Sentiment mounts in Toronto that the Maple Leafs will be the most aggressive in pursuing big names as the March 11 trading deadline nears. There is reason for that, as no team besides the Rangers might be in worse position for what the league should look like with a new labor agreement in 2004. Ed Belfour soon will be 38. Gary Roberts, who seemingly has had every conceivable type of surgery already, is 36. Alexander Mogilny is 34. Robert Svehla is, too, and he had to be coaxed out of retirement. Even Mats Sundin, the franchise linchpin, is 32. They make a combined $30 million.

The other near-certainty as the deadline approaches is that the Flyers will add offense. Before breaking out for a 5-0 home shutout of the Kings Thursday, Philadelphia had 11 goals in its previous 14 games. They were shut out four times in that span and have nine on the season, one shy of the team's 34-year-old record. Coach Ken Hitchcock, as always, is preaching better defense. "Scoring goals is the last part of our problem," he told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "The bigger part is our positional play and strength with the puck hasn't allowed us to score goals."

The first player signed by the Thrashers could not sink lower than he has. Damian Rhodes, billed as the franchise goaltender upon his arrival in Atlanta, this week was demoted to the Greenville Grrrowl of the ECHL. He still collects on his $2.75 million NHL salary for the rest of the year.

It is easy to argue, though, that Rhodes was a shrewd investment next to the 10-year, $90 million deal the Islanders gave Alexei Yashin in 2001. Yashin has 14 goals and has so irked Coach Peter Laviolette that he is on the fourth line.

Thursday at the Corel Centre, Jim Gregory, the NHL's senior vice president of hockey operations, presented Senators Coach Jacques Martin and goaltender Patrick Lalime with league milestone awards. Martin's was for his 750th game behind the bench, Lalime's for his 25th shutout. There has been no public league acknowledgment of Mario Lemieux's 1,000th assist, recorded two weeks ago.