Home >  Sports >  Notebooks

Sunday, February 23, 2003

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Paul Kariya does not like the NHL brand of hockey, and he makes no secret about it.

The Mighty Ducks' captain was the most vocal critic of the phantom obstruction crackdown at the All-Star Game earlier this month, and he cut loose with more in a league-sponsored conference call Friday.

First, he derided the 1990 moving of the nets away from the end boards, from 10 feet to 11: "Whoever decided to move the nets up and make more room where you can't score goals has to be brain-dead. That's one of the stupidest rules I've seen implemented. You want to see attacks coming through the neutral zone. If you have more room there, you're going to have more opportunity to do that."

He then ridiculed the league's stated intent to cut down on diving: "The league's got it backward. If they call the obstruction, players won't be diving. I'm going up the ice, being tugged the whole way, and I don't want to go down. But if I don't, I won't get a call."

No word yet on how Andy van Hellemond, the NHL's officiating czar, feels about Kariya's words. But given some peculiar responses during a Thursday interview with ESPN Radio's Mark Madden upon visiting town, one gets the idea all complaints fall on deaf ears. Asked by Madden why goal-scoring is up by only a few hundredths of a goal over last season, van Hellemond replied that too many shooters are attempting to pick corners and, as a result, missing the net. Really.

The Canucks are growing up in a hurry: When they ran off a team-record 10-0 streak in November, they were giddy. But when they hit a record 11-game unbeaten streak Thursday in St. Louis, they were subdued. "We've been in the record book a few times this year," right winger Matt Cooke told reporters. "We just keep making strides. I remember a couple of years ago, we were winning one or two games at a time."

Buzz mounts that the Flames, based in the NHL's smallest market, are soliciting offers to dump Jarome Iginla, the league's top scorer last season. He makes $5.5 million and is due $7 million next season, a quarter of the budget. In theory, Iginla, 25, is precisely the type of player a market Calgary's size should be able to keep, at least through his early years.

The other prominent player believed on the block is the Sharks' Owen Nolan. But how many takers are there for his contract, which is $5.5 million this season and $13 million for the next two?

On top of that, Nolan's credentials as a captain are at an all-time low. Despite a midseason coaching change, San Jose has done by far the least with its talent of any team in the NHL. Its flat-lined, 3-0 home loss Thursday to the Islanders probably was the low point, at least according to Coach Ron Wilson, who didn't exactly hold back afterward: "I've never been as confused and perplexed about a group. What makes them tick? Nothing makes them tick. I could have one of those paddles to start people's hearts, and it still wouldn't work. A cattle prod wouldn't work."

Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz became the latest to publicly unveil his financial losses. He estimates $15 million for this season.

Oilers Coach Craig MacTavish, upon his visit to town this week, couldn't help but recall the 1988 game in which Mario Lemieux registered seven points against him and checking linemates Kelly Buchberger and Dave Hunter: "Hunts blamed Bucky. Bucky blamed me. I blamed Hunts. Bucky and I got together after the game, and we both blamed Hunts."