UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE: Gretzky now Coyotes' judge and jury (11/26/00)

UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE

by Ihor Stelmach

Gretzky now Coyotes' judge and jury

When he was introduced as the new caretaker of the Phoenix Coyotes, Wayne Gretzky wanted to make something perfectly clear: "I'm not going to be the coach, and I'm not going to be the general manager," he said.

Well, at least not in title. But he is going to be judge and jury. Bank on it. As part-owner and director of hockey operations, Gretzky has a most definitive plan for success and it will involve change. The change begins with a new attitude.

"The thought has to be winning Stanley Cups," Gretzky said. "That hasn't been the case around here in the past."

How does a first-time NHL executive facing the same budget constraints as the outgoing owner suddenly stroll in and change 13 consecutive years of playoff futility? The Phoenix franchise hasn't won a playoff series since 1987 - 10 years before the club relocated from Winnipeg.

Until he formally takes control along with partner Steve Ellman, Gretzky won't reveal his strategy in any detail.

Though he likes the general look of the roster, Gretzky will plug a few holes with some major additions. He continues to have ongoing conversations with the agent for unsigned goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. Khabibulin was given a take-it-or-leave-it contract proposal last fall by owner Richard Burke and GM Bobby Smith. The goalie walked, thumbing his nose at the Coyotes, and wound up starring in the International League. That's not where you want your No. 1 netminder.

Since Gretzky came aboard, Khabibulin no longer is demanding a trade. He will get signed, sooner or later. The chances of that happening under the old regime were slim to none.

Neither would the thought of adding someone like veteran right-winger Claude Lemieux have been in the cards under previous ownership. The gritty warrior, who always seems to elevate his game to a higher plateau in the post-season, would contribute mightily with his leadership skills, both on and off the ice. On more than one occasion in the past, GM Smith has clearly stated he would not be interested in signing "Pepe" to pep up the Coyotes' playoff drive. Gretzky, on the other hand, continues to have active discussions with the 35-year-old free agent.

If another club doesn't step in with a generous offer, Lemieux will likely eventually skate in Phoenix, replacing the departed Rick Tocchet, who re-signed with Philadelphia.

That totals two solid moves right off the bat. If Gretzky and company can pull it off, and the Coyotes decide they can still afford and want to dole out $13.3 million this season to pay Ukrainian Keith Tkachuk ($8.3 million) and Jeremy Roenick ($5 million), there's no question this franchise can win in the first round. (As the 2000-2001 NHL season concluded its first month, both Tkachuk and Roenick led the way to a great start for Phoenix.)

But will GM Smith, entering his fourth full season in his post, be around long enough to see this playoff triumph? Rumors continue to circulate since Gretzky entered the picture that Smith is living on borrowed time. Smith, is aware of it as much as anyone.

Though Gretzky has gone out of his way to laud the efforts of Smith for keeping the club headed in the right direction after a summer of uncertainty, a change is on the horizon. Unless, of course, Smith agrees to turn over the final say on all moves to Gretzky, and "The Great One" decides he can work with Smith. Short of this arrangement, Smith is toast.

"You want to work with people in the hockey world whom you really trust and believe in, and feel can be a positive to the organization," Gretzky said. "I don't think I'm telling people something they don't already know. Yeah, there are some people in the hockey world that I want to be a part of this with, and that's just going to be a fact. Richard Burke did it. Bobby (Smith) did it. I'm going to do it."

If Smith leaves, could the coaching staff be far behind? Gretzky praises second-year coach Bobby Francis for guiding the Coyotes to a 90-point finish without Khabibulin. Ironically it took new boss Gretzky more than three months to finally talk to his coach.

"I don't want anybody to read into this," Gretzky said back in August, "but New Jersey fired their coach with eight games left and won the Stanley Cup, so it's never too late (for change)."

Will he be coach and general manager? Hardly. Judge and jury? Absolutely.

Hall errs by not picking Hawerchuk

There is but one conclusion to be drawn in the wake of Dale Hawerchuk's exclusion from the slate of 2000 inductees to the Hockey Hall of Fame: the selection committee simultaneously raised the standards of admission absurdly high and applied them unevenly last June 15.

Hawerchuk was deprived of a place among the pantheon of great players in the 20th century despite an excellent career at the highest levels of hockey. He won two Memorial Cups (championships of Canadian junior hockey), earned more points as an 18-year-old rookie than any player in NHL history not named Wayne Gretzky, strung together 10 seasons of 90 or more points, contributed mightily to two Canada Cup championships, was captain of the Winnipeg Jets for five seasons and sustained a high enough level of excellence over a 16-year NHL career to earn a place among the top 15 scorers in league history.

Yet when Denis Savard and Joey Mullen were named to the Hall of Fame, Hawerchuk was not alongside them despite superior achievements. Let's be clear about this: Savard and Mullen are definitely worthy members. Savard was the consummate artist who didn't produce points as much as perform them. Mullen was a wonderful goal-scorer who delivered in the crunch - the playoffs - won three Stanley Cups and quietly became a standard-bearer for American hockey. Let's also be clear about this: Dale Hawerchuk was better than both of them!

His body of work is the stuff of, well, Hall of Famers. Hawerchuk led the Cornwall Royals to a pair of Memorial Cups in his only two seasons of major junior. He was selected No. 1 overall in the entry draft by the Winnipeg Jets and scored 103 points in his rookie NHL campaign a total surpassed only by Gretzky. During most of his career with Winnipeg, Buffalo and Philadelphia, Hawerchuk produced superstar numbers - goals, assists and points with higher totals than those of Savard and Mullen in all but one category: average goals per game. Mullen finished at .473 vs .436 for Hawerchuk and .395 for Savard. In nine other categories in which the three players could be compared - career regular season goals, assists, points, career assists per game, career points per game, 40-goal seasons, 50-goal seasons, 90-point seasons and 100-point seasons - Hawerchuk is tops in seven and tied for tops in the other two.

Missing from Hawerchuk's resume is one thing: a Stanley Cup. So what! That puts him in the same club with such hockey icons as Marcel Dionne, Gilbert Perreault, Jean Ratelle and Peter Stastny - all Hall of Famers. To be sure, Hawerchuk will be selected one day ... but it really should have been June 15!

Six reasons why Devils won the cup

As a prelude to this column's annual season preview, here's a quick look back at the season that was with a capsulized analysis of how those New Jersey Devils won the 1999-2000 Stanley Cup. Six, six, six ... the sign of the Devil. Here are six reasons the New Jersey Devils won the 2000 Stanley Cup final in the sixth game of the series which was played in the sixth month of the year.

1. The Devils' No. 1 line of Jason Arnott between Patrik Elias and Petr Sykora showed up in a big way. The trio combined for seven goals and 17 points.

2. Devils' defenseman Scott Stevens and friends contained the Stars' top line of Modano-Hull-Lehtinen. The Stars' big guns had to scrap for every inch of territory.

3. The Devils' defense contributed offensively and were masterful at moving the puck out of their own zone. The D's D combined for four goals, 12 points and a plus-13 rating.

4. New Jersey came out ahead on special teams. Both teams were two for 16 on the power play, but New Jersey scored two short-handed goals.

5. New Jersey's Martin Brodeur outgoalied Dallas' Ed Belfour. As busy and brilliant as Belfour was - New Jersey outshot Dallas 209-147 in the six games - the Devils' stopper made the big save anytime any game was on the line.

6. The Devils rarely put themselves in holes, and when they did they were not big ones. Of the 434 minutes and 41 seconds played in the finals, the Devils trailed the Stars for only 21:56. The rest of the time the two teams either played even or the Devils had the lead.

(Gretzky and Hawerchuk quotes thanks to Bob McManaman and Steve Dryden, The Hockey News.)

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