UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE (03/30/03)

UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE

by Ihor Stelmach

Leschyshyn wants to stay in Ottawa

Ukrainian Curtis Leschyshyn may play his 1,000th National Hockey League game this season and he'd very much like to do it wearing an Ottawa Senators uniform.

While the name of the 33-year-old veteran defenseman has surfaced in several trade rumors, because of his $2 million salary and the crowd on the club's blueline, Leschyshyn is not going to be applying for a job transfer.

"My family is very happy in Ottawa, and I don't want to pick up to move somewhere else," he said.

Sources said the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Islanders, Washington Capitals and New York Rangers all have held talks with Senators' GM John Muckler about the possibility of getting a defenseman.

But the reality of the situation is the Senators haven't had all of their defensemen healthy very often. Wade Redden, Chris Phillips and Shane Hnidy have all missed games because of injury.

Financial distractions no factor

They might be broke, but the Ottawa Senators don't need to fix a whole lot on the ice.

Battling to stay on top in the East and a solid contender for the President's Trophy as the NHL's regular season champions, the Senators have been able to put owner Rod Bryden's financial troubles aside.

"Has it been a distraction? Yes, no doubt it has. I don't think there's any doubt about it. But, I think we've handled it pretty well. We've played well through all of this, and we've been able to do our jobs," said team captain Daniel Alfredsson. "In a perfect world, we'd be a rich team and we wouldn't have to worry about these kinds of distractions. But, what we've been trying to do is make the best of this and just trying to play the games without thinking about what's happening off the ice. That's all we can do."

After missing their paychecks in early January, the matter wasn't addressed until Bryden filed for credit protection in Canada in mid-January. Since then, he's been working with a partner to try to buy the club back.

"We discussed the issue when it first happened and the guys have just moved on because they know there's absolutely nothing we can do about it," said alternate captain Leschyshyn. "The one thing we can do is control the effort we give on the ice and if that makes the team more valuable, then that's a good thing."

A view from the NHL's Trenches
written by a "ghostwriter" for Dave Andreychuk

It has often been said I have built my career in front of the net. And, yes, I would have to admit this is quite true.

I try to use my size and reach to score on rebounds of shots and deflections from in tight. I would say that of the 250-plus power play goals I've scored in my career, at least 200 of them went in that way.

Of course, it's not easy to earn a living camped out right in the goaltender's face. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. But even players willing to take the abuse can't score on their own.

First of all, you need teammates who can get the puck through traffic and on the net. You can stand in front of the net until the cows come home but it won't do any good if the puck never comes home, either.

I've been lucky over my career to have played with guys who knew how to break down defenses and get the puck to the goal - players such as (fellow Uke) Dale Hawerchuk, Doug Bodger and Phil Housley with the Buffalo Sabres or Doug Gilmour, Dave Ellett and Todd Gill with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I knew when those guys wound up, they were aiming at me or at least a spot where they knew I could get my stick free for a tip-in or rebound.

It's also important to know the habits of your point men - who likes to shoot high, who keeps it low, who likes to one-time shots. All these things help me get into proper position. A lot of guys don't want to be in that position. I do.

I gravitated toward the crease on the power play starting in my junior days with the Oshawa Generals in the early 1980s. I realized back then the front of the net was where I could be most effective. Nobody teaches you to take the abuse; it comes down to being smart about your positioning and being mentally prepared to sacrifice your body.

One guy who always did that was Dino Ciccarelli. I watched him before I got to the NHL and kept on watching him his entire career. Dino was all determination and heart. He got goals for one simple reason - because he was willing to absorb punishment other players wouldn't.

And you can bet the punishment comes in a variety of ways: crosschecks in the back, slashing to the back of the legs, punching to the head. The one that gets me the maddest is when they try to push my helmet over my eyes. It's tough to score when you can't see.

Unfortunately for guys like me, all those individual battles happen less frequently these days than they did 10 or 15 years ago. I say unfortunately because the 1-on-1 confrontation worked to my advantage. If one defender was occupied with me, our man advantage meant there would often be one of my teammates right behind me ready to pounce on a loose puck.

These days, in today's game, defensemen tend to leave me alone while the puck is on the perimeter, then try to tie up my stick at the last minute. With the size of forwards in the league today, going for the stick is probably a defenseman's best bet.

Don't believe me? You go try to move a guy like Vancouver's Todd Bertuzzi or (Ukrainian) Keith Tkachuk of the St. Louis Blues. See how far you get.

The veteran 'D' guys have changed their tactics because of it. I know from playing with him a few years ago that New Jersey's Scott Stevens won't really get into those kinds of battles any more. Earlier in his career he would have tried to punish forwards; now he just tries to outsmart and outstick them.

So, therefore, I need to be smarter, too. The days of four teammates passing the puck around the outside and me standing in front of the net waiting for the puck to arrive are pretty much over.

Penalty killing is way too aggressive. Power plays don't have the same time to get set up; it takes four or five good passes to get penalty killers to retreat into a more passive box. Sometimes that's just not possible, so I might take a few steps back into the high slot to get more involved. I'm a little-out-of my comfort zone up there, but I like to think I can still put a few in the back of the net now and then (17 goals in his first 60 games through mid-March) no matter where I'm standing.

As for the career power-play goal record, it's something I don't really think about all that much. I'm glad Phil Esposito was there when I passed him this season and I'm happy the game was in Tampa, but that's about it.

Records are made to be broken. I'm pretty sure this one won't be mine for long.

Bondra's defense valued with scoring

Chemistry is a funny thing. The Washington Capitals acquired center Robert Lang specifically to work with Peter Bondra. It was something less than a success story.

Yet Bondra, who owns or shares at least a dozen team records, has extended another. As the Capitals were demolishing the New York Rangers 7-2 on January 26, 2002, Bondra scored to record his 20th goal of the season, the 12th straight year he has racked up at least that many.

Coach Bruce Cassidy is pleased Bondra is contributing offense, but he is more pleased the right-winger is contributing at both ends.

"I think he's been pegged the wrong way, that if he's not scoring, he's not playing well," Cassidy said. "I don't agree. I've told him that when he's having a bad stretch he can still contribute and he has. He's made a conscious effort to be better away from the puck."

UKRAINIAN UTTERINGS: Due to their ninth- and 10th-place finishes in this year's World Junior Championship, Germany and Belarus have been relegated to the B pool next year. These two countries will be replaced by Austria and Ukraine. This is the first year two teams instead of one have been relegated. Some hockey experts fear this will result in a weakening at the bottom tier of the A pool since the majority of players who helped Austria and Ukraine move up will be too old to play in the World Junior Championship in 2004 ... Released by the Tampa Bay Lightning in the off-season, goalie Dieter Kochan managed to hook up with the young Minnesota Wild organization. With the injury to Manny Fernandez, Kochan suddenly found himself in the major circuit when recalled from the AHL's Houston Aeros ... Left-winger Ryan Bayda, who turned pro last spring after his junior year at North Dakota, is getting rave reviews in his late-season audition with the disappointing Carolina Hurricanes ... Speaking of which, goaltending prospect Randy Petruk was signed by the 'Canes to a two-year contract to share time in Lowell of the AHL ... Joey Kocur was promoted to full-time assistant coach by the Detroit Red Wings. Kocur was the team's video technician prior to the current 2002-2003 campaign ...

(Quotations in above segments thanks to Bruce Garrioch, Ottawa Senators beat writer; Mark Brender of The Hockey News; Dave Fay covering the Washington Capitals.)

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