Posted: Tue May 19, 1998

Sports Illustrated hockey writer Kostya Kennedy will answer your NHL questions through the Stanley Cup Finals. Click here to send a question.

So last week we named the five best skill players in the NHL, and opened it up to debate. We should have defined "skill player," which in hockey argot implies someone with speed, explosiveness, deft stickhandling ability and a wicked shot. We could also call these "finesse" players. So for Dan Rash of Hockessin, Del., who e-mailed to say that Philadelphia's John LeClair and Eric Lindros should be on the list: certainly both players are extremely skilled in some sense. LeClair is a brilliant goal scorer, of course, and Lindros is the most intimidating, talented presence in the league. But for our artifice they just didn't fit the bill.

That also holds true for Detroit's Steve Yzerman, the candidate of CNN/SI user Mark Reid of Cambridge, Vt. All of Yzerman's skills are well above average, but he doesn't match up to the stars in the "skill" areas we were implicitly talking about. Yzerman's greatest value is his cageyness—he could be anyone's captain. There are others who might be better overall hockey players—Detroit's Brendan Shanahan, Dallas' Mike Modano, Boston's Ray Bourque, to name a few—than the five I mentioned, but they can't be defined as "skill players."

Riku Lehtonen of Tampere, Finland, pointed out that all five players on our list are European. This is partly a trend (Wayne Gretzky is in decline, Mario Lemieux is in retirement) but it also has to do with the fact that Eastern Europe is a relatively new recruiting ground. And in the past decade the players who've come over have been the cream of the crop. That's beginning to change and we should get more equal representation over time. Maybe the biggest reason why so many of the top finesse players are European is that they grow up playing nonviolent games on wider rinks than North Americans do. The smashmouth brand of hockey so popular in, say, Flin Flon, Manitoba, is a rarity in Europe. There the game is generally more artful and less dependent on violence than in Canada. That's why Europeans long had a reputation for being "soft" in the NHL, which—anyone who has watched Colorado's Peter Forsberg, Detroit's Vladimir Konstantinov and many others will attest—is no longer the case.

On to your questions:

What's your assessment thus far of Chris Osgood's play during the playoffs? Seems to me he's run hot and cold and the Al MacInnis goal in Game 3 could have turned the series against Detroit. Ozzie is one of the league's Top 10 in my opinion, but it just seems he's been inconsistent during the St. Louis series.
—Chris Mykrantz, South Salem, N.Y.

Osgood has his weaknesses, but the rest of the Red Wings are probably good enough to overcome his lapses.    (AP/Tom Pidgeon)

Yes, he's been hot and cold, and he's surprisingly taken no real criticism for it. When he gave up that MacInnis goal, as well as the long slapper he surrendered to Jeremy Roenick in the Coyotes series, he dismissed them both as no big deal. Osgood hasn't made his last blunder of the postseason, but he'll make his share of saves and probably won't end up costing the Wings a game.

Which NHL team would suffer the most by losing its No. 1 player? Perhaps Anaheim, Pittsburgh or even Buffalo?
—Gordon Cooper, Bermuda

Definitely Buffalo. Goalie Dominik Hasek, even on an off night, makes the kind of saves that the Sabres rally around. Also, he completely discourages the opposition. Pittsburgh's my second choice; the Penguins play that button-down defensive style partially because they know center Jaromir Jagr is apt to break out with a big goal or a huge pass to help them win games. Hasek and Jagr both affect the entire on-ice mojo of their clubs. Also, I think the Bruins would have been dead this year without defenseman Ray Bourque. He makes such a huge difference on the ice and off it.

Do you think the NHL is in trouble? There are so many bad players still skating in the playoffs, you'd think NHL stands for No-talent Hockey League.
—Kevin, Phoenix

Yes there's a wealth of career minor leaguers/journeyman playing pivotal roles this year—and of course expansion is to blame (or thank) for that. The Penguins were made up of a lot of ex-minor leaguers (i.e., Brad Werenka, Rob Brown) and they were good enough to finish first in the Northeast Division.

Yes, talent has been watered down, but the guys we're seeing are still studs by any but the NHL's extremely high standards. The Blues, for example, win with these kinds of players because so much of the game revolves around playing defense and sticking to a system. So it's easy to plug in veteran guys who don't mind working. That's what career minor leaguers love to do.

What if the Leafs tried to sign Marc Crawford as coach and went after Uwe Krupp, Gary Suter, Steve Thomas, Doug Gilmour and Curtis Joseph as free agents? Then they could work on a trade that would send maybe Felix Potvin, Mathieu Schneider and others—but not Mats Sundin!—to the Flyers for Eric Lindros. Is any of this viable?
—Adrian, Mississauga, Ontario

I don't know what Crawford wants to do next year but he could be a good fit in Toronto, assuming the Avalanche give him the pink slip—and, yes, he could lure some players he knows. But the Flyers are more likely to try to go after CuJo than to try to get Potvin in a deal. In any event, there's no way a trade of Potvin, Schneider and whoever else would get Lindros. The Leafs would have to include Sundin, and that might not be enough (depending on Flyers GM Bob Clarke's mood). Gilmour doesn't want to return to Toronto, period.

I agree with the call for stricter penalties. Here is my concept: If a player takes someone's knee out and the injured player misses a month, shouldn't the player who inflicted the injury miss the same amount of time? I can't be the only person who's sick of watching a certain San Jose defenseman whose last name begins with an M take out guys' knees seemingly night after night, especially when the guys he's hurting are 100 times more skilled than he is.
—Ian, Pueblo, Colo.

It's an interesting concept and one the league has mulled over. But injuries can be fluky. A very dirty hit might only keep a guy out for a game—say, with a sore neck—while a borderline dirty hit could cost a guy weeks. I'm all for tougher punishment—particularly for thugs like that San Jose defenseman you mentioned—but I'm not sure an eye for an eye really works.

Can you imagine the Detroit Red Wings without their Russian players?
—Valery Potapov, Moscow, Russia

No. Without their Russian stars, there would be no Red Wings as we know them. Detroit would be an ordinary team—at best.

Send a question to Kostya Kennedy, and check back Friday to read more of his responses.

Previous NHL Playoff Mailbags
April 16: Setting the stage for the scramble
April 21: Reasons to get upset
April 24: No Sabres insurance needed
April 27: Let's not go to the videotape
May 1: Them's fightin' words
May 5: Calling Mr. Crawford
May 8: Lemaire couldn't stand the heat
May 12: The best of the best
May 15: Winging it with Fedorov