Posted: Fri May 22, 1998

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

Well, now's a good time to click over to my predictions page and pick against me, because I'm sure my luck is running out. In the 12 playoff series played so far I've picked the winner in 11. The one series I missed on was Ottawa-New Jersey in the first round of the Eastern Conference, which means only Washington wasn't among my pre-playoff final four. I don't mean to crow—I realize I can't go on like this. I think the last time I went 11-for-12 of anything was in a third-grade spelling bee.

Are Washington and Buffalo for real? Both teams have shown spurts of greatness in the playoffs, but could the winner of this series actually beat the Detroit-Dallas winner?
—Chris Beer, Portsmouth, N.H.

Well, yes, they're for real. I figured Buffalo would advance this far from the get-go. Neither the Sabres nor the Caps will go down as one of the era's greats—as the Red Wings will—but both are good, feisty, opportunistic teams with hot goaltending and a deserved chance at the Cup. That said, I wouldn't pick either one of them to beat the Dallas/Detroit winner.

I feel that NHL officials have not called a single "dive" in the playoffs and teams like the Sabres have taken advantage of it. Do you agree, and if so, why aren't the officials calling it?
—Britton D. Smith, Burnsville, Minn.

Yes, officials have missed a lot of dives, but I don't blame them. They've had a tough assignment ever since midseason when the league mandated a crackdown on obstruction fouls. The crackdown has opened the game up significantly, and the officials are being dutifully vigilant in calling obstruction during the playoffs, but it's hard for a ref to turn his back when someone goes down. If they assume it to be a dive and it turns out to be obstruction, the ref will get scolded. Next year—assuming the crackdown is here to stay, which I certainly hope—the referees and the players will have had plenty of time, including a whole preseason, to get used to the rules. And by then the GMs will be officially warning refs to call diving as well as obstruction. That's when the diving problem will decrease.

I guess you and I define "skill player" in different fashions. There is no way Pavel Bure or Sergei Fedorov are better skill players than Paul Kariya, Joe Sakic or Eric Lindros. Sure, Bure is fast, but he's never in his own defensive end nor in the corners; he is a one-dimensional player. Yet we all have different opinions, so I guess I'd like to know who you think are the five best overall players in the league.
—Giorje Oleivera, Athens, Greece

Boston's Bourque is probably the best all-around defenseman in the league.    (David E. Klutho)

You have a strong point on Bure's defensive lapses, but I didn't weigh it against him in my "skill" definition. Kariya is up there with all of them, but I excluded him because he's played so few games of late. You won't get me to give in on Fedorov.

It's very, very tough to whittle the league down to the five best all-around players. But here we go—not counting goaltenders and again leaving out Kariya, who would otherwise be on this list.

In no particular order:

Colorado's Peter Forsberg, Detroit's Sergei Fedorov, Philadelphia's Eric Lindros, Boston's Ray Bourque and Dallas' Mike Modano. For another defenseman I'd take Los Angeles' Rob Blake.

Mike Modano isn't a skill player? He has all the skill of the other players you mentioned plus he's a great defensive player, too, matched only by Sergei Fedorov on your list. Why isn't he in your top five?
—Jeff Townsend, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Yes, Modano is a skill player—he's a skill player plus as you mention. He was tough to leave off the list. I still wouldn't put him in my personal top five because I think he's a shade less dynamic than the guys I selected. He's a smidgen less likely to make that play that lifts you out of your seat. But he's very, very good and if he's on your list of the five best skill players, you'll get no scolding from here.

How do you think Steve Yzerman would have matched up against your top five skill players when he was in his prime? I haven't seen any of your selections score 150 points in a season, although Jaromir Jagr did get 149.
—Scott, Boston

Yzerman probably would have been among the top five in his prime, though he had some pretty fair company in those years—Mario Lemieux, Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and a sometimes unstoppable Brett Hull, for instance.

I would like to know why it is that Eric Lindros gets so much negative publicity and unfair criticism when his team fails, yet no one says anything bad about Peter Forsberg, Jaromir Jagr, Alexander Mogilny or Pavel Bure when their teams make early exits from the playoffs (or don't make the postseason at all). Is it because we expect more from North American players or does Lindros rub journalists the wrong way?
—Ray Fernandez, Toronto

For as long as he's a Flyer, Lindros will almost certainly get vast blame for the team's failings and vast credit for its successes. Lindros is a captain—guys like Mogilny and Bure aren't, so they don't get held to the same level of accountability. Lindros also plays on a team that has only two stars: him and John LeClair. One of the reasons Forsberg never gets all the blame or accolades for the Avalanche's accomplishments is that guys like Joe Sakic, Sandis Ozolinsh and Patrick Roy are around (though Forsberg, of course, is the best player).

When a guy is as visible, as talented and as headstrong as Lindros is, he has to accept that he's The Man, for better or for worse. Mark Messier, for one, has made a damn fine career doing exactly that ever since Wayne Gretzky was traded from the Oilers. Chris Chelios gets held to those standards in Chicago as well.

Should teams like the Flyers change their style of play and look to get skilled players from Europe instead of sticking with a traditional style that hasn't worked? Do you think Ron Hextall can cut it as No. 1 goalie anymore? Does GM Bobby Clarke pull the trigger too fast when trading?
—Nick Sperdoulis, Katerini, Greece

Yes, the Flyers need to adapt their game and their roster a little bit. Just being big isn't going to cut it. I still think Hextall's a fair goalie, and I like him better than Sean Burke, but if they're serious about a Cup run they need to bring someone else in. I wouldn't say Clarke pulls the trigger too quickly; he's just been aiming the wrong way. That trade in March of Janne Niinimaa for Dan McGillis and a draft choice was just astounding in its shortsightedness. The organization needs to take a real firm direction and follow it. And the Flyers need to remember that the Broad Street Bullies are a thing of the past.

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

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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
May 19: Skills equal thrills