Power of Caring
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Gotta do something

Rehabbing Povtin may be part of Isles' offseason fixes

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Posted: Monday April 12, 1999 05:56 PM

The New York Islanders are attempting to revive the value of goaltender Felix Potvin. The former Toronto Maple Leaf has been out of the lineup since Feb. 12 with a groin injury, but he played a part of the game on April 10 and was to see regular action in this the final week of the season.

The rumor in New York is that the Islanders want to rehabilitate Potvin's game and have him be their No.1 next season while they continue to develop prospect Roberto Loungo.

Costly off day for Ducks' Trepanier

Word on the street is that Mighty Ducks defenseman Paul Trepanier suffered his season-ending knee injury in an off-ice incident, a pick-up basketball game with teammates.

The incident is said to have occurred during an off-day in Dallas when the players put together a hoops outing at a local health club.

The Ducks have been mum on exactly how the accident happened, but Trepanier has a torn right anterior cruciate ligament.

Pavel Bure's knee spawns medical debate

It's a bit more clouded in Florida where the team doctor was initially quoted as saying Pavel Bure had knee problems when he was first examined and that they were related to the surgery he had back in 1995.

Panthers management and the team doctor have now backed away from those quotes and the doctor is saying the knee was well within acceptable limits when Bure was first brought on board.

This is a huge issue in Florida in that Bure only played a handful of games before going down with a torn ACL, the same ACL that was surgically repaired back in 1995.

The legal ramifications could be immense. Certain reputations in the medical community could also at stake if it's determined that the current problems are directly related to the past surgery and that Bure should not have been signed to a long-term deal until they were resolved.

Islanders' Stewart too honest?

Islanders coach Bill Stewart may have seriously injured his chances to return to that team next season. Stewart has been critical of the talent level on the club.

In a recent post-game talk, Stewart said, "Have you looked at our lineup? Enough said ... At the present time we don't have the resources --- and in this league if you don't have the resources, it's very tough to be a competitive hockey club. I won't heap one ounce of blame to the people inside the hockey room. They're giving their all.

"Certainly if we had the resources to go out and acquire some NHL talent, it would be a different story."

Truer words are seldom spoken, but they are also certain to anger general manager Mike Milbury and the Isles' owners.

They could also cost Stewart a coaching job next season.

Jim Kelley covers the NHL -- and the Sabres -- for the Buffalo News. His notebook appears weekly on CNN/SI.com.

 

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