Excellent stuff here, Michael. Dealing Richter would be wise because he's at the peak of his value and those are two needy and well-stocked teams for Glen Sather to try to deal with. They should have hired Hitchcock yesterday. Holik is the kind of center the Rangers (and almost any team) needs to be a contending force up the middle.

I only part ways with you on your fourth point. There's no need to rush out and trade Nedved -- especially given the perpetual uncertainty of Eric Lindros' health. If the Rangers could get a good deal, sure, they should part with Nedved. Otherwise, they should hold on to him. He still has high-level skills and there's room for both him and Lundmark on the team.

Kostya, how could you celebrate Theo Fleury? There has been no bigger jerk in the NHL all year, as he has proved again in the very first game back from the Olympics. I don't care what he has been through, there are many more people who have had it tougher and have made it without his money. Why do you think other NHLers take runs at him? His penalty in the U.S.-Canada game could have cost the Canadians dearly. I just don't understand your thinking on this one. This man should be scolded, not celebrated.
—Jim, Washington, D.C.

His penalty in the U.S.-Canada game never occurred. It was an absolute bogus call. You couldn't have seen it because it never happened. So I reject any criticism of Theo on those grounds. In the context of life at large, many, many, many people have endured, and triumphed over, far worse fates than Fleury has. By NHL standards, though, the circumstances of his past and present situation -- much of which I won't discuss publicly, but which, perhaps, you've gotten the gist of -- put an extraordinary burden upon him. Yes, Theo can be ornery on the ice, and he's no model citizen. At 5-foot-6 you don't become one of the league's best players without having a serious edge. Fleury's effort in Salt Lake City was flat-out inspiring, and his reaction to the gold flat-out uplifting. I do celebrate him, and I'm certain he's one of the most misunderstood players in hockey.

Will the Pens continue to take trade offers for Darius Kasparaitis and Robert Lang despite Mario Lemieux's absence for the remainder of the season? I don't think this is a wise move unless they get star-quality players in return. How about the Pens obtaining Teemu Selanne from the Sharks?
—Jon Maxwell, Milwaukee, Wisc.

I'd put the likelihood of Kasparaitis being traded at about 95 percent. He's the team's most impactful defenseman and they need him, but he's going to be a free agent after this season and Craig Patrick will neither pay him nor lose him for nothing. Kasparaitis can bring something pretty good in return. Also, many in the Penguins' organization don't like the way Kasparaitis tends to abandon the puck to make a big hit. The chance of Lang being moved is a bit lower, maybe 80 percent. Same deal: he'll be a free agent this summer. Lang, though, does bring some decent leadership to the team -- he's a frank, honest veteran -- and with Mario and Martin Straka out and Jaromir Jagr gone, the Penguins' once-rich cast of forwards is suddenly thin. So, for those reasons, there's a chance Lang stays in Pittsburgh.

Another possibility, however, is that Lang and Kasparaitis could go as a package, and I expect the Penguins to get younger and cheaper in any deal they make. The exception would be if they could bring in a serious defenseman to anchor the team for the next few years. You know, I'm kind of with you on the Selanne thing -- he'd be an exciting element in Pittsburgh. But because of the money he makes, and because he doesn't seem to be able of carrying a line by himself at this stage, it's not a likely fit. If Mario comes back healthy and a Selanne trade still seems plausible in the summertime, there's a slight chance we could see something happen then.

Kostya, I thought the NHL wouldn't allow impact players to miss regular-season games to play in the Olympics. But the league seemed to turn the other cheek when Super Mario essentially did just that. He took off several regular-season games so he would be healthier when the Olympics came around. Why the double standard?
—Giovanni, San Jose, Calif.

Giovanni , go to the Feb. 25 edition of Sports Illustrated's Feb. 25 edition of Inside the NHL for a closer look at this. There are a lot of subtleties in the matter, but it basically comes down to two things: 1) Lemieux, as the NHL's lone mainstream superstar, is bigger than the game; and 2) Lemieux, as owner of the Penguins, is one of Gary Bettman's bosses.

Do you think that the number of Red Wings who played in the Olympics will come back to haunt Detroit during the home stretch? They are talented, but they are not a young team. More to the point, do you think that, given the intensity of those games in the Olympics, it could tear at team cohesion as well? As a follow-up question, do you see an NHL team hiring Slava Fetisov as a head coach? He seems to be very well respected by both Europeans and North Americans.
—Steve Adams, New Hope, Minn.

Scotty Bowman will be very careful in utilizing the Olympic players down the stretch. He'll apportion rest where and when needed so that the team is healthy by the playoffs. He can't risk them running out of gas in the postseason and he won't. The Wings' cushion in the West gives Bowman the flexibility to excuse players from practices and occasional games. As for your next point, I don't see any tearing of team cohesion as a result of the Olympics. Canada's Steve Yzerman spoke compassionately about his Wings teammates Nicklas Lidstrom and Tomas Holmstrom after they suffered that awful loss with Sweden. While the Games were intense, they were not that physical, and teams didn't see each other enough for grudges to build up.

Lastly, Fetisov is indeed respected -- though his weird and unfounded blasting of NHL refs after Russia's semifinal loss to the U.S. didn't help his credibility. He's smart and strong and deeply experienced, and as such has the makings of a coach. He may, however, have to take a head job in the minor leagues for a while or hook on somewhere as an NHL team's top associate before anyone will give him the reins.

In your last mailbag you mentioned that there isn't much fuss about the officiating in the women's gold medal game. In Canada we're still talking about it, wondering if anything has been done to the referee, for example a ban from ever officiating hockey again. If not, what do you feel is an appropriate punishment?

P.S. It was very biased officiating.
—Brent, Drumheller, Alberta

This is amazing. Get over it. Your team won the gold medal. Stacey Livingston reffed a poor game, we're all agreed on that, but to suggest a ban is absurd. What exactly are you wacked-out on up there in Alberta, Brent? I'm assuming you saw the whole game, as I did, and I'm assuming you've reviewed the penalties closely, without just looking at the final penalty tally (26 penalty minutes for Canada versus 12 for the U.S.) as a basis for your nonsensical charge. So, what was it that bothered you specifically? The two tripping calls on Jennifer Botterill? The well-deserved cross-check on Vicky Sunohara? Young Caroline Ouellettes' holding and roughing infractions? As I said, Livingston missed a couple of calls (the body-checking call on Therese Brisson, to name one) but she did not ref nearly as bad a game as people pretend she did. You'd do well to come up with some evidence before charging someone with bias. Man, that's ugly.

Sports Illustrated senior writer Kostya Kennedy covers the NHL for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. To send a question to his Mailbag, click here.

 

Related information
Multimedia
Visit Video Plus for the latest audio and video
Search our site	Watch CNN/SI 24 hours a day
	Sports Illustrated and CNN have combined to form a 24 hour sports news and information channel. To receive CNN/SI at your home call your cable operator or DirecTV.