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 Inside the NHL
Posted: Tuesday July 13, 1999 04:29 PM Money For Nothing? | In the Crease Buffalo escapes discipline for ripping the NHL following the finals By Michael Farber and Kostya Kennedy
Brett Hull's controversial Stanley Cup-winning goal for the Stars may prove to be one of the most memorable tallies in NHL history, but the league seems to be trying to forget it. Despite the severe, even scurrilous criticism of league officials by the Sabres following Hull's triple-overtime goal in Game 6 last month, the NHL took no disciplinary action. "The situation was obviously emotional," Bernadette Mansur, NHL vice president of communications, told SI last week. "What was said in the heat of the moment was said. There's no need to escalate the situation. It's over, and we've moved on." Such magnanimity in the wake of attacks on the league by Buffalo coach Lindy Ruff and some of his players contrasted sharply with the punishment meted out to Flyers owner Ed Snider and coach Roger Neilson after the first round of the playoffs. Incensed by an elbowing penalty imposed by referee Terry Gregson on Flyers left wing John LeClair with 2:54 left in regulation in Game 6 against Toronto -- which led to the power-play goal that won the series for the Maple Leafs -- Neilson blasted the officiating at his postmatch press conference. Meanwhile, outside Philadelphia's dressing room, Snider delivered a tirade that questioned Gregson's integrity. About 15 minutes later Snider returned for another rant, in case any member of the press had missed the first one. Two days later the NHL fined Snider $50,000 and Neilson $25,000 for violating league bylaws that prohibit public statements criticizing referees. The Sabres' outbursts were no less incendiary. Ruff angrily confronted commissioner Gary Bettman as he went to the ice to award the Conn Smythe Trophy, demanding a video review of the winning goal; Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek suggested that the goal judge had been either asleep or in the men's room; and Buffalo forward Joe Juneau, after the league said that it did review the goal and explained why it should stand, declared that "the NHL's just trying to cover its ass." Buffalo general manager Darcy Regier, not surprisingly, defends the Sabres' statements and the league's tolerance of them. "I think Lindy and the players were simply disagreeing with the goal, not attacking the league or a referee or the commissioner," Regier says. His interpretation is as liberal as the NHL's ruling that Hull was in possession of the puck, which validated the goal even though his skate was in the crease. Less than 48 hours after Game 6, the NHL's Board of Governors changed the crease rule, making crease infringement ineligible for video review. By not fining the Sabres for their verbal abuse, the league wants to make the fuss over Hull's disputed goal go away, too.
Oxygenated Water: The Stars' suffocating defense best explains why they beat the Sabres in six games in the Stanley Cup finals last month, but for a more complete analysis of Dallas's performance, consider this: There was something in the water. After three games of the Western Conference finals against the Avalanche, Stars center Mike Modano was feeling fatigued. Fortunately, someone told him about Oxenergy, a bottled water that is said to contain about 400% more oxygen than most spring water. Oxenergy can significantly raise one's blood-oxygen levels, and athletes who have drunk it regularly -- including members of the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics -- say that it helps increase their stamina and repair injured tissue. Desperate to shake his lethargy, Modano ordered two cases to be flown in from Oxyl'Eau, a company in Woodbridge, Ont., in time for Game 4. By the end of the match he was breathing sighs of relief. "The water helped me recover better after shifts," Modano says. "I'd get a second wind." Subsequently Modano and many of his teammates drank Oxenergy during and after every game, and they swear by its salutary effects. The day before Game 6 of the Cup finals Mark Scappaticci, a trainer who works with the Sabres, heard that the Stars were using Oxenergy and worried that it was giving them an edge. He phoned Tom Harmantas, an assistant professor of surgery at the University of Toronto who also works for Oxyl'Eau, and begged for some water for the Buffalo players. Harmantas stacked eight cases (each containing two dozen 500 milliliter bottles and selling for $48) into the trunk of his BMW and drove to Buffalo, where he arrived at the Sabres' hotel at about 10 p.m. The players were already in their rooms for the night, but when Harmantas put the water down in the hotel hallway, he says, "it was like mice darting out for cheese. They came out, grabbed the cases and went back in their rooms." Since the finals Oxyl'Eau has received calls from NHL players and teams wanting to try the water. Whether this is a fad remains to be seen, but because the water's only known side effect is light-headedness if too much is drunk too quickly, many teams are expected to try it next year. As Scappaticci says, "The players think it works, so they'll keep using it." In a span of three days last week, the Rangers committed more than $50 million to sign long-term contracts with free-agent forwards Theoren Fleury and Valeri Kamensky and defenseman Stephane Quintal. But you don't always get what you pay for. Here are the best and worst signings of unrestricted free agents over the last three years.
Red Wings defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom has given his agent, Don Meehan , permission to negotiate a new contract with Detroit, indicating that Lidstrom is leaning toward rejecting an offer from Västerås of the Swedish Elite League. Lidstrom is looking for something close to Brian Leetch 's salary of more than $8 million a year, although he doesn't have the bargaining power Leetch had. Leetch would have been a free agent if he hadn't re-upped with the Rangers last month.... The Canucks are trying to sign first-round draft choices Daniel and Henrik Sedin by Thursday, because after July 15 the club will be required to pay a $100,000 transfer fee to the International Ice Hockey Federation for each of the twins if they play in the NHL next season. The Sedins have been saying since last fall that they plan to finish their last year of high school in Sweden, while playing with their Swedish club, MoDo.... The Maple Leafs' Pat Quinn might be successful as both coach and general manager (he'll get the latter title later this month), but history suggests those jobs are too big for one man. The men who most recently held both positions -- Mike Keenan of the Blues, Jacques Demers of the Lightning and Mike Milbury of the Islanders -- were underwhelming.... Roman Turek , whom St. Louis acquired from the Stars last month, will be given a chance to beat out Grant Fuhr and become the Blues' No. 1 goalie. Fuhr once lost his job to another well-regarded but inexperienced Czech in his late 20s who came to Fuhr's team in a summer trade. The goalie? Dominik Hasek .
Issue date: July 19, 1999
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