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Minnesota's Wild about the NHL
When the Minnesota North Stars fled to Dallas in 1993, it appeared owner Norm Green had salted the earth and pro hockey could never again grow in the Twin Cities. Well, the expansion Minnesota Wild are not merely blooming; they're Jack's beanstalk. The Wild will sell out every game, bump their season-ticket base from 15,500 to 16,000 next season and maintain a waiting list of 1,400 for the coveted seats. And Wild merchandise is the second most popular in the league, trailing only Detroit. Of course, this is an on-ice triumph, too. Minnesota has crept to the fringes of the Western Conference playoff race, frustrating more talented teams with coach Jacques Lemaire's trap and Manny Fernandez's goaltending. Fernandez has 17 wins, four shy of the expansion record set by Florida's John Vanbiesbrouck in 1993-94.
Playing politics in San JoseSan Jose Sharks general manager Dean Lombardi turned to the Middle East for an analogy last Saturday in the wake of Owen Nolan's 11-game suspension, suggesting the Sharks and the NHL have as much common ground as the Arabs and Israelis. The genesis -- if you'll pardon the Biblical pun -- of the strained relations? They go back to 1998, when the Sharks pulled a fast one by trading a ninth-round pick to Chicago for the rights to free-agent defenseman Gary Suter, who had a contract wrapped up with San Jose on July 1, the first day of the signing period. The envelope-pushing Lombardi also angered the NHL with Nolan's new contract earlier this season, a five-year deal with an automatic sixth year if there is a work stoppage in 2004. That contract, incidentally, has been registered by the league.
Trying to avoid a revoltRussian Ice Hockey Federation director Alexander Steblin and coach Boris Mikhailov are coming to North America on Feb. 22 to quell a nascent player revolt over Olympic participation. Several players, including Ottawa's Alexei Yashin, have expressed disappointment with the organization of the squad, which lags behind the U.S., Canada and other countries in readiness for Salt Lake City. New Jersey assistant coach Slava Fetisov spent the All-Star break in Moscow, letting it be known he would gladly coach the team. Fetisov, in the final year of his Devils contract, could be angling for Steblin's job, which is subject to a vote April 18. Sports Illustrated senior writer Michael Farber covers the NHL beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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