Falling into place

Everything's finally coming together in Colorado

The pieces are falling into place in Colorado.

Peter Forsberg may be back from his injury sabbatical as soon as the end of January. The two-way center is a force at any time but now pain-free in his ankles and fully recovered from a splenectomy, an eager Forsberg should be dominant once he finds his game legs.

Now general manager Pierre Lacroix can play to a personal strength, making a late, eye-catching deal as he has done in the past with Theo Fleury, Ray Bourque and Rob Blake.

The Avalanche lack blue-line depth and could turn their attention to Pittsburgh's Darius Kasparaitis, a future unrestricted free agent who also interests Detroit.

Teams do some soul-searching before trade deadline

As the March trading deadline inches closer, teams are assessing two things: their playoff chances and their ability to sign their potential free agents. The tired routine of ditching free agents for prospects may not be so prevalent this year because so many marquee unrestricted free agents play on teams with Stanley Cup aspirations.

The Boston Bruins, as likely to emerge from the weaker Eastern Conference as anyone, have two key players -- goalie Byron Dafoe and winger Bill Guerin -- in that category. They should be keepers.

Dallas also must decide if it will ride out the season with goalie Ed Belfour, Chicago with right wing Tony Amonte, San Jose with largely ineffective winger Teemu Selanne and New Jersey with headstrong but irreplaceable center Bobby Holik.

Hockey Canada watching Fleury closely

Theo Fleury's potential for a meltdown has been on the mind of Canadian hockey officials for more than a year.

As early as January 2001, Olympic executive director Wayne Gretzky was telephoning confidantes asking if they thought naming Fleury as one of the initial eight players in March would help him personally or whether he would benefit more from the carrot of waiting until December.

Fleury entered rehab last February, eliminating him from early consideration. Given his volatility, Hockey Canada debated Fleury's pros and cons last month but finally opted for his talent and enthusiasm when it named the team Dec. 15.

This predates the recent New York Rangers' trip in which Fleury attributed his erratic behavior, including an off-ice confrontation with San Jose's mascot, to family problems.

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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