In The Crease

Last week Viktor Fedorov, the father of the Red Wings' Sergei, said that his son should leave Detroit when his contract ends because the Wings have been playing the perennial All-Star center on the back line. Sergei met with coach Scotty Bowman before a game against the Capitals last Friday and told Bowman that he wasn't upset about playing defense and mat he would do anything to help the team. Bowman, however, moved him back to center, and that night Fedorov scored....

Timing is everything for three young goaltenders who are having career years: The contracts of the Canadiens' Jose Theodore, 25, the Sharks' Evgeni Nabokov, 26, and the Kings' Jamie Storr, 26, expire at season's end....

An owner usually doesn't push for one of his players to get selected for the All-Star Game, fearing that the player will use that honor as leverage in contract negotiations. Capitals owner Ted Leonsis, however, phoned commissioner Gary Bettman last week to complain that Washington wing Peter Bondra, who was sixth in the league in goals with 25, wasn't picked. Leonsis was told that the Caps already had two All-Stars, wing Jaromir Jagr and defenseman Sergei Gonchar, and that the league wanted representation from as many franchises as possible....

Flames center Marc Savard and his coach, Greg Gilbert, had words on the bench during a game last week after Savard blew a defensive-zone coverage that resulted in an Anaheim goal. Don't be surprised if Savard, who had Calgary's worst plus-minus mark (-17) through Sunday, gets traded....

Scouts need to look past heights and weights when evaluating players. For instance, Flyers 5'9", 180-pound forward Marty Murray, who has become one of the most consistent players on the NHL's third-best team, was eighth in the AHL in scoring last year, yet only four teams offered him a contract last summer after the Flames released him.