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Friday, March 9, 2001
Sharks beat Blues to the bite
By Al Morganti
Special to ESPN.com
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The San Jose Sharks will finish this season with the first winning record in their 10-year history. But a winning record isn't enough, which is why the Sharks beat St. Louis and the New York Rangers to the draw and acquired Teemu Selanne from the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim on Monday for forward Jeff Friesen and goalie Steve Shields.
This is a very clear statement that the Sharks are no longer about the future, but very much about now.
"This makes us better," said Lombardi. "It's something we talked about being possible maybe in the summer. But when it came up for this season, we thought 'This is a
guy who is very special, so let's go for it.'"
The deal came together after both sides went through a long feeling-out process in which names were added and subtracted over the course of a few weeks.
"You talk a little about it, but you know that you are probably one of the last teams they want to deal with," said Lombardi. "Then it heats up a little, and you realize it
might be a possibility.
"The one thing that made me think it could happen is that I knew they wanted to shore up the goaltending. How many teams had a number one goalie and could move him?"
It was a short list that included the Sharks, the Phoenix Coyotes with Nikolai Khabibulin (who was traded to Tampa Bay on Monday night), and, at one time, the New York Rangers with Mike Richter, before Richter suffered a knee injury that ended his season. The problem with Khabibulin was his contract status – he was a free agent holdout who wanted to be paid for all of this season.
"Maybe when Richter got hurt, we really had a chance," said Lombardi. "I talked to Pierre a lot," said Lombardi, referring to Anaheim GM Pierre Gauthier. "I think we
were probably talking about something, and I said maybe he could trade us that Selanne guy, and he might have said something like, 'You never know.'"
The Ducks, who will miss the playoffs again, have been in a difficult situation this season – they have a pair of wingers in Selanne and Paul Kariya, who make about $19 million combined, and no center to play with them.
The deal reached its final stages on Friday after both sides checked with their owners.
"I said to him (Pierre): 'My guys are serious; are your guys serious?' He said his guys were serious, so when we both decided we were serious, we said, 'Well, let's tango.'"
The deal stalled on Saturday because Gauthier's wife delivered a baby. But on Sunday night, Gauthier called Lombardi and the two hammered out the
deal until 2:30 a.m. Monday. Before it was completed, the league had to give its approval on two aspects – the exchange of money from Anaheim to San Jose and the deal itself.
Two years ago, the NHL nixed a deal that would have sent Zigmund Palffy from the Islanders to the Rangers for cash. In this case, the Ducks will pay San Jose an undisclosed sum both this season and next to cover some cost of Selanne's contract.
One of the Sharks' concerns was their internal salary structure. The Sharks wanted to be able to keep their economic house in order by having the Ducks pay what amounts to part of Selanne's salary to keep it in line with that of their highest paid player, Owen Nolan, and the rest of the team.
The addition of Selanne's $9.5 million salary for next season, minus the contracts of Friesen ($2.5 million) and Shields ($1.8 million), will move the Sharks' payroll from about $35 million this season to about $41.5 million next year – still less than the league's high-salary teams of Dallas, Colorado and Detroit, and far less than the $60 million payroll of the New York Rangers.
Aside from the financial angle, a bigger reason this deal could be completed is that San Jose might have the most depth at goaltending than any team in the NHL, with the
possible exception of the Buffalo Sabres. Although Shields was highly regarded by the Sharks, the staring job has been taken over by Evgeni Nabokov and minor-league prospect Miikka Kiprusoff apparently is ready for NHL duty. At least six teams have called the Sharks about Kiprusoff over the past few weeks and a few even indicated they wanted Kiprusoff to start for them immediately.
The Sharks were also able to part with a young talent such as Friesen because the organization has highly-regarded young forwards in Patrick Marleau and
Marco Sturm. Neither has the skills of Friesen, but they will be a part of a reliable group of players behind stars such as Nolan, injured Vincent Damphousse and Selanne.
The Sharks made the deal after losing the first four games of their current six-game road trip. Selanne is expected to join the team in Florida, where the Sharks will play Tampa on Tuesday night, then finish the trip against the Florida Panthers on Wednesday. Over the course of the trip, the Sharks surrendered first place in the division to the Dallas Stars. The difference between winning the Pacific Division and finishing second could mean a huge difference in the quality of opponent in the first round of the playoffs.
The Sharks also have been stung by the loss of defenseman Gary Suter, who is out for at least two weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery
"Our power play has been awful, this should help," said Lombardi.
The way it should help is that Selanne tends to position himself on the half boards, and then swoops in on the play, much like Bernie Nicholls used to do with Suter. That move will be even more effective with Nolan in front of the net, and Damphousse making the whole thing click when he returns.
"This guy (Selanne) is not a perimeter fancy Dan," said Lombardi. "He is a guy who will be a tough playoff player. He's shown he can go into the tough places and score ... We didn't have to scout him, whenever we played them (Anaheim) he scared the hell out of us."
And now the rest of the West has reason to be scared of the Sharks.
Plan B for the Blues
The Sharks' acquisition of Selanne will be a major blow to the St. Louis Blues, who might turn their attention toward Keith Tkachuk of the Phoenix Coyotes. The Blues' hopes to get goalie Mike Richter from the Rangers were dashed when he suffered a season-ending injury. They then watched as defenseman Rob Blake landed in Colorado.
Phoenix may want to trade Tkachuk out of the conference, and Washington has shown some interest. If that's the case, the Blues may find themselves in a battle with Dallas to land Buffalo Sabres captain Michael Peca, a restricted free agent who has not played all season as the result of a contract holdout.
If everything fails, expect the Blues to make a major push during the summer to sign Joe Sakic as an unrestricted free agent. The Mighty Ducks might also go after Sakic with the money they are no longer paying Selanne.
Heinze anticipating a pay day?
Three forwards who are likely to be traded by next Tuesday's deadline are Mike Sillinger of Florida, Donald Audette of Atlanta and Steve Heinze of Columbus.
Heinze, who will be an unrestricted free agent after this season, is having trouble reaching an agreement on a new deal with the Blue Jackets. He is just one of many
steady forwards who should benefit from the contract Steve Sullivan signed recently with the Chicago Blackhawks for $3 million per season. That contract will raise
the standard for players such as Heinze and Scott Pellerin, who was traded recently from the Minnesota Wild to Carolina.
Devils doing it again
You've got to wonder if teams in the Eastern Conference are going to go to the wall at the trade deadline when they know the road to the finals will most likely go through New Jersey.
The defending Stanley Cup champion Devils spent much of the season laying in the weeds around the Meadowlands, but now they appear ready to pounce in the playoffs. The Devils started the season in nasty contract squabbles with stars Jason Arnott and Scott Niedermayer out of the lineup. However, their impressive depth chart allowed them to lurk around the top of the conference.
After both players were back in the fold, the Devils then had to deal with a litany of injuries. The latest involved the absence of Arnott and
Scott Gomez with back injuries, and Peter Sykora with a shoulder injury.
Now, they are starting to get healthy again. Last weekend, Arnott and linemate Sykora were reunited with Patrick Elias. That line, which as been together longer than any in the league, accounted for 11 points during a 7-3 victory over Carolina. Two days later, Arnott and Sykora scored two each during a 6-0 blitz of Tampa Bay.
It was an offenive display rivaled only by the Pittsburgh Penguins since Mario Lemieux's return. The difference, of course, is that the Devils also play some defense and have goalie Martin Brodeur.
As if they weren't strong enough, the Devils strengthened their playoff chances when GM Lou Lamoriello acquired Minnesota defenseman Sean O'Donnell. Even if they do nothing else between now and next week's trade deadline, the Devils have re-established a clear superiority in the East.
Coaching candidates could include contenders
The most likely candidates to take over the coaching job with the New York Islanders include Pat Burns, who was fired from the Bruins earlier this season; Ted Nolan, still in exile after his days in Buffalo; former Pittsburgh and San Jose coach Kevin Constantine; and former New Jersey coach Robbie Ftorek. However, Islanders GM Mike Milbury would be well advised to postpone any decision under the dust has cleared after the playoffs. Any sort of playoff flops could make the following high caliber coaches available: Ken Hitchcock of Dallas, Joel Quenneville of St. Louis and Bob Hartley of Colorado.
New addresses for Audette and Peca?
With the trade deadline about a week away, here are the best guesses of who will be relocating:
Peca winds up in Dallas, and Audette in Philadelphia. Look at those situations: The Stars have to be worried about continued injuries to Joe Nieuwendyk, who is out with a torn groin muscle and could miss the rest of the regular season. The Stars have been interested in Peca almost since the start of the season. That interest should now intensify.
However, the Stars might not be able to offer to Buffalo the same package of young players as two other candidates: the Calgary Flames and New York Rangers.
In Philadelphia, the Flyers offense has been thrown into neutral since Simon Gagne suffered a shoulder injury. It's a warning that the Flyers will struggle mightily in the
playoffs if a team can shut down the line of Gagne, Mark Recchi and Keith Primeau. The Flyers have to consider anything they get from John LeClair is a bonus if and when he comes back for the playoffs. As a result, they are looking at players such as Audette and Heinze.
If the Flyers want Audette, they are likely to have to surrender goalie Brian Boucher, who has struggled all season and has fallen into the back up role behind Roman
Cechmanek. There is also a possibility the Flyers will wait and make a much bigger deal in the summer involving Boucher and the rights to Eric Lindros -- a package which could be very appealing to the Rangers or L.A. Kings.
Al Morganti covers the NHL for ESPN. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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ALSO SEE
Selanne undergoes minor knee surgery
Melrose: Sharks score with Selanne
Trade breakdown: Selanne to San Jose
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