How Guerin was won

Sporting News, The, July 15, 2002 by Tim Wharnsby

Seconds after the clock struck midnight, changing the calendar from June to July, the race for free agents was on.

Red Wings general manager Ken Holland immediately dialed the cell phone of Don Meehan, the agent for goalie Curtis Joseph. The Rangers made early contact with right winger Bill Guerin, center Bobby Holik and defenseman Darius Kasparaitis.

If this summer of wooing free agents has proved one thing, it's that clubs no longer can just wave greenbacks to entice players looking for a new home. It has to be an all-around sell job.

Take the case of Guerin, who clearly was in another stratosphere during the first few days of the free-agent flurry. He was the apple of a lot of eyes, including the team from the Big Apple. Former Bruins hard-rock forward Terry O'Reilly, now a Rangers assistant coach, knocked on Guerin's door at 12:01 a.m., July 1. Guerin, who as youngster in the Boston area watched O'Reilly strut his stuff as a player and later as a coach, was thrilled.

O'Reilly left Guerin with a promotional Rangers DVD, featuring bits by actor Tim Robbins and comedian Billy Crystal, and left Guerin's wife, Kara, with a Big Apple crystal piece. Then the Stars phoned.

Stars owner Tom Hicks, general manager Doug Armstrong, assistant general manager Guy Carbonneau and new coach Dave Tippett had boarded a private jet headed for Beantown and wanted to meet. The parties agreed to get together over breakfast at the downtown Boston Four Seasons at 8:30 a.m. on July 1. The sell was on.

The Stars' braintrust showed the Guerins a personalized DVD that demonstrated why Dallas is such a grand place to live, describing everything from school systems to the popularity of hockey in Dallas. There even was a personal message from Alex Rodriguez, the $250 million man who plays for Hicks' Texas Rangers.

The Guerins, who have three young children and a fourth on the way, were blown away by the pitch.

Guerin did his homework before making his decision. He remembered how former Boston teammate Benoit Hague extolled Dallas as a place to live and the Stars as a top-notch organization.

"He liked it there so much he went back three times," Guerin says of Hague, a three-time Star.

Guerin also phoned two Bruins teammates to ask about Tippett. "I wasn't very familiar with Dave, so I called Glen Murray and Sean O'Donnell, who had him as an assistant coach in Los Angeles, and they loved him," Guerin says.

First, the Bruins failed to offer Guerin a contract; then their players were helping sell another team.

Meanwhile, the Rangers made an early exit from the Guerin sweepstakes after spending on Holik and Kasparaitis. The Red Wings bowed out after signing Joseph and re-signing Chris Chelios.

That left the Maple Leafs and the Stars in the race.

Guerin, 31, who is coming off a career-high 41-goal season, in his mind had an easy choice. He grabbed the Stars' five-year, $45 million offer and will earn a $7.5 million salary in his first season with $1.5 million deferred in order to keep Mike Modano as the highest-paid Dallas player.

"I gave Toronto some consideration," Guerin says. "In the end, I felt that Dallas was the best place for me. It was a perfect fit.

"To have the people they had fly up to Boston made a great first impression of the organization and how committed they were."

Still, it was difficult for Guerin to leave Boston, where he grew up and played at Boston College. He liked Dallas, but he didn't know how good the offer would be.

"It was tough emotionally," he says. "It wasn't the sprint I thought it would be."

But the Stars won the race.

INSIDE DISH

Though many of the big-ticket unrestricted free agents were signed last week, expect a long summer of negotiations for the top two restricted free agents, Canadiens G Jose Theodore and Flames RW Jarome Iginla. The Habs have offered Theodore, who won the Vezina (top goalie) and Hart (regular-season MVP) trophies, a four-year deal that starts at $4 million and works its way up to $6 million in the final year. Theodore is seeking a two-year contract worth $12 million. Iginla, the league's scoring champion and winner of the Pearson Award (the MVP as voted on by the players), wants a two-year deal worth $7.5 million per season. The Flames are offering closer to $5 million annually.... Red Wings G.M. Ken Holland has interviewed associate coach Dave Lewis for the position vacated by retired coach Scotty Bowman. Lewis has been behind the bench with the Wings for nine seasons and is the favorite to replace Bowman. Holland hopes to decide by mid-July.... The Avalanche and Flames talked trade at the draft. The Flames wanted to exchange D Derek Morris for F Chris Drury. The Avs countered with an offer of C Stephane Yelle for D Denis Gauthier, but discussions fell apart.... The Rangers expect C Mark Messier to sign a one-year contract by the end of July. This would be Messier's 24th season.... The Mighty Ducks hope the signing of playmaking C Adam Oates will pick up C Paul Kariya's production. Kariya is coming off his worst season, finishing with 57 points.... The Blues signed Czech C Petr Cajanek, 26. He was the Czech league's MVP last season, finishing second in scoring with 20 goals and 44 assists in 64 games.--T.W.