Nhl Western Conference

Sporting News, The, Jan 29, 2001 by Ducks Gauthier, Paul Grant

WHO'S HOT

Call an inquiry. Break up the Avalanche. Move the team back to Quebec. Do something, for the sake of parity in the West. This club is out-of-control good. in 14 games through Saturday, the Avalanche were 9-1-3-1, and Milan Hejduk had four straight gamewinners. Honest. Last week alone he had seven points in three games, dipsydoodling through opponents so much they were getting seasick.

WHO'S NOT

Slava Kozlov is too young to be washed up, but you'd never know it from his totals lately with the Red Wings. The one-time 36-goal scorer and two-time 73-point scorer is playing like he wants out of Detroit, notching exactly zero goals in his last 18 games. Fortunately for him, the play of Steve Yzerman and the reacquisition of Igor Larionov have helped overshadow his awful 'tude.

SEE A DIFFERENT GAME

A marked contrast of the two expansion teams was seen last week. The Blue Jackets climbed into the top 20 in power-play efficiency, largely due to the crafty play of Espen Knutsen and the tutelage of associate coach Newell Brown The Wild, meanwhile, tried to chip away at an 0-for-23 power-play drought, repeatedly practicing drills around the net. Problem: The Wild's players were so low on their previous teams' depth charts that they hadn't played on a power play before.

GAME OF THE WEEK

Can you believe the entertaining Kings could finish above, 500 and still not make the playoffs? it's a distinct possibility in the fun-and-gun west, where at one point last week six of eight teams qualifying for the playoffs would have been in first place in the East (at the same point, the Kings would have missed by two). This Tuesday tilt features two interesting lineups: The Kings can't find a good goaltender, and sometimes the Stars just plain can't find their good goaltender.

STICKS & STONES

Things were looking pretty good for the Sharks until center Vincent Damphousse was injured, What's most alarming, aside from the team desperately missing his faceoff prowess and point scoring, is that the team was awful on the power pay with him. Without him, the Sharks are an endangered species. Expect to see G.M. Dean Lombardi scouting at an arena near you.

DROPPING THE GLOVES

"These guys play hurt. They play cut. They refuse to sit We have to forcibly sit them out. It's a real culture of the game."