Three into four doesn't go in an 84-game season

Sporting News, The, Sept 5, 1994 by Larry Wigge

The skates were not the ones Cam Neely normally wears, but they were close enough to make him want training camp to begin.

The date was May 24, it was 9 a.m. and Neely had just called it a day after completing a few laps at a suburban Boston Rollerblading arena. Those 18 minutes on blades were significant. They were enough to dash Neely's retirement thoughts after his 1993-94 season had come to a crashing halt in a March 19 collision with Devils defenseman Ken Daneyko, resulting in a tear to the medial collateral ligament of his right knee.

When the Bruins open camp Sunday, the guy wearing the biggest smile will be Neely.

"Anytime you come back from something a lot of people don't expect you to, it's a great feeling," he says. "That day on Rollerblades, I proved to myself that the knee would be just fine. I couldn't wait to get back on the ice."

Neely scored 50 goals in 49 games last season. And he isn't the league's only star with something to prove. Detroit's Steve Yzerman, Buffalo's Pat LaFontaine, Philadelphia's Eric Lindros, Quebec's Owen Nolan and Calgary's Phil Housley are notable players who will be tring to remain injury-free after being sidelined for large portions of last season.

Although NHL owners cringe about escalating salaries, they fail to protect their investment in high-priced talent and end up paying a LaFontaine millions for playing only 16 games or a Housley millions for playing 26. The owners can't make the ice surface larger to prevent collisions - and probably wouldn't want to anyway. But they could reduce injuries by returning the schedule from 84 games to 80.

Squeezing an extra four games into the schedule has caused too many three-games-in-four-nights situations - and when players are fatigued, they are more susceptible to injury. "I hurt my back last season because I had to play three games in four nights and I wouldn't sit out, even though I was hurting," says Kings right wing Rick Tocchet, who required offseason surgery. "What's even worse is the wear and tear you get going from city to city. It's not like baseball where you stay in the same city for three or four nights at a time and can go back to the hotel and get a good night's rest."

Quebec left wing Wendel Clark agrees. "When you get big money like we do, you don't want to call in sick just because you have a hang nail" he says. "But too often a minor ache or pain can cause you to carry yourself a little differently - and, as a result, you sometimes injure your ankle or knee or back. Going back on the ice when you are injured is a crazy, macho mentality that exists in hockey."

Neely's fans have reason to be optimistic because the Bruins play three games in four nights only seven times this season, three fewer than last season. Only the Nordiques - with five - have fewer.

But Lindros fans have plenty to fear because the Flyers, along with the Canadiens and Jets, play three games in four nights 14 times. The Whalers, Capitals and Maple Leafs follow the same busy routine 13 times and the Stars, Red Wings and Blues 12 each. That's far too many.

The players have proposed returning to 80 games as part of the new collective-bargaining agreement. It's time for the owners to give up a few dollars at the ticket windows to keep the league's best players on the ice.

Icy bits

When you consider how poorly the Whalers have drafted over the years, three first-round picks is a bargain for Boston defenseman Glen Wesley. . . . The Oilers want Whalers defenseman Bryan Marchment as compensation for losing free-agent right wing Steven Rice. It's more reasonable than Hartford's offer of center Robert Petrovicky and right wing Paul Ranheim. . . . Next on Hartford's wish list is Edmonton defenseman Luke Richardson, another free agent. But, after trading defenseman Glen Featherstone to the Rangers for minor league forward Daniel Lacroix and losing Wesley, don't be surprised to see the Bruins outbid the Whalers for Richardson.

Defenseman Phil Housley has changed his mind and will report to Calgary. Housley, who was traded by the Blues for Al MacInnis in July, had said he would not play anywhere in Canada because of that country's stringent taxes on Americans. . . . Look for Flyers goalie Tommy Soderstrom to have a great season. He worked out daily in Sweden, hoping to regain the form of his 20-victory rookie season (1992-93) after winning just six of 28 starts with a 4.01 goals-against average last season. . . . Don't try to tell San Jose goaltender Arturs Irbe that dog is man's best friend. Irbe's Labrador-Newfoundland pooch, Rambo, bit him, breaking his right middle finger and puncturing an artery that caused damage to the ulnar nerve in his left wrist. If Irbe can't play a league-leading 74 games again this season, you'll know why.