Maple Leafs always get more from Gilmour

Sporting News, The, Oct 18, 1993 by Larry Wigge

If you look into Doug Gilmour's eyes when he is on the ice, you will swear there is something sinister about him. Maybe that's why his teammates call him Killer, a nickname Brian Sutter gave Gilmour when he broke into the NHL with the Blues in 1983.

It still fits.

Although Gilmour is 5 feet 10, 175 pounds, he plays as if he were 6-2 and 200 pounds. There isn't a more fierce competitor in the game.

This weekend, the Red Wings will be reintroduced to Gilmour in a home-and-home series against the Maple Leafs. It was Gilmour who dashed the Red Wings' hopes to make it to the Stanley Cup finals last spring when he scored the tying goal and set up Nikolai Borschevsky for the winner in overtime in Game 7 of the first round of the playoffs.

After setting a Toronto record with 127 points on 32 goals and 95 assists, Gilmour helped carry the Maple Leafs to the conference finals before losing to the Kings in another seven-game series. In all, Gilmour had 10 goals and 25 assists in 21 playoff games.

"Put me in a game, and I change from Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde," Gilmour says. "I go from one extreme to the other. I become so intense that I block out almost everything going on around me, except the game.

"Coach (Pat) Bums is always telling me to stay out of trouble. But a good hit gets me pumped up."

Gilmour checked into training camp 13 pounds more than he weighed during last season's playoffs when he averaged 28 to 30 minutes per game and forced himself to eat six plates of pasta daily to maintain his strength.

But Gilmour laughs when he is asked about the extra weight and the fact that he will turn 30 this season. "I feel better than I did five years ago," he says, "because I understand the game better and I understand myself better."

The Red Wings know that getting by Gilmour and the Maple Leafs is the first big test to see how much they have improved under new Coach Scotty Bowman.

"I've always said that Doug Gilmour was like an adopted Sutter," Bowman says. "He never quits. He gives everything he's got - and more."

Look for the Red Wings to try to rough up Gilmour - and when that doesn't work, they will have to look for another solution.

Tik, Tik, Tik

When Rangers General Manager Neil Smith obtained left wing Esa Tikkanen from Edmonton for center Doug Weight late last season, Smith hoped Tikkanen's playoff experience could help the Rangers make the playoffs.

It was a gamble that didn't pay off.

But it was a gamble worth taking because Tikkanen appears ready to display that playoff experience now.

After posting a woeful 28 goals and 40 assists the past two seasons, Tikkanen scored three times in his first two games this season. Long regarded as one of the toughest wingers to face because of his pesky defensive style, Tikkanen has returned to that aggressive approach.

"I changed my style," he says. "I don't really know why. Maybe it was the big money I got. Maybe it was an the losing in Edmonton. But I realized this summer that I had to go back to hitting people and going in front of the net."

No excuses

The Dallas Stars are trying to leave their past behind them. Gone are the memories of missing the playoffs last spring in Minnesota after Owner Norman Green made them lame ducks, announcing his move in February. Also gone are the excuses.

"We can't have any more excuses," center Dave Gagner says. "We can't complain about a lack of fan support, we can't complain that the owner is jerking us around - we have no complaints.

"We have to look at this from a hockey perspective. This is big for the NHL. If this is successful, we can become a truly national sport in the United States. This is a testing ground for the NHL, and we'd like to make it successful."

Green, of course, didn't miss a chance to take a shot at the Minnesota fans after the Stars' opening-night, 6-4 victory over Detroit.

"The support was just fantastic," he said. "The difference between here and Minneapolis is there were more people in the building. Our players responded to a full house."

Don't be surprised if Green is singing a different tune around the first of the year, when he will likely be complaining about the lack of luxury boxes, a bad schedule from the NHL, etc.

Positively different

Detroit goaltender Tim Cheveldae was a wreck after the Red Wings were eliminated from the playoffs early last spring. General Manager Bryan Murray could see Cheveldae needed some positive reinforcement.

Murray sent his depressed goalie to Anthony Robbins, who has written books and conducted seminars on the power of positive thinking. Kings Coach Barry Melrose brought Robbins in to talk to his team several times last season.

"I couldn't sleep," Cheveldae says. "Losing to the Maple Leafs consumed my whole life. I would get over it one day, but the next day I would be back in the doldrums.

"The seminar really helped. I know some people blame me for what happened against Toronto, but I don't think I played that bad, and I've got a much more positive attitude about things now."

That was before Cheveldae sustained a sprained right knee. He will be out four to six weeks.