Rat trap: pay one well and Stanley will come

Sporting News, The, Sept 2, 1996 by Larry Wigge

For all of the complaints from hockey afficionados about those pesky Panthers and their rowdy rat-throwing fans, you must admit they made a mark on the game.

Watching the Panthers claw their way past the Bruins, Flyers and Penguins in the play-offs convinced a number of owners that spending a few dollars more on one key player might have put them in the Stanley Cup finals. That's why so many contenders are looking to make a deal before training camps begin.

It's safe to say Rangers G.M. Neil Smith didn't have trouble persuading ITT Cablevision to dig into its deep pockets for $4 million to sign Wayne Gretzky as the second-line center the team lacked in the playoffs. But the trend doesn't end there.

With the hint that Jeremy Roenick might still be willing to sell himself to someone other than the Coyotes - even after his fights were traded to Phoenix - the Capitals, Devils and Blues have let it be known they are interested.

The Capitals, if you've been counting with us this summer, have been mentioned in nearly every rumor for a high-profile player-from Hartford's Brendan Shanahan to Alexei Zhamnov (before his rights were traded from Phoenix to Chicago for the rights to Roenick) to a recent inquiry about Blues goal-scorer Brett Hull.

"We're always talking," Capitals G.M. David Poile says. "I've said maybe 100 times this summer, if one door closes, another door will always open."

That's not a typical stance for the Capitals, however. Owner Abe Pollin has spent millions trying to make the Bullets a winner in the NBA, and now, apparently, he realizes that for a few dollars more he could come closer to winning a championship with the Capitals. And that has made Poile more active than a used-car salesman trying to make a deal. "What I've been trying to get across is that, if and when they decide to trade these players," Poile says, "we believe we have the parts that should be significant to make a deal."

Look for Roenick to ask to be reunited in St. Louis with coach Mike Keenan and watch for Poile to acquire Shanahan.

Icy bits

As we told you, the contract difference between the Canadiens and defenseman Lyle Odelein was so great that he would be traded. The surprise is that Stephane Richer comes back to Montreal for Odelein. The deal is strange from both ends because the Devils are shorter on goal-scoring now than before and the Canadiens are going to count on young defensemen David Wilkie, Rory Fitzpatrick and Craig Rivet with the departure of Odelein and inconsistency of Vladimir Malakhov. ... G.M. Bob Pulford says the Blackhawks are not finished dealing, hinting he could sign Oilers, free agent center Jason Arnott.

Bruins goalie Bill Ranford is so upset that he had to take a salary-arbitration pay cut from $2.1 million to $1.75 million that he says he may not report to camp and will ask to be traded.... Now that the Lightning have traded Petr Klima to the Kings, look for Tampa Bay to acquire Dino Ciccarelli - a more consistent scorer - from Detroit for a draft choice. ... Defenseman Marty McSorley was finally traded by the Rangers to the Sharks. The deal we've talked about for weeks wound up being for defenseman Jayson More, collegiate forward Brian Swanson and a fourth-round pick in '98. More, the last of the players from San Jose's '91 expansion draft, couldn't provide the muscle McSorley can. "I've always felt we weren't physical enough on the back line," G.M. Dean Lombardi says. "Now there's a no-parking sign in front of our net."