Hockey Night in suburban Chicago

WORTH THE WAIT: Regardless of the sport, it's often believed you cannot judge which team got the better of a trade immediately. Sometimes, it can take a couple seasons to see how things pan out.

So, ask the Atlanta Thrashers how they feel about Marian Hossa right about now. Better still, ask those he plays against.

"He's a fantastic player. He's awesome," Jeff O'Neill of the Toronto Maple Leafs said Thursday after Hossa recorded a hat trick -- his first with Atlanta -- and added an assist in the Thrashers' 5-0 win. "Give him time and space and he will hurt you."
When he was acquired last season from the Ottawa Senators for Dany Heatley, the Thrashers envisioned Hossa as a complementary player to Ilya Kovalchuk. And while Kovalchuk has overcome a slow start, Hossa is establishing himself as a star.

Now in his ninth season and just 27 years old, Hossa leads the league with 20 goals and appears well on his way to breaking his career-high of 45 set in 2002-03 with Ottawa. On the power play, Hossa is more dangerous as he's already got 11 man-advantage goals this season; he's had a career-high 14 each of the last three seasons.

On Nov. 13, Hossa said he started feeling comfortable in his new surroundings and with his teammates starting around last Christmas.

"It was kind of first time to change for me from one team to the other," Hossa explained. "New city, new teammates, everything was new to me, so it took a while to get comfortable again."

It was on Jan. 1 that Hossa started a six-game points streak, recording five goals and eight assists. Since then, he's had 26 multipoint games, and the Thrashers have become a trendy pick to win the Southeast Division.

Considering the last two Stanley Cup champions have come out of the Southeast, it's not that far-fetched to think Hossa could help lead this team to a title.

"It's much more fun right now," he said. "It's always fun winning."


WAIVING GOODBYE: With youth both prevalent and successful on the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team cut ties with 37-year-old John LeClair.

LeClair was a three-time 50-goal scorer, racking up 152 goals with Philadelphia from 1996-99. He lost most of the 2000-01 season to back injuries and a staph infection. A dislocated right shoulder and torn labrum in 2002 limited him to only 35 games.

He was fourth on the team in scoring with 22 goals and 51 points last season, but his ice time dipped this season after the Penguins added rookies Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal.

LeClair, who's making $1.5 million this season, is 33 games short 1,000 for his NHL career, something he easily would have eclipsed had it not been for the lockout. He has 406 goals and 413 assists, which begs the big question -- Hall of Fame ... yes or no?

I would have to say no on this one. For three seasons, LeClair was one of the best at his position, but he's never had a 100-point campaign. In two of his three 50-goal seasons, LeClair finished with a career-best 97 points.

THE GOOD...

STONE COLD: Tim Thomas of the Boston Bruins is showing first-year general manager Peter Chiarelli there's no need to make a deal for a more established goaltender. After a 31-save effort, Thomas stopped all seven attempts he faced in a shootout to lift Boston to a 4-3 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning. Thomas has given up only five goals in regulation while winning his last three starts.

A FIRST FOR OLIE THE GOALIE: Olaf Kolzig, in his 15th season all with the Washington Capitals, defeated the Dallas Stars for the first time in his career after stopping 35 shots in a 4-3 win. Entering the game, the 37-year-old South African had nine losses and a tie in 11 career games, including 10 starts, against them.

KLEE CLUB: Defenseman Ken Klee of the Colorado Avalanche tied a career best with three assists -- all in the first period -- of a 7-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers. Klee had only three assists and four points coming in before registering his first three-assist game since November 1998.


THE BAD...

WHAT TO LEAVE IN, WHAT TO LEAVE OUT: Alex Auld and Ed Belfour of the Florida Panthers combined to give up six goals in a shutout loss to the Ottawa Senators. Auld gave up five goals on 22 shots on just over 26 minutes.

JUST CALL THE GAME ALREADY: An early winter storm in the Midwest meant an announced crowd of 5,410 -- the fifth-lowest in Blues history -- watched St. Louis fall to the Nashville Predators 5-4. According to The Associated Press, there appeared to be several thousand fewer than that in the stands at Scottrade Center.

TOUGH SLEDDING ON LAWN GUYLAND: The New York Islanders fall to the Flyers 3-2 for their second straight defeat after losing leading scorer Alexei Yashin to a knee injury that could keep him sidelined between two weeks and a month.


AND THE QUOTABLE...

"Embarrassing. We didn't play like a team. We were running around; we were lucky it was only 6-0." -- Panthers captain Olli Jokinen after the team was shut out for a franchise-record third straight game.

Comment and observation: Hoops, Savoir-faire and spending

Been a while since I did one of of these ... by the way, your photo of the day (look up!) is Aaron Williams of the Los Angeles Clippers blocking a shot by Hakim Warrick of the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. Cuttino Mobley scored 24 points as the Clippers snapped a season-high five-game losing streak with a 105-90 win.

OK, enough of that ....

A PROMISING START: I'm not sure what Denis Savard told the Chicago Blackhawks in the third period Wednesday night, but it sure seemed to work.

Savard won his head coaching debut as Chicago rallied for a 2-1 win over the Dallas Stars at the United Center. It also marked the first time in 16 games that that the Blackhawks beat the Stars dating back to 2002.

Finland's Tony Salmelainen scored his NHL career goal, and countryman Tuomo Ruutu scored on a breakaway with less than two minutes to play.

"It's not about me," said Savard, a Hall of Famer whose No. 18 hangs from the rafters. "The guys played their guts out. You've got to give them credit. It's not just the fact we won. We like the win for sure, but we stuck with them the whole game."

Baby steps, sure, but impressive nontheless.

OUT OF CONTROL: After some of the contracts that have been handed out so far this offseason, I don't ever want to hear a baseball team -- ANY OF THEM -- cry poverty ever again.

I can understand, to a point, the Chicago Cubs giving Alfonso Soriano $136 million for eight years. That was combat pay for the fans who sat through one of the club's worst seasons in recent memory.

But I say to a point. In his only season with the Washington Nationals, he had a season for the ages: 41 doubles, 46 homers, 41 steals. It's almost enough to make you overlook the career-high 160 strikeouts.

But the Houston Astros giving $100 million for six years to Carlos Lee ... yeah, that's a head-scratcher. They have to banking that "El Caballo" will return to the form he had the first half of the season when he was with the Milwaukee Brewers.

In 102 games with the Brewers, Lee had 28 homers and 81 RBIs. He was dealt to the Texas Rangers at the July 31 trading deadline ... and promptly forgot how to hit for a team that plays in a ballpark that can best be called hitter-friendly.

Hell, it's Coors Field South. Lee, by the way, hit nine homers and 35 RBI in 59 games during his short stint with Texas.

He's a nice player, but the type of player that's going to hit 40-45 homers and knock in 120-125 runs? No. And if he keeps growing the way he's been during the off-season, he's going to eat himself out of that deal.

Want some more out-of-control spending?

• Philadelphia Phillies give Adam Eaton a three-year, $24 million deal -- He was 7-4 with a 5.12 ERA last season after missing the first 3 1/2 months following right ring finger surgery.

• Toronto Blue Jays give Frank Thomas a two-year, $18 million deal -- He's a future Hall of Fame, no question, and he hit 39 homers in his only season with the Oakland Athletics in 2006, but he's also 38 years old, and I have a hard time thinking he's going to come close to duplicating those numbers. He'll be facing Boston and the New York Yankees nearly 40 times a year. Far cry from pitching staffs in Texas and Seattle.

• Los Angeles Dodgers give Randy Wolf a one-year, $8 million deal -- Had left elbow surgery in 2005 and has made just 25 starts the last two seasons. Yeah. OK.

• Dodgers also give Juan Pierre a five-year, $45 million deal -- Cubs fans aren't sorry to see him go. Pierre was expected to be a sparkplug at the top of the order, but a .330 on-base percentage doesn't cut it.

I also have to shake my head about what the Red Sox and Yankees are doing. Boston spends more than $51 million for the rights to negotiate with Japanese pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Better hope that "gyroball" is worth all that and a bag of chips.

The Yanks, not to be outdone, have given Mike Mussina a two-year deal worth $23 million and will spend $26 million to have a sit down with lefty Kei Igawa -- who they're projecting for the back end of their rotation.

Oh, and Boston is considering J.D. Drew -- who walked away from the final $33 million of his deal with the Dodgers -- and may get $70 million for five years. And pitchers Jason Schmidt and Barry Zito are still available.

And then there this headache, too.

Suh-wheat Jesus.

A look at the Original Six: New York and Boston

NEW YORK RANGERS: I will admit ... this one will be hard to do, only because I have been a fan since my father took me to my first game against the California Golden Seals when I was 6 years old.

Last season, New York ended a seven-year playoff appearance drought ... and was swept out in the first round by the New Jersey Devils.

In 1994, the Blueshirts put to rest the ghosts of 1940 by winning it all. While they probably won't go 54 years again between championships, they need to be smarter to make sure that generations won't go by before there's another ticker-tape parade in the Canyon of Heroes.

Some of their recent free-agent signings since winning the Cup included Sylvain Lefebvre, Stephane Quintal and Theoren Fleury -- all bombs on Broadway. This season, I am not completely sold on Matt Cullen and Aaron Ward. The cynic in me (shut up!) says they got their Stanley Cup ring and parlayed that into a big payday.

This season, the Rangers are led by Jaromir Jagr, who turns 35 early next year, and 37-year-old Brendan Shanahan. The future Hall of Famers have combined for more than 1,200 career goals, but I doubt they'll be around to see the Rangers' next banner-raising ceremony.

One player who should be there to watch that, if all goes well, is goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

Lundqvist was taken with New York's seventh selection, 205th overall in 2000, which is a surprise because New York never has had a solid draft history, especially since their Cup win. Stefan Cherneski was taken 19th overall in 1997 and never played an NHL game. Manny Malhotra was picked seventh overall in '98, but has bounced around some before ending up with the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Never have their draft shortcomings been more evident than in 1999 when they selected Pavel Brendl fourth and Jamie Lundmark ninth.

Brendl was a bust, and Lundmark -- who some thought could have been picked first overall -- is now a bit player with the Calgary Flames, his third team. In 2001, New York used the 10th overall pick on goaltender Dan Blackburn, now retired with shoulder injuries.

Here's a short list of some of the players New York could have had: Brenden Morrow (25th overall to Dallas in '97); Simon Gagne (22nd overall to Philadelphia, '98), Jonathan Cheechoo (29th overall to San Jose, '98); Pavel Datsyuk (171st overall to Detroit, '98); Michael Ryder (216th overall to Montreal, '98); Martin Havlat (26th overall to Ottawa, '99); Henrik Zetterberg (210th overall to Detroit, '99); Ales Hemsky (13th overall to Edmonton, '01).

If the crop selected with their first-round picks between 2003-06 pan out though, New York could have a solid foundation for the future:

• Hugh Jessiman (12th overall, 2003): A 6-foot-6 right wing, the Dartmouth product had 20 goals and 42 points last season with Hartford of the AHL and Charlotte of the ECHL ... has appeared in just 16 games with the Wolf Pack so far, registering a goal and three assists.

• Al Montoya (sixth overall, 2004): Former Michigan star could end up forming a 1-2 tandem with Lundqvist that would be reminiscent of the Ed Giacomin-Gilles Villemure pairing in the 1970s ... going through a sophomore slump with a 2-7 record with Hartford after going 23-9 last season.

• Marc Staal (12th overall, 2005): Nearly made the team out of training camp this season, but was sent back to Sudbury of the OHL for his final season there ... has five goals and 14 points after 49-point season in 2005-06.

• Bobby Sanguinetti (21st overall, 2006): Now in his third season with Owen Sound of the OHL, the Trenton, N.J., native already has matched his goal total from 2005-06 with 14 ... is averaging nearly a point per game since the start of last season, but obviously is several years away.

BOSTON BRUINS: Like the Chicago Blackhawks, this is a franchise that has fallen on hard times. The Bruins haven't won a Stanley Cup since 1972, failing in five straight finals chances since.

The past several years have been hard ones for the Bruins. Over the last five seasons, they've had two first-place finishes, but also have finished third, fourth and fifth -- in fact, they haven't had back-to-back first-place finishes since 1989-91.

The last three times the Bruins reached the post-season, they were bounced out in the conference quarterfinals, twice by the Montreal Canadiens and once by New Jersey.

Under new general manager Peter Chiraelli, who spent seven seasons with the Ottawa Senators including two as assistant to John Muckler, the Bruins did something they've loathed doing for decades: spend money on players.

Their biggest off-season acquisition -- literally -- was signing 6-foot-9, 260-pound (and "Alice the Goon" lookalike) Zdeno Chara from Ottawa to a five-year deal worth $37.5 million. Boston followed that up by inking center Marc Savard to a four-year deal worth around $30 million.

Chara, the B's captain, has scored all five of his goals on the power play. Savard, who had a bit of a petulant reputation dating back to his days with the Rangers, has blossomed as THE go-to player and leads the team with 21 assists and 27 points.

But for those signings though, Boston's biggest problem -- and one that will likely keep them from raising a banner anytime soon -- is in goal.

Tim Thomas has played very well recently, limiting the Toronto Maple Leafs to one goal in each of two straight road wins. In his last nine games, including eight starts, the Michigan native is 7-2-0 with a 2.16 goals-against average. Consistent and solid starts from him will be needed to lift Boston out of last place in an ultra-competitive Northeast Division.

When Thomas doesn't play, Boston's goaltending is quite simply a horror show. Hannu Toivonen is injury-prone, and there's a reason why Brian Finley and Philippe Sauve are journeymen.

The key to the Bruins' future success could lie in Tuukka Rask, acquired in the off-season from the Maple Leafs for former Calder Trophy winner Andrew Raycroft. Rask was 12-7 with eight ties and a 2.09 GAA in 2005-06 with Ilves Tampere of the Finnish League.

He could be following in the footsteps of other current Finnish goalies, which include reigning Vezina Trophy winner Miikka Kiprusoff of Calgary, Kari Lehtonen of the Atlanta Thrashers and emerging star Vesa Toskala of the San Jose Sharks.

Blackhawks fire Yawney, name Savard coach

The coaches' revolving door at the United Center keeps spinning.

Someone needed to pay for the Chicago Blackhawks' lackluster play, and on Monday, Trent Yawney was fired to end a miserable one-plus seasons in his first NHL stint behind the bench.

Make no mistake. This was more a mercy killing than anything else.

Chicago lost four of five on its annual Circus Trip, and has managed one goal in each of the last three games.

"We decided last night we needed to do this," general manager Dale Tallon told The Canadian Press. "We just felt we wanted to go in a different direction. We needed to change things around a little bit here. We've been flat. We've only won three games in our last 15."

Keeping in the Wirtzian tradition of bringing back former players as coaches regardless of experience -- or success, apparently -- Denis Savard was named new head coach.

Since a first-place finish in the old Norris Division under Darryl Sutter in 1993, Chicago has had eight coaches -- Craig Hartsburg, Dirk Graham, Lorne Molleken, Bob Pulford, Alpo Suhonen, Brian Sutter, Yawney and, now Savard.

To be fair, the Blackhawks this season have been ravaged by injuries. But Yawney, who led Chicago's AHL affiliate in Norfolk, Va., to five straight playoff appearances before joining the big show, won just 33 of 103 games with the Blackhawks.

Savard, who scored 473 goals in a 17-year Hall of Fame career with Chicago, Montreal and Tampa Bay immediately will be tested: his first game will be Wednesday against Dallas.

Yawney is the third coach to get the ax this season, joining Philadelphia's Ken Hitchcock and Columbus' Gerard Gallant. Hitchcock was hired earlier this month by the Blue Jackets.

Hockey Night in suburban Chicago

Back at work after nearly a week in New York for the holidays ... and a full slate of games to come home to.

BEATING BACK THE INJURY BUG: Since the salary cap came to the NHL, teams have had to be more careful in how they spend their money. With that in mind, the Nashville Predators may wince a little more than usual when issuing their payroll checks through the end of 2006.

This was the season the Predators were going to challenge the Detroit Red Wings' supremacy in the Central Division. Despite a rare blod clotting condition that forced Tomas Vokoun to miss the final 13 games and all of the postseason, Nashville signed him to a four-year, $22.8 million extension in September.

Two months earlier, the Preds added offense when they inked center Jason Arnott to a five-year deal worth $22.5 million.

Between now and the end of December -- give or take -- the Predators will be tested. Vokoun is scheduled to undergo surgery Monday for a torn ligament on the thumb of his blocker hand. Two days later, Arnott is slated for knee surgery that will keep him out of the lineup from three to six weeks.

Well ... lose your top goaltender and your second-line center for any great length of time and the season may as well be over, right? Instead, the Predators responded with perhaps their finest effort of the season on Saturday night.

Chris Mason made 28 saves and Nashville got goals from six different players to whip the Red Wings 6-2.

"I've felt good so far this season," Mason said. "I just want to try to help the team. I'm going to hang in there and do my part while Tomas is getting better."

General manager David Poile said on the Predators' Web site that the team shouldn't expect to backslide, especially with Vokoun out.

"In the bigger picture this is a huge opportunity for Chris Mason," Poile said. "Last time he had this opportunity was at the end of last season and he played very well and got to play in his first NHL experience in the playoffs. I think if you were to talk to our players or our coaches, I don't think that they feel this is going to be a problem for our hockey club."

Mason did win six straight starts last season from April 6-18, allowing just seven goals and recording two shutouts -- both against the St. Louis Blues.

He'll need some luck this time around. Starting Wednesday, the Predators play six of their next seven on the road capped by matchups against the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks in a four-day span.


THE GOOD ...

PLEASED TO MEET YOU: Atlanta Thrashers goaltender Kari Lehtonen seems to save his best stuff for when he faces Florida. The second overall pick in 2002, Lehtonen made 37 saves in a 1-0 shutout on Saturday, and is 4-0 with a 1.25 GAA and two shutouts against the Panthers this season.

YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN: The New York Rangers got goals from a pair of former Penguins in a 2-1 win in Pittsburgh. Jaromir Jagr tied the score with 7:45 to play in regulation and assisted on Martin Straka's tally with 2.2 seconds remaining in the extra session.

GO-GO PERREAULT: Yanic Perreault apparently has been listening to Wayne Gretzky. His seventh goal in eight games lifted the Phoenix Coyotes to a 2-1 win over the St. Louis Blues. The 35-year-old center joined the Desert Dogs on Oct. 29 after scoring 22 goals last season with Nashville.


THE BAD ...

THAT'S WHY THEY'RE THE CRAP-ITALS: Including a 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders on Saturday night, the Washington Capitals have been outscored 25-9 during a six-game losing streak. It's also the Caps' longest slide since dropping eight in a row from March 10-23.

HUNG OUT TO DRY: Joey McDonald of the Detroit Red Wings was torched for five second-period goals in a 6-2 loss to Nashville. Including the goal he allowed in the opening period, McDonald gave up the six markers in a 17:22 span.

YOU PLAY ... TO WIN ... THE GAME: With their shutout loss to Atlanta on Saturday, the Panthers fell to 0-11 this season when scoring two goals or fewer in a game.




AND THE QUOTABLE...

"I didn't see him coming. From what I hear, he had his gloves off before he got to the pile." -- Toronto Maple Leafs pain-in-the-ass Darcy Tucker on his being jumped by Boston Bruins defenseman Paul Mara after Tucker -- listed at 5-foot-10 -- delivered a clean and heavy hit on 6-foot-9 Zdeno Chara.