The NHL : Las Vegas Is a Rest Stop for Kings

Marcel Dionne of the Kings was disappointed the other day when a reporter told him that he’d voted for him for the National Hockey League All-Star game, which will be played on Feb. 12 in Calgary.

“I’d rather go to Las Vegas than Calgary,” Dionne quipped. “They want you to wear cowboy stuff to the All-Star banquet because it’s a country and western theme.

“I don’t look good in a big cowboy hat,” Dionne said, laughing as he put his hands around his head.

The Kings plan to spend the two-day All-Star break in Las Vegas. The players and their wives are being flown to Las Vegas and put up in a hotel at the team’s expense.

It will be the first real break the players have had since training camp opened last September.

It’s not unusual for hockey teams to take a mini-vacation in the middle of the season.

The Edmonton Oilers spent a few days in Palm Springs before a game against the Kings last December. And the Philadelphia Flyers spent a week in Los Angeles when they played a recent game against the Kings.

The hottest rumor making the rounds of the NHL has the Washington Capitals trading goalie Al Jensen and right wing Alan Haworth to the Hartford Whalers for David Jensen and Hartford’s No. 1 pick in the 1985 draft. However, a spokesman for the Capitals said that it’s all speculation. “As far as I know it’s just a rumor,” Capitals publicist Lou Corletto said.

Herb Brooks, who was fired as coach of the New York Rangers last week, said he tried to resign last summer.

“I tried to resign as a matter of certain values and principles which I hold very important in the world of sports,” Brooks said. “My resignation was not accepted and I decided to stay in the hope that things would improve.”

But the Rangers got off to a horrible start because of injuries and Brooks was canned.

A Toronto newspaper reported that Montreal shopped Guy LaFleur around the league just before he retired earlier this season.

The Chicago Black Hawks were reportedly interested in LaFleur but balked at his reported salary of $600,000 per season.

So, LaFleur retired and is now doing public relations work for the Canadiens.

NHL insiders believe that New York Islanders goalie Billy Smith may have gotten off easy when he was suspended for six games by the NHL office on Monday.

Smith was involved in a stick swinging incident on Jan. 13 in which Chicago’s Curt Fraser suffered a fractured cheekbone. Fraser hasn’t played since being injured.

The Black Hawks thought that Smith should have received a 10-game suspension.

Gordie Howe was asked recently by an Edmonton newspaper to name the best hockey player in history.

“I admire the heck out of young Wayne Gretzky and there are parts of the game Maurice Richard could teach anyone,” Howe said. “But I’ll go with Bobby Orr.”

Howe was asked later to name the dirtiest player in hockey. Howe would get a few votes in that category.

“I’m the same as General Custer,” he said. “They said he was a mean (person), but he got shot down. I got put in the hospital more times than I put anybody there.”

Tom Barrasso, Buffalo goaltender who was sent to the minors earlier this season, has been named to the Wales Conference’s first team for the NHL All-Star Game on Feb. 12 at Calgary. Barrasso’s selection highlighted an announcement that saw the New York Islanders dominate the team by sending forwards Mike Bossy, Brent Sutter, and John Tonelli.

Rod Langway, Washington’s two-time Norris Trophy winner, and Raymond Bourque of Boston make up the first-team defensive corps.

Bossy, who is third in the league scoring race behind Edmonton’s Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri, was the team’s lone unanimous selection.

Philadelphia goaltender Pelle Lindburgh and winger Tim Kerr were named to the second team, along with Washington’s Scott Stevens on defense and Bobby Carpenter at center.

Montreal defenseman Chris Chelios and Quebec wing Michel Goulet round out the second-team selections.

The remaining eight players on the team will be selected Feb. 5 by coach Al Arbour of the Islanders.