The NHL / Jerry Crowe : Kings Draw the New No. 1 Team as Playoff Foe

As usually seems to be the case, the Kings again have drawn--as a first-round playoff opponent--the most explosive team in the National Hockey League.

This year, though, it’s the Calgary Flames, who last week ended the Edmonton Oilers’ 6-year stranglehold on the Smythe Division championship.

Some thought this would be a year-in-transition for the Flames, who established club records last season with 46 victories and 95 points but were unexpectedly bounced from the playoffs in the first round by the Winnipeg Jets.

Former Coach Bob Johnson, who took the Flames to the Stanley Cup finals two years ago, resigned last summer to become executive director of the Amateur Hockey Assn. of the United States.

Inside Sports magazine even picked the Flames to finish fourth-- behind the Kings--in the Smythe Division.

But the Flames, under rookie Coach Terry Crisp, have mostly incinerated their competition, putting together the best record in the NHL while leading the league in scoring and power-play efficiency.

Joe Nieuwendyk, a virtual shoo-in for rookie of the year honors, has scored 51 goals, Gary Suter is the NHL’s top-scoring defenseman, and forwards Hakan Loob and Mike Bullard have both surpassed the 100-point plateau.

“We never felt going into this year that we had slipped at all,” General Manager Cliff Fletcher said. “We felt that we were a 90- to 95-point team.”

The Flames, who will assure themselves of a home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs with a victory over the Kings tonight at the Forum, have exceeded management’s expectations in part because Fletcher has used trades to rebuild the defense.

Fletcher acquired Brad McCrimmon from the Philadelphia Flyers last summer, obtained Dana Murzyn from the Hartford Whalers in January and, earlier this month, plucked All-Star Rob Ramage from the St. Louis Blues.

“Those acquisitions have really solidified our defense to the point that we can now compare our defense favorably with most in the NHL,” Fletcher said. “That’s been the key. We’ve always been able to score goals, but defensively we never felt we were a great hockey team. We’re still not a great defensive team, but we’re pretty good.”

Also, Wayne Gretzky of the Oilers suggested earlier this season, the Flames have broadened their scope, building toward a run at the Stanley Cup championship, rather than just trying to keep pace with their provincial rivals 180 miles to the north.

“They’ve gone from building a team just to beat the Edmonton Oilers to being a team that can beat anybody,” Gretzky told the Toronto Globe and Mail.

Last season, the Flames were 6-1-1 against the Oilers, but that didn’t help them against the Jets in the playoffs.

Fletcher discounted Gretzky’s hypothesis--to a certain extent.

“Obviously, when you have such a rivalry, you can’t help but think about how the moves you make will affect you against Edmonton, but we play 80 games a year, and only 8 are against the Oilers,” Fletcher said. “We’ve just been trying to get better, and it’s damn hard to get better when, 180 miles up the road, you have a Gretzky and a (Mark) Messier and an (Glenn) Anderson and a (Grant) Fuhr and, up until this year, a (Paul) Coffey.

“They were the best in the league. They’re the team you have to beat, so, naturally, you have to look at them when you make a move.”

In other words, by making themselves better than the Oilers, the Flames have made themselves better than everybody else, too.

Add Flames: The trade that brought Rob Ramage and goaltender Rick Wamsley to Calgary March 7 and sent rookie Brett Hull and Steve Bozek to the Blues seemed so one-sided for the Flames that some wondered if there wasn’t more to the deal than what was announced.

“They probably thought I could have gotten more in the trade,” said Ron Caron, Blue general manager. “I’ll tell you frankly that they might be right. But I must admit I fell in love with Brett Hull, and I felt this was the only way I could pull off the coup.”

Said Fletcher, Flame general manager: “There’s no doubt in my mind that Brett Hull is going to be a prolific scorer in the National Hockey League, but we could afford to give away goals because we have a lot of explosiveness.

“We have a pretty solid team, and we felt that with Ramage, it would make us stronger and give us a little more depth. So, we decided to go for it.”

The Flames are 8-0-2 since Ramage joined the team.

Shoulda stayed home: The Chicago Blackhawks were 1-19-4 on the road this season against teams from outside the Norris Division.

The Montreal Canadiens, winners of 23 Stanley Cup championships, are the Beasts of the East again this season, but these aren’t the Flying Frenchmen of yore.

This edition of Nos Glorieux , which ranks last in the NHL in power-play efficiency, wins with defense. No team has allowed fewer goals than the Canadiens, who lead the Adams Division with a 43-22-12 record.

“I’d be the first one to admit it,” defenseman Chris Chelios told Sports Illustrated. “We play a boring style of hockey.

“We know we put our fans to sleep some games. We try to put the other team to sleep is the idea.”

Nemesis: The Canadiens, who figure to meet the Boston Bruins in the Adams Division finals, have played the Bruins in the playoffs 18 times since 1943, and have won every series. Six times, they met for the Stanley Cup championship.

Only twice, however, did the Bruins have a better regular-season record than the Canadiens, whose playoff record against the Bruins since 1943 is 69-22.

Vote of confidence? Owner Bruce McNall of the Kings, who owns a horse, Tretiak, that he named for former Soviet hockey great Vladislav Tretiak, owns another that he named for King General Manager Rogatien (Rogie) Vachon.

In a race last week in France, Rogatien finished last.

“I’m going to have to shoot him,” McNall said. “Then, when everybody tells me I should get rid of Rogie, I can tell them, ‘I already did.’ ”