NHL Notes : The Cycle of Violence Seems Likely to Continue

Edmonton general manager and coach, Glen Sather, discussing two weeks ago how to improve hockey: “We’ve got to get rid of the guys who can’t really play.”

Sather on Tuesday, after acquiring Dave (0 goals, 100 penalty minutes) Brown from Philadelphia: “We needed a heavyweight. All the years we won in Edmonton, we had people who took care of other people.”

Sather had strongmen Marty McSorley and Dave Semenko. “I’m very happy he came to us instead of Calgary.”

Unable to land Detroit’s Bob Probert, Sather turned to the Flyers to get Brown, who hadn’t been playing much. Brown is Edmonton’s answer to the Los Angeles Kings’ acquisition of Jay Miller, a deal made out of fear that McSorley would shy away from bashing his former Edmonton teammates should the Kings and Oilers meet in the playoffs.

With Brown on the Smythe scene, it’s a sure bet Calgary will beef up before the playoffs, which will start the whole cycle over again.

Final thoughts on the All-Star festivities:

It was unfair to players and fans to schedule games Sunday night and plan various All-Star events for Monday afternoon in Edmonton, which isn’t easily reached. Many players arrived too late for the news conference and some barely made the dinner, which is the showcase. They practiced Tuesday and endured ridiculously long pregame ceremonies, which left everyone exhausted.

Why not take a four- or five-day break instead of three days? Make Monday a travel day. Use Tuesday for skills contests or an Old-timers Game, and hold the dinner that night. Play the All-Star game Wednesday, schedule Thursday as a travel day and resume the league schedule Friday or Saturday.

The key is getting the NHL Players Association to agree to the skills contest, which is in their best interest. Fans enjoy the NBA’s slam-dunk contests and baseball’s home run hitting contests. Get a sponsor -- when money talks, the NHL listens -- and tape it for television. Make the whole event entertaining, attractive to television executives and something for all involved to look forward to.

The word around Boston is that once-untouchable Ray Bourque can be had for the right price.

Bruins General Manager Harry Sinden wasn’t pleased with Bourque’s public criticism of the trade that sent Steve Kasper to Los Angeles for Bobby Carpenter, and Sinden is anxious to jar his club out of its season-long doldrums. The Bruins are in danger of finishing below .500 for the first time since 1966-67, the longest streak in professional sports.

Their offense ranked 19th through Wednesday, and it’s no secret that Coach Terry O’Reilly is unhappy with Sinden always looking over his shoulder. O’Reilly will be hard-pressed to get his club past the first round of the playoffs and is fortunate the Quebec Nordiques are worse than the Bruins, or he’d have to worry about making the playoffs.

Despite rumors that the Blues will be sold and moved out of St. Louis, reportedly to Milwaukee, club and city officials have said the Blues are staying put.

“The only way the Blues will play in Milwaukee is if we play an exhibition game against another NHL team,” Blues President Jack Quinn told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “There has not been an overture made for the team. Since local ownership took control, the club is in St. Louis to stay.”

Attendance has averaged nearly 15,000 this season with more sellouts (nine) than in all of last season. But with the club having been sold three times in its 22-year existence and twice in the last six years, and plans for a new arena still in the discussion stages, the Blues appear vulnerable. It’s an image Blues Chairman Michael Shanahan hopes to change. “There won’t be any trucks backing up to the door,” he said. “No one’s made an offer.”

The Winnipeg Jets may have traded the wrong goalie when they shipped Alain Chevrier to the Chicago Blackhawks a few weeks ago.

Chevrier is 6-3 with the Blackhawks, while Daniel Berthiaume and Pokey Reddick are foundering. The Jets offered Reddick around and got no takers, and they wanted to keep Berthiaume for some mysterious reason; if they had decent goaltending, they could have been dangerous instead of a Smythe Division also-ran.

Deposed General Manager John Ferguson said this week that “giving Chevrier away was a tragedy ... you just can’t give players away and expect to fill the holes with American Leaguers.”

It’s easy for him to criticize now, but what about his own folly in dealing goalie Brian Hayward to Montreal in August 1986 for Steve Penney, who was atrocious and is out of the league? And what of his ridiculous trade of high-scoring winger Paul MacLean to Detroit for journeyman Brent Ashton?

Hockey’s popularity in Detroit was never more evident than on Monday, when 17,446 people were at Joe Louis Arena to watch Red Wings farm club Adirondack play Newmarket, Toronto’s affiliate. The attendance set an AHL record.

Jim Gregory, the NHL’s vice president of hockey operations, said linesman Ron Asselstine was never a member of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang, as was stated last Friday in Newsday. He also said Asselstine “only chummed around” with a motorcycle gang but never was a member. Two days earlier, Gregory had said, “We knew he was in a motorcycle gang.”

Notes

The Toronto Maple Leafs are 22-51-6 since Wendel Clark left the lineup Feb. 4, 1988, because of back problems. ... Flyers goaltender Ron Hextall has as many goals as regular-season shutouts (one). ... The Washington Capitals have squandered 17 straight power-play chances against the Flyers. ... Pittsburgh’s Rob Brown has a 12-game point-scoring streak.