NHL Notes : Trades: They Rise, Fall and Fizzle

Trades in the National Hockey League have a tenuous existence: They are talked about, they happen, almost happen and fizzle out just about every day.

Here is the anatomy of a deal that some say almost happened, but extenuating circumstances turned it into an entirely different deal.

About a week ago, the Kings needed a goaltender, and the Washington Capitals needed a defenseman (which they still need). The Capitals had Don Beaupre, who was playing for the minor league Baltimore Skipjacks, available. Los Angeles didn’t have the defenseman the Capitals needed because they also are thin on backliners.

Enter the St. Louis Blues. The Blues wanted Doug Crossman and Wayne McBean from Los Angeles, and they also had a goalie available, Greg Millen, but the Blues wanted Beaupre, not rookie Mark Fitzpatrick, whom Los Angeles was offering.

A trade reportedly was worked out in which Beaupre would go to St. Louis and Millen would go to Los Angeles. St. Louis would get Crossman and McBean, and Washington would get a defenseman, who remained unnamed, from St. Louis.

The deal never came about because Capitals goalie Pete Peeters injured his hip in the first period Feb. 19 against Vancouver and Beaupre was no longer available because he had to be recalled from Baltimore to replace Peeters.

Los Angeles still made its deal for a goalie, trading Fitzpatrick and McBean to the New York Islanders for Kelly Hrudey. St. Louis and Washington were left out in the cold, but they still have until March 7, the NHL trading deadline, to make a deal.

The season has been one of ups and downs for Beaupre. He began the season with Minnesota, was sent to Kalamazoo, Mich., of the International League, was acquired by the Capitals in a trade that sent defenseman Claudio Scremin to Minnesota, played one game with the Capitals and was shipped to Baltimore, where he labored for three months. He was 14-12-2 with the Skipjacks with a 3.57 goals-against average.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say it was a disappointing three months,” Beaupre said. “I had a lot of early season expectations with Minnesota, but I was up and then down; then the trade and back down to the minors again. Baltimore is a great town, but it’s not the NHL.”

Last week he was back in the NHL, mopping up in the last period of a rout in Calgary, Alberta, where he made several excellent saves in shutting out the potent Flames for 20 minutes. Then last Wednesday night, he was in the Forum, facing one of the hottest scoring teams in the NHL, the Kings. He proved he belonged there with a sparkling 7-2 win.

He turned away 23 of 25 shots for his first NHL win of the season. Two of his saves came on wide-open breaks by Kings scoring leader Bernie Nicholls.

“Getting a win is the main thing,” Beaupre said. “Whether it’s your first game with a team or not, you have to do your best. It was a big relief to get back into this thing (the NHL race). I hope this is a start of a good future for me with the Capitals, but who knows in this business?”

The Philadelphia Flyers are no longer the feared Broad Street Bullies, and the Spectrum is no longer a House of Horrors that other NHL teams hate to visit. In a few short months, the Flyers have seen years of home domination evaporate.

This month alone, their 42-game unbeaten streak over Pittsburgh, dating to 1974; an eight-game Spectrum winning streak against Edmonton, and a six-game string against Montreal have been broken. Three months earlier, the Flyers’ 34-game home unbeaten streak against St. Louis also ended.

After nearly 12 years in the NHL, Ron Duguay of the Kings finally has decided to wear a helmet. Duguay did so after suffering a concussion in a game last month.

Duguay’s decision leaves six active NHL players helmetless: Washington’s Rod Langway, Chicago’s Doug Wilson, Toronto’s Al Secord and Brad Marsh, Winnipeg’s Randy Carlyle and the New York Rangers’ Guy Lafleur.

Tim Kerr, the Philadelphia Flyers’ right wing who scored five goals and added three assists in two road games, was named the NHL Player of the Week. Kerr, who has 39 goals, has collected 11 points in four games since returning from a shoulder injury Feb. 18.

Centers Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Detroit Red Wings, respectively, and Montreal Canadiens goalie Patrick Roy also were considered for the honor.

Roy of Montreal, who had his sixth assist Saturday night, added to his team record for the most assists by a goaltender in one season. The mark was four, by Ken Dryden and Michel Larocque. Roy is 20-0-2 at home this season.

Lemieux, who leads the league in scoring, had three assists to go with his 65th goal Sunday and became the third player in NHL history to record 100 or more assists in a season. The others are Wayne Gretzky and Bobby Orr.