Detente Wears Thin in American Hockey

Some player resentment is surfacing over the tide of Soviet players hitting National Hockey League shores. In Los Angeles, Kings center Bernie Nicholls said players will take runs at the Soviets. By the start of the season, there could be as many as 10 in the NHL. They are taking away jobs.

In the Hartford Whalers camp--where there are no Russians--there are mixed feelings.

“Some guys like it. Some guys hate it,” said defenseman Pat Verbeek, a newcomer who arrives from the New Jersey Devils, where defensemen Viacheslav Fetisov and Sergie Starikov will play. “The guys who hated it the most were the D (defensemen). Their jobs were in jeopardy. A lot of guys like the fact they were helping the team. But a lot of guys were bitter at how much they were being paid.”

Ironically, Fetisov ran over the Devils’ No. 1 player, Kirk Muller, last week and put him out of action for a few days.

‘That’s Not Right’

“The U.S.S.R. is using them as an export. They’re the ones making all the money out of it,” Whalers center Ray Ferraro said. “That’s not right.”

“They pay a guy $600,000, and half of it goes straight to their federation,” said Kevin Dineen of the Whalers. “The American and Canadian developmental systems get nothing compared to that. I don’t like that part one bit. I hear (NHL) teams pay them under the table a little, too, so the guy gets something out of it. They take jobs, but the NHLPA (players association) constitution says we don’t discriminate. It’s wide open, and it’s the way it should be. It just makes me uncomfortable having too many coming at one time.”

Ferraro says he won’t be the one to go after Fetisov.

“I’m curious to see how they’ll do individually, but I don’t know about running those guys. I don’t know many guys who will throw Fetisov around. He’s as big as a house.”

“Alexander Mogilny (Buffalo’s young Soviet defector) buys a Porsche his first month here right off the bat,” Dineen said. “A month later, he buys a Corvette. They have no self-discipline. They need some strong guidance.”