NHL Preview : In Year of Soviet Influence, Calgary Is the Team to Beat

It is the year of glasnost in the National Hockey League.

There are Soviet players sprinkled all through the league. Not the Eastern European defectors seen here in the past, but play-for-pay professionals who can go home again. Even if there are some miffed coaches waiting there.

Free enterprise--in the form of cash to the Soviet hockey organizations--works wonders.

It’s the year of the Friendship ’89 Tour, the training camp and exhibition held in the Soviet Union by the Washington Capitals and the Calgary Flames. And Soviet teams will be playing NHL teams over here throughout the season.

If the league does expand, as expected, in the next few years, those top Soviet players may be needed to keep the talent from spreading too thin. In the meantime, there are some NHL players who aren’t sure the Soviets are needed at all.

This should be interesting.

SMYTHE DIVISION

It is the year that the Calgary Flames defend their Stanley Cup title.

“Let’s be honest. We’re all chasing Calgary,” says Wayne Gretzky. “They’re the best team in hockey.”

And Gretzky will be leading that chase in this, the year that he replaces Gordie Howe as the NHL’s all-time leading scorer.

Gretzky is the kingpin in the Kings’ big “win now” campaign.

The Kings were an old team last season, and became older with the acquisition of former Montreal star Larry Robinson, 38, and former Ranger star Barry Beck, 32. A trade late last season brought goalie Kelly Hrudey, 28, to Los Angeles from the New York Islanders in exchange for talented rookie goalie Mark Fitzpatrick, among others.

It’s time for the Kings to make their move in what promises to be a battle royal in the Smythe Division.

Very possibly, the real Stanley Cup contest will be played in the final series of the Smythe Division playoffs.

The Kings finished with the fourth-best regular-season record in the league last season with 91 points, and were second in their division to Calgary, which had 117 points. Montreal, which played in the Stanley Cup final, won the Adams Division with 115 points, and Washington won the Patrick Division with 92 points.

Even with Lanny McDonald’s retirement and the return to Sweden of Hakan Loob, the Flames are as strong as ever. In fact, they have added one of the Soviet stars, Central Red Army forward Sergei Makarov, the M in the Soviets’ noted KLM line.

Calgary Coach Terry Crisp knows what he’s doing, and he has solid goaltending from Mike Vernon and Rick Wamsley to go with the balanced scoring of all those returning champions, starting with Al MacInnis, the Stanley Cup MVP.

The Kings could improve dramatically and still not get past the second round of the playoffs.

Also, the Edmonton Oilers, still striving to recover from the losses of Gretzky and their Stanley Cup title, will be playing a strong spoiler role under Coach John Muckler, the former co-coach who took over--with new co-coach Ted Green--when Glen Sather moved up to the front office.

The Oilers are still an explosive offensive team with such stars as Jari Kurri, Mark Messier, Craig Simpson, Esa Tikkanen and former King Jimmy Carson. But they suffered a serious setback when goalie Grant Fuhr, who finally had worked out his differences with the club and agreed to “unretire,” underwent an appendectomy last month.

The Winnipeg Jets have a top scorer in Dale Hawerchuck and an upbeat new coach in Bob Murdoch, but they don’t offer much of a threat.

The Vancouver Canucks, though, could make the race interesting if Coach Bob McCammon can get some more offense generated. Goalie Kirk McLean was strong last season, backed up by Steve Weeks. But the Canucks’ top scorers were Petri Skriko and then-rookie Trevor Linden with 30 goals each.

But, look out, the Canucks have signed both left winger Vladimir Krutov and center Igor Larionov, the other two-thirds of the KLM line.

Asked to comment on the role the Soviets will play, Gretzky said: “I have some mixed emotions about that. We’re paying a lot of money to get releases for them. We have a lot of players here saying, ‘Why are we paying that money to their federations?’

“My parents raised Wayne Gretzky to play hockey. Like a lot of other parents, they put every penny into hockey. And nobody’s offering to pay them $700,000.

“I think the Soviet players will have a major adjustment. My experience with players from Communist countries is that the hardest part for them is adjusting to our way of living. I played with Jaroslav Pouzar (of Czechoslovakia) and it took him awhile to get used to our way of life. They’ve got to become disciplined. In this game, we are treated like men. You are in charge of yourself. Not your roommate or your wife. You.

“It might be easier for the guys in Vancouver because they are together.”

NORRIS DIVISION

Coach Jacques Demers and offensive star Steve Yzerman make the Detroit Red Wings the best of an overall unimpressive division.

The Chicago Blackhawks, led by Steve Larmer and Denis Savard--and with strong goaltending from Alain Chevrier, acquired last season--came up with an overtime victory on the last night of the regular season to make the playoffs, and then upset both Detroit and St. Louis before losing to Calgary.

It could have been a fluke.

Brett Hull is developing into a star for St. Louis, but he doesn’t have much of a supporting cast to help the Blues break out of the also-ran mode.

Coach Pierre Page of the Minnesota North Stars, still trying to persuade his veterans to play defense, resorted to calling them “thick . . . hardheaded . . . stubborn.”

And although the North Stars do have some youngsters developing, he says, “We have no one who makes you stand up and say, ‘Wow!’ ”

Minnesota’s attendance--an average of 9,795 last season--was the worst in the NHL and won’t be helped by the addition of the Timberwolves of the National Basketball Assn. The Timberwolves are the hottest ticket in the area these days.

In Toronto, another new general manager, Floyd Smith replaces Gord Stellick, and another new coach, Doug Carpenter for George Armstrong, offer no real hope that the Maple Leafs will turn around any time soon after a club-record 10 consecutive losing seasons.

PATRICK DIVISION

With Mario Lemieux, the league’s leading scorer the last two years, and outstanding defenseman Paul Coffey, who scored 100 points or more in four of the last six seasons, and big-scoring Ron Brown, the Pittsburgh Penguins will be a factor, challenging the Washington Capitals for the division title.

It’s doubtful that the Philadelphia Flyers will be able to lean on the goaltending of Ron Hextall. First of all, he’s sitting out the start of the season, suspended by the league for 12 games for his attack on Montreal’s Chris Chelios at the end of their final playoff game, and has declared his contract with the Flyers invalid.

On the advice of his agent, Rich Winter, Hextall has declared himself a free agent, presumably because his contract was negotiated by Alan Eagleson, who doubles as an agent and the leader of the NHL Players Assn. Apparently, Hextall considers that a conflict of interest. In the meantime, the Flyers will have Pete Peeters in goal.

New Jersey has signed two Soviet players, Viacheslav Fetisov and Sergei Starikov, and Walt Poddubny, who came from Quebec for Joe Cirella and Claude Loiselle, should boost the Devils’ scoring. Sean Burke, a rookie last year, is expected to be much improved in goal.

The New York Islanders, a group of youngsters under the tutelage of veteran Coach Al Arbour, will look to Bryan Trottier--the only player over 30--for leadership. Defenseman Doug Crossman, who went to the Islanders as the player to be named when goalie Hrudey was traded to the Kings, has described his new teammates as: “Big. Big and young. They have a lot of energy.”

An interesting twist has Glenn Healy, the goalie who won 25 games for the Kings last season, challenging Fitzpatrick for the top spot in goal with the Islanders. Fitzpatrick was the key to the Kings’ trade for Hrudey. Healy found his way to the Islanders during the summer as a free agent. Healy and Fitzpatrick were vying for the spot with the Kings at this time last year.

Dave Chyzowski, the Islanders’ top draft pick and the second player overall in the June draft, looked very good in the exhibition season and could help the team as a rookie.

It took until July, but the Rangers have a new general manager in Neil Smith, who replaced Phil Esposito. And it took until August, but the Rangers have a new coach in Roger Neilson, who replaced Esposito, who had fired Michel Bergeron to take over the coaching job himself.

Is it any wonder the Rangers haven’t won a Stanley Cup since 1940?

On the plus side for the Rangers are young defenseman Brian Leetch along with scorers Tony Granato, of Olympic fame, Carey Wilson and Tomas Sandstrom.

ADAMS DIVISION

The Montreal Canadiens lost veterans Bob Gainey to France, Robinson to the Kings and Rick Green to retirement, but the Stanley Cup runners-up are still the strength of the division.

Coach Pat Burns is back for his second season. Goalies Patrick Roy and Brian Hayward, the top goaltending pair in the league, return, as do stellar defensemen Chris Chelios and Petr Svoboda.

Every other team in the division had a coaching change.

Rick Dudley, who had been the coach of the New Haven Nighthawks--the Kings’ American Hockey League affiliate--takes over the Buffalo Sabres, who also have added Soviet Alexander Mogilny, a certain offensive threat and the only defector among the Soviets who are joining the league. Mike Milbury, a former Bruin, replaced former teammate Terry O’Reilly at Boston. He inherits a top goaltending pair in Rejean Lemelin and Andy Moog, and he has a real talent in Cam Neely, who led the team with 75 points.

Rick Ley, a former Whaler whose jersey has been retired, is in his first year as an NHL head coach at Hartford with a big job on his hands.

And Bergeron, ousted at the end of last season as Ranger coach, has returned to the Nordiques, taking with him Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur and center Lucien DeBlois.

The Nordiques have also added Soviet goaltender Sergei Mylnikov.