Nothing Comes as a Surprise When Maple Leafs Involved

The trade that sent the Toronto Maple Leafs’ No. 1 draft choice in 1991 to the New Jersey Devils for defenseman Tom Kurvers last week surprised many National Hockey League observers.

Jeff Jacobs of the Hartford Courant wrote: “It’s too bad (NHL) President John Ziegler and his battery of lawyers can’t find a legal loophole to wrest ownership control of the pathetic Maple Leafs until the death of sickly owner Harold Ballard.

“If the Leafs were anywhere else but the cradle of hockey in Canada’s glamorous, sports-crazed city, they’d have folded their franchise tent long ago.”

Add Jacobs: Marcel Dionne, who fell only 79 points short of Gordie Howe’s NHL scoring record of 1,850--broken Oct. 15 by the Kings’ Wayne Gretzky--was cut before the start of this season by the New York Rangers. Dionne, 38, has opened a dry-cleaning business in Mt. Kisco, N.Y., and will be paid the remainder of his $600,000 contract by the Rangers over four years.

“I don’t have an ego,” Dionne said. “I did my thing. When it gets down to show biz, I back off. I’m that type of guy. If I broke Howe’s record before Gretzky, people would have said, ‘Big deal. Wayne will break it anyway.’ That’s been the story of my career.”

Add Dionne: Dionne played for the Kings for 12 seasons. Told by Mike Kiley of the Chicago Tribune that the Kings’ owner, Bruce McNall, had mentioned the possibility of retiring Dionne’s number, he said: “I don’t live there anymore. It would mean nothing to me. I don’t have an ego. Retiring sweaters are a big thing to some players, not to me.”

Last add NHL: Maple Leaf goalie Mark Laforest summed up his fight with Devil goalie Sean Burke at Toronto Monday night: “I told him to take his mask off, and he obliged. So I hit him.” Laforest lost the fight, but Toronto won, 5-4.

Trivia time: What was Dionne’s number?

All systems go: How did Caltech, winner of the $750,000 Budweiser International Sunday at Laurel Race Course, get his name? His breeder, Dave Goldman, a Florida turf reporter, told Dale Austin of the Baltimore Sun: “It was one of those dreamy times, and the mare is named Starpiece. I got to thinking about his sire, Explosive Bid. The Voyager space mission was under way, and at first I thought about naming him Jet Propulsion Laboratory. But that didn’t sound good saying that.

“I’m watching PBS television about the Voyager program, and they switched to Caltech. I liked that name. At the same time, I thought if I couldn’t sell the horse down here, Wayne Lukas is out there (in California). Maybe he’ll buy the horse.”

Trivia answer: 16.

Quotebook: Atlanta Falcons owner Rankin M. Smith Sr., after cornerback Deion Sanders arrived for a game in a limousine bigger than the one used by Smith: “That’s all right. He has more money than I do.”