NHL NOTES : Should a Soviet Be Named Top Rookie?

There is little chance the NHL will amend its rules this season to make the current crop of Soviets ineligible for the Calder Trophy, awarded to the rookie of the year.

“I don’t think you can do it retroactively,” Calgary Flames General Manager Cliff Fletcher said. “That’s like saying two months into a season you’re going to change the playoff format.”

Montreal General Manager Serge Savard has said he will bring up the issue at the general managers’ meeting Nov. 13 in Chicago. He has support from Boston General Manager Harry Sinden and Minnesota’s Jack Ferreira. They would like to see European leagues declared pro leagues. The NHL now considers them amateur leagues, so Soviets Sergei Makarov of Calgary, Igor Larionov of Vancouver and Viacheslav Fetisov of the New Jersey Devils are viewed as NHL rookies. Off their early play, the three could finish 1-2-3 in Calder voting by reporters.

Makarov, a 31-year-old right wing, is a 10-time Soviet all-star and three-time player of the year who had 303 goals in his past 11 seasons in league play with Central Red Army. Larionov, a 29-year-old center, scored 165 goals for Red Army in the past eight years. Fetisov, a 31-year-old right wing, was a three-time Olympian, nine-time all-star and had 153 league goals.

NHL Players’ Association executive director Alan Eagleson said he does not believe the three should be eligible for the Calder. “It’s a joke,” he said. “Ask any player if he thinks these guys are rookies and the answer would be, ‘No.”’

Fletcher said, “I would be amenable to consider a change in the criteria for eligibility ... but it would have to be on a nondiscriminatory basis. Maybe there should be a mechanism where if you play in two or three world championships, you wouldn’t be eligible. But that would affect Canadians, Americans and Scandinavians as well as the Eastern Bloc.”

Fletcher said the general managers can make recommendations to the NHL Board of Governors, which meets in December. He said he believes the matter will be tabled until June. NHL President John Ziegler said he doesn’t want to change the criteria during the season.

Devils General Manager Lou Lamoriello said of the Soviets, “My stance is they should definitely be eligible this year and it should be looked at for the future.”

Vancouver director of hockey operations Brian Burke said, “I see the validity of Savard’s argument. I don’t understand why this point wasn’t raised before the season began. It seems like they’re just trying to say to Makarov, ‘You can’t win it.”’

It never fails. The first story on how penalty totals in the NHL are down appeared this past Sunday. Monday in Toronto, the Devils and Maple Leafs totaled 166 penalty minutes and their respective goalies, Sean Burke and Mark LaForest, fought and were ejected.

LaForest is 5-11 and weighs 190 pounds. Burke is 6-3, 205. “I’m not going to do it again,” said LaForest, who lost the fight “It just takes too much out of you. I was dead.” After practice Tuesday, teammate Tom Fergus asked LaForest to autograph a stick and said, ‘You can sign it Rocky.”’

The Devils might have been showcasing defenseman Craig Wolanin in Thursday night’s home game against Hartford. Coach Jim Schoenfeld scratched defensemen Sergei Starikov and Reijo Ruotsalainen to play Wolanin for only the second time this year.

Wolanin, 22, the Devils’ third overall first-round draft pick in 1985, discussed his status this week with General Manager Lou Lamoriello, who termed the chat “amenable.” Lamoriello added, “Craig Wolanin is very much in the plans of the New Jersey Devils.”

The Penguins and Maple Leafs are said to be on the brink of revolts against their respective coaches, Gene Ubriaco and Doug Carpenter.

The Penguins’ situation appears more serious. Ubriaco acknowledged the problem Thursday, saying, “We’ve got a lot of people trying to pull us apart. I don’t know why. Last year we were a group. Unfortunately, we had to make some moves and change the group and some people don’t understand it. This has been going on for a long time. You’ve seen in Toronto what mayhem can cause.”

Pittsburgh players are upset that popular grinder Randy Cunneyworth was dealt to Winnipeg in the off-season. This past week in practice, after defenseman Rod Buskas first was told to stay away from the team while Pittsburgh tried to deal him, and then was traded to Vancouver for a draft pick, some Penguins wore black armbands.

The Penguins, who are 1-for-21 on the power play in their past five games, have lost three straight home games. Mario Lemieux said some players are upset over Ubriaco’s line shuffling.

In Toronto, the players who learned little under the fiery John Brophy are not used to having a coach teach them things in practice as Carpenter does. He has had a closed-door session with critic Gary Leeman from which Leeman emerged meekly. The next to be chewed out could be Ed Olczyk, one of the top I’m-out-for-me guys, who has said he believes Carpenter’s system is too defensive.

Mike Keenan often juggled lines and stuck with one goaltender when he coached the Philadelphia Flyers. Keenan, who is now coaching the Chicago Blackhawks, is alternating goalies Jacques Cloutier and Alain Chevrier and has two set lines: Greg Gilbert-Denis Savard-Steve Larmer and Steve Thomas-Troy Murray-Dirk Graham.

Asked about the goalies, Keenan said, “We’re playing a lot of games now and we use them both. It’s more difficult later when you have lapses.” Chevrier, last year’s playoff hero, asked reporters, “Why do you guys keep harping on who’s number one? ... You need two goalies to have a successful season.”

Do not look for Edmonton Oilers walkout center Jimmy Carson to be traded to Detroit because he is a native of Southfield, Mich. Neither General Manager Jim Devellano nor Wings Coach Jacques Demers thinks Carson could fit in with their hard-checking style. And with Steve Yzerman getting most of the power-play ice time, where would that leave Carson? Another thing: Detroit does not want to part with left wing Gerard Gallant, who sat out the fourth of his five-game suspension Thursday night, or defenseman Steve Chiasson.

When New York Rangers General Manager Neil Smith was Detroit’s director of scouting in 1986, he advised Devellano to draft Joe Murphy with the first overall pick, ahead of Carson, who was taken by the Los Angeles Kings. Murphy has 11 goals and 17 assists in 81 games in his previous three seasons. Carson played all 240 games, amassing 141 goals and 145 assists.

We all make mistakes.