THE NHL : League to Probably Go West for Expansion

Although King owner Bruce McNall, a member of the NHL’s expansion committee, has made it clear that he would like to see a couple of West Coast teams included when the league eventually expands--and that San Jose would be an especially nice place for one team--the Bay Area’s hopes soared a few days ago when Barry Shenkarow, president of the Winnipeg Jets, seconded the motion.

Shenkarow, also a member of the expansion committee, was quoted in the Winnipeg Free Press as saying: “I think everyone has just about recognized that a team will be located in the Bay Area. . . . The general feeling around the league is that there is a bias toward getting two teams in the West.”

San Jose is investing $100,000 in a public-relations effort involved in lobbying with the NHL and keeping San Jose’s name out front as an expansion city. That’s a small percentage of the $100 million the city is putting into its planned downtown arena.

San Jose backers are also soliciting ownership proposals, including one from former Hartford Whaler owner Howard Baldwin.

No decision was reached on how eligibility standards for the Calder Trophy might be changed, but the rookie-of-the-year award was debated at length Monday in a meeting of the league’s general managers at Chicago.

Montreal’s Serge Savard, a leader among those who think it is ludicrous to consider newcomers from European leagues “rookies” on the basis of their lack of NHL experience, reported: “The feeling is that we need much more discussion. The chance of changing anything this year is very difficult. It’s just about impossible.”

Calgary’s Cliff Fletcher said it would be difficult to change the rules with the season “25% over,” but then he wouldn’t be in much of a hurry to change the rule to eliminate Sergei Makarov, the current leading candidate for the award despite his many years of experience with the Soviet Central Red Army team.

David Poile of Washington, chairman of the general managers’ group, said: “It’s an emotional issue. Hindsight is always 20-20, and maybe there should have been an amendment before this current wave of older players from Europe. But we can’t turn back the clock.”

Another issue discussed by the general managers was the possible use of video replays to help officials. After much discussion on that subject, there was no consensus on what to recommend to the board of governors. Poile said: “We see what the NFL has done and we’ve been going over it for three or four years. We’ve not been able, through experimentation and discussion, to come up with something that can be done.”

A denial came from Yuri Koralev, a coach with the Soviet Ice Hockey Federation, responding to charges made by Igor Larionov in his book, “The Front Line Rebels,” that Soviet players worked with laboratory officials to fix drug tests during the 1986 World Championships in Moscow by switching urine samples. Koralev said: “Everything was invented by Larionov.”

According to Larionov’s book, clean urine samples were hidden behind the toilets for the Soviet players to submit.

Larionov also wrote that before the world championship in Sweden in 1981, he refused an injection of “an unknown substance” and was not selected for the team. Helmut Balderis, now with the Minnesota North Stars, indicated during an interview in Toronto recently that many Soviet players were given injections.

But the Associated Press quoted Balderis as saying that the injection Larionov refused was glucose.

With Edmonton under .500, rumors of a coaching change have surfaced. The word was that Glen Sather, the coach who led the Oilers to their four Stanley Cups but who was bumped upstairs after last season, would be making a comeback, replacing his former “co-coach,” John Muckler. Not so, Sather said. He said Muckler is a good coach and will be the Oilers’ man “for a long, long time.”

Penalty minutes are down all over the league, but Toronto, which leads the league both in brawls and in average penalty minutes (26.5) a game, seems to be going against the grain. While most teams are moving away from fighting and high-sticking--seven teams averaged more than 26.5 minutes last season--Toronto seems to have adopted the rough stuff as a strategy.

At least, that’s the charge of Minnesota Coach Pierre Page, who is not happy with the three penalty-filled games his team has played against Toronto in the last two weeks. He was especially upset at the Maple Leafs’ John Kordic, who hit Minnesota’s Brian Bellows with a high stick during the second period of a game Sunday night.

Page also told the Globe and Mail that Toronto Coach Doug Carpenter was trying to psych out his players. “He was yelling and screaming at our players,” Page said. “He was trying to get something going, and not too many coaches in the league will do that.”

Some final words on Toronto’s fracas with the New Jersey Devils two weeks ago:

Toronto goalie Mark LaForest, on his fight with New Jersey goalie Sean Burke: “I told him to take his mask off, and he obliged. So I hit him.”

Viacheslav Fetisov of the Devils was so embarrassed by his poor showing in the brawl that he asked teammate Jim Korn for some pugilistic tips. Fetisov said it wasn’t that he never had a fight on skates in the Soviet Union, but it had been a while. He needed to brush up. “I haven’t had a fight in 10 years, not since the world juniors and my first three years on the Soviet national team,” Fetisov said. “I forgot some things. Now I remember them. . . . I’m mad at myself. I’m guilty of not being prepared (for the fight). It won’t happen in the future. I reacted much too calmly.”

Witnesses say he didn’t react at all. He just let Toronto’s Wendel Clark “smack him repeatedly.” A picture that ran in the Toronto Sun showed Clark about to land a punch while Fetisov waits with a look of horror. Asked if he had seen the picture, Fetisov said: “I have it hanging over my bed.”

Hockey Notes

The surprising Chicago Blackhawks are leading the NHL with 29 points. The Blackhawks didn’t have 29 points last season until Jan. 1. The Blackhawks have a winning streak of seven games, their longest at Chicago Stadium since October, 1983. . . . The Buffalo Sabres are 8-0-1 at home. . . . On the other hand, the New York Rangers have lost five consecutive games. . . . Speaking of slumps, the Quebec Nordiques dropped eight in a row, a club record and also the longest losing streak in the league this season, before beating the New York Islanders last Thursday night. Peter Stastny had his first hat trick of the season in that game. Joe Cirella said: “We weren’t uptight, but you start getting worried about what’s going on, particularly the young guys who have never experienced this before. The breaks were all going one way.” . . . Paul Reinhart of the Vancouver Canucks will be out at least 10 days with a sprained ankle. Reinhart leads the Canucks with 21 points. . . . Pittsburgh Penguin Coach Gene Ubriaco: “You’re paid to win. I understand that. Let’s face it, anybody can get paid to lose.”