THE NHL : Quinn’s Best Intentions Sour in Vancouver

When Pat Quinn left his job as coach of the Kings in January of 1987 under cloudy circumstances to become president and general manager of the Vancouver Canucks, he was forbidden by the NHL from coaching for 3 1/2 years.

No problem, Quinn said. He had no intention of coaching again.

He was done conducting long practices, juggling ineffective lines and battling with sometimes unqualified officials.

He was once NHL coach of the year with the Philadelphia Flyers but was only 75-101-26 in 2 1/2 seasons with the Kings.

When the opportunity to go to Vancouver presented itself, Quinn signed with the Canucks, although he was still under contract to the Kings.

But he wound up with a nice front-office job and the chance to build his own team.

So what happened?

It surprised some that Quinn, upon firing Coach Bob McCammon last week, went back behind the bench as the new Vancouver coach.

Did he miss the action?

According to one Canuck source, Quinn had no choice. When he informed the Griffiths family, owners of the team, that the time had come to get rid of McCammon and to see if someone else could stop the losing, he was told, “If you want to make a change, you coach.”

And so he will, at least for this season.

Beyond that, he will only say, “We are trying to concentrate on right now. That’s the problem with this team. It has lost the ability to focus on the present. We will worry about the future as we come to it.”

After 14 consecutive losing seasons, there seemed to be some real hope for the Canucks when this season began. But there were also several questions.

Could Soviet players Igor Larionov and Vladimir Krutov get over their period of adjustment to the NHL and produce?

Could forward Dan Quinn, obtained by Pat Quinn from the Pittsburgh Penguins, come up with respectable numbers over an entire season in Vancouver?

Could Robert Kron make the transition from Czechoslovakia?

Could first-round draft choice Petr Nedved make the jump from the junior ranks?

Could the Canucks play defense?

Unfortunately for Quinn, the answer to all of the above was no. At least in the short term.

Krutov ate himself out of Vancouver before his second NHL season began. Reporting to training camp out of shape, he never made it to the ice for the season and was eventually granted permission by the Canucks to try out in Europe.

His Soviet comrade is still around, but not producing the hoped-for numbers. Playing in 44 of Vancouver’s first 55 games, Larionov had only 10 goals and 26 points.

The story is almost the same for Quinn (nine goals, 37 points in 50 games) and Kron (10 goals, 22 points in 55 games).

Nedved has found it’s a lot different playing with the big boys. In 36 games, he has three goals and seven points.

But Quinn didn’t simply sit still and agonize. He traded for defensemen Gerald Diduck of the Montreal Canadiens and Tom Kurvers of Toronto.

But nothing stopped this season from turning sour. At the time of the coaching switch, Vancouver was 2-13-2 in its previous 17 games. The Canucks are 0-2 since he took over.

This is Quinn’s team. There are only four players--Jim Sandlak, Stan Smyl, Doug Lidster and Garth Butcher--who were there when he arrived.

Quinn got the players. Now it’s up to him to get them to produce.

A pair of legends: When King defenseman Marty McSorley got his career personal-best sixth point Saturday night against Vancouver after never scoring more than three in a game, teammate Dave Taylor, skating by him on the ice, said with a smile, “Do you realize you and (Wayne) Gretzky now have 90 of these games between you?”

Gretzky has scored five or more points in a game 89 times.

Legend before his time: With 18-year-old Eric Lindros, already considered the league’s next superstar, eligible for the June draft, the speculation over his destination grows intense.

The NHL’s worst team will get first choice. It appears to be a race between Quebec and Toronto, with Vancouver given an outside shot.

But Toronto has already traded its No. 1 choice in 1991 to the New Jersey Devils.

The last hot rumor was that the Edmonton Oilers were offering to send forward Glenn Anderson, defenseman Kevin Lowe and goalie Grant Fuhr to Quebec in return for selecting Lindros. Edmonton General Manager Glen Sather called the rumor “ridiculous.”

Fair enough. So it has been replaced by a new rumor spreading among club officials and media across North America.

According to this one, the Oilers will send Anderson, Lowe and Fuhr to New Jersey for its top draft choice.

Can’t keep a good rumor down.

Quotebook: Told that when his owner, Bruce McNall, agreed in principle to buy the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, McNall kiddingly mentioned Wayne Gretzky as the potential quarterback, Gretzky smiled, shook his head and said: “I don’t think so. Quarterbacks can’t wear No. 99, can they?”