NHL NOTES : Sharks Hoping 8-9 Players Show Some Bite

It figures that the expansion San Jose Sharks have lost six of their first seven games and have been outscored 38-24. They have only six players who scored more than four goals in the NHL last year: Brian Mullen (19), Kelly Kisio, Wayne Presley and Steve Bozek (15 each), and Perry Berezan and Doug Wilson (11 each).

Sharks’ General Manager Jack Ferreira said snipers “are the hardest to get when you’re trying to trade. So many of them are the premier player on their team and they’re the most difficult to pry away. We know we’re not going to have a 30-goal scorer. We’re trying to get eight or nine guys (to) get 15 or 20 goals.”

Of the Sharks’ lack of bite, Ferreira said, “We’re going to have to play real sound defensively and take advantage of our opportunities. We’re not going to get a lot of them.”

Why would New York Rangers’ General Manager Neil Smith offer a new contract to Normand Rochefort, 30, who has been healthy for only 86 of 240 games in the previous three seasons? Sources say Smith believes Rochefort still can be a useful defenseman. But Rochefort also is possible trade materiel if and when Smith acquires the physical defenseman he is seeking. Rochefort signed a new one-year contract with an option year that gives him a base salary of $350,000 this year, a $35,000 raise over last year. His signing leaves five Rangers in their option year: defensemen Brian Leetch and David Shaw, goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, left wing Jan Erixon and right wing Mike Gartner.

The Edmonton Oilers have put left wing Petr Klima, who scored 40 goals last year, on recallable waivers. Klima has not been happy in Edmonton since being traded there from Detroit in 1989. He has no goals, one assist and a minus-4 rating in four games this season.

Smith, who was a Detroit Red Wings scout in 1983 when Detroit drafted Klima in the fifth round, said the Rangers will not make an offer for Klima.

Injuries to right wings Ray Sheppard (sore wrist), Troy Crowder (back spasms) and Martin Lapointe (broken hand) have given former New York Islander Alan Kerr a job with the Red Wings. Kerr, 27, who spent last year with the Islanders’ Capital District AHL farm club, has impressed Detroit General Manager-Coach Bryan Murray with his body-checking.

Crowder, who has a bulging back disc that he aggravated lifting weights in the offseason, left the Red Wings’ third game with back spasms and has not returned. He may need surgery. Murray is upset he did not know of Crowder’s condition when he signed him to a three-year, $825,000 free-agent contract. An arbitrator awarded the New Jersey Devils Randy McKay and Dave Barr as compensation.

Herb Pinder, who lives in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, is a level-headed agent. But do not get him started on the subject of Devils General Manager Lou Lamoriello.

Pinder thinks Lamoriello has left his client, free-egent goalie Sean Burke, in limbo, punishing Burke for demanding a trade. Pinder has said Lamoriello rejected trade offers for Burke from Toronto, Calgary and Detroit. Last week, Burke committed to the Canadian Olympic Team and said if he is traded now, he will not switch teams until after the games, Feb. 8-23 in Albertville, France.

“I think anybody would be satisfied with how much Sean Burke’s been humiliated,” Pinder said, “but not Lou Lamoriello. He’s a very selfish man. Sean and I have lost all respect for him.” Lamoriello denied he is punishing Burke and said, “We certainly would trade Sean today ... if it was the right situation for the Devils.”

An early-season surprise has been the play of Los Angeles Kings’ free agent Peter Ahola, 23, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound Finnish defenseman who spent the past two years at Boston University.

Kings’ General Manager Rogie Vachon found Ahola when he traveled last year to watch his son, Nicholas, a center, play for Boston University. “He told me to watch him,” Vachon said.

Injuries to Rob Blake and Jeff Chychrun allowed Ahola to win a regular job with the Kings. He got his first NHL goal Wednesday. “It’s nice to have a free agent step in,” Vachon said. “It makes up for some of them I signed ... that didn’t pan out.”

Suspended Oilers’ center Bernie Nicholls will lose $219,100 of his estimated $700,000 salary if he does not report until after his wife’s scheduled Dec. 1 due date for delivering twins. He will have missed 25 games.

Sources say Toronto and Boston have made offers for Nicholls, who wants to be traded but hopes Sather does not bury him with a losing team. Boston General Manager Harry Sinden said he talked to Sather Wednesday about both Nicholls and Klima.

Of missing his first Oilers’ paycheck Tuesday, Nicholls said, “I did get paid for a day and a half by the Rangers, but the mailman could probably cash that check.”

Around the league: Edmonton Coach Ted Green on Kings’ defenseman Marty McSorley, who sucker-punched Oilers’ left wing Martin Gelinas after time expired in an Oct. 8 game: “He’s turned into a back-stabber and a coward.” Oilers’ center Craig MacTavish said, “It’s all a big show to Marty. He thinks he’s on All-Star Wrestling ... I don’t think anyone on his own team has any respect for him.” ... Hartford center John Cullen’s contract: four years, $4 million ... Sources say the Rangers offered center Mark Janssens for suspended Chicago defenseman Trent Yawney, but Blackhawks’ General Manager Mike Keenan thinks Yawney is worth more ... Grocery-store mogul Steve Stavro takes control of the Maple Leafs Tuesday, when a new board of directors is to be appointed. Former Rangers’ Assistant General Manager Gord Stellick and radio hockey analyst Bill Watters are finalists for a job as Toronto assistant general manager. Stellick was the Toronto Maple Leafs’ general manager in 1988-89.