HOCKEY / LISA DILLMAN : Monday Is One of Those Days for Neilson

The firing of Ranger Coach Roger Neilson came down to a simple power struggle--Mark Messier vs. Neilson.

Lost in the hype of that battle was the notion that Neilson might not have been the right coach for the Rangers. He’s ideal for a bunch of grinders, not swift-skating star players.

For the Rangers, his tactics were unsuitable. Messier believed this. And if Messier thought it, so did his teammates.

Neilson refused to back down and lost his job. More and more, he had seemed as if he wanted to walk when the Rangers wanted to run.

The news didn’t get better for Neilson after he was fired Monday.

NHL President Gil Stein fined him $500 for his part in the fight between Tie Domi, the former Ranger, and Detroit’s Bob Probert.

That wasn’t all. Neilson’s dog, Mike, died Monday after a long fight with cancer. Neilson had hoped the dog would survive long enough for them to return to his home in Peterborough, Canada.

“It was definitely a bad day,” Neilson said.

Neilson has not ruled out returning to the NHL as a coach. Originally, he had intended New York to be his final coaching stop.

You can hear it now. The new Anaheim team will be in a long slump and its coach will talk about his top center’s sub-par play.

“Alexander just doesn’t understand the NHL,” that coach will say. “He has to realize that playing in the NHL is not a right, it’s a privilege.”

The coach will pause and smile, saying, “Well, membership does have its privileges.”

Life could be one big corporate tie-in with the expansion Anaheim Express. One of the matters under consideration at Tuesday’s Board of Governors meeting in New York was a proposed name for the new franchise, the Express. And in comes a credit-card company, American Express. We could end up seeing the company’s name as part of the arena’s name.

It makes you wonder: Will the league only take credit cards when teams pay fines? And will the team colors be a combination of green, gold and platinum?

All this will have new meaning when an Express player skates off to the penalty box for charging. Maybe the team motto will be “Charge It.”

The biggest issue at the owners’ meeting was a controversial proposal that would make more players available for the two expansion teams, South Florida and Orange County.

The plan, in part, would allow teams to protect only one goaltender, five defensemen and nine forwards. It was approved by the marketing committee, which is led by King owner Bruce McNall and includes Philadelphia’s Jay Snider, Winnipeg’s Barry Shenkarow and Hartford’s Richard Gordon.

Under contention is whether the committee can put a plan in place without a vote of the full board. Originally, the meeting was to have taken place later this month in Los Angeles.

But reportedly, Bill Wirtz, the Chicago Blackhawks’ owner and former NHL board chairman, was upset by his lack of input in the matter. Stein heard the rumblings and called the meeting.

Edmonton Coach Ted Green certainly has a high tolerance for pain, as he did when he was a player.

This season Green coached against the Kings after he underwent surgery earlier in the day to remove a kidney stone.

Last week, he had surgery on both knees--to clean out some cartilage--and then stood on crutches behind the bench during a three-hour game against Montreal.

“He’s given the rest of us coaches a bad reputation,” Montreal Coach Jacques Demers said.

“We can’t even complain now about a sore throat or a headache.”

How does Boston’s Dave Poulin handle adversity?

He cleans the house.

“I’ll come home sometimes and I’ll say to my wife, ‘Honey, I’m going to clean now,’ ” he said. “It’s just the way I am. You’d probably think the opposite, right? Something’s bugging you and so your house is in a mess? Not me, and my wife knows it. She’d never mess with my lemon Pledge.”

Bob McCammon, former coach of the Vancouver Canucks, turned down an offer last summer to serve as a director of player personnel with the Ottawa Senators. For now, he is enjoying his dual job as coach and general manager of the junior team, Tri-City (Wash.) Americans.

Still, he isn’t against returning to the NHL. “I’m enjoying it,” he said. “I didn’t want to coach at first. I just wanted to help. It kind of fell in my lap. Sometimes you think the grass is greener on the other side, but sometimes the grass on your side just needs watering.”