THE NHL / LISA DILLMAN : Despite the Pressure, These Coaches Have Kept Their Cool

Let’s leave Pat Burns and Barry Melrose for a moment--maybe they can play a game of tag, or truth or dare--and look at the other two coaches remaining in hockey’s final four.

It would be hard to imagine New York Islander Coach Al Arbour making fun of roly-poly Montreal Coach Jacques Demers or vice versa.

Arbour doesn’t spend his time matching the wit of the other coach; he concentrates on matching lines. Demers is more concerned with getting a team out of the third round of the playoffs for the first time instead of getting defensive about his diet.

Of the four coaches, Arbour is the elder statesman at 60. He has seen almost everything in hockey--and won everything there is to win. In his second go-round as Islander coach, Arbour is rejuvenated and seems to be getting younger before everyone’s eyes.

Between Games 1 and 2 of the Wales Conference final, a group of reporters were speaking to trainer Eddie Tyburski when Arbour leaned over the glass. “Hey Eddie, we’re going to have to cut off an inch off Benny’s (Benoit Hogue’s) nose because he’s been offside by an inch,” Arbour said, joking.

Arbour is thoroughly at home in this stage of the playoffs. Some contended he outcoached Scotty Bowman in the second round, when the Islanders upset the Pittsburgh Penguins. In Montreal, he charmed reporters by conducting interviews in French, staying calm even though the Islanders trail in the series, 2-0.

The pressure, in a sense, is more considerable on Demers. Almost no one expected the Islanders to reach the conference final. In Montreal, the Canadiens are not only expected to reach the Stanley Cup final, they are supposed to win it. Every year.

Demers has coached in Quebec, St. Louis and Detroit, and none of his teams have reached the Stanley Cup finals despite him being voted coach of the year in back-to-back seasons at Detroit. Montreal has not been in the final since 1989, when it lost in six games to the Calgary Flames.

What kind of urgency is there in Montreal?

It is not only Demers’ hometown, but the roster is dominated by French Canadians, who are acutely aware of the burden of tradition. And everywhere Demers looks, there are former NHL coaches now working in the media--Jean Perron and Michel Bergeron--waiting in the wings should he make the slightest misstep.

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Apparently, the sight of Petr Nedved asking for Wayne Gretzky’s stick during the traditional handshake at the conclusion of the Smythe Division final was too much for some folks in Vancouver.

For days, Nedved was vilified in the newspapers and on radio call-in shows. Hartford General Manager Brian Burke, a former Canuck executive, even joined the dissonant chorus on a radio show, saying: “It was very questionable.”

If anything, the gesture should have been understood by so-called knowledgeable hockey people. The practice of exchanging gifts at the end of any series starts in youth hockey, and it has been common at the conclusion of international series for years.

Nedved also received some flak for asking Gretzky to autograph some hockey cards during the series. That, too, is hardly unusual. Montreal goaltender Patrick Roy owns an extensive hockey-card collection and has been known to ask opposing players for autographs.

Ever since Nedved, 21, defected from Czechoslovakia in 1989, he has tried to pattern himself after Gretzky in every possible way, even down to wearing the same brands of equipment.

“Everybody knows I’ve admired Gretzky over the years,” Nedved said. “I don’t know why it’s a big deal.”

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Mike Smith, general manager of the Jets, held a news conference on Wednesday in Winnipeg, in part, to deny that he is on his way to San Jose. There was speculation, even during the season, that the Sharks were interested in hiring him.

Smith is close to Gordon and George Gund, the Sharks’ co-owners, which fueled the speculation. It’s a good guess that Winnipeg owner Barry Shenkarow would not vehemently protest a Smith departure. The Jets have lost in the first round of the playoffs the last two seasons, and Smith managed to alienate his goaltender, Bob Essensa, during the pre-arbitration process this season.

A long-term commitment to Smith probably will mean difficulty in securing a long-term deal with Essensa.