THE NHL / HELENE ELLIOTT : Deadline Day Is Good for Canucks

Craig Janney was sent back to a team that gave him away, the Chicago Blackhawks continued a dizzying succession of deals, the Boston Bruins added offense to their defense but grew thin at center, and the New York Rangers sent Mike Gartner, one of six NHL players who have scored 600 goals, to Toronto for Glenn Anderson in a curious move that didn’t address Coach Mike Keenan’s demands for toughness.

Monday’s trading deadline produced a flurry of deals, including Janney’s return to St. Louis. He had been awarded to the Vancouver Canucks as compensation for the Blues’ signing of free agent Petr Nedved, but refused to report. Asked last week if he would play for St. Louis again if the teams agreed on a deal, he said: “I don’t think from my side or their side either of us wants me in a Blues uniform.”

While the Blues try to soothe ruffled feelings, the Canucks--who might have gotten nothing for Nedved if they had not been able to work out a trade--emerge stronger. Although Nathan Lafayette, 21, isn’t the proven playmaker they wanted at center with Pavel Bure, he has promise. They also get prolific defenseman Jeff Brown and steady Bret Hedican.

“I think Vancouver probably ended up doing the best business of anybody, as far as I’m concerned,” King General Manager Nick Beverley said. “They picked up two defensemen, good-sized guys who are mobile.”

The Rangers, who had long sought a center, also got Edmonton’s Craig MacTavish for 20-year-old Todd Marchant, who played for the U.S. Olympic team at Lillehammer. Adding former Oilers MacTavish and Anderson gave them seven members of the 1990 Stanley Cup-winning team. The Maple Leafs had so little use for Anderson that they tried to foist him off on the Canadian Olympic team. Gartner is still flourishing at 34, with 28 goals this season and 611 for his career.

The Blackhawks added scoring punch in right wing Tony Amonte, who has scored 68 goals the last two seasons. They gave the Rangers two pluggers, right wing Brian Noonan and left wing Stephane Matteau. The Blackhawks started the day with six players who had been acquired since opening night and will have to give players scorecards to identify one another.

The Washington Capitals did some shuffling, too, fortifying their defense by adding Joe Reekie from Tampa Bay and Jim Johnson from Dallas at minimal cost.

Prize for the most puzzling deal goes to the Bruins, who sent center Joe Juneau to the Capitals for defenseman Al Iafrate on the day they learned right wing Cam Neely will sit out the rest of the season because of a torn right knee ligament. Iafrate and Ray Bourque will produce sparks on the power play, but Boston has only Adam Oates, Ted Donato, Daniel Marois and minor league recall Andrew McKim at center. Already in an 0-5-1 slump, the Bruins may sink in the playoff rankings.

NOT USING THEIR HEADS

The NHL won’t allow players to use sticks that might shatter easily and endanger their safety, but its standards for helmets are shockingly lax.

A substantial helmet might have spared Blackhawk winger Michel Goulet the massive concussion he suffered last week, when he lost his balance and slid into the end boards at the Montreal Forum. Goulet is still in a Montreal hospital.

His helmet, said Montreal’s Vincent Damphousse, is “like a piece of cardboard, there’s no protection.”

Said Montreal goalie Patrick Roy: “With the kind of helmet he had on, I knew he was hurt bad.”

Wayne Gretzky wears a similar helmet, which has little padding to soften the impact of a blow.

Those helmets are legal because former NHL President Gil Stein made it possible for players to go bareheaded if they signed waivers absolving the NHL of responsibility. Because players aren’t required to wear helmets, the NHL can’t set rules for headgear beyond the minimums for such equipment set by a Canadian safety standards panel.

But even those standards are being ignored.

“We have people using helmets that haven’t passed those tests, but we don’t have the right to tell them they can’t,” said Jim Gregory, the NHL’s vice president for hockey operations.

“We try to, through the general managers, tell them the equipment has gone through tests and they can’t take the sponges out of the helmets and still be assured of the helmets’ being safe. . . . This is a tough one, one we’ve wrestled with and we’ve recommended that we take another look at it.”

How about making helmets mandatory and ensuring they’re safe? Only one player, MacTavish, plays without one. Advances in technology have made helmets light but sturdy. It’s stupid to skimp on safety.

MISGUIDED RULES

The NHL can’t keep players from wearing flimsy helmets, but we can rest easy, knowing that league officials are doing their best to keep players from celebrating milestones.

When Brian Propp recorded his 1,000th point Saturday, his Hartford Whaler teammates mobbed him happily. Sorry, that’s a delay-of-game penalty. The Rangers, anticipating that problem, have gotten special dispensation to celebrate when Adam Graves scores his 50th goal.

What really delays the game are those flow-killing, 70-second timeouts inflicted on us four times a game. Recognizing a player’s achievement isn’t a delay, it’s a moment to rejoice.

TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

Negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement went nowhere last week, according to Commissioner Gary Bettman. He will update the Board of Governors on Thursday in New York.

Bettman said owners won’t lock players out before the playoffs--”If we wanted to get involved in a lockout, we had all season to do it,” he said--and he doesn’t foresee a strike.

“If they wanted to force a deal by threatening a strike, they’ve got to do it with enough time left to discuss everything,” he said. “If they said, ‘If there’s no agreement by April 1, we’re walking out,’ then it would be clear they had no intention of agreeing and all they intended to do was strike. . . . We’re talking. We need each other to grow as a sport.”

Gartner, president of the NHL Players Assn., said players aren’t seeking a confrontation.

“I’m certainly not giving any deadlines, as we did two years ago,” Gartner said, alluding to a strike before the 1992 playoffs.

Free agency and the owners’ move for a salary cap remain the most contentious issues.

“There will not be a salary cap,” NHLPA head Bob Goodenow said.

Bettman also said the board will decide whether to appeal a Canadian court ruling ordering the NHL to pay $45 million to the players’ pension fund.

SLAPSHOTS

Gordie Howe, absent during Gretzky’s pursuit of his NHL goal-scoring record, will take part in a pregame ceremony at the Kings’ first home game after Gretzky scores his 802nd goal. . . . The Quebec Nordiques won’t get Swedish Olympic standout Peter Forsberg for about another week, while his Swedish League team competes in the playoffs.

The seizure suffered Sunday by the Islanders’ Brian Mullen might end his career. It’s a shame. The gritty winger was recovering rapidly from a stroke and was medically cleared to play, but the seizure--said to be common among stroke patients and not hockey-related--is a grave setback.