THE NHL / HELENE ELLIOTT : As Playoff Races Heat Up, the Senators Are Frozen Out

With three weeks left before the playoffs, no team has been eliminated, except the Ottawa Senators, who were out before this truncated season began.

Here’s how the races shape up:

The place to finish in the Western Conference is seventh overall. The eighth-seeded team will play No. 1, which will be Detroit, and that will be a Red Wing rout. No. 7 will play No. 2, the Pacific Division winner. That will be the Calgary Flames, who can be beaten. No. 3 St. Louis or Chicago will play No. 6, which will be tough for the lower-seeded team. No. 4 vs. No. 5, probably Chicago vs. Toronto, should be even.

Vancouver, the Kings, Dallas, San Jose, Winnipeg, Edmonton and the Mighty Ducks are jockeying for the last three berths. Tight defense has fueled a 4-1-1 surge by Vancouver, which has a game-breaker in Pavel Bure. The Kings can back in if goalie Kelly Hrudey holds up and they keep getting timely contributions from players such as John Druce and Chris Snell. Losing Mike Modano because of an injured ankle hurt Dallas’ already meek offense, but Andy Moog’s goaltending will get the Stars in.

San Jose insists nothing is wrong with goalie Arturs Irbe, but his 3.63 goals-against average is alarming and Wade Flaherty has started the last six games. Craig Janney hasn’t helped the offense. Winnipeg is strong up front but awful in goal, and switching coaches from John Paddock to Terry Simpson won’t help. Nor did firing coach George Burnett jolt Edmonton, which has lost nine consecutive games.

The Ducks made a smart deal in getting forwards Denny Lambert and Mike Sillinger and defenseman Jason York for Stu Grimson, but their power play has no trigger man and their offense is spotty.

The Quebec Nordiques, the NHL’s highest-scoring team, should retain the Northeast lead and top East seeding. Right wing Owen Nolan passed Jaromir Jagr for the NHL scoring lead with 29 goals, including 17 in his last 13 games. The Pittsburgh Penguins’ outlook will improve with goalie Tom Barrasso’s imminent return from wrist surgery.

The race for the Atlantic Division title (and No. 2 seeding) will go to the end. The Philadelphia Flyers held off a challenge by the Washington Capitals, who are 13-3-2 since promoting goalie Jim Carey, but the New Jersey Devils may be a bigger threat because they’re playing excellent defense in front of goalie Martin Brodeur.

The fourth- through eighth-seeded teams are a jumble. The Boston Bruins will extend their NHL record to 28 consecutive playoff appearances, and the Buffalo Sabres will make it because of goalie Dominik Hasek, but the Hartford Whalers, New York Rangers, Florida Panthers and Montreal Canadiens change places daily.

Saturday’s New York Post headline called Ranger General Manager Neil Smith “gutless” for not making a major deal, but what he must do is light a fire under Adam Graves and Brian Leetch. If he can’t, the Rangers will become the first defending Stanley Cup champion to miss the playoffs since the 1970 Canadiens.

RATING THE TRADES

Even if Pierre Turgeon leads Montreal to the Cup, the Islanders won’t lose by trading him and Vladimir Malakhov for Kirk Muller, Mathieu Schneider and Craig Darby. Turgeon had whined all season, the second in his four-year, $11-million deal. Malakhov, who was brilliant with the Unified Team in the 1992 Olympic Games, never became the power-play quarterback they hoped he would be.

Muller isn’t a prolific scorer, but he shows up every game and is respected in the locker room. Schneider is a mobile defenseman who will boost the power play. In a separate deal, the Islanders strengthened their iffy goaltending by getting prospect Eric Fichaud from Toronto for Benoit Hogue.

The Blackhawks can’t expect Denis Savard to replace Jeremy Roenick, but now they won’t have to fly Savard into town when they retire his jersey. The Red Wings--who are 13-1-2 since March 6 and on Sunday took the overall point lead--got even tougher by acquiring Grimson.

Toronto helped its offense with Hogue and Paul DiPietro from Montreal and added muscle by grabbing Tie Domi from Winnipeg and Grant Jennings from Pittsburgh. Winger Nikolai Borchevsky will help the Flames, who got him from Toronto for a sixth-round draft pick.

Happiest guys after Friday’s deals: Craig Billington, who went from bottom-feeding Ottawa to Boston; and Bill Huard, who went from Ottawa to Northeast-leading Quebec. Unhappiest: Martin Straka, sent from Pittsburgh to Ottawa.

THESE WEREN’T DONE DEALS

King General Manager Sam McMaster denied a much-rumored deal that Jari Kurri was headed to Dallas for Russ Courtnall.

“I never talked to Bob Gainey about that,” he said. “We’re so proud of the way the team has battled back in the last month. We couldn’t see just swapping players for the sake of swapping players, and there was really no other deal out there.”

The Nordiques asked about Ranger defenseman Sergei Zubov for Mike Ricci but got nowhere. The Rangers wanted Edmonton’s Shayne Corson but settled for the Canucks’ Nathan LaFayette for goalie Corey Hirsch.

The Ducks refused a Ranger offer of veteran Ed Olczyk, who went to Winnipeg; and Pittsburgh scouted Edmonton’s Frederick Olausson but took tougher Drake Berehowsky from Toronto.

The Sabres thought they had Straka for Petr Svoboda but the Penguins got a better deal from Ottawa, Troy Murray and defenseman Norm Maciver.

EXPANDING ON EXPANSION

Once the fates of the Winnipeg Jets and Quebec Nordiques are determined, expansion will move up on the NHL’s agenda. Commissioner Gary Bettman said prospective owners have sent him “tons of feelers, and at some point we have an obligation to focus on the expansion interest we’re getting.”

The Jets and Nordiques say they can’t survive without new arenas, although neither fills its current building.

A new arena in Winnipeg hinges on the results of an election in Manitoba, but the St. Paul Pioneer Press last week reported Northwest Airlines will buy the Jets and move them to Minnesota.

Marcel Aubut, president of the Nordiques, wants the Quebec government to assume his club’s $10-million deficit and all future deficits and finance a new arena where the team would play rent-free. Quebec Premier Jacques Parizeau has stepped in to help put together a deal.

The NHL would prefer that both clubs stay put so it can collect expansion fees from groups in cities such as Denver and Phoenix.

“If they’re going to have to move next season, we’re going to have to know by May or June,” Bettman said. “Both communities are looking at the issue (of new buildings) and deciding whether they’re prepared to make a commitment. If that commitment isn’t forthcoming, there’s a realistic possibility those franchises would have to move.”

SLAP SHOTS

Canuck Coach Rick Ley, on Jim Peplinski’s leaving a TV analyst’s job to make a comeback with Calgary: “The way he’s talked about a lot of players, he’s going to take a lot of hits.” . . . Lawyer Alan Eagleson, former head of the NHL Players Assn., faces a public disciplinary hearing in Toronto in August that could lead to his disbarment. Eagleson faces more than 30 charges of embezzlement and racketeering in this country.

A sore hip kept Boston’s Cam Neely out of two consecutive games for the first time this season. . . . In his Vancouver debut Saturday, Russ Courtnall teamed with brother Geoff to set up a goal by Jassen Cullimore. The Courtnalls are flanking center Trevor Linden.

Only the Kings and Whalers made no deals in the week before the deadline. . . . Alan May’s move from Dallas to Calgary for a draft pick marked the fourth time he was dealt on deadline day, an unofficial record.