THE NHL / HELENE ELLIOTT : Power Play Pits Goalie Against Coach

In suspending goaltender Patrick Roy and announcing they will trade him, the Montreal Canadiens are compounding the mistake they made when they hired Rejean Houle as their general manager and Mario Tremblay as their coach.

Ex-players who have no coaching experience but can give good high-fives are a dime a dozen. Goalies such as Roy--the most valuable player in two Montreal Stanley Cup triumphs, a three-time winner of the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s best goalie and a four-time winner of the Jennings Trophy for fewest goals against--are not.

A 0-3-1 slump had ended Tremblay’s honeymoon even before Montreal was humiliated, 11-1, by the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. He had helped reverse the team’s 0-5 start when he moved center Brian Savage to left wing and made a potent line of Savage, Pierre Turgeon and Mark Recchi, but he didn’t know what to do when the other forwards stopped scoring, and Houle was no help.

When second-line left wing Benoit Brunet injured his wrist, Tremblay juggled his second and third lines, ruining both. Diminutive rookie Saku Koivu is being pushed around, as are Valeri Bure and Oleg Petrov. The defense was crumbling, and Vladimir Malakhov remains a mystery Tremblay can’t solve.

Roy can be faulted on two or three of the nine goals he gave up Saturday, but it was pointless for Tremblay to leave him in when the team had obviously quit. Roy apparently took Tremblay’s failure to rescue him as an insult. When he was finally pulled, he brushed Tremblay off and said something to club President Ronald Corey, who sits behind the Canadiens’ bench. According to Houle, Roy told Corey, “That’s my last game in Montreal.”

Houle added, “I asked him [Sunday] if he still felt that way and he said yes. We concluded that it was time to separate.”

Although Roy denied it, tension between the goaltender and Tremblay had been simmering. Montreal’s previous coach, Jacques Demers, was easy on players and especially deferential to Roy. Savage called Tremblay “an in-your-face coach,” and Roy, a veteran of 10 seasons, didn’t want--or need--an inexperienced coach telling him what to do.

“I really wanted it to end differently--not in a stupid way like this,” Roy said at a news conference Monday. He said there is no chance he would reconcile with his bosses.

A line of salivating general managers is forming outside Houle’s door. At 30, Roy has many productive seasons left. The guess here is that he will outlast Tremblay and Houle.

DON IS DONE

Every spring, after the New York Rangers had been eliminated from the playoffs, Don Maloney’s eyes would become teary and every New York reporter’s story would end, “And Don Maloney wept.”

What befell the Islanders during his tenure as general manager is a crying shame. Maloney had a respectable playing career with the Rangers, but as a general manager, he was a victim of his own indecisiveness and of badly timed deals.

His first mistake was losing Glenn Healy in the waiver draft after Healy had led the Islanders to the playoff semifinals in 1993. His acquisition of Ron Hextall backfired too, as Hextall played horribly in New York. But as soon as Maloney traded him to Philadelphia, Hextall enjoyed a rebirth.

Maloney also sent Turgeon--a franchise player--to Montreal for Kirk Muller, a bit player. But Muller wanted to play for a contender and the Islanders were rebuilding. His heart was never in New York and his play suffered.

After saying he would trade Muller, Maloney couldn’t pull the trigger. That diminished Muller’s trade value and left the Islanders undermanned. Muller didn’t want to lead them and Wendel Clark is too worn out to be their go-to guy. Mathieu Schneider and Darius Kasparaitis aren’t disciplined enough to take care of themselves, let alone lead others.

Look for Coach Mike Milbury to be named general manager if the Islanders agree to let him delegate contract negotiations to an assistant. The frustration of that task led Milbury to resign as assistant general manager of the Boston Bruins in 1981.

TRY SOME KETCHUP

The San Jose Sharks will have to eat the three-year contract extension they gave Kevin Constantine in October, and it will taste bitter.

The Sharks were 3-18-4 when they fired Constantine, who wouldn’t change his grinding game to a style that suited the team’s talented youngsters.

“The coach tried to teach them to dump and chase, and I told them not to do that,” said center Igor Larionov, who was shunned by Constantine but has thrived since being traded to Detroit. “The young guys have some skills and talent, and they shouldn’t just dump the puck. They could lose their skills.”

Interim Coach Jim Wiley probably will finish the season. He can’t do worse than Constantine, and in a weak conference he can still make a playoff run.

THEY SHOULD COME WITH EXPIRATION DATES

The season is barely one-quarter over, and four coaches have been fired. Either coaches have short shelf lives, or players have short attention spans.

Of the 10 teams that have won the Stanley Cup since 1986, eight had coaches in their first or second seasons with that team. The exceptions were 1987 and ‘88, when Glen Sather led the Edmonton Oilers to victory in his eighth and ninth seasons.

If a coach hasn’t won the Cup after a couple of seasons, general managers begin to think he never will, and send him packing.

DIAMOND IN THE (VERY) ROUGH

Another coaching change might have occurred last week after Mike Keenan offered to resign as the Blues’ coach and focus on his duties as general manager. But before you think he was accepting blame for St. Louis’ sub-.500 record, think again.

Keenan told players after a 2-0 loss to Buffalo Monday that he would “start looking for a new coach for you guys tomorrow.” However, he never made that offer to club president Jack Quinn, who has the power to take him up on it.

Keenan made similar statements in Philadelphia, Chicago and New York. He wins no awards for cleverness, but he has won three consecutive games since then. And Dale Hawerchuk, whom Keenan gave only two minutes’ ice time against Buffalo, has had three assists in each of the last two games.

As Hartford’s Kelly Chase--a former Blue--said of Keenan, “Everything goes right for the guy. He could almost eat a chunk of coal and spit out a diamond.”

NO HOLDING BACK GOAL SCORERS

The crackdown on obstruction has produced an increase of half a goal, to 6.3 a game, from the same stage last season. In addition, 25 players are on pace to score 100 points or more. If they do, that will break the record of 21 set in 1992-93.

There has been a 34% increase in the number of restraining penalties over last season, but major fighting penalties are down 12%.

Referees were reminded last week not to relax their standards, but it’s too late. They have reverted to ignoring holding and hooking in the defensive zone.

SLAP SHOTS

Commissioner Gary Bettman was in Florida last week to discuss the Panthers’ fate with officials of Dade and Broward counties. Owner Wayne Huizenga put the team up for sale after failing to get financial help on a new arena. “NHL hockey is working down here. It’s a building problem,” Bettman said of the decrepit Miami Arena. “I’m a little frustrated. For us, the best option is to have this team here in a new building.” . . .

The NHL says that by designating the coaches whose teams have the best winning percentage on Dec. 27 to coach the all-star teams, it’s rewarding coaches for their first-half performances, just as players are honored. . . . Recommended reading: “Game Misconduct--Alan Eagleson and the Corruption of Hockey.” The book details events that led Alan Eagleson, former head of the NHL Players Assn., to be indicted on 34 counts of racketeering, fraud and embezzlement. . . .

Esa Tikkanen’s surgically repaired knee failed doctors’ exams in Vancouver. He’s out of the lineup pending more tests. . . . Ranger left wing Luc Robitaille and Coach Colin Campbell had a shouting match after Campbell benched him in a game last week. They later made up. Campbell also had words with goalie Healy Nov. 3 at Anaheim. . . . Chicago Blackhawk center Bernie Nicholls’ bruised spleen has healed to the point at which he was cleared to resume light activity. He’s a few weeks away from playing.