THE NHL / HELENE ELLIOTT : A Rough Year for General Managers

He who hesitates loses his job, at least when NHL general managers face off against balky players. Of the four general managers fired this season, three were enmeshed in disputes with unhappy campers who refused to report or were sent home.

Alexei Yashin’s desertion of Ottawa weakened Randy Sexton’s credibility, and Joe Nieuwendyk’s demands undermined Doug Risebrough’s already shaky standing in Calgary. Don Maloney put sulky center Kirk Muller on paid leave and then broke his own deadlines for trading Muller, which convinced the New York Islander owners that they’d had enough of Maloney.

At first look, it seems the inmates are running the asylum and that the more they pout, the more leverage players gain. But it may also mean that the general managers in question shouldn’t have been in charge in the first place.

The Islanders need immediate aid but Maloney couldn’t decide whether to trade Muller for prospects or front-line players. The Senators, who have the NHL’s worst winning percentage, are operating on a shoestring budget after wasting $12.25 million on Alexandre Daigle. The trick isn’t spending lots of money, it’s spending it wisely.

If the Flames didn’t want to meet Nieuwendyk’s demands, they should have dealt him months ago and gotten someone who could help their offense. The line of Eastern Conference teams who would love to match Nieuwendyk against the Philadelphia Flyers’ Eric Lindros stretches from Calgary to the New York Ranger offices.

The only general managers who kept the upper hand in conflicts were New Jersey’s Lou Lamoriello and Edmonton’s Glen Sather.

After Claude Lemieux challenged the validity of his New Jersey contract and lost, Lamoriello traded him before his whining could infect the team. Sather is awaiting a perfect offer for holdout goalie Curtis Joseph, which he can afford because he has the steady Bill Ranford. If Joseph wants to earn $3,000 a game playing for Las Vegas of the International Hockey League, instead of $1 million-plus in the NHL, Sather loses nothing.

Mike Milbury, Maloney’s successor, appeared poised to trade Muller after talking to Toronto, St. Louis and San Jose on Saturday but instead told Muller to rejoin the team Thursday. Unless he figures Muller will refuse to report, which would allow him to suspend Muller without pay, he risks hurting morale by having a player who doesn’t want to be there.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION

Karen Baldwin, an actress and script writer who is married to Pittsburgh Penguin co-owner Howard Baldwin, always wanted to make a movie that had hockey as a backdrop.

“I had an idea about a player who defected, but then the politics changed [in eastern Europe],” she said. “We said, ‘Maybe we can make it as a period piece.’ But we still felt the time was right to promote hockey.”

She came up with the story for “Sudden Death,” which was filmed at Pittsburgh’s Civic Arena and features Jean-Claude Van Damme. He plays a fire marshal whose kids are watching the Penguins play the Chicago Blackhawks in the seventh game of the Stanley Cup finals.

The vice president is also there and is taken hostage, along with Van Damme’s daughter, leaving Van Damme to save the day. The movie, whose $30-million budget is only slightly more than the Penguins’ payroll this season, opens Friday.

Baldwin, the screenwriter, has a small part, as do Luc Robitaille--then with Pittsburgh and now with the New York Rangers--and former Penguin Jay Caufield. The Penguins and Blackhawks were originally cast as themselves, but last season’s lockout ruled that out. Minor leaguers substituted.

“I think most people won’t be aware of the difference,” Karen Baldwin said. “But it would have been fun to have the real [Jaromir] Jagr and the real Ronnie [Francis].”

Baldwin is also working on a book with former King owner Bruce McNall. Given that her husband has raised money to pay McNall’s legal bills, it would seem logical to assume her book will by sympathetic to McNall, who has pleaded guilty to four counts of fraud. Not necessarily, she says.

“He has been forthcoming with things that are not particularly pleasant or flattering to himself,” she said.

The book won’t be published until McNall is sentenced, which may not happen until next summer.

PASS THE PUCK AND THE POPCORN

Word on “Sudden Death” is that it has some impressive special effects, but “Slap Shot” remains the best hockey movie ever made.

The hilarious story of a scruffy minor league team and the aging player (Paul Newman) who keeps his teammates together in the face of financial and on-ice difficulties, “Slap Shot” is required viewing for all hockey fans.

NO PROMISES OF A ROSE GARDEN

Paul Allen, owner of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers and a billionaire computer magnate, has examined the books of the Florida Panthers as he decides whether to buy an existing NHL franchise, wait for the next NHL expansion, or skip the whole thing.

The Blazers last week sent surveys to their season-ticket holders, asking if they would be willing to buy NHL tickets, and if so, how much they would be willing to pay. Employees also surveyed fans at a Portland Winter Hawks junior game. Allen is expected to announce his plans by the end of the month.

SEE YOU, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER

The Boston Bruins are more likely to encounter Al Iafrate at an arbitration hearing than on the ice. Claiming the knee injury that’s keeping him from playing was not hockey-related, the Bruins are not paying his $900,000 salary or his medical insurance costs.

His agent, Rick Curran, says Iafrate passed medical tests at camp and his knee swelled as the result of on-ice workouts.

Iafrate, a burly defenseman who has played only five games in the last two seasons, filed a grievance with the NHL Players Assn. A hearing is likely in January, perhaps coinciding with his return.

SLAP SHOTS

A roster freeze will begin at midnight local time tonight and last through midnight, Dec. 27. No player can be waived or traded, but teams can call up players from the minors. . . . Ranger left wing Robitaille will be out three weeks because of a stress fracture in his leg. . . . The Rangers offered General Manager Neil Smith a five-year extension and a raise to $650,000 a year, but Smith wants more money. His contract expires in 1997. . . . The Hartford Whalers are buying out the last half of Jimmy Carson’s three-year, $2.1-million deal.

Robbie Ftorek, who played in Phoenix when it had a World Hockey Assn. team, is a candidate to coach the Winnipeg Jets after they move to Phoenix. Ftorek, a former King coach, won the American Hockey League title last season with Albany, the New Jersey Devils’ farm team. . . . Top choices for the Jets’ new name are Scorpions and Coyotes.

Chicago’s Eric Daze has taken the goal-scoring lead among rookies with 15. . . . Of the New Jersey Devils’ last 11 goals, five have been scored by John MacLean and five by rookie Petr Sykora. . . . Winnipeg’s Teemu Selanne had four assists Tuesday against Montreal and four goals Friday against Edmonton. Not a bad week.