Brooks, France in Search of a Miracle

The last coach to lead the U.S. Olympic hockey team to a gold medal--to any medal--may be in Nagano in February. But if he is, he won’t be part of the U.S. delegation.

Herb Brooks, who guided a team of mostly college kids to a stunning upset of the Soviet Union and on to the gold medal at Lake Placid in 1980, has been consulting with the French hockey federation and may go to Japan to help the French in their quest to join the world’s hockey elite.

France is among eight teams that will play a preliminary round before the U.S., Canada, Sweden, Finland, the Czech Republic and Russia arrive with

their NHL stars. Two teams from the preliminary round will advance to the final round.

Brooks, 60, recently went to France to work with coaches and the national team and evaluate players. He’s likely to go back next month.

“I gave them some off-ice programs,” he said. “They don’t practice together much. They come together for a week and then players go back to their respective teams spread out all over Europe. It’s possible I’ll go to Nagano. We’ll see.”

Brooks has been scouting for the Pittsburgh Penguins the last few seasons. With hockey returning to his hometown of St. Paul, Minn., in the 2000-01 season, it would be natural for him to make an NHL comeback. But he’s not interested unless he can have influence on personnel decisions.

“I have no desire to go back and coach in this league and work for a GM,” he said.

His insistence on having input in personnel moves led the New Jersey Devils to bid him adieu after the 1992-93 season, despite a 40-37-7 record. Brooks also coached the Minnesota North Stars--now the Dallas Stars--but had his greatest success during his four seasons with the New York Rangers and their fast-moving, offense-oriented motion system. It was the Rangers’ misfortune to meet the New York Islanders in the playoffs when the Islanders were winning four consecutive Stanley Cups, but Brooks’ system wasn’t at fault.

His system is exactly what the NHL needs now to enliven a game that has been neutral zone-trapped into mind-numbing boredom. For more offense, Brooks advocates removing the red line, which would allow for long passes, and moving the goal line out to give players maneuvering room behind the net.

“In the early ‘80s, the New York Rangers and Edmonton were the only two teams playing an up-tempo-style game, and both of our organizations changed the way the game was played in the NHL,” Brooks said. “Today, it has to be tweaked again.

“[NHL executives] have to understand, we’re in the entertainment business. Hockey is played on ice, not blacktop or dirt, and it’s the fastest game in the world. The goal line has to come out to a minimum of 15 feet and the red line has to be looked at. Players are bigger and more talented than ever and they have to be given the chance to display those talents.

“The way it is now, teams are not playing to win. They’re playing not to lose. You can’t blame coaches because they’re trying to save their skins. I never believed in playing that stifling, boring style.”

Expansion, however, has left most teams with too little talent to play an open, adventurous game. You can’t teach players how to score, but you can teach defense and destructive tactics, and most coaches do. Too bad.

HULL OF A MESS

Brett Hull is funny, quotable and a prolific scorer, a reporter’s dream. Whether he thinks before he speaks is subject to question.

Hull told the Toronto Star last week that members of the U.S. Olympic team would boycott the Olympics if unsigned free agent Bill Guerin weren’t added to the squad. A day later, he said he had been misquoted and was merely supporting Guerin, his teammate in last year’s U.S. World Cup triumph.

Hull isn’t the first athlete to backtrack after seeing the impact of his remarks, but there never was an organized boycott and there won’t be one.

“Brett’s a pretty outspoken guy and he does speak from his heart,” said Chicago right wing Tony Amonte, another Olympian. “I’m confident it will all be resolved. Brett realizes Bill was a critical part of our [World Cup] team and wants to see him on the Olympic team.”

Guerin’s agreement Friday with the Devils on a three-year, $5.1-million deal removes any excuse Lou Lamoriello, general manager of the Devils and the Olympic team, had to leave Guerin home. Guerin was in good enough shape to play Saturday and should be ready for the Games.

Guerin still wants to be traded and he signed only because he wants to play at Nagano. It’s a shame many top Russian players don’t share his zest.

Although Vyacheslav Kozlov, Alexander Mogilny, Igor Larionov, Viacheslav Fetisov, Sergei Zubov, Vladimir Malakhov and Nikolai Khabibulin said no thanks, the Olympics should still be the best tournament ever held.

“If some of those guys played, it would help the team,” Chicago center Alexei Zhamnov said. “But whoever wants to play, they will play hard because they want to be there. I’m very excited. I look forward to the Olympic Games.”

Mighty Duck defenseman Dmitri Mironov will go because he feels obligated to repay a debt to his native land.

“The Olympic Games are very big for Russia, for our home back there, so everybody will watch and everybody wants to win,” said Mironov, who won a gold medal in 1992. “I am happy to be on the team.”

PANTHERS DUG HOLE FOR MacLEAN

Less than 18 months after he took the third-year Florida Panthers to the Stanley Cup finals, Doug MacLean joined the long line of former NHL coaches Monday. Club President Bill Torrey said players had stopped responding to MacLean, but there’s more to it than that.

MacLean appeared to be losing control behind the bench. He was suspended for two games this month for going after an official and Sunday exchanged words with Washington Coach Ron Wilson. Was it frustration or desperation? Either way, he looked helpless and unprofessional.

The Panthers’ grinding, defensive game took a physical toll, and players who got big raises off their 1996 success may, subconsciously, be reluctant to continue working hard. Their style has also been widely imitated, so they no longer have an advantage.

MacLean’s failing is that the Panthers didn’t evolve. While other teams copied them and caught up, he couldn’t devise wrinkles to keep them ahead. Nor did he manage to generate offense from his defense, as the best teams do. He simply lacked the resources and the vision to take the next step.

FOR RICCI AND FOR POORER

Colorado General Manager Pierre Lacroix was clever to get Shean Donovan and a first-round draft pick from San Jose for Mike Ricci. Lacroix has four first-round picks next year and seven in the first three rounds, giving him flexibility to deal or build depth. He also cut his payroll by $800,000, a consideration for a team that plays in an old building and must pay Joe Sakic, Patrick Roy and Peter Forsberg $25.46 million this season.

Ricci, out from under the shadows of Sakic and Forsberg, will thrive in San Jose.

SLAP SHOTS

Wayne Gretzky will be on the Canadian Olympic team, which will be announced Saturday. He’s playing too well to be ignored, even if he will be 37 in January. Ray Bourque, who skipped last year’s World Cup, and Roy, snubbed in the World Cup, will make it too. . . . Devil goalie Martin Brodeur has a personal 12-game winning streak, during which he has two shutouts and has held opponents to one goal seven times. . . . John Cullen of the Tampa Bay Lightning was released from a Boston hospital last week after undergoing a bone marrow transplant. Cullen has non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

Sergei Fedorov, seeking $6 million from Detroit, has asked to be traded. His agent, Mike Barnett, is calling general managers and asking them to make a pitch to the Red Wings for his client. Barnett spoke to Florida’s Bryan Murray and Montreal’s Rejean Houle, but Detroit General Manager Ken Holland said he will keep Fedorov. . . . Islander defenseman Dennis Vaske, who suffered a mild concussion last week, may have to retire. Vaske has missed about 120 games over the last three seasons because of severe head injuries.

The delay with Jaromir Jagr’s new deal? The Penguins want to spread payments over a long period and he wants more up front. . . . The Boston Bruins were shut out at home in consecutive games for the first time since 1967-68.