Using His Head, Salei Gets His Way

Ruslan Salei will leave today for Nagano, Japan, to join the Belarus Olympic team, after all. Salei received an early release from his duties as a Duck defenseman because of a two-game suspension from the NHL for head-butting Chicago’s Sergei Krivokrasov in Sunday’s slugfest. Salei also was fined $1,000.

Salei had hoped to play for Belarus, which meets Germany to open “B” pool play Saturday. General Manager Jack Ferreira refused at first but gave his blessing Wednesday.

Belarus would have played two games before Salei originally was scheduled to arrive in Japan.

“It was fortuitous for him,” team President Tony Tavares said. “He loses some money, but he gets to go to his team early.”

The NHL also decided against suspending Duck winger Ted Drury for a hard hit against Chicago’s Jean-Yves Leroux, who was only slightly injured on the play and later returned to the game.

“If you look at the tape, you’ll see Teddy actually held up,” Tavares said. “He could have really drilled him into the boards.”

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New York Ranger Coach Colin Campbell started rookie Dan Cloutier in goal instead of Mike Richter against the Ducks on Wednesday. Cloutier played his fifth NHL game. He had a 3-1 record with a 2.15 goals-against average going into Wednesday. Richter is expected to be Team USA’s starting goalie at the Olympics next week.