Dynasty in Colorado Gets Snowed Over

Two years ago, the Colorado Avalanche had the look of a budding dynasty. It had an impressive 1-2 punch in centers Joe Sakic and Peter Forsberg, the formidable grit of right wing Claude Lemieux, the NHL’s top money goaltender in Patrick Roy and the superb puck handling of defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh. The team was young, deep on defense and capable of playing it rugged or with finesse, and the Stanley Cup championship it won in 1996 to end its first season in Denver figured to be the first of many.

For many reasons, the dynasty never blossomed. The Avalanche lost to Detroit in the Western Conference finals in 1997 and collapsed in the first round of the playoffs last spring, losing to Edmonton after taking a 3-1 lead. Marc Crawford, who coached Colorado to the Cup, was forced out last summer after a personality clash with General Manager Pierre Lacroix.

And since then, things have gone downhill.

The Avalanche’s 0-4-1 start under new Coach Bob Hartley is its worst since it joined the NHL in 1979-80 as the Quebec Nordiques. Forsberg, the NHL scoring runner-up last season, has no goals. Winger Valeri Kamensky, who averaged 31 goals over the last three seasons, also has none. The defense is disorganized after losing Uwe Krupp to free agency and restricted free-agent Ozolinsh to a contract dispute. Roy’s 3.69 goals-against average and .860 save percentage reflect his struggles.

“It’s hard for me to be happy with my play right now,” Roy said. “I have to play better. I haven’t done my job.”

Lacroix is already hearing calls for his head, but he is determined to remain calm.

“I’m positive,” he said. “The way I look at it, the Yankees started 0-3 and won 121 games [not counting World Series games]. This team has a lot of talent, but since the Olympics last season, the chemistry kind of fell apart.

“I’m very confident we can come back. You can’t panic. It’s still too early to say it’s not fixable. You’ve got to keep the faith in this group. Maybe we need to do some adjustments, but I have faith in our core players.”

That core has changed without Krupp’s thumping hits and Ozolinsh’s feats on the power play. Lacroix’s decision not to re-sign Krupp is defensible, since Krupp is 33 and had neck problems.

The stalemate with Ozolinsh is sticky. Ozolinsh chose not to go to salary arbitration, no doubt fearing the Avalanche would cite his defensive weaknesses as reason to pay him less than he wanted. He rejected their last offer of $9.75 million over three years and is in Europe.

“We haven’t talked since the start of camp,” Lacroix said. “They give us hypotheticals, but I can’t do business on maybes.”

Losing defenseman Eric Messier to a broken elbow further depleted the defense and gave bigger roles to Aaron Miller and Jon Klemm, whose skill levels don’t match Ozolinsh’s or Krupp’s. “I don’t think with the kind of team we have, we can expect kids to carry the team,” Lacroix said.

On sheer talent, the Avalanche shouldn’t be an 0-4-1 team.

“We’re not, but we’ve played like it,” Sakic said. “This is where we deserve to be. We put ourselves in this position and we have to get ourselves out.”

HE SHOOTS . . . HE DOESN’T SCORE

It’s early, so maybe the pitchers are ahead of the hitters. But despite rule and equipment changes designed to boost goal totals, scoring is down.

In the 55 games played through Monday, teams combined for an average of 4.69 goals a game, down from 5.28 last season. Goalies have 11 shutouts, which projects to 222 over the 1,107-game season. There were an NHL-record 157 shutouts last season in 1,066 games.

CHAPTER (11) AND VERSE

The Pittsburgh Penguins have won as many Stanley Cups, two, as they have gone through bankruptcies. The Kings lag in both categories, with one bankruptcy and no Cups to their credit--or should that be discredit?

The Kings were the last NHL team to declare bankruptcy, after the Penguins’ first mess in 1975. The Kings voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Sept. 20, 1995, to protect soon-to-be-owners Philip Anschutz and Ed Roski from unseen potential future liabilities after they bought the club from Joe Cohen and Jeffrey Sudikoff. The Kings listed assets of $84 million and liabilities of $106 million.

Anschutz and Roski’s purchase went through, ending a sordid chapter in the Kings’ history. The Penguins’ saga, however, continues.

The problem was co-owner Howard Baldwin’s largess with other people’s money. He went for short-term gain instead of planning ahead, selling the team’s marketing rights to make up for money lost during the lockout in the 1994-95 season and agreeing to renovations on the Civic Arena rather than bargaining for a new arena or a better lease. He deferred payment on Mario Lemieux’s $42-million contract because his cash flow was slow.

When Roger Marino bought into the club, he was appalled at Baldwin’s deals and tried to get out of paying Lemieux, who is the team’s biggest creditor at $28.7 million.

This is not a case of a team going under because of players’ greed. General Manager Craig Patrick has economized and is doing a good job to keep the Penguins competitive. Blame greed and mismanagement by Baldwin and Marino.

EXIT ESPOS

Tampa Bay owner Art Williams’ decision to fire Phil and Tony Esposito after two games this season might have seemed hasty, but it wasn’t. It was long overdue.

As general manager, Phil was all bluster and promises. His strength was helping his relatives. Besides hiring brother Tony as the team’s director of development, he gave his son-in-law, winger Alexander Selivanov, a deal worth $3.2 million over two years for scoring 16 goals and compiling a minus-38 plus-minus ratio last season.

Tony Esposito was a poor judge of talent, as evidenced by Tampa Bay’s draft history. Of the Lightning’s seven first-round draft picks since its inception, only 1998 pick Vincent Lecavalier is with the team. Because the Lightning has never drafted lower than 16th, that’s pitiful.

Phil Esposito is credited with bringing the NHL to Tampa, but who says the NHL belonged there? The Lightning played in substandard rinks before moving to the Ice Palace, suffered under absentee ownership and nearly went bankrupt before Williams stepped in.

Coach Jacques Demers, the new general manager, is seeking an assistant and spoke to Mighty Duck General Manager Pierre Gauthier about Jack Ferreira, who in July was demoted by the Ducks from general manager to vice president of hockey operations.

Gauthier said Monday he didn’t accuse Demers of tampering with Ferreira, as has been widely reported, adding that he hopes Ferreira will stay with the Ducks. That appears likely, since Demers is about to hire someone else, probably Phil Scheuer of Montreal.

“Jack is an important part of our organization and I’m counting on him,” Gauthier said. “We have an employee here who’s under contract and we have exclusive rights to him. I’m not happy this is all public.”

SLAP SHOTS

In a classy move, the Red Wings engraved the names of defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov and massage therapist Sergei Mnatsakanov on the Stanley Cup with the 1997-98 team. They are still recovering from injuries they suffered in a car accident days after the Red Wings’ 1997 Cup triumph. . . . Only three 1998 first-round draft picks made their teams’ rosters. Center Lecavalier is with the Lightning, center Manny Malhotra stuck with the New York Rangers but isn’t getting much ice time, and center Rico Fata is with the Calgary Flames. . . . The New York Islanders, looking to dump salaries, have made centers Robert Reichel, Sergei Nemchinov and Bryan Smolinski and defenseman Rich Pilon available.

The Rangers’ experiment with Esa Tikkanen at left wing on their first line ended in their second game because his lack of speed and defensive gaffes were costly. Coach John Muckler moved him to center on the second line and put Niklas Sundstrom on the top line. Wayne Gretzky tried to take the blame for Tikkanen’s failings, but Tikkanen is too far past his prime to be effective. . . . The Rangers’ acquisition of defenseman Mathieu Schneider from Toronto may help their power play but will hurt them defensively. They need to be more physical, and that’s not Schneider’s forte.

The Florida Panthers’ line of rookie wingers Oleg Kvasha and Mark Parrish and center Viktor Kozlov has 11 points in three games. Kvasha leads rookies with a goal and four points. . . . The Montreal Canadiens, who eyed Toronto goalie Felix Potvin, are likely to sit tight with Jocelyn Thibault and Jose Theodore. . . . Defenseman Gary Suter, signed by San Jose as a free agent, isn’t ready to play after undergoing upper-arm surgery.