Ludzik In, Demers Out as Lightning Coach

When the Tampa Bay Lightning decided on a coaching change, there was no question the struggling franchise would turn to Steve Ludzik.

The former NHL player not only had close ties to new owner William Davidson and vice president of hockey operations Rick Dudley, but his style fits the philosophy of the new regime.

“In today’s game, there’s a new wave of coach,” Dudley said Wednesday after firing Jacques Demers and replacing him with Ludzik, 38.

“The old coach said this is my system and you will do it. The new wave says I have to be able to adjust because not everything I do every day is going to work against everything someone else does.”

Ludzik spent the last three seasons in the International Hockey League coaching Davidson’s Detroit Vipers. He was an assistant under Dudley for a year before succeeding his boss and leading the club to a pair of appearances in the IHL’s Turner Cup finals.

Demers led the Lightning for a little less than two seasons, finishing with the NHL’s worst record each year, including a 19-54-9 mark last season. He had three years remaining on his contract.

Demers has 409 victories, 11th on the league’s all-time list.

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Coach Pat Quinn of the Toronto Maple Leafs has added the general manager’s job to his duties. Quinn, who at one time held the dual role in Vancouver, replaces Ken Dryden, the team’s president.

“Last year we were fifth overall in the league and reached the final four,” Dryden said.

“But we still have a long way to go. I think Pat is the one who can see us through the next difficult steps and get us there.”

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The St. Louis Blues signed their No. 1 center, Pierre Turgeon, to a two-year deal.

Turgeon, 29, would have become an unrestricted free agent July 1. But the Blues informed him last month they would give him a qualifying offer to retain his rights.

The Blues would not comment on the terms of the deal. Turgeon earlier said he was seeking $5 million to $6 million per year.

He won arbitration last season to make $4.6 million.

Despite averaging better than a point a game in his 12-year career, including three with the Blues, Turgeon’s status with the team had been in doubt until a superior performance in the playoffs.

After scoring only five goals and 10 points in 15 playoff games in his two previous springs with the Blues, Turgeon led the Blues in playoff scoring with four goals and 13 points.

He has scored at least 20 goals in 11 consecutive seasons. He has 397 goals and 997 points in 877 career games.

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If Steve Yzerman has agreed to a long-term contract with the Detroit Red Wings, as reported, he has yet to make it formal.

“He hasn’t signed it, the deal’s not done yet,” Red Wing spokesman John Hahn said.

Hahn said Red Wing General Manager Ken Holland and Larry Kelly, Yzerman’s agent, continued to work on the contract’s details.

It appeared Yzerman already had agreed to the major details of a four-year deal. Holland earlier told newspapers that although nothing had been signed, the deal was all but done.

“We’ve agreed to everything but can’t seem to get it in writing,” he told the Oakland Press of Pontiac, Mich.

Holland and Kelly reached agreement last week on the language for Yzerman’s marketing rights after several revisions, Booth Newspapers reported Wednesday.

Under the contract, Yzerman would receive a $1.5-million signing bonus for the 1999-2000 season, which would boost his salary to $6.618 million. He would make $8 million in each of the following three seasons, the Detroit News, the Oakland Press and Booth reported.

Yzerman, 34, led the Red Wings with 74 points and 13 power-play goals last season and followed that with nine goals in 10 playoff games.

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Mario Lemieux was granted an additional 10 days to complete his proposal to buy the bankrupt Pittsburgh Penguins and work out details with investors.

The Hall of Fame center has put together a $50-million plan to buy the team.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Bernard Markovitz gave Lemieux until July 26. The deadline had been Friday, but Lemieux’s attorneys said they needed more time.

Michael Kaminski, a bankruptcy attorney for the Penguins, said details of the deal were still being worked out with one key investor, Los Angeles supermarket executive Ronald Burkle, who is expected to put up $20 million.