League Urged to Consider All-Conference Schedule

Just as one tradition is ending in major league baseball, some hockey executives are wondering if another should be starting in the NHL.

Thanks to interleague play, last month’s World Series between the Braves and the Yankees was the first to match teams that met during the season. But with the NHL expanding to 30 teams next year, some general managers are questioning whether interconference play should survive.

Calgary Flames general manager Al Coates is leading the push for conference-only play during the regular season. By doing so, teams would spend far less travel time--and far less money--jetting back and forth across North America for six months.

Already, some interconference play has been reduced. Stanley Cup champion Dallas, for example, doesn’t play in Pittsburgh this season, and four Eastern Conference teams don’t play in Calgary.

There are pros and cons to Coates’ plan, which may cause some lively discussion during the NHL Board of Governors meeting in Boca Raton, Fla., on Dec. 7-8.

The pros: more rivalry games and, because so many long road trips would be eliminated, a shorter regular season. The cons: a possible negative impact on attendance; Los Angeles fans might not want more games against Calgary at the expense of not seeing Jaromir Jagr or Eric Lindros. And fans in Vancouver and Calgary wouldn’t see the Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs, teams with large national followings.

The plan could hurt attendance in Sun Belt cities such as Miami and Phoenix, where crowds often include transplanted Easterners who love seeing their hometown teams play.

Surprisingly, some western Conference players also oppose conference-only play because it would eliminate trips to nice-weather cities in the dead of winter. (If one has to be on the road in January, isn’t a trip to Phoenix more inviting than one to Philadelphia?)

NOLAN COACHING AGAIN: Ted Nolan is back in coaching, only it isn’t in the NHL.

The former coach of the year, unable to land an NHL job since leaving Buffalo in 1997, was hired by the Assembly of First Nations to coach a Canadian national Aboriginal team.

The Assembly wants to assemble a premier under-18 team that can compete on the world level. Nolan was hired by national Chief Phil Fontaine to act as director of hockey operations for the fledgling federation.

“Obviously, I want to coach on the NHL level--I’ve never made that a secret -- but I haven’t been given that opportunity,” Nolan told The Calgary Sun. “Instead of sitting around whining about it, I’m doing something that can really make a difference.”

THE GREAT ONE: To the surprise of no one, Wayne Gretzky was the model of class and grace upon his induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Gretzky understands his place in hockey’s history, but never felt like he was the game.

“I don’t think any one person is bigger than the game,” Gretzky said. “I don’t think any one person can dramatically make changes in the game of hockey. What I did is, maybe, I paved the way for a lot of other people. I was told I wasn’t big enough, fast enough or strong enough. Probably some kids can look to me and say, ‘He made it, so maybe I can make it.’ ”

TAX BREAK: With the Ottawa Senators’ fate still much in doubt, the Kanata Council voted 3-2 to approve a 75 percent reduction in the team’s taxes.

The Corel Centre, where the Senators play, pays about $4.5 million a year in property taxes, with the provincial and regional governments collecting $2 million each and Kanata collecting $450,000.

The province of Ontario has promised to match any property tax relief from Kanata and the regional government.

“This is a very substantial show of support,” said Senators majority owner Rod Bryden, who left the council meeting in a huff after a 100 percent tax cut was voted down.

The provincial and national governments have been debating tax breaks for endangered NHL teams for months now, with each portraying the other as being unsympathetic toward the teams’ plight.

Federal Industry Minister John Manley said Ontario would be to blame if the Senators left because of its high entertainment taxes and a refusal to start a special lottery to help NHL teams.

FROM STARS TO KINGS: If this season’s Los Angeles Kings are beginning to resemble last season’s Dallas Stars, it might not be mere coincidence.

Just as Stars coach Ken Hitchcock did last season, Kings coach Andy Murray has sold his players on his system--one that, only a year ago, he was using on the high school level.

“The thing he’s done is define roles for every player coming into the system,” the Kings’ Rob Blake said. “You know exactly what you have to do. You have got to do it every night, and he doesn’t let that slip one bit. His roles help define the system. If guys play it, we will win.”

Of course, coaxing the cash-poor New York Islanders into trading Ziggy Palffy didn’t hurt, either.