Roy Looking Ahead to a Grand Record

If it all goes according to form, the Colorado Avalanche will defeat the Washington Capitals tonight at the MCI Center and Patrick Roy will pass Terry Sawchuk to become the winningest goaltender in NHL history. After all, the Avalanche is undefeated at 3-0-2 and the Capitals are winless at 0-3-2.

If victory No. 448 doesn’t happen tonight, Roy will probably get it Wednesday against the expansion Blue Jackets at Columbus.

“I don’t appreciate it now probably as much as I will when it’s all done,” Roy said of his chase of Sawchuk. “Actually, I don’t feel any pressure. It should be a fun ride and I should really enjoy it.”

When Roy tied Sawchuk with his 447th victory, a 3-1 decision Saturday over the Blue Jackets, he said, “I thought I was going to be jumping up and down.”

Instead, he grabbed the puck as a souvenir, embraced his teammates and saluted the Avalanche fans with a wave. At game’s end, he thanked all those who helped him get this far.

Without naming names, he said, “It would be selfish of me to think all these things would have happened to me by themselves. I’ve had great support, great coaches and great teammates.”

So, how many more games will Roy win? He doesn’t know, and it isn’t his priority. He would rather think about playing 1,000 games than winning 500, for instance.

With 846 games played going into tonight’s, it would take at least two seasons for him to reach 1,000. Sawchuk scored his 447 victories in 971 games between 1950 and 1970.

“I’d like to try for 1,000 games,” said Roy, whose record with Colorado and the Montreal Canadiens is 447-264-105. “No other goaltender has done that.”

When a reporter asked for his impressions of Glen Hall’s streak of 502 consecutive starts, Roy said, “I don’t know how he did it. Today, with all the travel, it would be extremely hard to do. It’s unfair to compare. Let’s not try to compare then and today.”

Fair enough, but does Roy see any of the young goalies of today matching his records some day?

“Certainly, one day,” he said. “Thirty years ago, people said no one is going to challenge Terry Sawchuk’s record. When I’m done [playing] some day, I’ll wish good luck to all the younger guys.”

A JITTERY START

Brian Hayward remembers a very different Patrick Roy. On Feb. 23, 1985, at the Montreal Forum, Hayward became Roy’s first victim.

“I was so mad after the game,” said Hayward, now a broadcaster for the Mighty Ducks, but then a veteran goalie for the Winnipeg Jets facing a raw rookie in net for the Canadiens.

“He was falling on his knees to stop icing calls, he was so nervous. He was so unimpressive in that win. They beat us, 6-4, with an empty-net goal at the end. All we needed were a few more scoring chances. The next year, he won the Stanley Cup and he was phenomenal. He came a long way in a hurry.

“I’m amazed, first of all, at how durable he’s been. At the beginning of his career, he was not very fit. He always had a perfectly flat butterfly [style]. When he goes down, nothing goes through. He has flexibility in his hips I used to envy every day.”

The butterfly style, in which a goalie drops to his knees and flaps his legs like a butterfly’s wings to shield the lower portion of the net, took off in the years after Roy joined the NHL. Before Roy, some goalies still played a stand-up style.

“It’s the way to play,” Hayward said of the butterfly style. “I remember as a kid growing up watching a ‘Hockey Night in Canada’ feature that mentioned the wave of the future was the butterfly. I vividly recall all the coaches interviewed saying, ‘Yeah, right.’ But it was definitely the way to go. You take away the lower portion of the net.”

Watch any goalie today, particularly French-Canadians such as Martin Brodeur of the Devils or Stephane Fiset of the Kings, and you’ll see them copying Roy’s style.

“He was every young goaltender’s idol in Quebec,” Brodeur said. “He’s the one who made it happen for a lot of the goalies.”

COYOTE CHAOS

It’s bad enough that the Phoenix Coyotes’ ownership situation remains unresolved--new owners Wayne Gretzky and Steve Ellman are supposed to take over any day now--but there were rumors last week that captain Keith Tkachuk would soon be traded to the New York Rangers.

Any deal would have to be approved by the Gretzky-Ellman group, of course. Pretty much everything has to be approved by Gretzky and Ellman. Trouble is, they’re not in charge just yet and not much of anything is getting done.

The reported deal would send Tkachuk and Nikolai Khabibulin, an unsigned free-agent goaltender, to the Rangers for winger Theo Fleury, goalie Mike Richter and two prospects.

“Absolutely ridiculous,” Bobby Smith, Coyote general manager, told the Arizona Republic.

Said Tkachuk, the subject of numerous trade rumors last season, “I’m not even going to worry about it.”

Actually, the deal wouldn’t be so bad for the Coyotes.

Tkachuk is no longer as productive as he once was and Khabibulin hasn’t played in the NHL since 1998-99 because of a contract flap with Smith. Fleury is a useful player, although he accomplished little last season for the Rangers. Richter and Sean Burke would give Phoenix a fine tandem in net. Prospect Pavel Brendl, if he progresses as expected, would be the key for the Coyotes.

RUMOR CENTRAL

A Toronto columnist gazed into his crystal ball last week and evidently saw the Kings sending defenseman Rob Blake to the Maple Leafs in the not-too-distant future.

The Maple Leafs were knocked by Toronto reporters for being too soft last season and are off to a 2-3 start this season. Blake, one of the most feared hitters in the league, is in the midst of a contract squabble with General Manager Dave Taylor and briefly abandoned his captaincy.

Therefore, one plus one adds up to Blake becoming a Maple Leaf.

Hey, it could happen. Lots of apple-cheeked Canadian boys dream of growing up to play for the Maple Leafs, so it’s probably safe to say Blake wouldn’t quit the game rather than accept a trade from sunny L.A. to snowy Toronto.

But consider this: What would Toronto be willing to part with to seal a deal with the Kings? The Maple Leafs probably wouldn’t trade Mats Sundin. Magic beans are definitely out of the question, as far as the Kings are concerned.

Remember the Toronto Sun is the paper that had the Ducks trading Teemu Selanne to the New Jersey Devils for three faceless youngsters, so surf the Web with a skeptical eye.

KICK SAVES

Philadelphia forward John LeClair’s back injury is more serious than the team was at first willing to admit. It turns out LeClair has disk problems and decided Monday to undergo surgery, which will keep him off the ice until December.

It doesn’t appear that forward Anson Carter, an unsigned restricted free agent, will play again for the Boston Bruins. He wants to be traded (perhaps to the Rangers), but Mike O’Connell, the Bruins’ assistant general manager, told a Boston reporter last week the team has no desire to deal Carter.

Speaking of unsigned free agents, is it mere coincidence that three of agent Don Meehan’s top clients remain without new deals? Michael Peca called a news conference last week in Buffalo to announce he would like the Sabres to trade him. Meanwhile in New Jersey, center Jason Arnott and defenseman Scott Niedermayer are also without contracts. Of course, Meehan did get defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky signed to a three-season, $9.15-million deal with the Ducks last month.

Thumbs down (again) to Marty McSorley, who last week claimed he took a hit for the NHL during his assault trial at Vancouver. McSorley said he could have shown countless instances of illegal plays similar to his clubbing of Canuck tough guy Donald Brashear on Feb. 21, but decided to keep the league out of his trial. Whatever you say, Marty. In any case, such claims aren’t going to aid McSorley in his attempts to apply for reinstatement to the NHL. He may play in Europe.

It’s hard to believe, but Jaromir Jagr’s four-goal game in Pittsburgh’s 8-6 victory Saturday over the Rangers was the first of his career. Jagr has been the league’s leading scorer four of the last six seasons, including three in succession.