Granato Puts In Wake-Up Call

The Colorado Avalanche had endured slow starts before, but one player or another had always ignited a surge that carried the team to the top of the division. This season’s slumber was different.

“After Game 20, I was wondering if it was over,” General Manager Pierre Lacroix said, “and after Game 30, when it wasn’t over, I said, ‘Something is wrong.’

“You don’t do things on emotion. I went deep in my reflection and realized we can’t be flat and remain so flat. Last year, two or three teams were over 90 points and didn’t make the playoffs. So there was no chance to be taken here.”

Just as Lacroix saw firing Bob Hartley as the logical solution, he saw promoting assistant coach Tony Granato as the next step, even though Granato’s coaching experience consisted of four months beside Hartley.

“It was right in front of me,” Lacroix said. “Look at his background and the perception people have of Tony Granato. He has all the attributes and assets of a real leader. He has a big heart. He’s a polished guy. And even though he’s energetic, he will take time for deep reflection and make the right decision.”

During 13 NHL seasons, half with the Kings, Granato was known less for deep thinking than scrappiness and enthusiasm. He was an agitator, a pest, but he never took a night off. And as a coach, he expects the same emotional investment from players he considers friends.

Careful to praise Hartley, whom Lacroix referred to as “the previous coach,” Granato plans no major changes and hopes to make the game enjoyable again for a talented but seemingly unmotivated group.

“I just said, ‘This is a fresh start for everybody. Let’s start the season right now, as far as the direction we’re going and the time of the season,’ ” Granato said Monday before he improved to 3-0 with a 5-3 victory against Vancouver. “You can’t come in here and make a statement. There’s not much this team needs to do.

“I know we weren’t playing up to our capabilities. We’ve played a ton of games and have been there when it counted. To tell them, ‘This one is a must-win’ every game, you can’t do that. We were a little stale, and it certainly wasn’t Bob’s fault. There just needed to be a shakeup to clear the air.”

Although Granato’s lack of coaching experience could be a pitfall, he’s not fazed.

“Am I excited nervous? Yes. Fearing failure? Not at all,” said Granato, who retired after the 2000-01 season. “I’m very confident, comfortable and excited. How could you not be? Look at the roster and the people around me. Look at what Pierre will do to make it better.

“I go out in the hall and look at the pictures of the two teams that won the Cup, and there isn’t anyone who can prove to me this isn’t a better group. Patrick [Roy] is at the top of his game. So are Joe [Sakic], Peter [Forsberg], Rob [Blake] and Adam Foote. And we have great kids in [Radim] Vrbata and Steven Reinprecht. We have everything and more we had on those other two teams. We have to perform.”

Lacroix, who said the job is Granato’s “as long as he likes it,” also said Granato’s close relationship with Blake was not a hindrance.

“If anything, I think the locker room will have a better understanding of who he is,” Lacroix said.

Granato agreed.

“I’ve had coaches who I considered great friends, like Barry Melrose in L.A.,” he said. “To say you have to keep your friendships separate, no, I will not do that.”

As long as he wins, they’ll all be his friends. Lacroix took a big chance, but the Avalanche is a largely veteran team that needs coaxing more than it needs chalk talks. If this works, it won’t be the first unexpected success for Granato.

Sabre Rattling

The Buffalo Sabres’ future got darker last week, when Commissioner Gary Bettman said the club could fold or move unless prospective owners Mark Hamister and Todd Berman got state or local financial aid. With New York Gov. George Pataki saying state help is unlikely, and Hamister saying he must have about $15 million to improve an arena that opened only six years ago, Chapter 11 bankruptcy and a stalemate are looming.

The NHL has operated the Sabres since June, when owner John Rigas’ Adelphia cable empire crumbled. The Hamister-Berman group has a Jan. 3 deadline to complete its $65-million purchase, of which only $33 million is to be cash. They want $50 million in state funds promised to Rigas for a since-canceled office complex in downtown Buffalo that was to have created 1,500 jobs and revitalized the dead city core. Pataki said last week, however, the state’s $10-billion budget deficit makes fixing HSBC arena a low priority.

Buffalo Mayor Anthony Masiello, who was on the City Council when the Buffalo Braves moved to San Diego -- and became the Clippers -- said he fears history will repeat itself if the Sabres fail.

“It would have a terrible impact on our image,” he said. “We want a team to be a source of pride.”

Bettman said last week he couldn’t guarantee the club’s future beyond the end of the season.

“If everything comes together, it will be promising,” he said. “If none of this comes together, I can’t predict what will happen.”

Teen Idols

The world junior championships, which begin Thursday in Sydney and Halifax, Canada, are a magnet for scouts and general managers.

“This is a great tournament for us to go see,” King General Manager Dave Taylor said. “It’s mostly a [tournament for] 19-year-olds, but we’ve seen some underage kids play. We get to see our drafts and other teams’ drafts.”

The Kings had three of the tournament’s top scorers last year, Mike Cammalleri and Jared Aulin of Canada, and Alexander Frolov of Russia. This year, they have three draft picks playing for Russia, defensemen Denis Grebeshkov (first round, 2002) and Mikhail Lyubushin (seventh round, 2002), and left wing Sergei Anshakov (second round, 2002), and one for Finland, right wing Henrik Juntunen (third round, 2001).

The Mighty Ducks have two draft picks playing for Canada, center-left wing Joffrey Lupul (first round, 2002) and center Pierre Parenteau (ninth round, 2001). Igor Pohanka, a 2001 second-round pick acquired from New Jersey, will play for Slovakia, and Vladimir Korsunov (fourth round, 2001) will play for Russia.

Canada will be under heavy pressure as the host nation. It hasn’t won since 1997, under current Duck Coach Mike Babcock.

“Everybody in Canada expects them to come home with the gold,” said Joe Thornton, a member of that 1997 team. “There’s a lot of media hype about it.”

Slap Shots

Hartley’s firing was the third in a cluster that began with Greg Gilbert at Calgary and Darryl Sutter at San Jose. No coach who guided a team to the Stanley Cup is still with that team.

“Now, with 30 teams in the league and fewer teams, percentage-wise, making the playoffs, it seems to me we’re very impatient,” Duck General Manager Bryan Murray said. “We don’t give our coaches much time.

“The day I heard Bob Hartley had been fired, I thought, ‘We’re two points ahead of Colorado and we’re having a great year, and they’re having a year not good enough to keep their coach.’ ”

Paul Maurice, who was appointed coach of the Hartford Whalers on Nov. 6, 1995, and moved with the club to Carolina, has the longest tenure among current coaches. Jacques Martin, who took over the Ottawa Senators on Jan. 24, 1996, is second.

King executives said last week they were still paying deferred compensation to Wayne Gretzky but a spokesman for Gretzky said he was no longer receiving checks. The Kings acknowledged that as true. However, they continue to give him use of a suite at Staples Center for King games. For other events, though, he must buy his own tickets.

The Vancouver Canucks are going through their first serious run of injuries. Goaltender Dan Cloutier has a sore knee. Trevor Linden, who has an eye problem, and Mattias Ohlund, who has a sprained knee, have also been out of the lineup.... Will Sergei Samsonov’s wrist surgery spur the Boston Bruins into trading the rights to unsigned defenseman Kyle McLaren to get help up front?

Sergei Fedorov said he believes the Detroit Red Wings can and will click into a higher gear as the season goes on.

“Hopefully, we can find the switch when we really, really need it,” he said. “We’ve got guys who have been together for so many years ... and maybe that’s why, when we really need it we go play extra hard for each other and be a team when we want to be. I think that’s why maybe it’s been so much fun playing for this club.”