Lewis Tries to Strike a Balance

Dave Lewis is not Scotty Bowman. Doesn’t look like him, doesn’t act like him, doesn’t let sentences meander miles from their origin, as Bowman did, and he looks people in the eye when he speaks.

Lewis faces the daunting task of succeeding the man who coached the Detroit Red Wings to a record ninth Stanley Cup championship last spring. And although he acknowledges his debts to Bowman and Al Arbour, his coach during his formative years with the New York Islanders, Lewis is smart enough not to copy them.

He’s taking the best of what Bowman and Arbour taught him and adding his own ideas as he leads the Red Wings in defense of their Cup title. So far, so good: The Red Wings, who will be without captain Steve Yzerman until January while the veteran center recovers from knee surgery, started the season with a 2-1 trip through San Jose, Los Angeles and Anaheim. They will make their home debut Thursday.

“Dave is certainly his own man,” forward Brendan Shanahan said. “As far as the system or the personnel, the transition has been easy because a lot of things remain the same. Dave Lewis is being Dave Lewis, and that’s great. It’s the reason he was hired.”

Being Dave Lewis means being demanding but not tyrannical. Listening, but not being fooled. Using his 15 years’ NHL experience -- including four with the Kings -- and 14 years’ experience on Detroit’s coaching staff to know when to push players and when to stroke them.

“He’s been stepping up and being more vocal as a head coach, which he has to do,” said defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom, voted the most valuable player in last spring’s Cup run and a two-time Norris Trophy winner. “It’s been an easy transition for us.”

Two key changes are Lewis’ willingness to use young players in crucial situations and his efforts to maintain communication with players. Bowman, undeniably a hockey genius, distanced himself from players and rarely explained his moves. Lewis plans occasional one-on-one chats with players to keep them informed and to hear what they’re thinking, a practice he began before the recent trip.

“Steve’s not around, so I met with some players and sat down and said we expect leadership from them,” Lewis said. “Simple things like that. They probably know it, but it’s a good thing to hear.... For me, as a player, I always wanted communication.”

In that regard, he has succeeded.

“The communication is great. You know where you stand and what’s expected of you,” forward Darren McCarty said. “It’s been as smooth a transition as you could expect.

“It’s really business as usual, and it’s been great. We expect to win, and Dave expects us to win, so we just go out and work hard.”

Lewis doesn’t think of himself as following in Bowman’s large footsteps. As he sees it, he’s doing the job for which he has trained the last 29 years under some of the most astute coaches. Whether he will become their equal is impossible to predict, but his smarts and the Red Wings’ talent should give him a good start.

“All I want is to give players an opportunity to be successful,” he said. “A new coach could have come in and the continuity could have been shaken, and that’s one thing management didn’t want to change.

“I look at it as this is a challenge and an opportunity for me to have a chance to win. If you’re a player or a coach, that’s all you want.”

The Commish Speaks

During a meeting last week with Times reporters and editors, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman hinted that the participation of NHL players in the 2006 Olympics at Turin, Italy isn’t a sure thing, despite good TV ratings from the Salt Lake City Games.

“Going to the Olympics is always a mixed bag,” he said. “On balance, I’m glad we went. I think the tournament in Salt Lake City was spectacular for hockey. But it wasn’t without its critics. On balance, it was the right thing.

“But we’re not even focused on 2006. We have to get through 2004 and collective bargaining with the players first.... It will be even more difficult to go to Italy than Salt Lake City. The length of the break would have to be longer and time zones would be different.”

He also said that despite complaints from fans, the new protective netting will remain behind the goals. The nets became mandatory after young fan Brittanie Cecil died last season as the result of being struck in the head by a puck in Columbus.

“If you sit there fixated, staring at the net, it will be distracting,” he said. “If you watch the game, within a minute you won’t know it’s there.... Some have suggested we’ve overreacted. I’m not going to apologize for doing the right thing here.”

The nets do obstruct views from high-priced seats, but safety comes first. The ideal solution would be the development of a light-colored mesh that would provide the same protection without being so obvious.

Beginner’s Luck

Rick Nash, the first pick in the June entry draft, scored his first goal in his first game with the Columbus Blue Jackets. He got it on his second shot but, undoubtedly, it was only the first goal of many to come.

“You can sense it -- when he gets the puck, there’s excitement,” Columbus Coach Dave King said. “He’s got this intangible that the top players seem to have. The puck seems to follow them around.”

Nash, an 18-year-old left wing, said he was encouraged by the success enjoyed last season by youngsters such as Ilya Kovalchuk and Dany Heatley of Atlanta. “It just shows that these guys can do it, so why can’t I?” he said. “Hopefully, I can do as well.”

Nash is one of five 2002 first-round picks on season-opening rosters. The others are Jay Bouwmeester of Florida (third overall), Scottie Upshall of Nashville (sixth), Pierre-Marc Bouchard of Minnesota (eighth) and Steve Eminger of Washington (12th).

And Bad Luck

St. Louis defenseman Chris Pronger, who underwent wrist surgery last summer, might require another operation that could keep him out until March.

That would be devastating to the Blues, who rely on him to play more than 30 minutes a game.

“Certainly, not too many defensemen in the league can do the things Chris does,” Coach Joel Quenneville said. “We’re going to have to overcome that.... We’ve been spoiled in the past, with Prongs and Al [MacInnis] on the ice the most minutes of every game. Prongs isn’t going to be around for a while, and it’s a great opportunity for our young guys to get some quality ice time, and through that, we feel they’re going to improve.”

Barret Jackman, who had two games’ NHL experience before this season, and Finnish veteran Tom Koivisto are expected to pick up some of the slack.

“It’s tough to lose a guy like that,” forward Pavol Demitra said, “but we just have to forget about it and give the young guys a chance to show off. They have to grab their chance.”

Slap Shots

Goaltender Byron Dafoe and defenseman Kyle McLaren, who played for the Bruins last season, remain unsigned. Dafoe is an unrestricted free agent but McLaren -- who never lived up to expectations as the successor to Bobby Orr and Ray Bourque -- is a restricted free agent.

After riding with a Navy friend in an F-14 with the Blue Angels, San Jose winger Teemu Selanne will find commercial flights boring. After the 45-minute flight, he called Shark General Manager Dean Lombardi and left this message on Lombardi’s voice mail: “Dean, I got some bad news.” After an ominous pause, he added, “The flight was OK, but it was so smooth, now for every road trip I want to go on this kind of plane.”

Ranger winger Pavel Bure has recovered from knee surgery, but was knocked out of the lineup by a strep throat. He was expected to make his season debut tonight.... The NHL eliminated many statistical categories from its game reports, such as hits, take-aways and give-aways. Some agents insist the league wanted to minimize the ammunition players can use in contract negotiations, and there might be some truth to that. Even so, home-town favoritism and varying definitions of what constituted a hit or a take-away often distorted the numbers and made them unreliable.