(Ticker) - After failing to make the playoffs for the first time in 26 years, the St. Louis Blues will have new owners in 2006-07. They also will have the No. 1 pick in the June NHL draft.
The Blues won the league's draft lottery, a weighted system that determined the selection for the first 14 picks in the draft, on Thursday.
The Blues, who finished with the worst record in the league (21-46-15), had the best shot at the top pick with a 25 percent chance at the winning combination. Under the lottery system, only the five teams with the fewest points had the chance to win the first overall selection.
The Pittsburgh Penguins (22-46-14), who had the second-worst record, own the second overall pick. Last season, the Penguins won the lottery and selected Sidney Crosby, who recorded 102 points, including 39 goals, as a rookie.
The Chicago Blackhawks have the third pick followed by Washington, Boston, Columbus, the New York Islanders, Phoenix, Minnesota, Florida, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Toronto and Vancouver.
The remaining positions will be determined at the conclusion of the playoffs.
The draft will be held Saturday, June 24 at General Motors Place in Vancouver.
The Blues have never selected first overall in their 39-year history. The club's highest pick was Perry Turnbull - selected second overall in 1979.
St. Louis owners Bill and Nancy Laurie recently reached an agreement to sell the team to Sports Capital Partners, which is headed by Dave Checketts.
The NHL's Board of Governors still must approve the sale.
The Blues held the longest streak in the four major pro team sports with 25 consecutive postseason appearances before the 2005-06 campaign.
But the Lauries claimed the combined cash deficits of the team and the Savvis Center since the arena opened in 1994 have exceeded $225 million.
That caused the Blues to trade two of their high-priced stars - Chris Pronger and Doug Weight - before the season.
===================
GM Craig Patrick leaving Penguins after nearly 17 years
By ALAN ROBINSON, AP Sports Writer
April 20, 2006
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Craig Patrick, the Hall of Fame general manager who built the Pittsburgh Penguins' two Stanley Cup winning teams but had to tear the club apart because of financial problems, is being let go after nearly 17 years on the job.
Patrick's contract expires July 1, and team President Ken Sawyer said Thursday the Penguins will look for a new general manager.
"This was a difficult decision we did not take lightly," Sawyer said. "But we all agreed it was time to make a change and move forward."
Sawyer said it could be as long as two months before he names a new general manager.
Under Patrick, the Penguins had an especially lean front office, forcing him to not only handle personnel decisions, but also contract negotiations and scouting. Sawyer said the new general manager will be allowed to bring in more staff to better compete with other teams.
Patrick, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001, was long seen as one of the sport's best talent evaluators. He drafted Jaromir Jagr and Sidney Crosby, traded for Ron Francis and Ulf Samuelsson, and hired Bob Johnson and Scotty Bowman as coaches.
Patrick's trade for Francis and Samuelsson is widely regarded as being the final piece needed to transform what had long been one of NHL's worst teams into a Stanley Cup winner.
Led by Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux, who later bought the club and retained Patrick as general manager, the Penguins won Stanley Cups in 1991 and '92.
Sawyer said Lemieux "has very strong mixed feelings" about getting rid of Patrick. "But we both took a step back and did what's best for the business," Sawyer said.
Even after Lemieux retired for the first time in 1997, the Penguins remained Stanley Cup contenders for the rest of the decade.
But after former ownership led by Howard Baldwin drove the team into its second bankruptcy in franchise history, Patrick was forced to dismantle, as stars such as Jagr, Alex Kovalev, Martin Straka and Robert Lang went elsewhere.
The Penguins last were contenders in 2000-01, the same season Lemieux unexpectedly ended his 44-month retirement and returned as a player.
Led by Lemieux and Jagr, the Penguins reached the Eastern Conference finals, but haven't been back to the playoffs since.
Even after drafting Crosby, who set a team rookie record with 102 points this season, and bringing in proven veterans, such as Sergei Gonchar, John LeClair, Mark Recchi and Ziggy Palffy, the Penguins skidded to a fourth consecutive last-place finish in their division this season. Their 60 losses were the most in franchise history.
In recent years, Patrick was forced to fire four coaches he brought in -- Kevin Constantine, Ivan Hlinka, Rick Kehoe and Eddie Olczyk. Hlinka, Kehoe and Olczyk had no prior NHL head-coaching experience, yet were hired without Patrick considering other candidates.
Olczyk, formerly a team broadcaster, was fired in December and replaced by Michel Therrien, who has two years left on his contract. Sawyer said the new general manager won't be allowed to replace Therrien as coach next season, and that Therrien will definitely return.
Despite making a long series of excellent trades and signings since the 1990s, Patrick also made some bad ones, including what is regarded as the worst trade in NHL history -- dealing longtime scoring star Markus Naslund for journeyman Alex Stojanov. It was a trade so bad, it was once the subject of a Canadian TV special.
Before being hired by the Penguins, Patrick was the general manager of the New York Rangers. In 1980, he was the assistant coach of the Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. hockey team for coach Herb Brooks. Patrick later brought Brooks to the Penguins as a front office executive and interim coach.
======================
Maple Leafs fire coach Quinn
April 20, 2006
TORONTO (Ticker) - A 90-point season wasn't enough for the Toronto Maple Leafs to make the playoffs. It also wasn't enough for coach Pat Quinn to keep his job.
Quinn, the NHL's fourth all-time winningest coach, was fired by the Maple Leafs on Thursday.
Toronto closed the season with nine wins in its last 12 games to finish 41-33-8 overall, but ended up two points behind defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. It marked the first time in Quinn's seven-year coaching tenure that the Leafs failed to make the postseason.
Rick Ley, an assistant under Quinn for his tenure here and with the Vancouver Canucks, was also fired.
Quinn, 63, has never won a Stanley Cup title in his 19-year coaching career, but is fourth all-time with 657 wins. He recorded 300 of those wins with the Maple Leafs (300-222-52) and guided them to the Eastern Conference finals in 1999 and 2002.
Under Quinn, the Maple Leafs set a franchise record with 103 points in 2003-04, but lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals to Philadelphia.
After the lockout erased the 2004-05 season, Maple Leafs general manager John Ferguson Jr. expected to make the playoffs again this season.
"This is not an easy course to take," Ferguson said. "However, our performance on the ice this season fell below our expectation. A new head coach will bring a new perspective, a new approach that will yield future results that we expect."
Quinn had served in the dual roles of coach and general manager of the Leafs for four years before relinquishing the GM job to Ferguson in August 2003.
Quinn is best known for coaching Team Canada to an Olympic gold medal in 2002 as well as the World Cup of Hockey title in 2004.
Quinn also coached the Philadelphia Flyers (1978-82), Los Angeles Kings (1984-87) and Vancouver Canucks (1990-96). He guided the 1980 Flyers and 1994 Canucks to the Stanley Cup Finals.
===================
Red Wings' Datsyuk expected to miss Game 1 of playoffs
DETROIT (AP) -- Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk is expected to miss the first game of the playoffs Friday against the Edmonton Oilers because of an injured left thigh.
Datsyuk practiced Thursday, but Detroit coach Mike Babcock said he didn't appear to be ready to play in Game 1.
"He looked to me like he was going to take tomorrow off," Babcock said.
While the team did a drill at one end of the ice, Datsyuk skated in circles around the other net with a puck.
Datsyuk said Monday he hoped to be healthy enough to play at the start of the playoffs after skating for the first time since being knocked out of the lineup April 3. He was hurt during a shootout win at Calgary, but didn't realize he was injured after being checked by Andrew Ference.
"It was not a big hit," Datsyuk said earlier this week. "I felt it on the plane. It was swollen."
He said the injury, above his left knee, had improved each day while he's been out.
Datsyuk had a team-high 87 points, and finished the regular season tied for 17th in the league, with Colorado's Joe Sakic, in points on 28 goals and 59 assists.
The dazzling player with great hands and moves was a standout during his previous two regular NHL seasons -- with 119 points combined -- and lackluster in the playoffs, like most of his teammates. He didn't score a goal and had six assists combined in the 2003 and 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs when the Red Wings exited the postseason early. As a rookie in the 2001-02 season, he had 35 points.
The Blues won the league's draft lottery, a weighted system that determined the selection for the first 14 picks in the draft, on Thursday.
The Blues, who finished with the worst record in the league (21-46-15), had the best shot at the top pick with a 25 percent chance at the winning combination. Under the lottery system, only the five teams with the fewest points had the chance to win the first overall selection.
The Pittsburgh Penguins (22-46-14), who had the second-worst record, own the second overall pick. Last season, the Penguins won the lottery and selected Sidney Crosby, who recorded 102 points, including 39 goals, as a rookie.
The Chicago Blackhawks have the third pick followed by Washington, Boston, Columbus, the New York Islanders, Phoenix, Minnesota, Florida, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Toronto and Vancouver.
The remaining positions will be determined at the conclusion of the playoffs.
The draft will be held Saturday, June 24 at General Motors Place in Vancouver.
The Blues have never selected first overall in their 39-year history. The club's highest pick was Perry Turnbull - selected second overall in 1979.
St. Louis owners Bill and Nancy Laurie recently reached an agreement to sell the team to Sports Capital Partners, which is headed by Dave Checketts.
The NHL's Board of Governors still must approve the sale.
The Blues held the longest streak in the four major pro team sports with 25 consecutive postseason appearances before the 2005-06 campaign.
But the Lauries claimed the combined cash deficits of the team and the Savvis Center since the arena opened in 1994 have exceeded $225 million.
That caused the Blues to trade two of their high-priced stars - Chris Pronger and Doug Weight - before the season.
===================
GM Craig Patrick leaving Penguins after nearly 17 years
By ALAN ROBINSON, AP Sports Writer
April 20, 2006
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Craig Patrick, the Hall of Fame general manager who built the Pittsburgh Penguins' two Stanley Cup winning teams but had to tear the club apart because of financial problems, is being let go after nearly 17 years on the job.
Patrick's contract expires July 1, and team President Ken Sawyer said Thursday the Penguins will look for a new general manager.
"This was a difficult decision we did not take lightly," Sawyer said. "But we all agreed it was time to make a change and move forward."
Sawyer said it could be as long as two months before he names a new general manager.
Under Patrick, the Penguins had an especially lean front office, forcing him to not only handle personnel decisions, but also contract negotiations and scouting. Sawyer said the new general manager will be allowed to bring in more staff to better compete with other teams.
Patrick, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001, was long seen as one of the sport's best talent evaluators. He drafted Jaromir Jagr and Sidney Crosby, traded for Ron Francis and Ulf Samuelsson, and hired Bob Johnson and Scotty Bowman as coaches.
Patrick's trade for Francis and Samuelsson is widely regarded as being the final piece needed to transform what had long been one of NHL's worst teams into a Stanley Cup winner.
Led by Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux, who later bought the club and retained Patrick as general manager, the Penguins won Stanley Cups in 1991 and '92.
Sawyer said Lemieux "has very strong mixed feelings" about getting rid of Patrick. "But we both took a step back and did what's best for the business," Sawyer said.
Even after Lemieux retired for the first time in 1997, the Penguins remained Stanley Cup contenders for the rest of the decade.
But after former ownership led by Howard Baldwin drove the team into its second bankruptcy in franchise history, Patrick was forced to dismantle, as stars such as Jagr, Alex Kovalev, Martin Straka and Robert Lang went elsewhere.
The Penguins last were contenders in 2000-01, the same season Lemieux unexpectedly ended his 44-month retirement and returned as a player.
Led by Lemieux and Jagr, the Penguins reached the Eastern Conference finals, but haven't been back to the playoffs since.
Even after drafting Crosby, who set a team rookie record with 102 points this season, and bringing in proven veterans, such as Sergei Gonchar, John LeClair, Mark Recchi and Ziggy Palffy, the Penguins skidded to a fourth consecutive last-place finish in their division this season. Their 60 losses were the most in franchise history.
In recent years, Patrick was forced to fire four coaches he brought in -- Kevin Constantine, Ivan Hlinka, Rick Kehoe and Eddie Olczyk. Hlinka, Kehoe and Olczyk had no prior NHL head-coaching experience, yet were hired without Patrick considering other candidates.
Olczyk, formerly a team broadcaster, was fired in December and replaced by Michel Therrien, who has two years left on his contract. Sawyer said the new general manager won't be allowed to replace Therrien as coach next season, and that Therrien will definitely return.
Despite making a long series of excellent trades and signings since the 1990s, Patrick also made some bad ones, including what is regarded as the worst trade in NHL history -- dealing longtime scoring star Markus Naslund for journeyman Alex Stojanov. It was a trade so bad, it was once the subject of a Canadian TV special.
Before being hired by the Penguins, Patrick was the general manager of the New York Rangers. In 1980, he was the assistant coach of the Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. hockey team for coach Herb Brooks. Patrick later brought Brooks to the Penguins as a front office executive and interim coach.
======================
Maple Leafs fire coach Quinn
April 20, 2006
TORONTO (Ticker) - A 90-point season wasn't enough for the Toronto Maple Leafs to make the playoffs. It also wasn't enough for coach Pat Quinn to keep his job.
Quinn, the NHL's fourth all-time winningest coach, was fired by the Maple Leafs on Thursday.
Toronto closed the season with nine wins in its last 12 games to finish 41-33-8 overall, but ended up two points behind defending Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. It marked the first time in Quinn's seven-year coaching tenure that the Leafs failed to make the postseason.
Rick Ley, an assistant under Quinn for his tenure here and with the Vancouver Canucks, was also fired.
Quinn, 63, has never won a Stanley Cup title in his 19-year coaching career, but is fourth all-time with 657 wins. He recorded 300 of those wins with the Maple Leafs (300-222-52) and guided them to the Eastern Conference finals in 1999 and 2002.
Under Quinn, the Maple Leafs set a franchise record with 103 points in 2003-04, but lost in the Eastern Conference semifinals to Philadelphia.
After the lockout erased the 2004-05 season, Maple Leafs general manager John Ferguson Jr. expected to make the playoffs again this season.
"This is not an easy course to take," Ferguson said. "However, our performance on the ice this season fell below our expectation. A new head coach will bring a new perspective, a new approach that will yield future results that we expect."
Quinn had served in the dual roles of coach and general manager of the Leafs for four years before relinquishing the GM job to Ferguson in August 2003.
Quinn is best known for coaching Team Canada to an Olympic gold medal in 2002 as well as the World Cup of Hockey title in 2004.
Quinn also coached the Philadelphia Flyers (1978-82), Los Angeles Kings (1984-87) and Vancouver Canucks (1990-96). He guided the 1980 Flyers and 1994 Canucks to the Stanley Cup Finals.
===================
Red Wings' Datsyuk expected to miss Game 1 of playoffs
DETROIT (AP) -- Red Wings center Pavel Datsyuk is expected to miss the first game of the playoffs Friday against the Edmonton Oilers because of an injured left thigh.
Datsyuk practiced Thursday, but Detroit coach Mike Babcock said he didn't appear to be ready to play in Game 1.
"He looked to me like he was going to take tomorrow off," Babcock said.
While the team did a drill at one end of the ice, Datsyuk skated in circles around the other net with a puck.
Datsyuk said Monday he hoped to be healthy enough to play at the start of the playoffs after skating for the first time since being knocked out of the lineup April 3. He was hurt during a shootout win at Calgary, but didn't realize he was injured after being checked by Andrew Ference.
"It was not a big hit," Datsyuk said earlier this week. "I felt it on the plane. It was swollen."
He said the injury, above his left knee, had improved each day while he's been out.
Datsyuk had a team-high 87 points, and finished the regular season tied for 17th in the league, with Colorado's Joe Sakic, in points on 28 goals and 59 assists.
The dazzling player with great hands and moves was a standout during his previous two regular NHL seasons -- with 119 points combined -- and lackluster in the playoffs, like most of his teammates. He didn't score a goal and had six assists combined in the 2003 and 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs when the Red Wings exited the postseason early. As a rookie in the 2001-02 season, he had 35 points.
