St. Louis heads to Europe

Since the lockout began, nearly 250 NHL players have joined European teams, about one-third of the league.

By TOM JONES
Published November 6, 2004

Another day, another Lightning player headed to Europe.

League MVP Martin St. Louis hinted this week that he might go to Switzerland during the NHL lockout. He made it official Friday.

St. Louis' agent, Lewis Gross, confirmed Friday that St. Louis reached an agreement to play for Lausanne of the Swiss National League.

St. Louis will fly to Switzerland next week and is scheduled to play his first game Nov. 20. The deal allows St. Louis to return to the Lightning if and when the NHL lockout, now 51 days old and threatening the season, ends.

The announcement comes one day after Vinny Lecavalier and one week after Brad Richards agreed to deals to play in Russia.

Goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin is talking to Ak Bars Kazan in Russia, the same team that snagged Lecavalier and Richards.

Nearly 250 NHL players, about one-third of the league, have joined European teams. St. Louis might be the player with the highest profile considering he won the Hart (MVP) and Art Ross (leading scorer) trophies last season.

St. Louis' announcement comes one day after he compared NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to a "dictator" because Bettman, according to St. Louis, won't listen to any offer from the union that doesn't include a salary cap.

ESCHE APOLOGIZES: Philadelphia goaltender Robert Esche apologized to Gary Bettman for calling him a "madman." Flyers general manager Bob Clarke said he was embarrassed when Esche ripped the commissioner after attending an NHL Players' Association meeting in Toronto. "I think there's a lot of great owners out there but there's a madman leading them down the wrong path," Esche said. Clarke called Esche and told him it was fine to back his union, but was disrespectful to Bettman to make his comments personal. Clarke said he asked, but did not order, Esche to apologize, and the goalie agreed.

ZHOLTOK AUTOPSY: An autopsy confirmed that player Sergei Zholtok died from heart failure after playing a game this week in Belarus. Zholtok, 31, was playing for a club in his native Latvia. He was diagnosed previously with an irregular heartbeat, a condition that forced him to miss seven games for the Minnesota Wild in January 2003. Zholtok left Wednesday's game between Riga 2000 and Dinamo Minsk about five minutes before the end. He collapsed and died in the locker room. Known as "Zholi" by teammates, Zholtok scored 111 goals, assisted on 147 and drew 166 penalty minutes in 588 NHL games with Boston, Ottawa, Montreal, Edmonton, Minnesota and Nashville.

HULL SELLS TEETH: Bobby Hull's broken false teeth sold for $575.96 at an auction held by Classic Collectibles in Canada. The plate, bought by an anonymous Montreal collector, features a trio of front teeth and an outrageous lost-and-found story. Hull is quoted as saying he lost it not to one of Gordie Howe's elbows but "during a bedroom romp in a Geneva, Switzerland hotel in the late 1950s."

Information from Times wires was used in the report.

[Last modified November 6, 2004, 00:57:25]