NHL

That smell isn't Red Tide

By TOM JONES
Published November 27, 2005

After starting the season by allowing nine goals in the first six games and dashing out to a 4-2 record, the Florida Panthers seemed to be making fools of all those who predicted a long season in South Florida.

But it appears predictions of the Panthers' demise were not exaggerated.

The Panthers stink.

Going into the weekend, they had lost 12 in a row, including two in shootouts. They went from being above .500 to well out of the playoff pack. And they seem nowhere close to rebounding.

"Believe it or not, I really feel like we have a lot of good guys and a lot of character in this room," veteran Gary Roberts said. "I know we haven't won a lot of hockey games, but we really need to stick together - coaches, players - and realize we need to look within our dressing room for the answers."

That's their only hope.

"We can't look for some big blockbuster (trade) that's going to shake things up," Roberts said. "It's just not going to happen. So we've got to work together."

MAD MAN: What's up with the Kings' Sean Avery ? Already this season, he has been warned for using a French slur, fined for criticizing the league and suspended for dirty play. Last week, he hit Nashville's Paul Kariya from behind (he was not penalized) and then let his mouth run wild again after Nashville's Darcy Hordichuk punched him for hitting Kariya.

"Sometimes he just chirps his mouth too much and there can be repercussions," Hordichuk said. "I'm not worried about getting suspended. If he hits one of our key players, he knows now there are going to be consequences."

"Paul Kariya is the biggest diver in the league and Hordichuk is the worst player in the NHL," Avery said. "He's an embarrassment. He can't even skate, he can't shoot and he can't pass."

A footnote: Avery shouldn't knock Kariya for diving. This season, only one player in the NHL has been fined for diving: Sean Avery.

BROTHERLY HATE: Flyers goalie Robert Esche called out the rest of his team for not playing well in front of him recently. Coach Ken Hitchcock called him in the office and told him to, we're paraphrasing now, shut his yap.

"In this day and age, the goalies who are coolest and calmest are the ones that are successful," Hitchcock said. "The ones that get wrapped in where the scoring chances are coming from or, whatever, get kind of dazed and confused."

THE DYNAMIC DUO: Florida's Roberto Luongo is ranked 25th in goals-against average and New Jersey's Martin Brodeur is 31st. So, might Team Canada look to, say, Marty Turco or Jose Theodore or Manny Legace in the Olympics?

"You're not going to beat out Luongo and Marty," Legace said. "They're just in a class by themselves. They deserve the right. As long as they're in the league, they'll be playing there every single time."

FINE READING: The Literary Review of Canada last week released its list of the 100 most important Canadian books. The list includes noted authors such as Margaret Atwood , Alice Munro and W.O. Mitchell . But also included? The 1973 classic, Howie Meeker's Hockey Basics . Only in Canada, eh?

Our pick for what should have been included? Home Game by former NHL goalie Ken Dryden and Ottawa Citizen reporter Roy MacGregor . No book better captures the relationship between Canada and hockey.

MacGregor, by the way, also has written a marvelous series of children books, the Screech Owl Series . It's about a group of hockey-playing kids who solve mysteries.

STEADY AS A ROCK: Maybe this means something, maybe it doesn't. But it's interesting. Since the Predators hired GM David Poile and coach Barry Trotz in the summer of 1997 (they are still in place), the league has hired 38 general managers and 80 coaches. During that span, the Wild also has had only one GM (Doug Risebrough ) and coach (Jacques Lemaire ).

HELP: The Blackhawks are having so many problems with the new rules (they were short-handed a league-leading 172 times coming into the weekend) that they've asked Steve Walkom , the NHL's director of officiating, to meet with them.

"We'll meet next week, go over it, discuss it, talk about it and get to the bottom of it," GM Dale Tallon said. "We're going to fix it. It has to be fixed. We can't keep doing it."

ICE CHIPS: Why has Carolina cooled off? Maybe this: in the first 11 games, Cory Stillman , Erik Cole and Matt Cullen had 16 goals. They had three in the next 10. ... Don't be surprised if Peter Budaj supplants David Aebischer as Colorado's No.1 goalie. ... Edmonton's Michael Peca was supposed to be the team's top center. But he has played so poorly, he is now seeing time on the fourth line with Georges Laraque and Todd Harvey . ... Philadelphia captain Keith Primeau (concussion) isn't close to returning. Hitchcock wants Simon Gagne to wear the C, but Gagne has refused, saying Primeau is still the captain.

Information from the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Tennessean, Detroit News, Delaware County Times and the Arlington Heights (Ill.) Daily Herald was used in this report.

[Last modified November 27, 2005, 01:18:21]