UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE (12/21/03)

UKRAINIAN PRO HOCKEY UPDATE

by Ihor Stelmach

Ed Olczyk accepts no-win coaching job

Heading into the current 2003-2004 National Hockey League campaign, the top priority for the Pittsburgh Penguins club is staying under budget. Sad to say, it is not one of the typical organizational goals like, say, winning the Stanley Cup, challenging for the divisional title, making the playoffs or even improving upon the previous year's performance. Nay, strictly adhering to tight financial constraints is the team's mission. And maintaining expenses becomes even more key when one recognizes the reality of limited box office receipts. Icing a team down to bare bones, owner/superstar Mario Lemieux has little choice but to throw the fans another year of himself along with a rookie coach to the wolves.

So negligible are expectations of a Penguins bustout, it probably doesn't even matter who runs the bench. But now that it's 1983 again, with this franchise coming full circle to endangerment, it does seem somewhat curious that General Manager Craig Patrick is reinventing the wheel.

The same GM who brought Pittsburgh the NHL's first coach who didn't speak English, Ivan Hlinka, now presents the first one in a long time without a second of coaching experience. Ed Olczyk is being given a broken down team without having once in his life having broken down a period of videotape God or Herb Brooks help him, which isn't going to happen now. (Long-time coach Herb Brooks passed away earlier this summer in an automobile accident) "Herbie would have been support 24 hours a day," concedes Eddie O, so now the betting is he won't last even the 24 hours predicted by coaches who have prepared for years in the juniors and the minors for an NHL opportunity like this they may never get.

"You feel for them, but nobody felt for me when I was looking for a job after my last couple years with Chicago," Olczyk said. "When you (criticize a choice) publicly, there are 29 other teams listening. It's better to be seen and not heard.

"Only my wife and just a few people knew I've wanted to become a coach. I didn't feel the need to self-promote, just asked the right people, Lou Lamoriello and Craig, for advice. When the dust (of ex-Penguins coach Rick Kehoe's reassignment) settled, I left Craig a message that I would like to apply for any coaching position under the Penguin umbrella.

"I always tried to help young players. I enjoyed it especially at the end of my career, when I hardly played. Craig and I talked about different things and he said 'What do you want to do?' Never in my life have I wished I would have done or said something, I've always shot for the top. So I said 'I want to apply for the head coaching job.'

"Larry Dierker, Bob Brenly, Buck Martinez made these moves. In basketball, eight or nine guys have. Years ago in hockey - Al Arbour, Bob Pulford - it happened quite a bit."

It happened until expansion spread talent to the point where systems became more effective than players. But the price for this neophyte is right, so time will tell about Patrick's intuition.

"Sometimes you just get a feeling," said the GM. "When I coached Eddie, he made a number of comments on the bench that helped me. He has tremendous rapport with the media and is into teaching, really energetic about this group."

Energy is what a team that has Mario (out injured with a bad hip), Rico Fata, Alexsei Morozov, and not much else needs most. Since there are few favorable match-ups a coach can find with a roster like this, Olczyk's real work will be making minor leaguers feel like big leaguers.

"I would never say 'hi' to two players and not look at another two," he said. "We want people to feel good about themselves. I can snap with the best of them, and just may have a smile on my face when I'm doing it."

He sounds like a lot of ex-players who naively try to be the coach for whom they always wanted to play. They learn the hard way while we learn whether they can make decisions, keep searching for ways to make players better instead of taking their underachievement personally.

We don't know how many games Olczyk will have to win to earn the opportunity to put his mistakes to use in a next coaching job. We do know the prime requisite for this one is keeping the Penguins' enthusiasm up. If he gets them to play hard, Olczyk could end up being as good a choice as any.

This rookie Ukrainian coach must keep a very young inexperienced team loose in what already shapes up as a very trying season.

Gretzky back at helm for Canada

Canada's inspirational leader at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics is back in the manager's seat for the 2004 World Cup. The first piece of business Executive Director Wayne Gretzky wants to complete is push back the naming of Canada's initial roster from February 1, 2004, to June.

"I worry that the players who don't get picked will be disappointed," Gretzky said. "You don't want that affecting their teams in the playoffs."

Gretzky and Hockey Canada will lobby the NHL and NHL Players' Association to move back the tentative date in which at least 18 of the 26 players are named. The eight-nation World Cup will be played August 30 to September 14, 2004, in North American and European venues.

Gretzky will again be assisted by Edmonton GM Kevin Lowe and Vancouver Assistant GM Steve Tambellini in player personnel decisions. A coach has not yet been named.

Hrkac signed to Preds' prospects

It did not make many headlines, even in the Predators' hometown of Nashville, but team officials believe signing free agent center Tony Hrkac could be very important to the long-term success of the franchise.

The 37-year-old veteran of 758 NHL games was assigned to Milwaukee of the American Hockey League and immediately given the role of mentor to some of the team's forward prospects. Already on the Admirals' roster this season were 35-year-old goalie Wade Flaherty and reigning Eddie Shore Trophy winner (AHL defenseman of the year) Curtis Murphy, who had similar duties regarding their respective positions.

"We like what we're seeing in Milwaukee from a mentoring standpoint," said Nashville GM David Poile. "Some of our best prospects are on the wings and a veteran center should be helpful in their development."

Salajko hopeful in new battle

Jeff Salajko's hockey career has come to an end. These days, the long-time ECHL goaltender only hopes his life is just beginning. This past summer, doctors at the Mayo Clinic began testing Salajko for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a debilitating and eventually fatal condition known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Salajko, 28, first realized something was wrong when he joined the Toledo Storm for the ECHL playoffs last March. A few months later, Salajko could barely climb stairs. His muscles would regularly twitch and go into spasms. That's when the possibility of ALS was first mentioned.

"Hockey had been No. 1 my entire life; it's all I've ever done," said Salajko to the Toledo Blade. "But I had to realize, I may have had my last chance."

There is some good news - doctors believe he may have Benign Fasciculation Syndrome, a disorder with many of the same symptoms of ALS, but not life-threatening or as debilitating. The Kitchener, Ontario, native will have more tests before the end of the year.

"You don't realize how much you take your health for granted until you get a scare," said Salajko, a 1993 draft selection of the San Jose Sharks. Salajko makes his home in Jacksonville, Fla., with his wife, Karen.

UKRAINIAN UTTERINGS: The Chicago Blackhawks took the "interim" tag off GM Bob Pulford November 5, naming him the full-time replacement for Mike Smith, who was fired October 24. The team also announced the dismissal of assistant GM Nick Beverley, as well as director of player evaluation Marshall Johnston and director of amateur scouting Bill Lesuk ... After impressing in an NHL audition during the second half of last season, Carolina left winger Ryan Bayda earned himself an early season call-up to the Hurricanes with strong play in the American Hockey League. Bayda is advertised as a smart, versatile winger who is equally adept in a scoring or checking role ... On the heels of a losing streak in which his team was heavily outscored, Pittsburgh coach Ed Olczyk put his team through an intense two-hour skate. When asked why two hours, he replied, "That's all the time we had booked." ... Maple Leafs' rookie center Matt Stajan missed a November game against Anaheim because of the death of his grandfather ...

(Above quotes courtesy of Jay Greenberg, David Boiclair, Rob Mueller and The Hockey News.)

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