THE NHL / HELENE ELLIOTT : Olympic Plan Almost Put on Ice

United by visions of global TV exposure and marketing bonanzas, the NHL and the NHL Players Assn. agreed on key details of their “dream team” plan for the 1998 Nagano Olympics long before last week’s formal announcement. But the deal almost fell apart because of hasty promises made by Rene Fasel, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation.

The Swedish and Finnish hockey federations resisted the idea, fearing the NHL was seizing control of the Olympics. To pacify them, Fasel said they could have some games of the 1996 Canada Cup tournament, which is staged every few years before the NHL season.

However, the Canada Cup is not Fasel’s to give away. It is orchestrated by the NHLPA. Because of his rash promise, the NHL and the union had to scramble to keep the agreement together. The solution was a Canada Cup tournament to be held in the fall of 1996, renamed the World Cup. It will take place in Canada, the United States and--for the first time--probably some European cities.

The “dream team” format was criticized when it was used in basketball at the 1992 Barcelona Games because the United States routed all of its opponents. That won’t happen at Nagano, because no nation dominates the world’s hockey talent as the United States does in basketball.

King right wing Tony Granato, who played for the 1988 U.S. Olympic team at Calgary, likes the new format.

“I think it’s awesome,” he said. “It’s a great move by the NHL. You can’t beat the exposure hockey’s going to get. It will help all levels of hockey and it’s going to make for the best tournament ever played.”

Wayne Gretzky has often said he’d love to play in the Olympics, but he hasn’t made plans for Nagano.

“I hope I’m there. I hope I’m playing,” said Gretzky, who will be 37 then. “By ‘98, I could be in my rocking chair.”

BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A FEW MILLION?

Despite financial woes that will lead to the Winnipeg Jets’ sale and relocation after the season, they were determined to keep premier left wing Keith Tkachuk after the Chicago Blackhawks had signed him to a five-year, $17.2-million offer sheet. But to match that salary, the Jets needed help.

To the rescue came businessmen Richard Burke and Stephen Gluckstern, who head the group expected to buy the club and move it to Minneapolis. The pair put up about $2 million to finance the deal, which made Tkachuk the league’s third-highest paid player this season at $6 million.

The Jets, whose lame-duck status is likely to keep crowds small in Winnipeg, might play some games at Minneapolis’ Target Center this season.

SABRE DANCE

Caught in a cash bind in their last season at the Aud, the Buffalo Sabres asked center Pat LaFontaine and goaltender Dominik Hasek to defer some of their salaries this season.

Hasek was so afraid he might be traded to Ottawa, he volunteered to adjust his contract. The Sabres asked him to defer half of the $3 million he could earn this season and he’s expected to agree if they extend his contract a year. Nothing has been arranged with LaFontaine, who is due $4.3 million.

The deferments would be for only this season because the Sabres, who have already trimmed their payroll by about $4 million, anticipate increased revenues in the new Crossroads Arena.

WINGING IT IN DETROIT

Detroit center Steve Yzerman is often mentioned in trade rumors, but he never worried about them until last week. That’s when Coach Scotty Bowman put Yzerman between Dino Ciccarelli and Ray Sheppard, who have been told by management that they will be traded.

Asked what he’d call his new line, Yzerman replied, “History.”

A new chapter may be in the making. Ciccarelli and Sheppard were benched Sunday, usually an indication a deal is imminent.

BANNER DAY FOR DEVILS

Coach Jacques Lemaire didn’t want the New Jersey Devils to stage a fancy ceremony when they raised their Stanley Cup banner at the Meadowlands Arena. He didn’t want any festivities at all, saying he feared players would dwell on past glories instead of focusing on the future.

But when the banner was hoisted to the rafters Saturday, Lemaire became emotional.

“I had water in my eyes,” he told the New York Daily News. “There are certain times you have things you just can’t describe. I thought about it being the first time a banner was raised here. I could hear all the people. It was great.”

And he needn’t have worried about complacency. The Devils held the Florida Panthers to 17 shots in a 4-0 victory.

CAPITAL LOSS

When Wendel Clark, Keith Tkachuk, Claude Lemieux, Scott Young and Martin Rucinsky signed contracts last week, the Ottawa Senators’ Alexei Yashin and the Washington Capitals’ Peter Bondra and Michal Pivonka became the biggest holdouts.

Yashin has played for the Central Red Army club twice, violating an agreement between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation because he’s still under contract to Ottawa. Bondra and Pivonka faced no hurdles in signing with Detroit of the International Hockey League because their contracts expired and they are restricted free agents.

Bondra, who led the NHL last season with 34 goals, led the IHL with six goals in his first five games. Pivonka had six points in six games. The Capitals haven’t talked to their agent, Rich Winter, in about a week and they remain millions of dollars away from a deal with either player.

SLAP SHOTS

The two years’ labor peace the NHL gained in the Olympic deal may hasten expansion because Commissioner Gary Bettman can guarantee potential owners no stoppages before September, 2000. Top candidates are Portland, Ore., and Atlanta. . . . Alexander Mogilny’s unimpressive training camp led Vancouver Coach Rick Ley to split up Mogilny and pal Pavel Bure. Ley, trying to spread his offense around, had Mogilny with Cliff Ronning and Roman Oksiuta and put Bure with Mike Ridley and Geoff Courtnall.

Center Craig MacTavish of the Philadelphia Flyers has been slow to recover from arthroscopic surgery on his left ankle. He may be out until the end of the month. . . . Initial examinations indicate Colorado Avalanche defenseman Uwe Krupp may have suffered serious ligament damage in his left knee in an awkward fall Friday. . . . Detroit’s Bowman timed his team’s practice break last Tuesday so players could watch the O.J. Simpson verdicts.

Winger Mike Krushelnyski retired to become a player-assistant coach with the Oilers’ Cape Breton farm team. . . . After watching goalie Sean Burke stop 37 shots by the New York Rangers Saturday in a 2-0 victory, the Hartford Whalers think he can do anything. “Right now, he’s out parting the Red Sea,” Coach Paul Holmgren joked.