Alfredsson Out Eight Weeks

The Ottawa Senators will have to start the 1998-99 season without one of their best players, right wing Daniel Alfredsson, who suffered a knee injury in training camp on Wednesday. Alfredsson will be sidelined for about eight weeks after suffering a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee during a scrimmage. . . . Tampa Bay center John Cullen, sidelined since March 1997 while recovering from lymph cancer, will play in the Lightning’s game against the Buffalo Sabres today in the International Challenge Cup in Innsbruck, Austria.

A judge has barred the New York Islanders from playing any games outside the Nassau Coliseum until a hearing can be held over the team’s refusal to play at the arena because of allegations it is unsafe. . . . The NHL is unlikely to support efforts by the International Olympic Committee to develop a uniform drug policy for North American professional sports, said Bob Goodenow, executive director of the NHL Players’ Assn.