Jagr, Red Wings Are Class of Mixed Season

The season reaches the halfway point Saturday, with scoring and attendance up slightly over a year ago, but interference up too. The Ottawa Senators have survived without Alexei Yashin and the Carolina Hurricanes without Keith Primeau, but Canadian teams may not survive without help from their government.

The Kings have cooled off, and the Dallas Stars are heating up after a slow start, but the East champion Buffalo Sabres are struggling without Dominik Hasek. Jaromir Jagr is skating away with the scoring title, but Hasek’s groin injury leaves the most valuable player and Vezina races open. Herb Brooks, 1980 Olympic miracle worker, returned to the NHL with the Penguins, one of two teams that have fired coaches. Chicago previously demoted Lorne Molleken to an assistant with Bob Pulford.

The Red Wings are the class of the league and the Islanders again are the dregs. The struggles of the expansion Atlanta Thrashers don’t inspire hope for next season’s additions in Columbus, Ohio, and St. Paul, Minn.

Awards for the half-season:

Half MVP: Jaromir Jagr, Pittsburgh.

By far the NHL’s best and most dominant player. He’s carrying his team and the NHL spectacularly.

Rookie of the half year: Scott Gomez, New Jersey. Runners-up: Brad Stuart, San Jose, and Michael York, New York Rangers.

Gomez is poised and smart. His only flaw is that he doesn’t shoot enough. Stuart has had an impact far more quickly than most young defensemen. York is among the Rangers’ top goal scorers and adds energy to a veteran lineup.

Coach of the half year: Scotty Bowman, Detroit. Runner-up: Jacques Martin, Ottawa.

Decade after decade, Bowman finds ways to motivate and win. Martin has kept his team competitive without deserter Yashin.

Half Norris: Chris Pronger, St. Louis. Runners-up: Eric Desjardins, Philadelphia, and Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit.

Pronger plays more than 30 minutes a game and is a force at both ends. Desjardins steadies the Flyer defense and his passing skills make him a catalyst on offense. Lidstrom, smooth and steady, gives the Red Wings the NHL’s most balanced defense.

Half Vezina: Curtis Joseph, Toronto. Runners-up: Fred Brathwaite, Calgary and Roman Turek, St. Louis.

Without Joseph (2.12 goals-against average, .923 save percentage), the Maple Leafs couldn’t play the offense-first style they’ve thrived under for two seasons. Brathwaite (2.05, .927) has thrust Calgary into the West playoff race. Turek (2.03, .911) has excelled after a shaky start.

Half Lady Byng: Jagr. Runner-up: Pierre Turgeon, St. Louis.

Jagr (14 penalty minutes) takes a lot of cheap shots without retaliating. So does Turgeon (six minutes).

Biggest disappointments: Rangers, Chicago, Vancouver, Buffalo.

Most pleasant surprises: Florida, San Jose, St. Louis.

TV OR NOT TV?

Eager to draw viewers who may have occasionally watched hockey but didn’t understand it, ESPN2 on Sunday will experiment with a format called “NHL Rules!”

The 5 p.m. telecast of Colorado at Chicago will include graphics, analysis and explanations designed to educate novice fans.

Steve Levy will host the broadcast, but analysts Darren Pang and Bill Clement will do most of the work. Pang will examine plays from Chicago’s perspective, and Clement will take Colorado’s angle.

In addition, Bryan Lewis, the NHL’s director of officiating, will explain rules and penalties and one referee and one linesman will wear microphones. Fifteen cameras will be deployed and the announcers will respond to questions viewers can ask via https://ESPN.go.com.

The danger of oversimplifying everything is alienating knowledgeable fans. But judging by the ratings, there aren’t many to offend. ESPN’s ratings through last week were 0.56 and 431,000 homes, down from 0.61 and 459,000 homes last season; ESPN2’s ratings were 0.27 and 182,000 homes, down from 0.33 and 205,000 homes.

“They can turn down the volume,” Clement said of longtime fans. “Hopefully, they’re as curious as I am about how it will work. It’s going to be somewhat more basic than we usually do, but I think educated fans are going to be curious about it. . . .

“I’ll run into three people at an airport, and one is a hockey fan and the other two say, ‘I can’t follow the puck.’ This is an attempt to draw these people in.”

Some action may be missed while Clement and Pang analyze plays in detail, but Clement said nothing will be forced if the action doesn’t support it.

“Information overload is the worst possible thing we can end up doing,” he said. “Our researchers came up with a list of 125 terms and we’re going to see how many we can get in, but we still have to let the game come to us.”

Sounds like a good idea. Lewis and the extra cameras should reveal subtleties anyone can appreciate.

KING-SIZED SLUMP

Few teams can sustain excellence over 82 games. The key to success is not letting three-game losing streaks become six- and seven-game streaks that kill playoff chances and confidence.

The Kings seem to endure one horrible streak each season, and injuries aren’t the only reason. When a team can’t end a funk like their 5-11-2 stretch, it usually means leadership is lacking.

General Manager Dave Taylor thinks not. He’s patient, though frustrated, and he likes the team’s chemistry.

“I think we have the leadership to get out of it,” he said. “It’s not just the L.A. Kings’ slump. A lot of teams go through it. The Calgary Flames had problems early, and they’re playing well. It’s a matter of getting the pendulum to swing the other way. It’s an emotional game.”

Believing he has a playoff team, Taylor didn’t want to break it up to acquire restricted free agent Keith Primeau from Carolina. He talked to Carolina General Manager Jim Rutherford but said, “I don’t think we have a fit. . . . If it’s an opportunity to help our team, like we did last summer with [Ziggy] Palffy and [Bryan] Smolinski, which increased our payroll, we would have to go to ownership, and our ownership has been very supportive.”

Writing off this six-week slide by saying the Kings are still in playoff position is foolish. If they had played .500 hockey, they’d be sure of a playoff berth, not fighting off the Ducks, Oilers and Flames. If there are leaders in the Kings’ locker room, now is the time for them to take charge.

SLAP SHOTS

Brett Hull was the NHL’s top goal scorer of the 1990s, with 494 in 713 games from Jan. 1, 1990, through Dec. 31, 1999. He has as many opinions about the game as goals--and he thinks interference is returning after a crackdown last season. “I think it has gone back to the way it was a few years ago, when everyone was going crazy over the clutching and grabbing,” he said. “There is very little room to create. . . . If you don’t entertain the fans, the fans are going to stop coming. If the fans stop coming to the game, they’re going to stop watching it on TV. That’s where the game is going to get hurt.” Maybe it already has.

Bruin General Manager Harry Sinden said he doesn’t intend to fire Coach Pat Burns, a response to speculation the Bruins’ slide may lead to Burns’ dismissal. Does Sinden protest too much? Players tend to tune out coaches after about three seasons, but this 2-9-5 plunge may be equally Sinden’s fault because he isn’t providing more young talent. Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov are progressing, but beyond those two and Jason Allison--who may soon undergo wrist surgery--the Bruins aren’t getting much from their youngsters. Signing Joe Murphy and Marty McSorley smacks of desperation.

The Panthers had no choice but to get a top-notch goalie after tests showed Trevor Kidd’s dislocated shoulder wasn’t healing. The only surprise was that the Sharks traded Mike Vernon days after Coach Darryl Sutter had said Vernon would play more in the second half of the season. The three-way deal that sent Vernon to Florida, right wing Radek Dvorak from Florida to the Rangers and grinder Todd Harvey to San Jose looks even. The Rangers wanted skill and speed and the Panthers didn’t feel comfortable with Mikhail Shtalenkov as their top goalie, but San Jose’s gains are debatable. Harvey will go through walls, but his tenacity often leads to injuries. And should Steve Shields get hurt, the Sharks will be thin in goal.

Gordie Howe was invited to appear in a game with the IHL’s Detroit Vipers so he can add a seventh decade to his professional resume. Howe, 71, played one shift for the Vipers in October 1997. Since then he had his knees replaced and a cancerous growth removed from one leg. If he accepts, it won’t be until next season.