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Scroll down, or choose the headline to read the news:Thursday, April 30, 1998 The Pavel Bure wait will continueThe Vancouver Sun.According to the Russian Rocket's agent Mike Gillis, the Canuck forward is now vacationing in his hometown of Moscow, further delaying a summit meeting between Bure, Gillis, Canuck owner John McCaw and his people."Nothing will be done until Pavel returns," Gillis said. "He's left for a couple of weeks. He just wanted to get away." Bure is expected to make public his desire to leave Vancouver after seven seasons. Bure's salary for next season, to be determined by the average of the NHL's top three paid players, will be set on Oct. 15, 1998. Hence, any mega-deals signed after that time will not be included. If the Detroit Red Wings reach the NHL's final four this spring, centre Sergei Fedorov will be paid $14 million US for the 1998-99 season, handing Bure an even bigger windfall. Sunday, April 26, 1998
Thursday, April 23, 1998
Bure's agent wants summit meetingElliott Pap Vancouver SunPavel Bure and his agent are trying to arrange a summit meeting with Vancouver Canuck owner John McCaw and until such time will have no statement on the Russian Rocket's future in Vancouver.Mike Gillis, who has represented Bure since last summer, said Wednesday that the parties are having trouble finding a day when all are free to meet. McCaw, presumably, will have Orca Bay heavies Stan McCammon and Steve Bellringer at his side. "I'm not sure when it will be," Gillis said. "We are in the midst of trying to arrange a time but people's schedules are difficult. After we have had a discussion with the ownership group, we'll issue some form of statement." Gillis, who is based in Kingston, Ont., indicated the meeting would be held outside Vancouver "at a place convenient for everybody." Bure scored 51 goals this past season but is known to be frustrated by his lack of privacy in Vancouver. In a recent chat, he admitted lifestyle was a bigger issue with him than on-ice hockey matters. He also said he had no problem with coach Mike Keenan despite a publicized shouting match during a game last month. Bure, 27, has played in Vancouver for seven seasons. He stands second on the team in career goals (254) and fourth in career points (478). On Sunday, he won four team awards for the 1997-98 season, taking every honor for which he was eligible. Meanwhile, the Canucks will find out May 10 where they will select in the 1998 entry draft. By virtue of finishing 24th over-all, the Canucks will be seeded fourth in the draft lottery behind Tampa Bay, expansion Nashville and Florida. The Canucks can move as high as first if they win the lottery and drop no lower than fifth if a team behind them lucks out. The lottery will be held in New York. Tuesday, April 21, 1998
Annual win the hockey stick competition resultsWith the conclusion of the Pavel Bure Fan Club's annual competition to guess how many goals Pavel Bure will score in the regular season, we are proud to announce the winner.Congratulations to Sarah Riccardi from Toronto, Ontario, who submitted her correct guess of 51 goals on the 25th January. Sarah wins a game used Pavel Bure autographed hockey stick for her correct guess.
The runner up guesses below came close, very close, but will have to settle for other prizes. Thank you to all contestants for your guesses, and we'll have another competition for members only next season.
Tuesday, April 21, 1998
Monday, April 20, 1998
National Hockey League Statistical LeadersThrough Sunday, April 19, 1998(UNOFFICIAL) Monday April 20, 1998
Sunday April 19,1998 Pavel scores, Canucks lose
Sunday April 19,1998 Bure salutedAs expected, Pavel Bure collected collected enough hardware to open his own memorabilia shop at the team awards ceremonies before the game Sunday.At tonight's game the Vancouver Canucks presented their award winners selected by fan balloting, the Vancouver Canucks booster club and the sports media. MOST EXCITING PLAYER AWARD THE WALTER (BABE) PRATT TROPHY CYCLONE TAYLOR TROPHY CYRUS MCLEAN TROPHY FRED J. HUME AWARD MOLSON CUP TROPHY Sunday April 19,1998 Bure gives press silent treatmentTips in marker and then deflects questionsJim Jamieson, Sports Reporter The ProvinceHe scored what was likely his last goal as a Vancouver Canuck with one hand on the stick.It was probably appropriate, because Pavel Bure is in the process of letting go of the team he's graced for the past seven seasons. Bure got the Canucks back into their 2-1 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs with a third-period goal, deflecting Jyrki Lumme's point shot past Glenn Healy by reaching one-handed into the slot. But the Russian Rocket was as cryptic as usual afterwards, deflecting more questions about his future in Vancouver. "Tonight, I can't tell you nothing," said Bure, sporting a few stitches on his chin, the high-sticking penalty setting the stage for his power-play goal. "One day maybe I'll say something, but right now I can't. I have no comment." There's no question how the hockey fans of Vancouver would like the question answered. The near full house at the Garage was peppered with signs beseeching the Rocket not to lift off. But Bure wouldn't be prodded into any nostalgia about a possible last game. "It's always a special feeling when you play the last game of the season," said Bure. "It's going to be a long summer for us. It's kind of sad when you don't make the playoffs. They'll start in a couple of days and there will be a lot of great hockey, but we'll be out." Oddly enough, Lumme, being an unrestricted free agent and another player likely to not be back, created the final goal of the season. And Lumme said it crossed his mind that it might be Bure's last goal for Vancouver. "It's too bad for everybody in Vancouver," said Lumme. "He's done lots for this city and right now he's back in his form and he's a top player in the league right now. You don't want to lose a player like that." Sunday April 19,1998
Sunday April 19,1998 Bure at 50: I'll talk to you laterKeenan, Messier laud Rocket powerTerry Bell, Sports Reporter The Province
Friday April 17,1998 Calgary Bure Canucks
Pavel Bure, who has been the Canucks' lone bright spot this season, scored his 50th goal, his highest total since he scored 60 in back-to-back seasons in 1993-94 and 1994-95. Bure's goal opened the scoring 9:46 into Friday's game. Gearing up from his own end, Bure hit the Flames' blue line at top speed and fired a 45-footer that appeared to hit off a Calgary player, beating goalie Dwayne Roloson on the short side. "It's kind of a relief," said Bure. The relief for Bure was both financial and psychological. By reaching the 50-goal plateau, Bure opened a clause going into the final year of his five-year contract that will guarantee him an average salary of the top-three paid forwards in the NHL, paying the star right wing $3 million U.S dollars in addition to his season salary. Bure celebrated his feat - the third 50-goal season of his seven-year career with a few leaps skyward before being mobbed by his linemates. The 16,602 patrons at GM Place rose to their feet and saluted Bure with a deserved ovation. "It's a huge milestone," said Bure. "In today's hockey, everyone is trying to play well defensively so it was pretty hard to get. I like to thank my teammates, without their help I wouldn't do this. I also want to say thanks to the fans. They were really supportive even though we didn't do well the last couple of years." Coach Mike Keenan was happy for his scoring star. "It's a tough season to get 50 goals," Keenan said. "He had to be committed because he's not had a lot of support. It's nice for him to be able to accomplish it (score 50) in such a dismal season." "Pavel has to be commended because he hasn't had a great deal of support throughout the year, " said Canuck coach Mike Keenan, who was behind the bench for 42 of the Russian's 50 goals. "Since I arrived [Nov. 13], he's played hard every game. It was nice that he was able to accomplish this in a dismal season." Canuck captain Mark Messier, Bure's linemate on almost every shift, was also impressed. "I think Pavel has been great all year long, right from the first game in Tokyo," Messier said. "He's had just a tremendous year." He is the 18th player in NHL history and the first Russian to have had three 50 goal seasons. He is the 3rd player this season to have reached the 50 goal plateau. The Canucks, who close the season with a home game against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday, tied a franchise record by suffering their 21st home defeat. Bure has reiterated a trade demand, preferably to the New York Rangers or the Los Angeles Kings. "Will I be here next year?" Bure shrugged. "I understand the fans want to know, but I really don't have anything to tell them."
1993-94: March 23, 1994: Vancouver Canucks 6 at Los Angeles Kings 3 Goal: Pavel scored the Canucks' sixth goal into an empty net at 18:56 of the 3rd period. Assist: Murray Craven Game Note: Gretzky's goal at 14:47 of 2nd period was his 802nd goal and broke the NHL's all-time record held by Gordie Howe (801). 1992-93: March 1, 1993: Vancouver Canucks 5 at Buffalo Sabres 2 (Neutral site game - Copps Coliseum in Hamilton) Goal: Pavel scored on Grant Fuhr to become the first Canuck player to score 50 goals in a season. Assists: Dixon Ward and Robert Dirk. Game Note: Pavel also scored his 51st goal in the game. Bure's 1st NHL Goal: November 12, 1991: LA Kings 2 at Vancouver Canucks 8 Goal: Pavel scored an unassisted goal on Daniel Berthiaume at 7:17 of the second period. Game Note: It was Pavel's fourth NHL game. Bure scored his second NHL goal in the same game vs. Kelly Hrudey at 18:12 of the third period - assists to Ronning and Momesso. Friday April 17,1998
Friday April 17,1998 Bure, Canucks should forgo teaming upBy Grant Kerr
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Bob Stall's first letter to John McCawMcCaw must do what it takes to keep star hereBob Stall The Province |
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Re: Pavel Bure Dear John McCaw, I am writing to you in your capacity as owner of the company that owns the Vancouver Canucks Hockey Club. My capacity is smaller. I don't own a company, a hockey club or even a hockey stick. I am writing to you as a hockey fan who happens to write a newspaper column. I will get right to the point. If you lose Pavel Bure, you will lose me and many thousands like me. We will not watch any Vancouver Canucks games either in person or on TV, except when the Canucks are playing the team to which you trade Bure. That's the team we will seek out and seize every opportunity to watch. My column is not usually about hockey because I am not as smart as Terry Bell, Jim Jamieson, Kent Gilchrist and Tony Gallagher, four of the hockey experts on the staff of this newspaper who know how to build winning teams. These guys these days are taking it for granted that you and your subordinates will trade Bure because he wants out, and in their recent writings they have concerned themselves with what you should try to get in return. But out here among the fans and the rabble, this is not the point. The point is, Mr. McCaw, if you trade Pavel Bure, your hockey business is toast. You will be done in by your own doing. Because it is you who succeeded in showing us that it has been worth buying Canuck tickets just to watch Bure. By the same principle, Bure-less Canucks tickets will be worthless. We will not spend time or money watching a Canucks team on which he isn't. This is not just dumb, random fandom reacting to the loss of a favorite player or superstar. The Bure Factor is more than that because he is in a different dimension from all other hockey players. I've called him the world's most exciting hockey player in this column since 1993, but "exciting" doesn't adequately explain the allure of this magnitude of star. Bure is a creative artist as distinct from all the others in his medium as Jordan is in basketball. On the TV dial, I and many others seek out the games that Jordan's Chicago Bulls play the same way I will for any team that employs Bure. Doug Flutie has some of that same creative mastery of Canadian football, which (Be warned, Mr. McCaw) is the main reason the B.C. Lions have never recovered the fans they lost when they traded him. This is why I have watched Calgary Stampeders and Toronto Argonauts games instead of the Lions the past few years. My hockey-watching days go back to Maurice Richard and Jean Beliveau, but the only player I ever burned to watch almost as much as Bure was Guy Lafleur. I'm not talking any sophisticated expert knowledge here. In some ways, guys like Jordan, Bure and Lafleur are cheap-thrill athletes -- acrobats and jugglers and masters of spectacular overstatement. The real cognoscenti among hockey observers will tell you that Alex Mogilny is a better, more complete offensive player than Bure but I'm more of a sucker for the dog who can leap 10 feet into the air to catch a Frisbee backwards over his shoulder than the one who can track a raccoon. I'm not talking here about athletes who are in their own dimensions statistically. The zone that Gretzky inhabited in his prime was beyond my ability to understand. Lemieux's equally prodigious numbers looked too easy and overwhelming like Phil Esposito's once did. Maybe Selanne, Kariya, Forsberg, Sakic and Lindros are as great as Bure, but they're not as electrifying to watch. Jagr is sometimes regarded as equally exciting, but he doesn't have the same level of agility, inventiveness and playful wit. Bure is known to have asked for a trade last summer and since then many vocal fans, led by
CKNW sports talk host Dan Russell, have expounded that we shouldn't try to keep a guy who
doesn't want to be here.
Next year make him REALLY happy. Do whatever it takes. If it's just Canadian taxes bothering him, pay him enough to cover the difference. Some reports have said he wants to play in a big U.S. city so that (1) his celebrity will be bigger and (2) he can be less recognizable on the street. These two reasons are screwy because they contradict each other and prove only that nobody knows what Bure wants. Maybe he's got to go elsewhere because of murky matters relating to the Russian mob, which we will never know. Anyway, Mr. McCaw, stretch as far as you can, hold for 20 seconds, then stretch farther. If Pavel wants his family around next year, hire his father and mother, apologize for trading his best friend Gino Odjick and offer to make amends by obtaining his brother Valeri from Calgary. Or give him a piece of the team. Or a free cell phone. Give him the world, Mr. McCaw. He is worth several Big Countries. Do whatever it takes because if you don't succeed in keeping Pavel Bure, I will start a boycott of the Vancouver Canucks. And don't talk to me about loyalty to a team I once held dear. Once you may have been able to sell tickets by triggering our feelings for the lads and asking us to come out and support them but you have exiled those same boys and it is too early to love their replacements. You and your agents, Mr. McCaw, have traded and run out of town almost every guy we were once encouraged to cherish, chief among them Trevor Linden and Martin Gelinas. You have ensured that this community has no emotional connection with this team. Next year we will neither blindly support nor regard as honest the strivings of your most recently hired guns. We will no sooner buy a ticket to watch Mike Keenan coach than we will to watch Mark Messier lead or a new defenceman defend. But we will come and watch Bure. Sincerely, Bob Stall |
Thursday April 16,1998
Neil MacRae: I'd unload Bure as fast as I could . . .
Neil MacRae The Province
I'm sure my feelings and attitude towards Pavel Bure and what to do with him will leave me very much in the minority. Which is fine. The fewer there are thinking like me makes the world that much better.I'd take the Little Russian Rocket and his mood swings and unload him as fast as I could find someone willing to pick up his contract and has two or three players that can bring some immediate help to the Canucks down the middle and on the blue line.
Pavel Bure's greatest gift to this city was re-establishing the game and again making it fun to go to the rink.
Bure brought the season ticket base back up to where it once was. The show Bure put on and the interest it created convinced the powers that be to move downtown into a new building, which ultimately brought basketball here.
Bure has done an awful lot to turn this province on and he has been more than fairly compensated for his mass appeal. But he hasn't made them a winner.
For three straight years Bure, seemingly impossible to make happy, has hinted, inferred or has come out in not so many words and said he wanted out. Great, fine, see ya later. The time has long passed when you could keep players that don't want to be here.
I'm also tired of hearing him whine and play head games with the people who pay his salary. Players like Bure aren't exactly a dime a dozen, but if the deal is right no one is irreplaceable.
There's all sorts of different scenarios that could come into play as far as how they move him and in the process become a better overall team. They have to find a team like Washington that needs a marquee player to sell a new rink for them, or if the Flyers don't do anything in the playoffs and finally give up on Eric Lindros, or to really stretch things, Paul Kariya's career might be cut short in Anaheim.
The hardest part of moving Bure won't be so much his as it will the players the Canucks will have to demand in return.
Don't get sucked in as so many have that this trade is a slam dunk and it's not a matter of if but when. Regardless of how much influence Mike Keenan has in the eventual outcome or whether a general manager is brought in, it will still ultimately be ownership's call. It's going to be a decision that will have long-term ramifications on the ice and in ticket sales.
If it's done right, fans will lose the biggest star they have ever had here for more than a one-night stand. In theory that should be more than made up by having an overall better team with more consistent results.
Let's face it, even with Bure having this great year, you can still count on one hand how many games you left feeling you got your money's worth. The biggest fear for all hockey fans shouldn't be whether there is anyone at Orca Bay capable of making the decision. That's the easy part. Where it gets tough is making the correct one.
Wednesday April 15,1998
Pavel and Canucks stopped
Jamie Storr stopped 31 shots, as the Los Angeles Kings tuned up for the playoffs with a 2-0 blanking of the Vancouver Canucks.He twice thwarted Pavel Bure's bid for his 50th goal, getting his glove on a shot from the top of the left faceoff circle midway through the second period and coming up with a sliding stick save in the third after Bure skated out of the right corner. In all, Pavel recorded 8 shots on goal.
A late 3rd period Vancouver goal, set up by Pavel Bure, was disallowed, when a video replay showed one of the Canuck players had a foot in the crease.
Vancouver fell to 3-2-1 in its last six games and the Canucks' 43 losses are the most by the club since 1990-91.
Wednesday April 15,1998
Messier would miss PavelCaptain pays tribute, says Bure 'needs a change'Jim Jamieson, Sports Reporter The Province | |
The Russian Rocket is about to play his last three games as a Vancouver Canuck, the first of those tonight against the visiting Los Angeles Kings. And Messier -- Bure's constant centre this season -- feels the upcoming loss as much as any fan who's been lifted out of their seat by the right winger's moves over the past seven seasons. "I've enjoyed the year with him a lot," said Messier after Tuesday's practice at GM Place. "Players are better now than they've ever been and he's certainly one of the best in the game today -- which is quite a statement. He's an electrifying player who has the ability to score big goals in crucial situations. You don't replace someone like Pavel. He's a one-of-a-kind player." Although there have been various tap-dancing routines from Bure and management surrounding his desire to play elsewhere next season, Messier finally acknowledged what's been clear for a while. "I don't think there's any secret about it and it doesn't have anything to do with this year with Pavel," said Messier. "I think he's made it clear that he's wanted to make a move for the past few years. That's going to be completely up to Mike (coach Keenan) and ownership. He's a world-class player and moves like that have to be given a lot of consideration. Players like that don't come along very often." Bure's reasons for wanting a trade include: To live in a larger centre that would afford some anonymity; play on a team with a better travel schedule; go to a contender. Despite the disappointment, Messier said he understands Bure's reasons for wanting a change. "I think I got to the point in Edmonton where I knew changes had to be made," said Messier. "I'd spent 12 years living there in the city and done all the winning, but I needed a change more from a personal standpoint than professional. Pavel came here as a young boy. He's lived here and he just needs a change. It doesn't have anything to do with the people or the city or the organization. Sometimes you just need a life change to make yourself happy. "He's played here seven or eight years. That's a long time these days." Bure has clearly returned to the form he enjoyed prior to his knee injury early in the 1995-96 season. But despite not wanting to be in Vancouver, he's had a spectacular season and can reach the 50-goal plateau tonight against the Kings. "I think that shows you part of Pavel's character," said Messier. "That's something that's probably been overlooked about Pavel. I think it's been misunderstood how good a team player he is in that he's able to put all that aside and come to the rink and play hard and feels he has an obligation to his teammates." |
Tuesday April 14,1998
Bure's under the weather
Although Pavel fell awkwardly into the boards near the end of Thursday's game in Calgary, he said he felt no ill effects - but wished he could say the same about the lingering flu he's still fighting off."I didn't sleep all night in San Jose," said Bure, who's lost a few pounds and will seek his 50th goal tomorrow against visiting Los Angeles. "I feel better, but still not good."
At least he doesn't have to go on the operating table like his brother Valeri.
Valei, separated his right shoulder, and will have corrective surgery this week, putting him out of action for the summer.
Monday April 13,1998
Bure Should Remain a Canuck
Jim Coleman
The Vancouver Province
If Pavel Bure is permitted to escape from Vancouver, The Canuck NHL franchise may be doomed to
another 28 years of dull mediocrity.
Pavel is the first franchise player to ply the puck trade in these precincts since Frank Patrick lured Cyclone Taylor from Ottawa before the First World War.
Anyone who buys tickets to local games must be appalled by the persistent rumors that the massive intellects who operate the Orca Bay Sports empire may permit Bure to leave.
It's high time that someone who has real clout at GM Place went to the microphone and stated unequivocally: Pavel stays, no matter how much it costs !
Until the 1991-92 season, when Bure arrived from the former Soviet Union, the Canucks never had a franchise player.
Can Neely was the designated savior when he arrived here in 1983. However, three years later, someone in authority felt that Cam was physically fragile and he was traded to Boston.
Trevor Linden gave every indication of becoming the Man of Destiny when he arrived in 1988. However, 10 years in the Rain Forest dulled Trevor's lustre and he was shipped away to New York earlier this season.
Historically, many of hockey's most successful teams have been blessed with a franchise player. Howie Morenz filled that role for more than a decade after the Montreal Canadiens plucked him from Ontario junior hockey. Then, 10 years after Morenz died, Maurice Richard became Montreal's franchise player. And, Jean Beliveau came along to take over the role while Richard still was playing.
When the Boston Bruins plucked Eddie Shore from Edmonton, he became their franchise player. But the Bruins didn't have another until Bobby Orr came up from the Oshawa juniors at the age of 18. The Bruins had missed the playoffs in a six-team league for six successive years before Orr put them on the right track.
In the era which is more familiar to the majority of today's newspaper readers, the New York Islanders won the Stanley Cup in four consecutive seasons when they had a pair of franchise players: Mike Bossy and Denis Potvin.
Hockey's last real dynasty was the Edmonton Oilers, who won the Stanley Cup five times between 1984 and 1990. The Oilers had two franchise players, Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier. Gretzky played on four of those cup teams and Messier played on all five.
When Pittsburgh Penguins won the Stanley Cup recently in two successive seasons, they had a franchise player in the person of Mario Lemieux.
In today's NHL, it's possible that the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim may have another franchise player in the person of Paul Kariya - if the engineers on the medical staff can equip him with a shatter-proof helmet. Or, how about goalie Dominik Hasek of the Buffalo Sabres ?
Now, the Vancouver Canucks are singularly fortunate to have Bure. Here's a player who is capable of scoring 50 goals in a season when his team doesn't even make the playoffs.
Admittedly, I'm an old fogey who limps around on a cane. But, I've been watching this game since the advent of tube skates, and I contend that Pavel is the most exciting and best Russian hockey player I've ever seen - better than Boris Mikhailov, better than Valeri Kharlamov, better than Petrov or Fetisov or Larionov.
Orca Bay should pay Bure enough to stay in Vancouver - with a permanent smile on his face.
Saturday April 11,1998
Lose Pavel, Lose Fans Like Me
McCaw must do what it takes to keep star here.
An open letter to John McCawRe: Pavel Bure
Dear John McCaw,
I am writing to you in your capacity as owner of the company That owns the Vancouver Canucks Hockey Club.
My capacity is smaller. I don't own a company, a hockey club or even a hockey stick.
I am writing to you as a hockey fan who happens to write a newspaper column.
I will get right to the point.
If you lose Pavel Bure, you will lose me and many thousands like me.
We will not watch any Vancouver Canucks games either in person or on TV, except when the Canucks are playing the team to which you trade Bure. That's the team we will seek out and seize every opportunity to watch.
My column is not usually about hockey because I am not as smart as Terry Bell, Jim Jamieson, Kent Gilchrist and Tony Gallagher, four of the hockey experts on the staff of this newspaper who know how to build winning teams.
These days these guys are taking it for granted that you and your subordinates will trade Bure because he wants out, and in their recent writings they have concerned themselves with what you should try to get in return.
But out here among the fans and the rabble, this is not the point.
The point is, Mr.McCaw, if you trade Pavel Bure, your hockey business is toast.
You will be done in by your own doing. Because it is you who succeeded in showing us that it has been worth buying Canucks tickets just to watch Bure.
By the same principle, Bure-less Canucks tickets will be worthless. We will not spend time or money watching a Canucks team on which he isn't.
This is not just dumb, random fandom reacting to the loss of a favorite player or superstar. The Bure Factor is more than that because he is in a different dimension from all other hockey players.
I've called him the world's most exciting hockey player in this column since 1993, but "exciting" doesn't adequately explain the allure of this magnitude of star.
Bure is a creative artist as distinct from all the others in his medium as Jordan is in basketball. On the TV dial, I and many others seek out the games that Jordan's Chicago Bulls play the same way I will for any team that employs Bure.
Doug Flutie has some of that same creative mastery of Canadian football, which (Be warned, Mr.McCaw) is the main reason the B.C. Lions have never recovered the fans they lost when they traded him. This is why I have watched Calgary Stampeders and Toronto Argonauts games instead of the Lions the past few years.
My hockey-watching days go back to Maurice Richard and Jean Beliveau, but the only player I ever burned to watch almost as much as Bure was Guy Lafleur.
I'm not talking any sophisticated expert knowledge here. In some ways, guys like Jordan, Bure and Lafleur are cheap-thrill athletes - acrobats and jugglers and masters of spectacular overstatement.
The real cognoscenti among hockey observers will tell you that Alex Mogilny is a better, more complete offensive playet than Bure but I'm more of a sucker for the dog who can leap 10 feet into the air to catch a Frisbee backwards over his shoulder than the one who can track a raccoon.
I'm not talking here about athletes who are in their own dimensions statistically. The zone that Gretzky inhabited in his prime was beyond my ability to understand. Lemieux's equally prodigious numbers looked too easy and overwhelming like Phil Esposito's once did.
Maybe Selanne, Kariya, Forsberg, Sakic and Lindros are as great as Bure, but they're not as electrifying to watch. Jagr is sometimes regarded as equally exciting, but he doesn't have the same level of agility, inventiveness and playful wit.
Bure is know to have asked for a trade last summer and since then many vocal fans, led by by CKNW sports talk host Dan Russell, have expounded that we shouldn't try to keep a guy who doesn't want to be here.
Bull.
Mr.McCaw, you have Bure under contract for one more year. Hold him to it.
If he wants to be traded, tell him a contract is a contract and he stays here this year. Give him $8 million for the inconvenience.
But seek every possible way to keep him happy. We don't want a moody artiste, although, to his credit, Bure never has seemed the least bit flaky. Besides, there probably are enough incentives built into his contract and pride of craft in his character to keep him working hard even if he doesn't want to be here.
Next year make him REALLY happy. Do whatever it takes.
If it's just Canadian taxes bothering him, pay him enough to cover the difference. Some reports have said he wants to play ina big U.S. city so that (1) his celebrity will be bigger and (2) he can be less recognizable on the street. These two reasons are screwy because they contradict each other and prove only that nobody knows what Bure wants.
Maybe he's got to go elsewhere because of murky matters relating to the Russian mob, which we will never know.
Anyway, Mr.McCaw, stretch as far as you can, hold for 20 seconds, then stretch farther.
If Pavel wants his family around next year, hire his father and mother, apologize for trading his best friend Gino Odjick and offer to make amends by obtaining his brother Valeri from Calgary.
Or give him a piece of the team. Or a free cell phone.
Give him the world, Mr.McCaw. He is worth several Big Countries.
Do whatever it takes because if you don't succeed in keeping Pavel Bure, I will start a boycott of the Vancouver Canucks.
And don't talk to me about loyalty to a team I once held dear.
Once you may have been able to sell tickets by triggering our feelings for the lads and asking us to come out and support them but you have exiled those same boys and it is too early to love their replacements.
You and your agents, Mr.McCaw, have traded and run out of town almost every guy we were once encouraged to cherish, chief among them Trevor Linden and Martin Gelinas. You have ensured that this community has no emotional connection with this team.
Next year we will neither blindly support nor regard as honest the strivings of your most recently hired guns.
We will no sooner buy a ticket to watch Mike Keenan coach than we will to watch Mark Messier lead or a new defenceman defend.
But we will come and watch Bure.
Sincerely,
Bob Stall
Saturday April 11,1998
Pavel held off scoreboard
Bret Hedican scored with 16:15 remaining and Arturs Irbe made 31 saves against his former team as the Vancouver Canucks rallied for a 1-1 tie with the San Jose Sharks, who fell into eighth place in the Western Conference.Pavel took a slashing penalty in the first period, and had 2 shots on goal while being zero in the +/- column.
Thursday April 9,1998
Keenan says Bure sick, not injured
Elliott Pap Vancouver Sun
CALGARY -- Vancouver Canuck winger Pavel Bure, who needs a goal tonight in San Jose to reach 50 for the season, appeared no worse for wear Friday after leaving the bench late in Thursday's 6-3 victory over the Calgary Flames.Bure crashed awkwardly into the end boards following his 49th goal, a solo shorthanded effort at 15:03 of the third period. The spill was reminiscent of the one that gave him a debilitating whiplash injury last season. However, Canuck coach Mike Keenan said the Russian Rocket was sick, not injured.
When pressed for the nature of the sickness, Keenan angrily replied: "I just told you the truth. Can't you accept it for once? He was sick. He left the bench. That's all you have to be told. Nothing else. If it was an injury, I would have said he got hurt. He didn't get hurt."
Later, Bure confirmed he was "all right now" as he sprinted off to meet his brother Valeri, who is out with a shoulder injury.
- With their three shorthanded goals, the Canucks reached 19 on the season, breaking the team record of 18 set in 1992-93 and repeated in 1995-96. Bure has six of the 19, which gives him the league lead.
The Russian Rocket has nine goals in his last 10 games and is on a seven-game points streak (7-5-12). He has moved into second place in the NHL scoring race with 88 points, eight behind leader Jaromir Jagr.
Thursday April 9,1998
Pavel has 3 point night
Bryan McCabe, Alexander Mogilny and Pavel Bure scored shorthanded goals as the
Vancouver Canucks crippled the Calgary Flames' playoff chances with a 6-3 triumph.
Vancouver, which defeated the Flames for the first time in four meetings this season, leads the league with 19 shorthanded goals, including 10 on the road.
Bure also had two assists, giving him seven goals and five assists during a seven-game points streak. Mark Messier, Donald Brashear and Brad May added goals for Vancouver, which was eliminated from playoff contention on Monday.
Jason Wiemer, Theoren Fleury and Marty McInnis scored for the Flames, whose postseason hopes will be dashed with a win by San Jose or Edmonton. The Sharks are hosting Anaheim, while the Oilers are in Los Angeles.
Pavel had four shots on goal and was a plus 1. He was named first star of the game.
Pavel invited to world tournament
There will be a post-season reward for some Vancouver Canucks even though the club will miss the Stamley Cup playoffs.Nine players have been offered spots on their respective countries teams at the world championships in Geneva, Switzerland, starting May 1.
Pavel Bure has a standing order, but is unlikely to accept.
Thursday, April 9, 1998
Pavel featured in magazine
There's quite a long article in Details magazine's May issue (Michael Jordan on the cover) about the Russian mafia and the NHL. There's a picture of Pavel and a lot of mention and snippets of interviews with him and other NHL players.OK, who can they get for Pavel?Out of playoffs, Canucks must get it right in a Bure tradeTerry Bell, Sports Reporter The Province | |
Fans will hold their breath. It'll be the Canucks deal of the century. And, not to pressure management or anything, but they'd better not become the rubes in any heist of the century. Of course, the Canucks, eliminated from playoff contention on Monday, aren't talking. "We haven't said we're trading Pavel Bure," acting GM Steve Tambellini said Tuesday. "Commenting on it would be so disrespectful of me to Pavel. He's such a focal point of our team ... to discuss anything like that, it wouldn't be right." But Bure has apparently told management he wants out. And the Canucks must get value back. First, they could trade Bure for an elite centre or defenceman, maybe Colorado's Joe Sakic or Detroit's Sergei Fedorov. How about New Jersey defenceman Scott Niedermayer, who'd love to play here? Or they could include Bure and another player in a package that would include at least two solid NHL players and some youth. The skinny is that Vancouver and the New York Islanders discussed a trade-deadline deal that had Bure and Jyrki Lumme going east for defenceman Bryan Berard, centre Bryan Smolinski, defenceman Zdeno Chara and another prospect. That first option is a stretch. Bure needs just two more goals to hit 50 and see a contract clause kick in that would have him earn the average of the league's three highest paid forwards. That'll come in somewhere between $8 and $9 million US. Sakic will only earn $2 million US next year after getting $17 million this season and Colorado would be loathe to trade those salaries. So that leaves door No. 2. The Canucks could put out Bure's name and pray the line of interested suitors is long and more than a touch desperate. There's interest in New York where the Islanders are becoming an indignant little slap to the face of the arch-rival Rangers. The Canucks can only hope there's interest in Rangerland ... and in New Jersey, Philadelphia, Washington and Carolina, which threw big bucks at Fedorov in a bid to steal a star. But who'd come here? The Canucks need a goalie, a stud defenceman and a No. 1 centre who could lead on the ice while Messier backs off a little, stays healthy and leads in the dressing room. If they figure the goalie is Priority 1 and go after one in a Bure package the list of trading partners shrinks. Look instead for activity in a free-agent market that figures to include Mike Richter, John Vanbiesbrouck, Curtis Joseph and Kelly Hrudey. Figure the Canucks to go for a package that would include a centre and a defenceman. If it's the Rangers, Alexei Kovalev and 6-foot-5 defenceman Eric Cairns might be among the pursued. From the Islanders could come Berard, Chara and others. |
Monday, April 6, 1998
Pavel stars, but Canucks still lose the season
Pavel Bure was voted in as the first star of the game, but still saw the Vancouver Canucks lose 3-2 to the Edmonton Oilers.The loss to Edmonton officially eliminated the Vancouver Canucks from playoff contention, who will now not be in the playoffs for the second year in a row since the 1989-90 season. .
Pavel scored a spectacular short handed goal, and was stopped on the goal-line on many occasions.
Pavel finished the game with 6 shots on goal, and was even on the plus minus.
Monday, April 6, 1998
Russian Rocket blasts coach
By JIM TAYLOR -- Sun Media
It is considered the ultimate four-letter word, unless you count love. Everyone knows it. Most have used it. Radio and television stations won't allow it, and newspapers go crazy figuring ways to get it in without actually printing it. One of the most popular end runs is to substitute 'bleep', usually in parentheses. The disadvantage is that (bleep) has become the generic replacement for any word deemed off-color, from "damn" on up, and thus the impact of the Big One is lost. Other editors have opted to print the first letter and three dashes, or the first and last letters with two dashes in between. That way, they can't be accused of printing profanity, but any reader higher than protozoa on the evolutionary chain knows exactly what was said. Even avid pre-school readers have no trouble. ("Look, mom: This is easier than s - - t.") By now, we should be inured to it, particularly on the sports pages, where major portions of our jockstrapped legions have used it as noun, pronoun, adjective and adverb since the day they were old enough to learn to talk jock and explain that they had the bleeper beat but missed the bleeping corner by that bleeping much. But the Big One was in the headlines again last week when it was alleged that Pavel Bure of the Vancouver Canucks used it not once but twice on coach Iron Mike Keenan during a game in Ottawa. The story goes that the ever-eloquent Keenan opened the bench conversation by referring to Bure as a "selfish little suck." Apparently feeling that "Oh, yeah?" didn't get it done, Bure riposted with "Bleep you! I've played 69 games this season!" Then he went out and scored the game-tying goal, returned to the bench and sat as far away from Keenan as possible without joining the paying customers. "Way to go, Pavel!" called Keenan."Bleep off!" quoth the Russian Rocket.
And there it sits. Neither man will comment on that or the stories that Bure has requested a trade, although a Rocket launch come June is now deemed a foregone conclusion. To date, hard-hitting CEO Steve 'Who' Bellringer, has not brought his months of hockey savvy into play and ordered either miscreant to rinse his mouth with Grandma's lye soap.
A couple of points:
First, if you had a dollar for every time an NHLer has told his coach to bleep off, you could buy your own franchise. This one became news only because ear-witnesses on the bench blabbed it to a reporter as evidence that Bure does want out, partially because he considers his coach a Richard-cranium.
Second, the Big One -- however undesirable -- has become a linchpin of the sporting vocabulary. A star is no longer merely great, he's bleeping great. A goon no longer thumped an opponent, he bleeping nailed him. And when the game's been long and tiring, what they wouldn't give for a bleeping beer.
Usually, it goes unheard and unreported. Sometimes, in these days of zoom cameras and parabolic microphones, it becomes more public, as in the time long ago when Bobby Clarke, all angel curls and bared fangs, leaned out of the Flyers box during a televised game and screamed at referee Bruce Hood:
"Way to go, Hood, you stupid bleeping bleep!"
It went live and national. The game survived, as it will again. Bure and Keenan don't need reprimands. What they need is better vocabularies.
Sunday, April 5, 1998
Bure's days as Canuck numbered
By SCOTT MORRISON -- Toronto Sun
The question in Vancouver is no longer if the Canucks will move Pavel Bure in the summer, but where?The reports of Bure requesting a trade before the deadline and the heated discussion between Bure and coach Mike Keenan on the bench a few weeks ago will only serve to further grease the wheels.
Fact is, a year ago Bure requested a trade from general manager Pat Quinn and he never rescinded the request. It was all part of Bure's dissatisfaction with the Canucks over money he believed he was owed and other internal business.
At the trade deadline, the Canucks talked to the Islanders about a blockbuster, six-player deal. On the Vancouver side, it involved Bure and defenceman Jyrki Lumme. On the Isles side, it involved defenceman Bryan Berard, centre Bryan Smolinski and two other players.
It's no secret that Keenan, who is making the Canucks younger, bigger and better, would love to have Berard on his blue line. It's a deal that could come together again in the off season, especially with the Islanders still looking for a marquee player.
The Canucks also talked to the Rangers about a deal involving Bure at the trade deadline. A deal that would make sense would involve Bure and Rangers goaltender Mike Richter as the principles, although Richter, who becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, says he wants to stay in Manhattan.
Friday, April 3, 1998
Pavel stars in win over Stars
Pavel Bure scored a pair of dazzling goals as the Vancouver Canucks tallied four times over the final 11:07 and rallied to hand the Dallas Stars their season-high third straight loss, 5-3.Brad May had one of his two goals in the third period and Alexander Mogilny also scored for the Canucks, who climbed into a 10th-place tie with Calgary in the Western Conference and trail Edmonton and San Jose by seven points for the final playoff spot with six games remaining.
May got his second goal of the game 81 seconds before Bure took over. He broke into the Stars' zone and passed to himself by chipping the puck over defenseman Craig Ludwig's stick. Bure moved to his left but shot back to the right and caught goaltender Roman Turek off balance for his 46th goal at 12:12.
Just over 90 seconds later, Dallas defenseman Darryl Sydor coughed the puck up in his own zone and Mogilny scored off his own rebound to put the Canucks ahead to stay, 4-3.
With Stars center Guy Carbonneau in the penalty box for holding, Bure capped the third-period explosion at 16:48, batting his own rebound out of mid-air with his backhand.
Pavel had nine shots on goal, was a +1 in the plus minus, and was voted third star of the game.
Friday, April 3, 1998
Curses for Keenan
Bure, Iron Mike in heated exchange at Canucks bench
Jim Jamieson, Sports Reporter The Province
 On the same day Mark Messier (left) rebuts criticism levelled by former Canuck Gino Odjick, it emerges that coach Mike Keenan (back) and leading scorer Pavel Bure (right) exchanged some nasty words at bench during game. Bruce Bennett Studios file photo |
In yet another barometer reading of how the times are changing for the Vancouver Canucks, Bure, for years virtually immune to criticism, was carved up in front of his teammates during a 1-1 tie with the Senators two Saturdays ago. Bure and Keenan were at each other's throat in the confrontation, as the coach tried a little motivational shock therapy on the Russian Rocket.
The fireworks occurred early in the second period, the Canucks trailing the Senators 1-0 and Bure having one of his less inspired games. According to sources, Keenan approached Bure and asked him if he was going to play this game and referred to him as a "selfish little suck."
Bure shot back: "F--- you! I've played 69 games this season."
Bure then started to get up, apparently to leave the bench, but sat down again. While this remarkable repartee was taking place, the rest of the players on the bench were variously trying to pretend they hadn't heard what was being said or staring awkwardly in another direction.
A few minutes later, Bure scored the tying goal but, when he came back to the bench, he made a point of sitting at the opposite end from Keenan. The coach then approached him saying, "Way to go, Pavel."
But Bure was having none of it and once again told Keenan to f--- off.
Bure was clearly displeased when asked about the incident following Thursday's practice and said he had no comment, but Keenan confirmed there had been a flare-up during the Ottawa game.
"It's not a big deal. It happens all the time," said Keenan of his dressing down of the highest profile athlete ever to play in Vancouver. "We talked about it after (the game) and he said, 'No problem.' Anyway, he went out and scored the tying goal afterwards."
According to a source close to Bure, his main reasons for desiring a change of scenery boil down to: Wanting to live in a large centre, such as New York or Los Angeles, where he can be more anonymous; going to an Eastern-based team to have a less rigorous travel schedule; and playing for a team that has a chance to win the Stanley Cup.
Bure was also incensed at the trading of his close friend Gino Odjick last week, but that, like the incident in Ottawa, was just another of the many nails already in the coffin of his brilliant career in Vancouver.
Thursday, April 2, 1998
No tears here if Pavel goes
By JIM TAYLOR -- Calgary Sun
If you're a doctor or a lawyer or a kumquat salesman and you get ticked off with the boss or the working conditions, you can blow that particular pop stand and go work somewhere else.There'll be some inconvenience. You might have to miss a payday or two. But you can do it because there are other hospitals, other ambulances to chase, other places to flog your kumquats.
But there is only one National Hockey League.
Pavel Bure doesn't have your freedom. Then again, you don't make his $5 million for hitting a piece of rubber with a stick. Maybe it all evens out.
Pavel is said to be unhappy with his lot as a member of the Vancouver Flighty 'Nucks. He wants to be traded at the end of this season, and has so informed the team yet again.
He longs for the bright lights of a major American market with its minor American tax structure. He wants to play for someone who can get to the Stanley Cup final without buying tickets. Chances are he has noticed that the team currently paying him his millions is so deep in the cellar that the worms are stepping on it.
You can hardly blame him. What have the Canucks done for him, hauling him out of Russia when he was 20 and still marvelling at the wonder of junior hockey status that allowed his name to be pushed to the head of the waiting list for his own car, and making him a multi-millionaire?
And that new contract after he held out, the one that pays him $5 million and has that 40-goal clause (he had 45 going into last night's game against the Oilers) that will boost it by $3 mil or so next year, and maybe as high as $10 mil if he can hit 50?
Give Bure this: He's never made public noises about wanting to leave. Word leaked out of the dressing room -- these guys can't play, but boy, can they talk -- about an early-season request for a move, and this week's latest report comes courtesy of the team radio station. Pavel refuses to answer questions, says he knows that will convince fans he IS trying to leave, but he's got this season to concentrate on.
"You guys want to talk about hockey, OK," he says. "Otherwise, I talk to you in the summer."
Which is, of course, the professional way to go. But the rumors have done something that a year ago would have been considered impossible: In ever-more-vocal numbers, the customers are saying "Get his sorry butt out of here."
It would be near-unanimous, except that so many other fans are vocalizing the same wish for Mark Messier, who arrived on a beam of light and a $28-million long-term contract, has had a miserable, injury-riddled season, and is viewed in some quarters as less of a team leader than a buddy and confidante of coach Mike Keenan.
How serious are they? At the game against the Islanders, they cheered Gino Odjick, traded that morning, and former Canuck captain Trevor Linden -- and booed Messier.
They have had it with superstars playing for king's ransoms and demanding more. They are tired of showbiz gestures and pre-season hype that's all windup and no delivery. They are up to here with a team short a quality goalie, a second-line centre (and a first, say the Messier haters) and a defenceman who can carry the puck more than 10 ft. without tripping over it.
They used to love Bure. Now they just ask who they could get for him. If he truly wants out, they'll happily second the motion.
Wednesday, April 1st, 1998
Pavel notches short-handed assist in Canucks 4-2 win
Arturs Irbe made 43 saves and the Vancouver Canucks got three special teams goals while killing 11 of 12 power plays in a 4-2 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.The Canucks climbed into a tie with Anaheim for 12th in the Western Conference but are nine points behind the Oilers for the final playoff berth with seven games remaining.
Pavel ended up with two shots on goal and was a +1 for the night, picking up one assist.
Sports Illustrated notes on Pavel
TheMarch 23rd issue of Sports Illustrated has the following comments on page 54."The NHL's top five players, in terms of lifting fans out of their seats: Pavel Bure of the Canucks, Jaromir Jagr of the Penguins, Mike Modano of the Stars, and Paul Kariya and Teemu Selanne of the Mighty Ducks.
All of these stars possess the ability to accelerate with the puck and beat opponents one-on-one...."
Wednesday, April 1st, 1998
Helping Bure out door could be wise move by Canucks
By Grant Kerr
VANCOUVER
VANCOUVER -- Pavel Bure has given the Vancouver Canucks an easy out. He wants out, an escape
from the Orca Bay circus at GM Place.
So trading the popular Russian Rocket becomes much easier for a struggling hockey team that faces a difficult decision this spring.
The timing couldn't be better for the Canucks. Soon they will be officially eliminated from the playoff race, giving management time to plan properly for the most significant trade of the rebuilding phase directed by coach Mike Keenan.
Bure has been making waves since last summer about his contract, and a season of discontent became even worse for the talented sniper when close friend Gino Odjick was traded to the New York Islanders.
The trading of Odjick, arguably the most popular Vancouver player after Bure, should have tipped everyone that Bure is on his way out. But give Bure credit. His seventh and probably final season on the Canadian West Coast has been a spectacular one, including 45 goals so far, many of the highlight variety.
There is sound rationale why the Canucks should make Bure's day by trading him in the off-season.
First, the hockey payroll at Orca Bay Sports and Entertainment would be significantly reduced, pleasing ownership. Bure earns $5.5-million (U.S.) this season and stands to make more than $8-million next season.
Bure's contract, signed in 1994, calls for him to receive, in the fifth and final year, the average salary of the three highest-paid players in the National Hockey League. The $8-million number is a moving target because no one's quite sure what Detroit's Sergei Fedorov will receive, especially if a $12-million bonus clicks in during the playoffs should the Red Wings reach the Western Conference final.
By trimming payroll, the Canucks may be able to afford free-agent netminder Mike Richter should he elect not to re-sign with the New York Rangers. Obtaining a No. 1 puckstopper is a priority for the Canucks, who have allowed more goals than any NHL team this season.
Richter has played for Keenan before and managed to cope with the quirky demands of Iron Mike during a Stanley Cup championship season.
Offering Bure to some of the richer teams in the league -- the Rangers quickly come to mind -- would allow the Canucks to plug holes elsewhere in the lineup. Vancouver needs a hard-shooting defenceman for the power play and a second-line centre to play behind captain Mark Messier.
The Canucks have been brutal on the power play this season. One reason is the lack of a quarterback at the point. The other is one the Canucks don't talk about much -- selfishness. Vancouver does not move the puck effectively on power plays, often because Bure tends to hang on too long.
It's a given that talented players need the puck more than others, but Bure often overlooks less-skilled teammates when he should pass to the open man. By trading Bure, team play probably would improve.
Another factor to be considered is the deployment of Alexander Mogilny. He has much the same skill as Bure but often is not used properly. Mogilny scored 55 goals two seasons ago -- when Bure was injured.
Mogilny appears to be much more productive when he is the main man instead of playing behind a superstar such as Bure. Mogilny would seem to be a good fit on a line with Messier and rugged winger Brad May, once a teammate of Mogilny in Buffalo.
The downside to moving Bure is his obvious promotional value. Bure's flash and dash sell tickets in a city that has supported losing teams for years. But there comes a time when fans demand much more. Listening to open-line radio shows, it is apparent that they would rather have a winning team than Bure come back next season.
Ownership must decide if it has the necessary acumen in management to make the most important deal in the history of the franchise. After all, this is a team without a general manager since the dismissal of Pat Quinn in November.
If the Canucks need help, they can always refer to the deal they made with Buffalo to get Mogilny three years ago. They gave up prospects Mike Peca and Mike Wilson, plus a first-round draft selection (Jay McKee) for Mogilny. They need the same in return for Bure.
Wednesday, April 1st, 1998
Bure won't talk trade
Terry Bell, Sports Reporter The Province
We'll have to wait until the summer to find out what many suspect É Pavel Bure wants out of Vancouver.Word leaked on the weekend that the Russian Rocket had asked coach Mike Keenan to deal him. But Bure -- though he didn't come out and deny the story -- had nothing to say on the matter at practice Tuesday.
"I have no comment on that," said Bure, who missed Monday's practice with the flu. "Right now I just want to concentrate on hockey. We still have a chance (to make the playoffs) and that's the important thing.
"I'll talk to you guys in the summer. If you want to talk about hockey now we can do that."
Did he really have a conversation with Keenan? "No comment."
How did this story get new life? "No comment."
Bure was an unhappy Canuck at the start of the season and wanted out unless certain conditions were met. But as the season went along his desire to leave seemed to dissipate and his play did nothing to suggest he was in a funk.
Bure apparently told Russian reporters at the Nagano Olympics in February he was happy in Vancouver, so revelations he wanted out come as a surprise. He probably does want out -- preferably to an eastern-based team -- but he wouldn't admit that Tuesday.
Bure has 45 goals this season and has shown the form that's been missing since his 60-goal, 107-point 1993-94 season.
Keenan continued to deny the club discussed dealing Bure.
"There have been no discussions on Pavel's status," Keenan said. "This is old news.
"It's all news to me," he said when asked if Bure had talked to him about wanting out.
Said Canucks right winger Brian Noonan: "It would be nice if we could keep him here. I haven't talked to Pavel, so I don't know if this (story) is true, but sometimes a player needs a change of scenery at certain points in his career."
Wednesday, April 1st, 1998
Gary Mason:If Bure wants to dance elsewhere, let him
If the Canucks stand to lose a player of the Russian Rocket's status, Mark Messier's viewpoint will surely be sought.
Gary Mason Vancouver Sun
I promised not to write another will-Pavel-stay-or-will-Pavel-go column until Pavel decided to stay or go. For good.But here I am, demonstrating all the willpower of Bill Clinton, writing about whether Pavel will stay or go.
So let me say this about that: If Pavel wants to go, let him. Which I think is what I said the last time he asked to be traded. I believe I also said this: If he's become bored with our city, become bored with his team, misses his best friend too much, then see what the market is offering this summer. And it still pains me to say that because I love watching this guy. Especially when he's flying like he is this season.
There are only a few players like Bure in the NHL today. Players who can lift you from your seat every game because when they touch the puck anything seems possible. And in the often stultifyingly dull game of hockey today, when you have a commodity like that, you hang on to it.
But as The Sun's Iain MacIntyre pointed out in his story Monday on Bure's latest trade demand, the player's stock has never been higher since the 1994 playoffs. He could fetch a couple more key pieces that Vancouver needs to be a Cup contender, starting with an ace goaltender. That piece, however, may be the toughest of all to acquire.
As much as I'd hate to see Bure go, I think Alexander Mogilny's potentially awesome talents are wasted playing behind his fellow countryman. Mogilny is a first-line right winger in this league and doesn't seem nearly as motivated playing in Bure's shadow. The fact he's played on the second line, on a team as dreadful as the Canucks have been most of the year, is ridiculous.
And Mike Keenan must know it.
It's clear Bure remains steamed that the team dealt his best friend Gino Odjick. The Rocket, along with a few of his teammates, thought Odjick was at least good enough for a spot on the right side of the fourth line. Not the right side of the press box.
But there's another side to Bure's upset worth considering. Remember when he first demanded a trade earlier this year because of money hassles with the team? If I recall, his best buddy Gino was still with the club then. Which tells me Bure would have split with his soulmate when his own interests were at stake. But when management splits them up it becomes a different matter.
It will all be settled this summer. And some team, maybe the Canucks, could end up paying Bure $8 million US next year. Which is why none of us should feel too sorry for him if he goes. Only sorry we won't see him play as often.
There will be many factors involved in the final decision by the team. They will include how insistent Bure is on leaving and how reluctant owner John McCaw, who is acutely aware of Bure's enormous drawing power and charisma, is to part with him.
Interestingly, Bure's future could turn on the opinion of his centreman, Mark Messier.
As we know, Messier has enormous clout not only with Keenan but with McCaw too. I don't believe any major hockey decision is made or will be made without at least the veteran star's input, if not blessing.
For now we must take Messier at his word when he says he was not aware of Bure's latest trade demand. But it strikes me as odd - make that unbelievable - that team broadcasters Jim Hughson and Tom Larscheid would know and Messier wouldn't.
Messier continues to talk like he's one of the guys who finds things out just like his teammates: By reading the newspaper and listening to the radio. That's absurd.
Let's face it, McCaw isn't paying Messier $6 million US a year to rack up points. If so, he's being severely ripped off. Messier's value is supposedly contained in his leadership abilities and his knowledge of the workings of a championship team; what one looks like, the sounds that come from the dressing room of a championship-calibre team. The singlemindedness of purpose that is needed to go all the way. The crucial mix.
Messier is not just any ordinary hockey player, even if he's played like one many nights this season. In the past, he's displayed a scent for the makings of a Stanley Cup team. And McCaw hopes Messier still has a nose for what it takes.
If the Canucks stand to lose a player of Bure's status, Messier's viewpoint will surely be sought. And should be.
But in the end, if Bure wants to dance with someone else next year, I say let him.
And it's the last time I'll say it. Promise.
Wednesday, April 1st, 1998
Bure silent on next year's plans
Russian Rocket's non-denials indicate he will press for a trade away from Vancouver.
Elliott Pap - - Vancouver Sun
By the strength of his non-denials Tuesday, Vancouver Canuck scoring star Pavel Bure left little doubt he wants out of Vancouver and will continue to press for a trade once the season has concluded.
The Russian Rocket, who is enjoying a renaissance year, refused to comment directly on the trade stories but was revealing in what he did say.
Asked if he recently asked head coach Mike Keenan to move him, Bure replied: "I don't have any comments about that."
Asked if the matter would be settled in the summer, he replied: "Yes, but right now we have to play hockey and we have to do the best we can and concentrate on the games."
Asked if he understood that people would interpret these remarks as confirmation of the trade stories, he replied: "I understand that but, as I said, I have no comment on the business portion of hockey and I'll talk to you guys after the season. My goal is to concentrate on hockey because we only have eight games to go."
Keenan reiterated Tuesday that Bure's trade request was "all new to me" and then chastised reporters for pursuing the story, although he did smile and admit that Bure was keeping the team in the headlines.
"I don't understand why you guys keep pressing him," said Keenan, whose sagging Canucks face the Edmonton Oilers tonight at GM Place. "What difference does it make at this point? If he decides at the end of the year he's going to make some decisions, or wants to make a decision, whether it's him or anybody else, the off-season is when you do the business part of contracts.
"I can't answer for any player, whether he's happy or unhappy, or likes or dislikes any situation. He hasn't asked us to trade him at this point. Anything to deal with a player's contract, his personal life or his health, if he wishes to talk to the media about it, that's his privilege. But we're not going to discuss it with the media."
Keenan said he didn't feel this latest distraction would harm the team's preparation for tonight's game against the Oilers. A Vancouver loss would leave the Canucks one defeat from mathematical elimination, or two if Phoenix also loses.
"The players are used to it, it's ongoing and it seems to happen all the time, so it's something I don't give a second thought and I don't think the players do either," Keenan said.
Canuck forward Scott Walker, a teammate of Bure's for three seasons, concurred with the head coach and admitted players have become virtually immune to these situations.
"I think Pavel is one of the best players in the league and I would love him to stay," Walker said. "Hopefully he wants to but whether he does or he doesn't, it's totally up to him. He is his own man and he has to make his own decisions.
"The thing is nowadays you can't get upset with the business of hockey. Trevor Linden was traded and you can't get upset with management for trading him, so you can't get upset for a guy wanting to be traded ..."
Bure turned 27 on Tuesday. He needs just five goals to hit the 50-mark for the third time in his career.
- Canuck defenceman Mattias Ohlund, who suffered a concussion last Thursday, is riding the bike again but doesn't know when he will be allowed to exercise more vigorously or return to the ice. Ohlund has been invited to play for his native Sweden in the world championships in Switzerland next month.
"I'm not thinking about the world championships right now, I just want to get back on the ice," Ohlund said. "But I wouldn't mind going if I'm feeling well."
Keenan thinks Ohlund would benefit from additional competition this season and will encourage him to accept the invitation if he has sufficiently recovered.
April 1998
Signature Sidekick
Friend and teammate Gino Odjick enforces pain on opponents, rules on autograph seekers
Theo Chen - Collectibles issue #84
Pavel Bure and Gino Odjick have little in common besides being teammates with the Vancouver Canucks. Bure hails from Moscow while Odjick is a full-blooded Algonquin Indian from someplace called Maniwaki, Quebec. On the ice, Bure is a goal-scoring machine who earned the nickname "Russian Rocket" with his power, skill and lightning speed. Odjick is Vancouver's perennial leader in penalty minutes, which tells you his role is basically "team goon", or to be politically correct, "tough guy".Off the ice, Bure and Odjick are buddies. It's probably not a coincidence that both players list Los Angeles and New York as their favorite NHL cities to visit. Imagine Gino and Pavel cruising along Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, or checking out the ice rink at Manhattan's Rockefeller Center. While we don't know if they've visited either place, we do know that they went on stage together at a 1995 Bryan Adams concert to sing, "Cuts Like a Knife." Maybe one dared the other to do it, and they both jumped on stage.
As far as their autographs, there's no need to ask whose you'd rather have. But you ought to know that it sometimes helps to stay on Gino's good side if you want Pavel's autograph. Bure is one of the better signers among NHL superstars, but like many high profile athletes, he prefers not signing for the same person twice in the same day. Unlike other superstars, Bure doesn't personally try to keep tabs on who he's signed for - it's tough to recall faces when you're looking down on cards, pictures and pucks - but relies on his friend Gino.
After practice, Gino and Pavel generally leave together. Sometimes Pavel literally won't sign for someone unless Gino gives the OK. Surrounded by a crowd of autograph seekers, you usually can see Odjick pointing at people telling Bure, "Yes ... no ... yes ... yes ... no ..."
While this scene may seem somewhat silly or even comical to a novice collector, the bottom line is that Bure has developed a system that is fair. While it's not foolproof, it's probably better than anything anyone else has come up with. Not only that, but just the fact that Bure has a system at all shows that he seems to care about fans more than your average superstar.
As a matter of fact, future Hall of Famer Mark Messier, who joined Bure and Odjick in Vancouver this season, is widely considered by autograph hounds to be the toughest NHL star signature. Messier politely declined to sign for me one-on-one in December at the team hotel, and from what I hear, he's made refusing people autograph requests a consistent habit which is unfortunate for those who simply want one Messier signature to add to their collection.
Isn't it ironic that on the same team, you have one elite player who asks a teammate to help him ensure a fair autograph policy, and another elite player who some seekers suspect would not sign at gunpoint.
I suppose if you were really bent on getting two Bure autographs at the same event, someone could sacrifice themselves and distract Odjick by asking for his autograph while he's supposed to be doing his job for Bure. Or you could try to fool Gino with a quick change of your clothes or hairstyle after getting Bure once.
Before you decide to go for it, let me you give you 371 reasons why you shouldn't. That's how many minutes Odjick spent in the penalty box last season. Do you really want to make this man mad?
I think not.
