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Bure knocked down, not out

CORAL SPRINGS -- About 30 hearts -- all of them belonging to Florida Panthers players, coaches and management -- nearly stopped at about 12:10 p.m. Wednesday.

Chris Wells unwittingly violated coach Terry Murray's don't-hit-Pavel edict, knocking Pavel Bure off his feet with a head-on hit during a power-play drill at Incredible Ice.

"That was a great hit," Murray laughed moments later. He was laughing only because Bure immediately picked himself up and skated to the bench, the right knee he had surgically repaired six months to the day still intact.

Wells was replacing the injured Viktor Kozlov on the power-play unit and trying to cut behind Bure as he stickhandled across the blue line.

Instead, as Wells put it, "I zigged, he zagged, and we ran into each other." Wells is 6-feet-6, 223 pounds; Bure is 5-10, 189.

Bure declined to discuss the incident -- possibly for fear he would say something about Wells he might later regret. "He's a teammate," he said by way of explanation.

Although Murray didn't say it, don't be surprised if the coach was happy to see Bure take a hard hit, his first of training camp.

"It was a head-on collision," captain Scott Mellanby said. "I'd be more worried if somebody slid under him; sometimes somebody loses an edge (of his skate) and catches the legs, and that can be dangerous for anybody.

"But every time he gets touched, you're going to be worried."

Wells, whose relative lack of coordination and hockey sense might have made him the player most likely to commit such a faux pas, took complete responsibility for the collision.

"It happens -- I just didn't want it to be me," he said.

"I was really worried. He got up and seemed to be OK, but I was definitely worried. But he didn't seem to take it too bad."

Murray said the hit was another indicator Bure will be close to top form when the Panthers open the season against Washington on Saturday night.

"He's ready to go," Murray said. "He worked hard (Tuesday) and today, getting involved in heavy traffic with the puck. Those things are going to happen, and it looked like he handled it real well."

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Bure battered by teammate but is OK

The Panthers know Pavel Bure will take some brutal hits this season from opponents who want to test his surgically repaired knee. However, Florida never imagined that the superstar would be endangered by one of his own teammates. That's what happened Wednesday at practice when Bure is creamed by Chris Wells in the open ice. Fortunately for the Panthers, especially Wells, Bure survives the hit intact

CORAL SPRINGS -- You know that optimistic buzz that overtakes the Panthers whenever Pavel Bure skates?
   Well, it came to a teeth-rattling halt Wednesday morning when the superstar was flattened during practice by teammate -- and believe it or not -- linemate Chris Wells.
   The accidental collision, Bure's first since having his right knee rebuilt six months ago for the second time, was so powerful and loud that Bure's helmet and visor popped off and bounced next to him for about five seconds.
   In an instant, Wells' career -- probably headed for Siberia until Bure got up unhurt -- flashed before his eyes.
   "I skated by the bench and said to the trainers, 'Start packing his bags,'" left wing Ray Whitney joked.
   In the same instant, the Panthers' future -- Bure's health -- flashed before the panicked eyes of the entire franchise.
   The thunderous check -- easily the biggest Wells has made as a Panther and the hardest Bure has taken as a Panther -- silenced the practice facility. Conversations were stopped, practice came to a hushed standstill and all eyes were on the dazed $58-million man sitting on his rear end.
   After a few choice words, Bure got up, wiped the shaved ice off his uniform and skated to the bench.
   "Everybody was kind of watching closely, very quiet. I think we were all afraid to say anything," coach Terry Murray said. "As soon as a few cuss words came out of Pavel's mouth, you knew it was time to move on to the next group.
   "The hit was square, not from the side. There was no contact with the knee. He wasn't blindsided. It was a head-on hit and that's going to happen. Pavel looked like he handled it very well."
   The hit occurred when the 6-foot-6 Wells, who's not known for his offense, was playing on the No. 1 power-play unit because Viktor Kozlov's injured wrist precluded him from puck-handling. Wells and Bure, skating full speed at the blue line, did not see each other coming and then . . . boom!
   "It was a dumb play on my part," said a pale-faced Wells. "I kind of zigged and he zagged and we ran into each other. It was my fault. I was definitely worried, but luckily his knee is OK. He was probably a little winded because I know I was. All you say is, 'I'm sorry.' "
   Bure, who had his knee iced after practice, did not want to talk about the hit and did not seem happy with Wells, saying, "There's nothing good I have to say about it. It was a teammate." Bure said his knee was not hurt on the play.
   Murray joked that, "it was a great hit. Wellsie must have been listening to us talking in the coaches' office," because the hit was the type the Panthers are looking for from Wells.
   Murray said that if somebody hits the Panthers' star player like that again in practice, "I'm going to be sending Peter (Worrell) after the guy," Murray joked.
   Maybe proof that Bure is getting more comfortable in his recovery from surgery is that he is taking more chances and skating through heavy traffic more often.
   Assistant General Manager Chuck Fletcher said the hit might be a blessing because it was the first one Bure has taken and it could give Bure confidence that he can bounce back from them. It is hard to imagine Bure getting hit harder in an actual game.
   "I didn't necessarily want to be the one to hit him first, though," Wells said.
   And as General Manager Bryan Murray pointed out half-jokingly, Wednesday was exactly six months after Bure's surgery, the prescribed time the doctor permitted Bure to get into game condition.
   "I'm sure it wasn't comfortable for Pavel or Chris at the time," Bryan Murray said. "But there are going to be hits. We're not worried about Pavel getting hit head-on. It's how you get hit. Is it with a knee versus a body? Some defenseman, I'm sure at some point, in the year will give him a big crash. It's just a matter of not having a hit that causes a major injury."

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... but luckily for Chris Wells, Pavel Bure seems to be OK after huge hit in practice

Everybody on the Panthers knew Pavel Bure's reconstructed right knee would be tested by a booming hit sooner or later. But nobody expected it to be in practice . . . from center Chris Wells . . . while Bure was on Wells' line.

You could hear a franchise gulp in the four-second silence before Bure arose from his full-body collision with Wells on Wednesday at the Coral Springs practice rink. But after Bure rose and skated through the rest of practice seemingly without lasting effect, humor came on in relief.

``I turned and told the trainers on the bench, `I think you better pack his [Wells] bag,' '' left wing Ray Whitney said.

Asked if Bure would be hit that hard again in practice, coach Terry Murray said, ``I hope not. If he does, I'll have to send Peter [Worrell] after the guy.''

``It was a dumb play on my part,'' Wells said sheepishly. ``I kind of zigged and he zagged.

`` . . . I was really worried. He was probably a little winded. I was winded. Luckily for me, he didn't seem to be hurt too badly.''

Wednesday was Bure's medical clearance date, the six-month mark from March's anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Though Bure had ice on his knee when he came back from off-ice conditioning, he said it was fine as he left the rink. He refused further comment on the incident, saying he had nothing good to say about it and that Wells was a teammate.

``If it would've been a leg drag, that would've been bad, but head-on collisions are going to happen,'' Panthers general manager Bryan Murray said. ``I don't think anybody's worried about Pavel getting hit. It's how you get hit, like if it was a knee as opposed to a body.''

The Crash of Sept. 29 came on a power-play drill. Wells, a fourth-liner, was substituting on Bure's line for Viktor Kozlov, who was resting a jammed right wrist.

Wells had interrupted one of Bure's zone entries earlier when he kicked the puck off Bure's stick and back out of the zone while skating next to him. But that was nothing compared to the moment Wells made The Russian Rocket look more like Sputnik.

Bure darted past one penalty killer, stickhandled over the blue line and made a hard left. Wells was moving left to right, trying to stay onside, then get into position.

Bure stiffened and sailed backward. His helmet popped off like a champagne cork. The thick clash from two sets of pads colliding was the last sound in Coral Springs' Incredible Ice building for several seconds. Bure wore the dazed look of a Sonny Liston victim.

``Everyone was kind of watching closely, really quiet, not saying anything,'' Terry Murray said. ``I think they were afraid to say anything.''

Murray said Bure's on-ice reaction was ``a couple of curse words. Then, on to the next group.''

Scott Mellanby was playing left wing with Wells and Bure. With Worrell out for about five weeks with a knee injury, Mellanby might wind up playing the part of Bure protector. But he joked he was in no shape to jump Wells after the series of drills.

``I was too tired,'' Mellanby said. ``Down and back, down and back. That's why they collided. We were all trying to be in the middle of the ice.

``I would've been more worried if someone had slid across and took his feet out.''

Funny thing is, the Panthers want to see Wells play with more contact and competitiveness.

``That was a great hit,'' Terry Murray laughed. ``I don't know if Wellsy has been listening to us talking in our coaches' offices, or what.''

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Panthers a new club with Bure

September 30, 1999. TSN

Winston Churchill once called Russia "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."

That statement aptly describes most of Russia's imports to the National Hockey League -- maddeningly talented players who fail to show up on a nightly basis. But there is no riddle to Pavel Bure. He skates fast and scores goals. The mystery is whether "The Russian Rocket" can fit in with the stolid Florida Panthers.

After holding out, Bure was traded to Florida by the Vancouver Canucks last January. He immediately raised the excitement level on and off the ice in South Florida. Jerseys with his number and other Panthers' merchandise sold out while media coverage of the team's home games increased.

In his first game with Florida, Bure scored on a pair of breakaways and sparked the Panthers to a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders.

"When you trade a guy like Eddie Jovanovski, one of our big-time defensemen, and you get a Pavel back, your chances of winning are a lot better when he's in the lineup," Florida left wing Bill Lindsay said.

Bure continued to produce, totaling 13 goals -- including a pair of hat tricks -- in only 11 games. He injured his right ACL on February 5 and aggravated it on March against Colorado. Two days later, he underwent his second major surgery in four years, taking the Panthers' playoff hopes with him.

"Obviously, he's our key guy. It really hurt us last year when he went down," right wing Scott Mellanby said. "We had a lot of other injuries as well. Every team in the league needs their best player in there. Hopefully, he can have a healthy season."

While Bure has worked hard to be ready for the 1999-2000 season, completing several hours of training six days a week since June, the Panthers have been careful with their superstar, keeping him out of exhibition games while he skates with the team.

"I feel pretty confident," Bure said. "I wish I had more confidence for my knee because it will take some time. The way I was playing at training camp and in scrimmages, it was great. I'm having fun. I think that's the most important thing -- you have to go out there and have fun."

Bure has equal lists of scoring feats and injuries. He won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1992. Over the next two seasons, he became only the eighth player in NHL history to score 60 goals twice.

Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy are the only players to score more goals in their first three seasons than Bure, who was sixth-fastest to reach 100 goals.

But Bure has been as brittle as he has been brilliant. His iffy right knee suffered its first tear in November 1995 and a whiplash injury during the 1996-97 season limited Bure to 23 goals in 63 games. However, he rebounded the following season and played all 82 games, scoring 51 goals.

"Having gone through the whole rehab process before helps," said Bure, who also has raised eyebrows for his penchant for hobnobbing with Russian organized crime figures and supermodels. "The only way to do it is on the ice, one step at a time. It can't happen overnight. I'm going to have to be in a game situation, going full speed with someone alongside pushing me to build up trust in the knee again. I know the organization and my teammates believe in me. I just have to believe in myself.

"The first time was very difficult because I couldn't do what I was supposed to do and wanted to do. I really got down on myself because I didn't know what to expect. But now I do, and hopefully that will make it easier this time. I know I just have to be patient, work hard and not get frustrated."

For all the publicity and excitement Bure brought, it seemed his teammates were the last to come down with "Russian Rocket" fever. The Panthers were 7-7-5 with Bure in the lineup and 8-11-7 after he was injured. Even in a weak Southeast Division, that was enough to keep Florida out of the playoffs.

Mellanby recognized that all too often, Bure reduced his teammates to spectators.

"Pavel Bure can't score all the goals, you can't just have two or three guys be the leaders," the Panthers captain said. "Everyone's got to be a leader. And we're such a young team that I've talked to some of the younger guys about it. Don't be shy to step forward and be a leader."

Center Rob Niedermayer continued to underachieve with 51 points last season and again will be counted on for more. Coach Terry Murray also hopes Bure's presence will provide more room on the ice for players like Viktor Kozlov and Radek Dvorak.

"It should give us better balance in our scoring on our second and even our third line," Murray said. "Pavel Bure's going to attract the checking line, the best defensemen, and it's gonna open up some ice for the other people on the team. We need that. Our goal production last year was pretty low as compared to the rest of the league. If we can get it back up to better numbers with our second and third line, I think that's going to make us have a pretty good season this year."

If Murray can get Bure and his knee off the launching pad and get his firepower to mesh with the rest of the team, these Panthers will bear little resemblance to the defensive-minded team that played for the Stanley Cup only four years ago.

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Bure electrifies Panthers

-- Winston Churchill once called Russia "a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma."

That statement aptly describes most of Russia's imports to the National Hockey League -- maddeningly talented players who fail to show up on a nightly basis. But there is no riddle to Pavel Bure. He skates fast and scores goals. The mystery is whether "The Russian Rocket" can fit in with the stolid Florida Panthers.

After holding out, Bure was traded to Florida by the Vancouver Canucks last January. He immediately raised the excitement level on and off the ice in South Florida. Jerseys with his number and other Panthers' merchandise sold out while media coverage of the team's home games increased.

In his first game with Florida, Bure scored on a pair of breakaways and sparked the Panthers to a 5-2 victory over the New York Islanders.

"When you trade a guy like Eddie Jovanovski, one of our big-time defensemen, and you get a Pavel back, your chances of winning are a lot better when he's in the lineup," Florida left wing Bill Lindsay said.

Bure continued to produce, totaling 13 goals -- including a pair of hat tricks -- in only 11 games. He injured his right ACL on February 5 and aggravated it on March against Colorado. Two days later, he underwent his second major surgery in four years, taking the Panthers' playoff hopes with him.

"Obviously, he's our key guy. It really hurt us last year when he went down," right wing Scott Mellanby said. "We had a lot of other injuries as well. Every team in the league needs their best player in there. Hopefully, he can have a healthy season."

While Bure has worked hard to be ready for the 1999-2000 season, completing several hours of training six days a week since June, the Panthers have been careful with their superstar, keeping him out of exhibition games while he skates with the team.

"I feel pretty confident," Bure said. "I wish I had more confidence for my knee because it will take some time. The way I was playing at training camp and in scrimmages, it was great. I'm having fun. I think that's the most important thing -- you have to go out there and have fun."

Bure has equal lists of scoring feats and injuries. He won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year in 1992. Over the next two seasons, he became only the eighth player in NHL history to score 60 goals twice.

Wayne Gretzky and Mike Bossy are the only players to score more goals in their first three seasons than Bure, who was sixth-fastest to reach 100 goals.

But Bure has been as brittle as he has been brilliant. His iffy right knee suffered its first tear in November 1995 and a whiplash injury during the 1996-97 season limited Bure to 23 goals in 63 games. However, he rebounded the following season and played all 82 games, scoring 51 goals.

"Having gone through the whole rehab process before helps," said Bure, who also has raised eyebrows for his penchant for hobnobbing with Russian organized crime figures and supermodels. "The only way to do it is on the ice, one step at a time. It can't happen overnight. I'm going to have to be in a game situation, going full speed with someone alongside pushing me to build up trust in the knee again. I know the organization and my teammates believe in me. I just have to believe in myself.

"The first time was very difficult because I couldn't do what I was supposed to do and wanted to do. I really got down on myself because I didn't know what to expect. But now I do, and hopefully that will make it easier this time. I know I just have to be patient, work hard and not get frustrated."

For all the publicity and excitement Bure brought, it seemed his teammates were the last to come down with "Russian Rocket" fever. The Panthers were 7-7-5 with Bure in the lineup and 8-11-7 after he was injured. Even in a weak Southeast Division, that was enough to keep Florida out of the playoffs.

Mellanby recognized that all too often, Bure reduced his teammates to spectators.

"Pavel Bure can't score all the goals, you can't just have two or three guys be the leaders," the Panthers captain said. "Everyone's got to be a leader. And we're such a young team that I've talked to some of the younger guys about it. Don't be shy to step forward and be a leader."

Center Rob Niedermayer continued to underachieve with 51 points last season and again will be counted on for more. Coach Terry Murray also hopes Bure's presence will provide more room on the ice for players like Viktor Kozlov and Radek Dvorak.

"It should give us better balance in our scoring on our second and even our third line," Murray said. "Pavel Bure's going to attract the checking line, the best defensemen, and it's gonna open up some ice for the other people on the team. We need that. Our goal production last year was pretty low as compared to the rest of the league. If we can get it back up to better numbers with our second and third line, I think that's going to make us have a pretty good season this year."

If Murray can get Bure and his knee off the launching pad and get his firepower to mesh with the rest of the team, these Panthers will bear little resemblance to the defensive-minded team that played for the Stanley Cup only four years ago.

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PERFECT FIT

Pavel Bure has the skills to thrill Panthers fans, and the flash and cash to make South Florida his personal playground.

Pavel Bure arrived in South Florida in January. In 11 games with the Panthers, he scored 13 goals, three on breakaways and one on a penalty shot

South Florida is an event town, a place of splash, dash and cash. The cash is in wads, the dash is by fast car, and the splash is from international celebrities. Transplants predominate. Some have friends you might expect on America's Most Wanted.

Right wing Pavel Bure, the ``Russian Rocket,'' is the first Panther who fits South Florida like an old pair of Bauer hockey gloves.

He is 28 years old and keeps homes in Moscow, Vancouver and, now, Fort Lauderdale. This season he starts on a five-year, $47.5 million deal that allows him to replace his silver Ferrari and his black Mercedes out of pocket change.

In an ostentatious locale where a Great Hockey Unwashed still resides, no other player so perfectly reduces the game to its simplest form: a fast guy scoring goals with spectacular dexterity that's rarely subtle.

He arrived here in January, the ultimate transplant. And in 11 games, he scored 13 goals, three on breakaways. Another on a penalty shot.

Here is the superstar by whom the Panthers can be identified, locally and internationally.

But Bure also brings, some say, more superstar baggage than the Concorde leaving Paris. His mercurialness on the ice also extends off it. Rumor and innuendo abound, from his alleged Russian Mafia connections to his popularity in Vancouver's gay community.

He talks about both. Anzor Kikalischvili, allegedly a Russian mob figure, is his friend. ``He doesn't do anything wrong in his life,'' Bure said. ``He does only good things for people. And people just say a lot of bull---- about him.''

The adoration by the gay community in Vancouver could be duplicated in South Beach, where the gay community drives the economy and a superhip scene that draws celebrities from around the world.

``What do you want me to do?'' said Bure, with an embarrassed laugh. ``I can tell you that I'm not gay, that I can tell you.''

He has made it to South Beach, where he is not yet recognized instantly, often enough to offer an opinion: ``The Forge is great. The Living Room is brutal.''

With his dramatic facial features -- alabaster skin, blue eyes, lush lips -- and raw athletic talent, Bure (pronounced bur-AY) obviously didn't get shortchanged biologically.

Pavel Bure has made it to South Beach, where he is not yet recognized instantly, often enough to offer an opinion: 'The Forge is great. The Living Room is brutal.'

Vladimir and Tanya Bure's oldest son was born on March 31, 1971 in Moscow. Pavel's brother, Valeri, now Calgary's right wing, was born June 13, 1974.

Pavel's earliest encounter with sports came with water, both solid and liquid. He almost followed his father into the pool. Vladimir won four swimming medals -- one silver and three bronze during the 1968 and 1972 Olympics.

Vladimir wasn't exactly patient with Pavel's efforts on the ice. The kid was a weak skater -- at age six.

``My father told me, `OK, in three or four months, you've got to be one of the best on the team. Otherwise, you're not going to play hockey,' '' Pavel remembered.

By age 10, he sometimes played hooky from school to play hockey in front of his home on Kronstodsky Boulevard. His idol: Soviet National team left wing Valery Kharlamov, revered in Canada today almost as much as in Russia -- 25 years after his prime.

Kharlamov and Bure have similar characteristics: small (5-9), powerful legs, tremendous acceleration and breathtaking stickhandling ability that made them electrifying one-on-one players.

``I don't remember how he played because I was so young,'' Bure said. ``I heard stories, and I had seen him a couple of times [on tape]. He could beat the whole team by himself and score a goal.''

Kharlamov died in an auto accident in 1981, a time of uncertainity for Pavel. Between school and practice, he was spending more time with swimmers than hockey players. He figured he would stay with swimming.

``I was a pretty good swimmer, but my family, not forced, but gave me strong advice that I better go toward hockey,'' Bure said. ``I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.''

Hockey won out. Fewer practices, more games.

Like most great players, Bure works hard in practice. But even today, when school's out, so is he. He's often the first off the ice and first into in his Mercedes. Sometimes defenseman Robert Svehla, the next quickest departer on the Panthers, is just finishing his shower.

As a teenager in the early and mid-1980s, Bure's goal was to make the fabled Central Red Army team. He made the junior team by age 15. And just before he turned 17, in early 1988, Red Army gave him a shot.

``First of all, they didn't want to bring me up [from junior],'' Bure said. ``They said, `We'll wait another year because he's too small. He's going to get killed. He's only 16 years old. He's too small, too skinny.'

``I started to just hit everybody, all those older players. I was hitting them, slashing them, crosschecking them, because they said, `You can play, but you're too small.' I had to prove I could survive.

``After I started to score goals, they said, `OK, OK, you've proven you can play tough, but, now, please score some goals. That's why we got you here, not just to run around.' ''

Bure scored the first time he touched the puck with the big team, a two-on-one goal against Dynamo Riga (Latvia).

``I got a pass with an empty net,'' Bure said.

``He was kind of a flashy guy, skating well and handling the puck so well,'' said Detroit's Igor Larionov, Bure's mentor and the center of Red Army's great KLM Line. ``He was kind of immature, but, all the same, he was making those big plays at 16 around the big guys.''

In his first full season in the Soviet Elite League, 1988-89, Bure was rookie of the year.

When the puck is in the defensive zone, Bure, hangs out between the top of the circle and the blue line. Any defensive involvement is done quickly, as if he wants to lose as little takeoff time as possible.

During the 1989 world junior championships, a line of future first and second-team NHL All-Stars -- Alexander Mogilny, Sergei Fedorov and Bure -- made a mockery of the tournament. The Soviets won the gold, and Bure was named Top Forward with eight goals and six assists in seven games.

In the 1989 NFL draft, Vancouver took Bure in the sixth round, and appropriately enough, that's when the first Bure controversy unfolded. He lasted until the sixth round because several NHL general managers figured he hadn't played the requisite number of games to be eligible as a European 18-year-old. They formally challenged his draft eligibility.

In May, 1990 the NHL ruled Vancouver's pick was invalid. But Vancouver conveniently discovered scoresheets that showed Bure had played enough games, and the NHL reversed its decision. The Canucks had Bure's rights.

When Bure came to the U.S. in 1991, he stayed briefly at agent Ron Salcer's Los Angeles home. That's when he went to Las Vegas to get married, according to Brian Burke, then Vancouver's assistant GM. No one says much about it.

The consensus assumption is that Bure, worried that Vancouver might not win his release from his Red Army contract, wanted a marital link so he wouldn't get yanked back to Russia. Bure won't discuss his marriage, which apparently lasted three weeks, and no one ever identified the woman publicly.

Bure's arrival in the Vancouver Canucks locker room in November 1991 created as much curiosity as excitement. He quickly began to pal around with fellow forward Gino Odjick, a single 21-year-old. There weren't too many young, unmarried players among the mature Canucks.

Odjick was a 6-3, 210-pound native of the Quebec's Maniwaki Indian Reserve who spoke English, French, Algonquin, but no Russian. Bure was a small Russian who didn't speak much English.

``I think he knew three words -- `I love you,' `I need you,' `I want you,' like that Elvis song,'' laughed Odjick. ``We never had a problem communicating, through sign language or whatever.''

Demonstrating their primitive communication, Odjick mimed tipping a cup into his mouth: ``You want something to drink.'' He flapped his elbows out from his sides: ``You want some chicken?''

The two are still close. Odjick named his son after Bure. ``It was my girlfriend's decision, too,'' Odjick said. ``He had his name before he was born.''

Last month, the Odjick family showed up to watch Bure in Hull, Quebec in a Panthers training camp intrasquad game. Along came Bure Odjick, age 22 months.

Odjick was one of Bure's few pogo sticks over the language barrier. The only Canucks player Bure had known previously was Larionov, whom Bure revered. They were Central Red Army teammates in 1988.

Said Geoff Courtnall, a Vancouver left wing at the time, ``Pavel was trying to learn English, trying to understand and play at the same time. That first year, he was really tired, too. He was playing at another level and we play so many games [twice as many as the Soviet League], that he was just beat. So he would just go home and sleep. He didn't have a lot of time to study the language.''

He did what many Europeans do -- he watched television. One of the shows he watched was Full House, which starred Candace Cameron. Today, Bure sees Cameron as family. She married his brother.

Eventually, Bure's sense of humor, an entity reserved for friends, emerged. His wit ranges from sharp to smart aleck. It's the practical joke at which he's supposedly more adept.

One April Fool's Day, just after his father had come over from Russia, Pavel sent him to a Shell station with several coupons. Pavel told his father, whose English was limited, that the coupons would allow him to fill his tank for free.

Not surprisingly, Vladimir soon found himself arguing with the gas-station attendant. ``Free gas! Free gas!'' he pleaded. About 20 minutes later, Pavel showed up and settled everything after telling his father, ``April Fool.''

***

In his first season at Vancouver, Bure scored 34 goals and was named Rookie of the Year. And although he got 60 goals in each of the next two regular seasons, he went into the 1994 playoffs dealing with a common prejudice: Europeans, who grow up playing a less physical style on a 15-foot wider international rink, are unfit for playoff pressure.

No other playoff grind in sports is as long as the two-month run to the Stanley Cup Final. Even blowouts are hard, pounding affairs. Will, more than skill, is often the pivotal factor. By the end, fatigue cloaks bodies barely holding themselves together.

The popular view was that Europeans lacked the desire for a Stanley Cup that inspires men to play even with broken bones. A little contact and they'd check out the airline schedule for the next flight home.

No Russian had ever had his name on the Stanley Cup. Montreal won the 1993 Stanley Cup without any Europeans. Even though Bure scored five goals in 12 playoff games that year, Los Angeles knocked off Vancouver.

``Everybody said he just played on the outside and he wouldn't get involved,'' Courtnall said.

In the 1994 playoffs, Vancouver fell behind Calgary, 3-1, in the first round. The Canadian media, sensitive to the increasing NHL presence of Europeans and Americans, savaged Bure.

Repeated spontaneous combustion ensued.

The first explosion came in double overtime of Game 7 against Calgary. A Jeff Brown pass zipped blueline-to-blueline onto Bure's stick. Calgary's Zarley Zalapski hooked frantically at Bure's waist as Bure rocketed away.

The NHL's top goal-scorer was flying on a breakaway with a playoff series on his stick. The jolt of anticipation in the three seconds Bure had the puck -- and the slip around Calgary goalie Mike Vernon -- gave the goal its place in NHL history.

``You don't really think when you've got breakaways,'' Bure said. ``You just concentrate on where's the puck and what the goalie does. After I scored the goal, I thought, `OK, it's a great goal. I think we just won in overtime of Game 7. This is it!'

``Those kind of feelings you can't really explain. You have to play the game yourself.''

Again and again, sports highlight shows replayed that goal as Bure and Vancouver blazed to the Final past Dallas and Toronto in five games each. Bure would lead all NHL playoff goal scorers with 16.

``He really showed what he was made of in that series and that playoff run,'' Courtnall said. ``Teams were trying to intimidate him and they couldn't. A prime example was Dallas.''

Ah, yes. The Churla Incident, May 6, 1994. Shane Churla's job with Dallas was simple -- inject fear into opposing stars by inflicting pain.

``Churla went down the ice and crosschecked him to the back of the head,'' Courtnall recalled. ``And Pavel came all the way back down to our zone and knocked him out cold with one of the hardest hits of the whole playoff series.''

It was also one of the most blatantly illegal, a flying elbow. In obvious recognition of Bure's superstar status and the victim-avenge-thyself tradition of the playoffs, the NHL merely fined him $500. The usual punishment would have been a multi-game suspension.

``If I want to play tough, I can do it,'' said Bure, who carries 189 pounds on his 5-9 frame. ``It's not my style, but I've proven over the years that I can take some and can give some as well.''

Nonetheless, the Canucks lost a seven-game Final to the Rangers. And as good as Bure was throughout the playoffs, two episodes cost his team dearly, possibly the series.

In Game 3 with a 1-1 tie in the first period, Bure received a high-sticking major and game misconduct. The Rangers scored on the power play and went on to a 5-1 victory.

In Game 4, the Canucks were up, 2-1, when Bure used the same move on a penalty shot that he used on the breakaway goal against Calgary a month earlier. Rangers goalie Mike Richter stoned him. The roused Rangers rode the momentum to a 4-2 victory.

But those pivotal moments weren't exactly in Bure's head as he sat atop the Madison Square Garden boards with teammates, watching the Rangers celebrate the end of a 54-year Cup curse.

``I'm always trying to think positive, so I was like, `OK, we tried our best, we lost, it's really sad . . . but life goes on.' If you lost, you lost. So, get ready for the next game.''

***

Those playoffs, particularly the conference final against Toronto and the Stanley Cup Final, forced Bure to face a large media assemblage every day. He seemed to regard it as The Blob -- large and forboding, and a required chore to be done as quickly as possible. It isn't much different today.

During his first press conference as a Panther, someone asked if he liked dealing with the media horde.

``Do I have a choice?'' he smiled wearily.

Weeks later, he said, ``You don't really have a choice. I understand people are interested. So, for me, it's no problem.''

Said Courtnall: ``He's a pretty quiet guy. It takes a while for him to loosen up.''

Bure disagrees with the media image of him as a private man.

``If I were private,'' he said as he plopped his feet up in the Panthers' family lounge on a Sunday afternoon, ``I wouldn't be here talking to you for a half an hour [actually 45 minutes], right? I have to do interviews every day, have to go in front of cameras and all. If I were shy, I wouldn't do that. I would say, `I'll only do it once a month.' ''

The biggest flap about media access occurred in Vancouver in 1994. The Canucks' media relations department denied a one-on-one request from Vancouver's gay newspaper, and the newspaper claimed discrimination.

The newspaper's editor unsuccessfully argued that his readers were Canucks fans, too. Just like everybody else in Vancouver.

It may be unfair to label Canuck fans ``psychotic.'' Perhaps ``obsession'' is a more appropriate term for the way Canadian cities follow their NHL teams. Dolphin fanatics in South Florida aren't in the same league, figuratively as well as literally.

Bure's only competition as a local celebrity in Vancouver was the cast of The X-Files, which was filmed there from 1993 to '98. He became a prisoner of love, Vancouver's love. There wasn't anywhere he could go unnoticed.

Vancouver's run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final in 1994 proved to be the peak of Bure's time there. Even as he signed a new five-year contract during the Final, tensions flared between Bure and the Canucks organization. When rumors surfaced that he had threatened to sit out the the Final unless he received a new contract, the team didn't do enough to dispel them, Bure felt.

Things got worse during the NHL lockout in the fall of 1994. Bure and agent Ron Salcer claimed a unique clause in the new contract: He would get paid anyway, lockout or no lockout. The Canucks disagreed. Bure sued for $1.7 million. Eventually, he settled for $1 million.

Bure's 1995-96 season ended abruptly on Nov. 9 in Chicago when he tore up the right anterior cruciate knee ligament. Rehabilitation still left him less than 100 percent for the 1996-97 season. That ended early, too: Bure missed the last 18 games due to whiplash.

Somewhere along the line, Bure asked for a trade from Vancouver. He has given different circumstances and different dates to different people -- before the 1997-98 season; after the 1995 lockout season and the lawsuit; or as far back as 1993, when the Canucks allegedly waffled about a promised renegotiation, then tried to pay him in Canadian dollars rather than American dollars.

Whenever it was, Bure stayed healthy during the entire 1997-98 season while playing under the trade request. Once again he passed the 50-goal mark with 51, but the Canucks missed the playoffs for the second straight year.

***

A year ago, Bure figured it was time to force the Canucks to deal with him. He stayed in Moscow and trained with the Red Army team.

In Moscow, then or whenever, Bure moves with the upper crust in the offseason.

``I know the Prime Minister, I know the president,'' Bure says matter-of-factly. ``Sometimes, they would invite people when there are concerts or something and would invite me to have a small dinner with them.''

Said Detroit's Larionov, Pavel ``had a good time in Moscow, I knew that. But, at the same time, he was working out. He's the kind of player, maybe from the old school. You don't have to whip him on the back during the summer.''

Despite the economic tumult that repels some Russian NHL players, Bure feels at ease in his hometown. His family emigrated to Russia from Germany in the 1800s, and were well-known watchmakers.

In Moscow, he sees his mother. His father, Vladimir, still lives in Vancouver. Pavel won't discuss the marital status of his parents.

His brother, Valeri, rarely makes it back to Russia, usually spending offseasons in Southern California with his actress wife. ``He's my best friend, but we don't spend too much time together,'' Pavel said.

Bure's 1998 holdout enhanced his reputation as a high maintenance superstar. It also forced the trade to the Panthers. To the Panthers' support staff, though, Bure is low maintenance -- not just for a superstar, but as a player.

Late the afternoon of Jan. 17, the trade was made. The Panthers sent defenseman Ed Jovanovski, center Dave Gagner, goalie Kevin Weekes, 1997 first-round pick center Mike Brown and a first-round pick in 1999 or 2000 to Vancouver for Bure, defenseman Bret Hedican, defenseman prospect Brad Ference and a third-round pick in 1999 or 2000.

Panthers general manager Bryan Murray, often cast by fans as a villainous village idiot, had grabbed the kind of superstar a franchise rarely possesses. Any baggage he could handle.

***

Speed thrills. Bure starts with speed, but it's only a start, albeit a fast one. It isn't only for alliteration that he's nicknamed the ``Russian Rocket.''

``His first two or three strides are as good as anybody I've seen in the game,'' Panthers coach Terry Murray said. ``That's where you get those great goals on breakaways that are the difference in the game. Not only does he have great speed, he has the ability to anticipate the play that's going to happen. When you have that combination, there's no one who's going to stop you.''

Bure's style isn't all that different from Wayne Gretzky's when The Great One destroyed the record book for Edmonton in the 1980s. Hockey is a game of transition. Bure is constantly lurking, waiting for the pass or loose puck that propels that transition. Causing the turnover is usually somebody else's job.

When the puck is in the defensive zone, Bure hangs out between the top of the circle and the blue line. Any defensive involvement is done quickly, as if he wants to lose as little takeoff time as possible.

``It looks like he waits, he waits, he waits. And it looks like at times he's on the perimeter,'' said Panther left wing Ray Whitney. ``But if you watch where he scores his goals, they're in the middle of the traffic. He just knows when to get in there.''

``I can't say that I'm so fast, like the fastest skater in the world,'' Bure said. ``There are lots of fast guys. In Russia, player development is totally different. Here, you've got to be big and strong. There, you've got to be fast. I can't say I was even the fastest guy in my age group.''

Officially, the NHL's fastest player is Washington's Peter Bondra, the NHL's leading goal scorer from 1994 to '98. But even Bondra downshifts a tick once the puck is involved. Bure can do everything -- wrist shot, slap shot, shifts, reverses with the puck glued to the stick -- at top speed.

After a nine-month layoff, Bure hit the Panthers scene in warp speed: six goals in three games.

The only thing slow about Bure is the time it takes him to return to the bench at the end of a shift. The desired line shift -- the usual shift -- is 40-50 seconds. The average Bure shift is 50-60 seconds.

It's not uncommon to see his replacement straddling the boards, waiting for Bure to finish one last offensive thrust. Bure's third goal against Philadelphia Jan. 26, a flat-angle sling from the corner off goalie John Vanbiesbrouck's back, came at the end of a 1:22 shift.

The numbers show Bure's impact. When he played for more than half the game in the 10 games after the Jan. 17 trade, the Panthers blew hot, like Dizzy Gillespie's band on ice, averaging 3.5 goals per game.

The NHL's No. 1 offense, Toronto, averaged 3.27 goals per game last season.

In the games Bure missed or played less than half the game, the Panthers just looked dizzy: 2.3 goals per game.

``You get excited when he's in the lineup,'' Whitney said. ``You know if you keep it close or keep it a one-goal game, Pav's going to turn it around for you.''

Bure's season ended prematurely when his ACL ripped again during the 7-5 loss to Colorado on March 1. He's supposed to make it back for the season opener Saturday against Washington.

No matter how long it takes Bure to get back to 100 percent -- a week, a month, two months into the 1999-2000 season -- he's certain to be one of the Panthers' leaders. If he isn't already.

``Pav doesn't have to be a rah-rah guy,'' said Whitney. ``When your best player is working hard, it makes everybody else follow. He works off the ice as hard as anybody. In Hull [at training camp], he was on the bike at night, around 5 p.m., before he would go out for dinner. How can you slack if your best player is working hard?''

For Pavel Bure, work here -- in the Florida sun instead of the Vancouver rain -- is a welcomed change.

``When you wake up at 7 a.m. in the dark and there's rain and snow, you're in a different mood,'' Bure said. ``You don't want to get out of bed. You just stay there.

``It's just nice when you wake up and see the sunshine, the ocean and the beach. There aren't too many places you can do that, especially when you're a professional hockey player. You're in a good mood right away.''

The ultimate transplant has taken root. Now the question is how quickly he can take off for the Panthers.

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Bure on schedule for opener but sprain KOs main bodyguard

Right wing Pavel Bure insisted he will be ready for Saturday's regular-season opener. But one of Bure's main bodyguards, left wing Peter Worrell, will not be ready Saturday -- or for about five weeks.

The right knee injury Worrell suffered last Tuesday against Tampa Bay turned out to be a sprained medial collateral ligament.

Not only had Worrell never suffered a knee injury, but, he joked, ``It's the first any injury I've had, other than hurting my hand or my ego.''

Scott Mellanby, who has been moved to left wing, has been skating with Bure and center Viktor Kozlov. Without Worrell to take the occasional bodyguard shift with Bure, Mellanby might have to assume some of that role.

``We have Paul Laus, [John] Jakopin, [Lance] Pitlick and Mellanby -- there's going to have to be a team toughness attitude about this,'' Panthers coach Terry Murray said. ``It's not going to be one guy with the loaded gun.''

At game speed, Bure's almost as hard to hit as the lottery, but that won't stop a number of opponents from trying to hit the jackpot. Getting players such as Bure out of any lineup is a headache-reducer.

Panthers general manager Bryan Murray said Bure was recovered from his March reconstructive knee surgery enough that the organization would not be holding its breath every time he takes the ice.

``In my opinion, he's now no different than Jaromir Jagr or any star around the league that has a big responsibility in the winning and losing of his team,'' Bryan Murray said. ``Without a doubt, Paul Laus has always been the guy who has had to step up, and he has done that. Peter was nice to have as the other guy coming in and doing that job.''

It was while doing his usual job that Worrell was injured.

``I went to make a hit on [Sergei] Gusev in the second period,'' Worrell said. ``I missed him and fell awkwardly. I guess I tripped over his foot.

``I went home and iced it. When I woke up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, it was hurting badly.''

That was the worst injury suffered in the home loss to Tampa Bay. Kozlov said he jammed his left wrist on a face-off in that game, but he also played in Friday's game at Tampa. He sat out the final two preseason games and skated without handling the puck Tuesday. He said he would be fine for Saturday after another two days without stick-handling.

``It was only bothering me when I was shooting, then it kept getting worst because I kept shooting,'' Kozlov said after insisting about his heavily wrapped left wrist, ``It's nothing; it's nothing.''

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Bure defends pal against mob allegations

Panthers star says friend `doesn't do anything wrong'

Fact? Exaggeration? Bure doesn't seem to care.

Pavel Bure, the finest Russian hockey player in America, identifies his best friend as Anzor Kikalischvili. The FBI identifies Anzor Kikalischvili as a Russian mobster.

This doesn't bother Bure.

Kikalischvili, to be sure, doesn't come over anymore. The U.S. State Department won't let him back in the country -- even though he has never been charged criminally in the United States or Russia.

For a while in 1995, Kikalischvili lived at 20225 NE 34 Court, apt. 1811, North Miami Beach, and FBI agent Anthony G. Cuomo used him as a good excuse for a wiretap. In an affidavit, he said, ``Kikalischvili is a white male born on June 24, 1948 in the former Soviet Union. . . . He is the president and chief executive of a Russian corporation known as Association XXI Century, headquartered in Moscow.

``According to confidential sources, Association XXI Century is know to extort businessmen in Moscow. . . . Kikalischvili described himself as one of the most successful businessmen in Russia.

``During a recorded conversation, Kikalischvili explained that his organization is setting up operations in South Florida with him as the top man, in charge of all criminal enterprises. Kikalischvili told [informant] CS-6 that he already has over 600 people under his control in this area.''

Fact? Exaggeration? Bure doesn't seem to care.

``First of all, he is my best friend,'' Bure said. ``I think what really matters in life is how people have treated you. Even if he was doing something bad, I think he would be my best friend anyway because of what he's like as a person.

``He doesn't do anything wrong in his life,'' Bure said. ``He does only good things for people. And people just say a lot of bull---- about him.

``I had a meeting with the [former] chief of the KGB, the internal minister of security, and he said [Kikalischvili] doesn't do anything illegal. So, I think those people would know.''

Is it possible to conduct large-scale business in modern-day Russia without associating with shady figures? ``You shouldn't ask me,'' Bure replied. ``You should ask companies like Coca-Cola and McDonald's, those kind of companies that have huge businesses in Moscow. Obviously, they're doing well.''

A South Florida connection to the Russian mob surfaced publicly last March when the U.S. Department of Justice put into the federal witness program Ludwig Fainberg, a Hialeah strip club operator nicknamed ``Tarzan.'' This occurred after 11,000 taped conversations. The wildest talk: Transfer of a Cold War-era Russian nuclear attack submarine to Colombian drug lords.

The case is still ongoing.

The Kikalischvili allegations aren't nuclear. According to FBI wiretap reports, hebought out his mom-and-pop partners in a bagel and deli shop in Aventura for $50,000 and threatened to skin them alive if they didn't buy it back for $250,000.

Kikalischvili was never charged in the case.

The Kikalischvili-Bure connection apparently goes back to their childhood. Bure is the great-great-grandson of a famous Moscow watchmaker that once made watches for the Russian czars. The business folded after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. With the help of his pal Kikalischvili, Bure tried recently to get it back in business. Bure said he will concentrate more on trying to get the factories reopened when his career is over and he can devote more attention to it.

These days hockey in Russian isn't exactly child's play. Russian Hockey Federation president Valentin Sych died in a gangland-styled shooting in 1997. In the 1993-94 season, Alexander Mogilny, then with Buffalo, and Alexei Zhitnik, then with Los Angeles, both said they had been targets of extortion attempts. Bure says he hasn't.

There is no evidence any player has ever been approached to throw a game. Perhaps that is because fixing a game is probably a financial impracticality. Even superstars are on the ice for only 30 to 40 percent of the game, and a fixer would have to fix way too many players to make a profit. Only a goalie could single-handedly dump a game, and even he can be pulled out of the game by the coach.

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NHL 1999-00: Huh? League's many languages complicate communication

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) -- When Pavel Bure broke into the NHL in 1991, he spoke no English but was fluent in hockey.

``The coach told me where to go and what to do on the chalkboard,'' Bure said. ``It was simple.''

The Russian Rocket scored 34 goals, became the league's rookie of the year and showed that the best way to get past the language barrier is to skate around it.

Today more players than ever must do just that. Bure's success helped to accelerate the influx of foreigners, and as a result, the NHL now has a greater mix of languages than any other professional league.

There's Czech, Finnish, French, German, Russian, Swedish and even English. The ice rink has become a melting pot, raising the quality of play but complicating communication.

``When you're with a team that has guys who speak seven different languages, you usually communicate in two ways,'' Vancouver Canucks coach Marc Crawford said. ``First, you start in English. And second, you end in profanities.''

NHL now stands for Numerous Hockey Languages, and several teams have introduced rules requiring their players to speak only English on the ice, on the bench and in the locker room. The Florida Panthers, whose training camp roster included 12 Europeans, adopted the rule for this season.

``What happened here sometimes is if three Czech players are sitting together and talking Czech between periods, other guys don't understand what they're talking about,'' general manager Bryan Murray said. ``We're asking our guys to be a team, and to respect that if you're going to be a team, you have to have a common way to communicate. If you're calling for a pass, you'd better do it in a way the guy understands.''

Panthers players, including Europeans, express unanimous support for the rule.

``I don't think there's going to be any controversy,'' said Bure, the Panthers' star forward.

Florida forward Peter Worrell, a French Canadian, said: ``It was weird sometimes last season. You'd look in the dressing room and have guys speaking Russian in one corner and Czech in another, and me and somebody else speaking another language.''

``When you can't understand what a person is saying, some guys might be worried when they make a bad play and people are talking,'' Worrell added. ``They get a little paranoid about it.''

The Tampa Bay Lightning and Washington Capitals also adopted an English-only policy this season. Lightning coach Steve Ludzik, the son of Polish immigrants, said the rule will make his job easier.

``We've got 22 artists, and they're all painting on the same canvas,'' Ludzik said. ``It's a team thing. I'm doing it because when I describe a play in the last minute, I don't want someone sitting there going, `Yah, yah, yah, I do understand,' when he means, `No, no, no, I don't.' ''

Lightning defenseman Petr Svoboda, a Czech, said Europeans will learn English faster if they're forced to speak it.

``When I started 16 years ago, there weren't that many Europeans,'' he said. ``It was actually easier for me, because I had no other choice than to speak English on a daily basis. I think that's the way to go.''

The Capitals' roster includes five nationalities, and yet the players instituted the English-only rule themselves in an attempt to improve unity. Their kangaroo court fines violators up to $100.

But some hockey officials say such a rule means a more difficult adjustment for young immigrants who don't speak English well.

``If someone's going to help (a player) by speaking Chinese or whatever it is, then that's better than a poor kid sitting there not knowing what's going on,'' Toronto Maple Leafs coach Pat Quinn told the Toronto Sun.

Hall of Famer Denis Potvin, another French Canadian, said the unspoken policy in the NHL always has been English first. But his preferred method of communication is body language.

``I could play with a guy and look at his eyes and see his movement and tell where he was going,'' the former Islanders defenseman said. ``It was never an issue of, `OK, pass me the puck NOW!' ''

Proving Potvin's point is Ottawa Senators left wing Petr Schastlivy, a shy 20-year-old Russian. He scored five points in his first five preseason games without knowing any English.

Young European players generally speak better English than a decade ago, NHL veterans say. Virtually all Finnish and Swedish players speak English well because of their education systems, and the typical Russian, Czech and Slovakian has developed a better grasp of English since the Cold War ended.

But hockey's language barrier can still be daunting.

Tampa Bay defenseman Pavel Kubina, a Czech, spoke no English when he began his North American career in a junior league in remote Moose Jaw in Canada. Three years later, he can describe the experience in concise English: ``Worst year in my life,'' he said.

``It happens to everyone who comes here from Europe,'' said Buffalo Sabres goaltender Dominik Hasek, a Czech who now speaks three languages. ``It takes at least a year. My wife and I hired a teacher; I had tapes in my car.

``The best thing is for a player to come over here single and find an American girlfriend. That way you learn very fast.''

In any language, that advice makes sense.

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Bure will not play in preseason

But he'll be cleared to skate in opener

During a Tuesday conference call, Pavel Bure was told he would not be medically cleared to play any of the Panthers preseason games but would be cleared for the Oct. 2 season opener against Washington.

Bure said Dr. James Andrews, the surgeon who performed the March 29 anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction, was firm about Bure completing the six-month recovery period before giving him clearance to play. The Panthers' final preseason game is Sunday.

"Personally, I would like to play in an exhibition game," Bure said. "But after what I went through, all of the rehabilitation process and doing so much stuff, there's no reason to take a risk.

"If I could wait six months, I can wait 10 days."

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Russian Rocket grounded till opening night

For the past month, the Florida Panthers have been very optimistic about the return of PAVEL BURE (Russia). However, the team has decided to take a step back before putting the superstar on the ice.

In a conference call on Tuesday, team management and Dr. James Andrews-- the orthopedic surgeon who performed Bure's second ACL reconstruction -- suggested the winger wait the entire 6-month period before playing in a game following the knee surgery.

"I'd like to play, but we have to make sure everything's OK," Bure said. "It was supposed to be 6 months, which would be Sept. 29. Six months is 6 months, and then I'll be fine for the season. I've waited this long. I can wait an extra 10 days."

"[Andrews] has cleared him for the regular season, but he wants the gold standard," Panthers GM Bryan Murray said. "He said, 'Even though Pavel is far advanced in the healing process than a normal person, I want 6 months.'"

One reason for keeping the right winger off the ice before opening night is the number of cheap shots that occur during preseason. Bure's teammate, Peter Worrell, sees the logic in keeping the Rocket grounded until the games matter.

"Obviously, in preseason games, guys do take more liberties because guys are fighting for spots," Worrell said. "You can run around and say anything you want, but the bottom line is we don't want him to get hurt."

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Bure waiting for clearance to play

Pavel Bure is anxious to start playing exhibition games, but the high-flying right wing has been awaiting official clearance by James Andrews, the orthopedic surgeon who performed his reconstructive knee surgery March 29.

That green light could come soon because Bure said Monday that his right knee will examined Tuesday by team doctors. After consultation with the Alabama-based Andrews, a decision will then be made.

"I'd like to play, but I have to make sure everything is fine with the knee," Bure said. "There's no reason to take chances at all. It's supposed to be six months at least, and six months will be on the 29th. We'll decide (Tuesday) if we go early or if we go with what the book says."

Even if the decision comes Tuesday, coach Terry Murray said Bure will not be in the lineup Tuesday night when the Panthers host the Tampa Bay Lightning. It will be the Panthers' last preseason game at home before the regular season opens Oct. 2 against Washington.

While Bure has been ahead of schedule all training camp, competing in every practice, scrimmage and intrasquad game, he still has not taken a hit.

After Tuesday, the Panthers have three more preseason games, and Murray would like to play Bure in at least two of them. The danger is two of the games come against Southeast Division opponents Tampa Bay (Friday at the Ice Palace) and Carolina (Saturday at Greensboro, N.C.), two teams that could conceivably target Bure.

So, if Bure plays in part any of the games, it will likely be with 6-foot-6 bodyguard Peter Worrell in tow.

"Obviously, in the preseason, guys do take a lot more liberties because they're fighting for spots," Worrell said. "We don't want Pavel to get hurt, so everybody needs to keep an eye out to make sure that doesn't happen. If I'm on the ice and something happens, obviously I'm going to go ahead and protect him. The same thing with (Paul Laus). That's like second nature. But everybody should take on that responsibility because Pavel is our key player.

"Guys in our division gain the most if Pavel is out, so we have to be very careful we don't allow him to be put in a situation where he is susceptible to injury."

Bure, who has never been shy of using his stick for protection, said he's not scared of any tactics.

"I don't really care how other teams are going to play," Bure said. "I just care how we're going to play - me and my teammates.

"Other guys can do whatever they want."

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Bure's return delayed

After Pavel Bure's reconstructed knee undergoes further review this morning, he won't be in the lineup for tonight's home preseason game with Tampa Bay.

Panthers coach Terry Murray said Saturday that Bure wanted to play, might play tonight and would definitely play in a couple of the last four preseason games.

Monday, Bure sounded more cautious than before about his early comeback.

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Tonight: Panthers versus Bruins

Scouting report: The Panthers will be putting 12 to 14 NHL regulars on the ice tonight. Pavel Bure won't be in the lineup, but those who will be include Ray Whitney, Viktor Kozlov, Oleg Kvasha, Scott Mellanby, Radek Dvorak, Peter Worrell, Paul Laus, Ivan Novoseltsev and 1999 first-round pick Denis Shvidki among the forwards, and Bret Hedican, Robert Svehla and Jaroslav Spacek among defensemen.

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Storm rattles Panthers -- Hurricane Floyd puts game in doubt

CORAL SPRINGS -- The possibility of Hurricane Floyd hitting South Florida has left several Panthers anxious.

"I don't know how strong 80, 100, 180 mph winds are," Calgary-born Alex Hicks said. "When you really haven't gone through it, you don't know how severe it will be. My wife is very tense about it. When you have two kids and your wife is pregnant, then there's a lot at stake. I'm taking every precaution I can."

"I'm a lot more nervous than I was last year when (Hurricane Georges) almost hit us because last year I lived in a condo on the seventh floor," said Rob Neidermayer, another Western Canadian. "Now, I live in house at sea level right near the ocean. You don't get a lot of tornadoes or hurricanes in midland British Columbia. This is something new to us."

"Honestly, I don't know anything about hurricanes," said Ray Whitney, an Edmonton native. "I don't know what it compares to. I'm in West Boca, so hopefully it doesn't affect me. It's scary ..... I've talked to some of the guys and there are some apprehensive families wondering where a safe place to be is. I don't know what to expect, but I've done the preparations they've told us about on TV."

The Panthers are supposed to play their first exhibition game tonight in Fort Myers against the Southeast Division rival Carolina Hurricanes. As of Monday night, the game was on, but it may be canceled today if the team feels transportation conditions on Alligator Alley are dangerous.

"We've got to be very concerned and certainly do right for our players as well as our fans," General Manager Bryan Murray said. "The big issue is safety. We don't want it to be a problem getting the players over and back, and we don't want them to have to leave their families alone."

Hicks said if there is any threat, he would rather be with his family.

"If my kids are scared and my wife is scared, I should be with them," Hicks said.

Pavel Bure, the Panthers' $58-million investment who lives on the 27th floor of an oceanfront high rise on Fort Lauderdale Beach, said he plans on riding out the Category 5 storm if it strikes.

"This is my first time, but I don't know," Bure said. "I'm not really afraid of it and I probably won't go anywhere. I'm just going to stay at my place on the beach. It's a high-rise building, so I don't think anything can happen in this kind of building. I'm not going anywhere. I have to try. I'll see how bad it is and then next time I (might) go away. But this time I won't."

Murray and his wife and daughter, who live right around the corner from Bure on the Intracoastal, aren't taking any chances. They closed up their house Monday night and are staying at a friend's house inland

"I've seen a lot of tape on Hurricane Andrew," Murray said. "This is obviously very different for anything our players have experienced and I hope they all realize how serious it is."

Last year when Georges threatened South Florida, the Panthers opened up the locker room at National Car Rental Center for their players and families to use as a shelter. Only the team's bachelors flew to Greenville, S.C., to play an exhibition game vs. Boston.

Murray said the team would make the arena available again.

"It's nice to know we have that option," Niedermayer said.

Bill Lindsay, a Montana native who lives a couple of miles from the ocean in Fort Lauderdale, said although he's curious to experience a hurricane, he and his family could do without it.

"I don't know if this snuck up or what, but I hadn't heard anything about it and all of a sudden it's just there," Lindsay said. "I've never seen a hurricane other than on the news, so there's a little curiosity, too. Obviously I don't want to see one of this magnitude. If I had to see one, I'd prefer a nice tropical storm."

Bure to sit
Bure won't play in the first couple of preseason games.
"There's no reason to risk (the knee)," Bure said. "Real games don't start till Oct. 2. That's my main goal."

If the Panthers practice today, it will be at 11 a.m. at Incredible Ice.

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Hurricanes vs. Panthers

First of three games in four nights. So coach Terry Murray plans on giving a lot of young players an opportunity because of the amount of games. Pavel Bure will not play.

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Leadership still Cats' big concern

That there has been a leadership problem on the Florida Panthers the last two seasons isn't a debated point. If it isn't solved, the Panthers will continue to wilt in pivotal games and waste chances for easily accessible points.

``Like Pavel Bure can't score all the goals, you can't just have two or three guys be the leaders,'' Panthers captain Scott Mellanby said. ``Everyone's got to be a leader. And, we're such a young team that I've talked to some of the younger guys about it. Don't be shy to step forward and be a leader.

``It's a group thing,'' he continued. ``We talked about that three years ago, four years ago. `Who are the leaders?' and you'd go down the list. We were a strong leadership group. It wasn't one guy or two guys who were the captains.''

Still, it will be interesting to see who gets the assistant captain's ``A'' formerly worn by defenseman Gord Murphy, who went to Atlanta in the post-expansion draft deal for goalie Trevor Kidd. Certainly among the candidates are left wing Ray Whitney, right wing Pavel Bure and defenseman Lance Pitlick.

Whitney has been the top scorer for two years. Bure, if he's even 80 to 90 percent healthy, will be the team's best player. Pitlick provides a vocal nature along with an ornery grittiness the Panthers often lacked last year.

The remaining ``A'' will stay on the shoulder of center Rob Niedermayer. Niedermayer gave the Panthers little statistically or inspirationally in the second half of last season.

``Robbie's play some nights was a message to other players,'' Panthers general manager Bryan Murray said at the end of last season. ``There was no emotion in certain games that gets anybody to follow along. For a guy getting that number of minutes, he certainly has to do more than that.''

Mellanby said last week that with great ice time comes great responsibility to more than just having your own game in order. The leaders on the clock for the Panthers will be Bure, Whitney, center Viktor Kozlov as Bure's center, defenseman Robert Svehla and defenseman Bret Hedican. Next probably would be Niedermayer and right wing Radek Dvorak.

``I talked to Mell all the time about it,'' Whitney said. ``When things go wrong, it falls down hard on the captain. That goes with the role of being captain. You need some help from other guys.''

Whitney said players like himself and Niedermayer need to be more vocal and positive in the locker room, if only just with pats on the pads or encouraging words.

One of Pitlick's strengths and one of the reasons he was sought by the Panthers this summer is the locker room attitude he displayed in Ottawa.

``I just try to keep the guys loose and having fun,'' Pitlick said. ``It's such a long and grinding season. It gets pretty monotonous. There's lots of highs and lows. You've got to find a way to stay at an even keel or it just drives you crazy.''

Bure doesn't have much more time in Florida than Pitlick. He thought his role was more to lead by example by simply doing his job.

``You have an `A' or you don't, it's not going to make a difference -- you still have to perform,'' Bure said. ``You can put three Cs out there, but if you don't perform well, it's not going to help the team.''

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Bure firing on all cylinders

HULL, Quebec. Every day, Pavel Bure seems to provide more of an optimistic jolt into the Panthers.

The latest came Thursday night, when Bure tested his reconstructed right knee to an extent he hadn't been to willing before. The result: his acceleration looked to be as explosive as ever.

The only reason Bure didn't score more than two goals in the intrasquad game was goaltender Sean Burke made three outstanding saves, twice on breakaways. Bure's first opportunity to test the knee came 30 seconds into the game when he blew past defenseman Mike Wilson.

Picking up the puck in the neutral zone, Bure was a few feet in front of Burke taking the shot before Wilson even got to the blue line. Burke's first save was his best as he got his glove up to deflect Bure's shot into the corner.

Bure beat Burke between the pads on a breakaway, as well as a blazing wrist shot from the slot after linemate Peter Worrell took out the defensemen.

It still amazes me how he gets open sometimes," coach Terry Murray said. "He finds that little hole behind the defenseman and then boom. He's skating really well, showing explosive foot speed on the offensive part of it and even on the backcheck. He's showing a lot of confidence."

Bure on the backcheck was most surprising. Not only because even when healthy Bure doesn't get a lot of interest from playing in the defensive zone, but because at one point he went into traffic to steal the puck from a driving Oleg Kvasha, who had two goals and two assists.

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Pavel at HockeyFest '99

The players are making appearances from 90 minutes to 2 1/2 hours. Pavel Bure will be there from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., as will captain Scott Mellanby. Paul Laus will be in from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Bill Lindsay's shift runs from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Peter Worrell is there from 3-4:30 p.m. Rob Niedermayer has a 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. shift.

Admission and parking are free of charge...The entire Florida Panthers Training Camp Roster will be available throughout the day for autograph signings, Q&A sessions, clinics and endless photo opportunities!

Other highlights will include skills games, interactive games, the season's first McArthur Dairy Off-Ice Challenge and much more!

Fans can buy individual game tickets as well, while season-ticket holders can tour the locker rooms and press box.

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Worrell earning respect for more than just fighting

.... Worrell's impressive first week earned him a spot on the top line during Thursday night's intrasquad game, playing alongside Viktor Kozlov and Pavel Bure.

How did Worrell mesh with the Russian Rocket's line?

Fantastic. The line scored all five goals, with Worrell and Bure scoring two apiece.

Worrell set a nice pick to clear the slot for Bure's first goal. Bure scored another on a breakaway.

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Bure humming on Hump Day

HULL, Quebec -- Coach Terry Murray calls the third day of training Hump Day, typically the most difficult of camp. Right wing Pavel Bure must not have heard of Hump Day.

Bure, who underwent reconstructive knee surgery on March 29, scored two goals in a 3-0 victory in a scrimmage Tuesday and looked much more comfortable than he had Monday.

Bure's first goal, off Robert Svehla's feed, came on a partial breakaway as his backhand squeezed through Ryan Bach's pads. His second was a blazer that clanked in off the left post on Bret Hedican's pass.

"It's always nice to score, but it doesn't matter," Bure said. "I still have to take it slowly."

Bure seemed to be more willing to go into traffic Tuesday, although he furiously shook his head in disagreement when asked about it.
   "I still have to be careful," Bure said, smiling.

QUOTE: Bure on the significance of scoring two goals in the scrimmage: "None. They don't mean a thing until they're for real.

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Bure skated regular shifts throughout Monday's 60-minute scrimmage, his first full scrimmage since having his right anterior cruciate knee ligament reconstructed in March.

On each of three different one-on-one situations, Bure didn't explode past the defenseman as he would if he were 100 percent healthy or even perhaps 80 percent. Bure admitted he was holding himself back, not only in speed, but in going into areas where there could be contact.

``This was my first time five-on-five since getting injured,'' Bure said.

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Knee no problem as Bure looks sharp

HULL, Quebec -- It was another encouraging sign that superstar Pavel Bure's right knee is slowly rehabbing from reconstructive surgery a little more than five months ago.

After skating for a full practice Sunday, Bure played on the first line with Viktor Kozlov and rookie Denis Shvidki during a 60-minute scrimmage Monday.

"He was pretty awesome," coach Terry Murray said. "He started to get scoring chances the first shift, and the puck just followed him from there.

"He had real good jump. I went to him at the end of the first 30 minutes and said, 'Pavel, you don't have to go out for the second half. Let's not push it.' But he said he felt good and he wanted to skate."

It was the most strenuous test Bure has given his knee since surgery March 29.

"It feels good," Bure said. "The guys took it easy on me as far as contact."

Bure had three breakaway chances, shooting it wide twice with the third being stopped by goalie Trevor Kidd.

Bure seemed to lack that explosive speed he uses to blow away from defenders, but he said he was just trying to be cautious.

"I'm trying to be smart and take it slow," Bure said. "There were a couple of times where I'd forget about my knee, and then I'd have to stop myself, saying, 'Hold on, take it easy.'"

Murray cautions that although Bure's rehab is going well, it could be awhile before he's back to 100 percent. "Sometimes it takes a month, two months into the season before we see the new player," Murray said. "You always hope it will be sooner, but you just don't know. But just the fact that he's out there in a full scrimmage, I think it's tremendous for the players to see it and for Pavel's own mental state."

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Bower's bare Bure picked up by Post

Retired Vancouver Sun photographer Ralph Bower did a double take when he saw an old file picture he'd taken of Pavel Bure several years ago appear on page one of last Tuesday's 'National Post'.

It was a shor of the Russian Rocket exposing his muscular naked body from the waist up, taken prior to training camp when Bure was going through his mandatory pre-camp medical. "After a picture of Wayne Gretzky stepping out of the shower hit the wire services, the NHL adopted a bylaw that banned newspaper photographers fromtaking photos of players in any form of undress," Bower recalls. "The Sun ran my bare-chested picture of Pavel on page one and I caught hell from the Canucks management."

Bure himself thought it was great and asked Bower for several prints. In fact, he signed one to Bower that said: "Hey, Ralph, Are You Working for Playboy now?"

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Bure a protected man

Bure a protected man Memo to the Panthers: Hands off, Pavel!

When Bure skates in his first scrimmage Monday, Murray said nobody will be allowed to hit the franchise's best player, who is recovering from reconstructive knee surgery in March.

"Everybody knows who he is, so just don't go out of your way to hit him," Murray said. "There has to be some heads-up play (Monday)."

Bure has said that he won't feel completely comfortable until he absorbs that first crushing check, but that can wait, Murray says.

"He's going to get bumped, but that first hit will come later," Murray said. "Right now though, I don't want any defenseman finishing their check on him."

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Optimism high as camp kicks off

HULL, Quebec -- Ah, the start of training camp, with all the sunny optimism you can have while having your every move measured.

``Worst day of the year,'' Panthers left wing Ray Whitney said Saturday. ``We don't even mind the first day of practice. But the lifting, jumping, all that stuff . . . ''

But do all those tests mean anything?

``Probably not,'' Whitney said. ``But if you don't do well, it gives them a reason.''

A reason to drop you to the third line or to Louisville, where the Panthers will have sole possession of the American Hockey League affiliate instead of sharing New Haven with Carolina.

That's a small reason for the giddiness around the organization coming into hockey's longest month.

The Panthers have enough offensive talent, at a premium in the NHL, among the forwards for three scoring lines.

And, of course, they start the season with a truly special player for the first time.

``You can feel everybody's excited,'' Whitney said. ``I think we all kind of feel we can have a good year. It probably has to do with Pavel Bure skating with us.''

Bure did all the tests and said he thinks he'll be ready for the Oct. 2 season opener.

He said he still has some pain, but he didn't have trouble straightening his knee during a Thursday photo shoot, despite what he told the photographer.

``He wanted me to stand on the sand and I didn't want to,'' Bure laughed, imitating the off-kilter pose the photographer desired. ``So I said that my knee was bothering me.''

Panthers coach Terry Murray said he plans to play Bure in four of eight preseason games.

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Bure's knee passes first test, but cautious approach planned

Pavel Bure raised a few eyebrows during a photo shoot on Fort Lauderdale beach the other day when, upon being asked by a photographer to stand on the sand, he declined by saying his knee was bothering him.

HULL, Quebec -- Pavel Bure raised a few eyebrows during a photo shoot on Fort Lauderdale beach the other day when, upon being asked by a photographer to stand on the sand, he declined by saying his knee was bothering him.

"I didn't want to do it," Bure said Saturday. "When I said that, he stopped asking right away."

Bure insisted his knee was fine, and went out and proved it by passing his medical exam and participating in all physical testing at the start of the Florida Panthers' training camp at Robert Guertin Arena.

"It feels pretty good," he said. "I'm going to feel it, but I just went to the doctor a couple days ago and he said it was fine."

Coach Terry Murray said he will monitor Bure's status on a daily basis and give his superstar right wing as much work as he wants.

"The plan is to make sure there's good communication with the doctors, the training staff, and with Pavel himself to make sure everything's OK," Murray said.

"If a red light pops up to slow down we will. But as long as it doesn't, we'll keep going forward and he'll be part of the team."

Murray said that, like his other veterans, he expects Bure to play in four of the eight exhibition games this month.

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Cats hope English policy fosters unity

HULL, Quebec -- South Florida, where multilingual workplaces have been such a divisive issue, will have the first NHL locker room and bench that are ``English Only'' zones.

Whether there's wisdom in such an edict remains to be seen.

Panthers coach Terry Murray declared at June's NHL draft that all player-player and player-coach conversations on the bench and in the locker room would take place in English. His stated goal was fusing some of the fissures that have split the Panthers the past couple of years.

``In the beginning, it's going to be a problem for us to remind ourselves to speak English,'' said Panthers center Viktor Kozlov, a Russian. ``I think everything will be all right. It won't be a problem.''

Defenseman Robert Svehla, a Slovak, speaks Czech, picked up Swedish during his three years in the Swedish Elite League and understands Russian, Polish and English. Svehla speaks English only when absolutely necessary.

Still, he shrugged with a smile: ``That's OK. It will be fun.''

Asked what he thought about the rule, right wing Pavel Bure danced around the question as if it were a glue-footed defenseman.

``I feel very strongly that when you come into the dressing room, you have to be a family,'' said Bure, who probably speaks the best English of the Panthers' five Russian speakers. ``As soon as you put that jersey on, you have to fight for each other.''

But is Murray going about this the right way?

Bure hesitated, then said, ``Maybe. Terry, he's in charge.''

Panthers captain Scott Mellanby supports Murray's edict.

``You have to do the little things to create a big thing,'' Mellanby said. ``One of the little things is to get the guys to talk more and joke more with each other. I hope the European guys accept that we don't want them to be North Americans.

``Part of chemistry comes from being able to jump in and out of conversations, getting on each other. When you hear guys who've retired, that palling around is what they say they miss most.''

Last season, the Panthers had divisions defined by age and language. There was the Russian bloc; the Czech and Slovak bloc; the young North American and Western European bloc; and the married-with-children North American bloc. The first three groups have grown among the Panthers over the past two seasons.

Russian rookie Oleg Kvasha was a notable border-crosser. Often, Kvasha was seen horsing around and hanging with the same-age North Americans who were teammates during the 1997-98 season in New Haven. But he was an exception on a team once celebrated by peers for lacking cliques.

``Obviously, when we started, we were older and mostly North American,'' Mellanby said. ``I think that allowed that jumping in and out of conversation. That created a spirited room. Now, we have a pretty quiet room. I'm not saying everybody has to be rah-rah. You just want to make things a little more fun. Everybody has to make an effort at that.''

Two players from other locker rooms disagree with the ``one language, one team'' reasoning.

``That's [expletive -- in English],'' snapped Pittsburgh's Darius Kasparaitis, a Lithuanian. ``Language has nothing to do with team spirit.

``We have Czechs and Russians playing in Pittsburgh. We speak whatever we want, but we stick up for each other. I mean, if you go out to dinner -- Russians, Czechs and Americans -- you speak English.

``But nobody has the right to tell people what language they have to speak. This is a free country.''

Kasparaitis looked across Pompano Beach's Gold Coast Ice Arena locker room during the Russian mini-camp last month and pointed at a countryman and asked, ``If I want to speak with [Montreal's] Dainius Zubrus, who's also Lithuanian, why shouldn't I speak to him in Russian?''

Czech Jaromir Jagr is the captain for Pittsburgh, a team dominated by Eastern Europeans. Go two deep on the depth chart at each of the five skaters positions and Pittsburgh has seven Eastern Europeans and three North Americans.

There's the same breakdown in Ottawa, captained by Russian (and probable holdout) Alexei Yashin.

``Personally, I don't have a problem with the Czech guys speaking Czech to each other, etc.,'' Yashin said. ``I understand that it's easier. I never saw any problem. You're free to speak any language you want. If you want to have a conversation with people, you're going to speak the language they understand anyway.''

Often, European players learn English from television. Finn Jari Kurri gorged himself on Happy Days,  prompting former teammate Wayne Gretzky to joke that people were right when they assumed he knew what was running through Kurri's head -- 24 hours of Richie Cunningham.

When Panthers defenseman Jaroslav Spacek was sent to New Haven last December, he set up a VCR in his apartment. By the time he was re-called in January, Spacek could discourse in English on the lack of entertainment options during dreary New Haven winter days.

Players coming from Eastern Europe generally have a tougher time with English than their Western Europe counterparts. Not only are English classes required in many Western Europe countries, but U.S. popular culture dominates each medium. Springer, Spielberg, Spike and Snoop are all spoken fluently.

This isn't as much the case in Eastern Europe. And, for Russian speakers, there's a more fundamental change. The Russian alphabet has 33 letters. English has 26.

``It's very hard to pick up English because it's totally different,'' Kozlov said.

Yashin recalled fondly the assistance with the language and life he got from some of the North American veterans. There was good team chemistry, but Ottawa was still a last place club for Yashin's first couple of seasons.

``We had a very good team,'' he smiled wryly. ``We just couldn't play hockey.''

If nothing else, the Panthers provide an alternate ending to a popular joke among polyglots:

You speak three languages, you're trilingual; two languages, you're bilingual; one language, you're American.

Or, you're a Panther at the rink.

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Bure sues tax man

Hockey millionaire fighting to avoid paying income tax on $340,000

Photo by Mark van Manen, the Vancouver Sun

Multimillionaire hockey star Pavel Bure -- who recently signed a $47-million (U.S.) deal with the NHL's Florida Panthers -- has gone to court to avoid paying Canadian income tax on $340,000.

Mr. Bure was upset when he found those extra earnings on his 1996 T-4 slip, dating from the time he was under contract with the Vancouver Canucks. The hockey club paid the money to Mr. Bure's agent, Ron Salcer, as his fee for negotiating the Russian star's five-year, $25-million (U.S.) deal in 1994 with the Canucks.

Yesterday, Mr. Bure's Vancouver lawyer, John Finlay, argued in the Tax Court of Canada that Mr. Bure had no idea the Canucks were paying his agent's fees and that the payment in no way represented a taxable benefit to Mr. Bure.

Peter Kremer, Crown counsel representing Revenue Canada, told the court Mr. Bure's explanation strained credulity.

"Putting your head in the sand or refusing to accept the logical conclusions of one's actions ... does that mean he can avoid paying taxes?" Mr. Kremer asked Judge Cameron McArthur. "That perception is not something this court should encourage."

A ruling is not expected until mid-October.

Mr. Bure made a brief visit to Ottawa yesterday to testify in a courtroom on the third floor of a government office building.

He immediately bolted back to Florida, where he is attending a special training camp for Russian-born hockey players, including Ottawa Senators centre Alexei Yashin, who is threatening to sit out the upcoming season unless the hockey club renegotiates his $3.6-million (U.S.) annual salary.

Last year, Mr. Bure sat out half the season before the Canucks traded him to cash-rich Florida, where he nearly doubled his salary by signing the five-year deal.

Yesterday's legal arguments, along with earlier testimony by Mr. Bure and former Vancouver general manager Pat Quinn, offered insight into the backroom jockeying between so-called "franchise players" and Canadian hockey clubs, which are now asking the federal government to consider tax breaks so they can compete with the deep pockets of U.S. clubs.

Mr. Finlay argued the relationship between Mr. Bure and the Canucks had been "adversarial" since its start in 1991, when Mr. Bure defected from Russia.

The Russian Hockey Federation, wanting financial compensation, threatened a court injunction to prevent Mr. Bure from taking the ice with the Canucks for the 1991-92 season.

That fall, Mr. Bure contacted a family friend, Serge Lavin of Los Angeles, who along with his partner -- Mr. Salcer -- represented NHL players. In October 1991, Mr. Salcer told Mr. Bure the Canucks would be willing to pay him $600,000 a season.

Mr. Bure testified he was told earlier by Mr. Lavin the Canucks were considering offering him $1.1 million a season. Mr. Bure said he reluctantly agreed to $600,000 because he was told if he didn't sign a contract before the Russians took him to court, the Canucks would not represent him. The Russians later dropped their court action.

By 1993, Mr. Salcer told Mr. Bure the Canucks were offering a raise -- $13 million over five seasons. When Mr. Bure found out that was in Canadian currency, he was disappointed. Mr. Quinn testified that his young Russian player asked to be traded in 1993.

Mr. Bure's fortunes turned dramatically by 1994. The Canucks were Stanley Cup contenders, and Mr. Bure had become one of the NHL's top scorers and a Vancouver fan favourite.

Mr. Bure read in the newspaper how the Canucks ownership -- which had just bought the land that would become the site of GM Place arena and had secured a National BasketballAssociation franchise -- needed to keep him as a marquee player to draw fans.

Mr. Bure immediately asked for a raise.

"In the signing of the '91 contract, the Canucks held the upper hand," said Mr. Finlay. "In '94, Bure held the upper hand."

Mr. Salcer asked Mr. Bure if $25 million (U.S.) over five seasons would be enough to keep him in Vancouver.

"Can you get me that somewhere else?" Mr. Bure asked.

"I don't think I can," Mr. Salcer replied.

On June 6, 1994, Mr. Salcer, Mr. Bure and his father met with Mr. Quinn to sign the contract. Mr. Quinn testified he wasn't in favour of the deal, angry at Mr. Bure's attitude.

Mr. Quinn signed it anyway, on behalf of Canuck management. It was three years later that Mr. Bure learned the Canucks had added $339,375 to his 1996 earnings to cover payment of his agent's fees.

Mr. Bure testified that when he agreed to the deal it was for $25 million exclusively for him and did not include payment to anyone else -- despite the fact that in 1991 the Canucks had covered his agent's fees in exactly the same manner.

Though he deferred his ruling, Judge McArthur told Mr. Bure's lawyer that the player ought to have known the Canucks were paying those fees. "We have an intelligent, able person in Pavel Bure ... not just as a hockey player, but as a businessperson," the judge noted.

Mr. Finlay disputed that Mr. Salcer was acting as Mr. Bure's agent, saying there was no negotiation involved, just a simple offer from the Canucks. If anything, Mr. Finlay argued, Mr. Salcer was working for the Canucks in getting their star player to the signing table.

"But Mr. Bure wanted $25 million and Mr. Salcer got it," the judge said.

"Mr. Bure got himself $25 million," Mr. Finlay replied. "If he had been represented by an agent who was conscious of his welfare, it would have been $28 million or $30 million."

The hockey star is also seeking court costs in the case.

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