Senators Maintain Pressure

The Ottawa Senators, intent on preventing Alexei Yashin from playing for the Central Red Army, met a demand of his former Russian club, but it is unclear if that will keep the star center from this weekend’s game in Moscow.

Ottawa general manager Randy Sexton wired $100,000 to Moscow Dynamo, the club Yashin was playing for when Ottawa drafted him in 1993.

The money, three months overdue, is the third of four installments totaling $400,000 that both sides agreed on for Yashin’s release in 1992.

North American officials said Yashin was ineligible to play for Red Army because he was under contract to Ottawa. Russian officials say they had breached no rules because the Senators hadn’t paid the full cost for Yashin’s rights.