Coffey On His Way To Meet New Team
Defenseman Paul Coffey has apparently softened his stance on refusing to play with Hartford and, according to Whalers officials, will meet his new team today in Miami.
He might even play in tonight’s game against the Florida Panthers, a Whalers spokesperson said.
Hartford acquired Coffey Wednesday in a trade with Detroit.
The deal sent Brendan Shanahan and Brian Glynn to the Red Wings for Keith Primeau, Coffey and a No. 1 draft pick.
Coffey was stung by the deal and had said repeatedly he didn’t want to play for the Whalers.
Coffey is the NHL’s career scoring leader among defenseman with 1,410 points. He has three years remaining on his contract, with $8.1 million still due.
Caps nab first win
Peter Bondra had two goals and two assists Friday as the Washington Capitals beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 6-2 in Landover, Md., for their first victory of the NHL season.
Phil Housley added a goal and two assists and Jason Allison, Michal Pivonka and Joe Juneau also scored for the Capitals, who handed the Lightning their first defeat of the season.
Keith Jones added a pair of assists for Washington (1-2-0).
Aaron Gavey and Brian Bradley scored for Tampa Bay, which had gone 2-0-2 in its previous four games against Washington.
In other games
Alexei Yashin and Alexandre Daigle scored in the third period as Ottawa overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat the winless Pittsburgh Penguins … Former Spokane Chief Trevor Kidd stopped 28 shots and Chris O’Sullivan assisted on both Calgary goals as the Flames beat Detroit, which played without newly acquired forward Brendan Shanahan, who was suspended one game by the NHL for cross-checking Edmonton’s Greg de Vries during his Red Wings’ debut Wednesday … Colorado’s Patrick Roy made 34 saves for his second shutout this week, and Chicago was blanked for the second successive game in losing to the Avalanche … Brett Hull scored the game-winner with his first goal of the season as St. Louis beat the Edmonton Oilers.
Around the league
John Spano, a New Yorker who now lives in Dallas, emphasized that he has no plans to move his newly purchased New York Islanders out of Long Island or Nassau Coliseum… . Alexei Zhamnov is no closer to signing with the Chicago Blackhawks than he was two weeks ago, general manager Bob Pulford announced… . Center Cliff Ronning of the Phoenix Coyotes will be sidelined indefinitely after fracturing his right hand in a game against San Jose.