Bourque, Coffey, Murphy inducted into Hall

Ray Bourque, the finest defenseman of his generation, entered the Hockey Hall of Fame Monday in Toronto with Paul Coffey and Larry Murphy.

The three stellar defenseman combined for nine Stanley Cups and joined the hall with builder Cliff Fletcher and hockey writer Jim Kelley.

Bourque, first in career points by an NHL defensemen with 1,579, played for 22 NHL seasons and was a five-time Norris Trophy winner. He spent all his career in Boston until he capped it by winning the Stanley Cup with Colorado in his final season in 2001.

Coffey won three Stanley Cups in Edmonton and one in Pittsburgh. His 48 goals in 1985-86 are the most by a defenseman in one season and that year he set the record for longest consecutive-games points streak by a defenseman (28). He won the Norris Trophy three times.

Murphy earned two championship rings with Pittsburgh and two more with Detroit. The records he set in 1980-81 for rookie defensemen — most assists (60) and most points (76) — still stand.

Fletcher also was a GM at Toronto and Phoenix. He has been vice president of hockey operations for the Coyotes the last three years. He was the first GM to sign and bring a player (Sergei Priakin, 1988) from Soviet Union to the NHL with official consent.

Danton sentenced in murder plot

Former St. Louis Blues player Mike Danton was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison for trying to have his agent killed.

Danton, 24, said nothing as U.S. District Judge William Stiehl imposed the sentence.

“I do not believe in over 18 years on the bench I have been faced with a case as bizarre as this one,” Stiehl said, noting that Danton chose a 19-year-old acquaintance and a police dispatcher as his would-be helpers in the murder plot.

The judge said the story Danton “concocted was not well thought out or very believable.” He said, “The exact reasons you felt you needed to engage in a murder plot remain a mystery to me.”

Danton is expected to ask to be moved to a prison in his native Canada. As for his hockey career, there is no parole in the federal system and, the judge noted, Danton might not be allowed to return to the United States after completing his sentence.

Zholtok remembered at funeral

Nashville Predators center Sergei Zholtok was remembered at a funeral in Riga, Latvia, by hundreds of hockey fans, many wearing Latvian national team jerseys with black armbands.

Players and officials also attended the packed service at the historic House of Blackheads to honor perhaps the best forward produced by Latvia.

Zholtok died last week at 31 in Belarus. He was stricken with heart failure about five minutes before the end of a game between Riga 2000, the Latvian team he was playing for during the NHL lockout, and Dinamo Minsk.

Kovalev, Jagr join Russian clubs

Alexei Kovalev became the latest NHL player to join a European team during the lockout, agreeing to play in his native Russia.

Since the lockout began, about 250 NHL players have headed to teams in Europe, about one-third of the league, according to the International Ice Hockey Federation.

Kovalev, an unrestricted free agent, is joining Russia’s AK Bars Kazan. He played with Lada Togliatti of the Russian league during the 1994-95 lockout.

Also, Jaromir Jagr of the New York Rangers is leaving the Czech league to play for the Russian club Omsk Avangard, the Czech daily newspaper Sport said Monday. More than 50 Czech players, including stars Milan Hejduk, Patrik Elias and Tomas Vokoun, returned home during the lockout.