Anybody else smell the desperation in the air these days?
Coaches are being jettisoned, big trades are being made, bankruptcy is being declared. Teams are trading with hated rivals in their own divisions (albeit indirectly). General managers are going behind the bench to try to shock clubs out of their underachieving doldrums. And it's unknown if some teams -- Ottawa and Buffalo, for starters -- will cease to function at least in the cities in which they currently reside.
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CHIRPIN'
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"I can't believe that Glen Sather is coaching the New York Rangers. I can't believe we're in this situation again -- and it's hard to believe that he's in the situation to be coaching. But we are where we are, and he feels responsible and at this point probably doesn't want to turn it over."
-- Rangers' captain Mark Messier, on his new bench boss, who is also the president and general manager of the franchise.
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THE NUMBER
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That's the number of goals Carolina captain Ron Francis has. His goal against Toronto pull him into a tie for 21st all-time with Frank Mahovlich.
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WHO'S HOT
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Jaromir Jagr. The Washington sniper has nine goals and 11 assists in his last 11 games.
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WHO'S NOT
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Sami Kapanen. The Carolina forward has one goal in 24 games.
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Desperation is defined as "a loss of hopelessness leading to rashness.'' Yup, that about sums it up.
Glen Sather, the Rangers' president/general manager who was able to put together Stanley Cup-winning teams on a relative shoestring budget in Edmonton, now has a bloated, $70 million-plus roster full of players who under neophyte head coach Bryan Trottier couldn't get out of their own way. Now, Sather is hoping they're going to find their way -- his. Good luck.
Sather stressed he's not an interim coach in the way Don Waddell was when he took over the Atlanta bench temporarily. He also said his club will make the playoffs, sounding like a man intent on saving his own job.
To fully understand the desperation in the Eastern Conference, one needs only look at the standings heading into the All-Star break. New Jersey is breathing down Ottawa's neck, Washington is surging now that Jaromir Jagr has woken up, Philadelphia is still forging an identity, and Boston and Toronto are playing leapfrog in the Northeast Division.
Carolina is a disaster after going to the Stanley Cup finals last season and was further stung when the Hurricanes lost left wing Erik Cole to a broken left leg last week. The hockey gods giveth, and they also taketh away. With 30-some-odd games remaining, all 15 teams still have a statistical shot at making a run that would get them into one of the top eight spots in the playoffs. Now that's desperation.
The latest bit of desperation had to do with the weekend's All-Star game. Pittsburgh star -- and part owner -- Mario Lemieux withdrew from the festitivities because of a lingering groin problem. Lemieux is pretty healthy now, but he felt the pressure that comes with knowing how badly his presence will be needed if the Penguins have a shot at the postseason and its revenue, especially since Alexei Kovalev seems a certainty to be moved before the March trade deadline.
"It's a great honor and I wish I could be there for (the fans),'' said Lemieux last week. "We have 30 games left after the All-Star break, and I want to make sure I'm there for most of them.'' Translation: If I had gone to the All-Star game and reaggravated the injury, the Penguins' chances would be gone.
The Maple Leafs held back two players from going to Florida -- captain Mats Sundin, who has a banged-up shoulder, and goalie Ed Belfour, who has been dealing with back spasms.
Given Toronto's place in the standings and the pressure to prosper in the playoffs, the Leafs are more concerned with the regular season than a detour to South Florida.
"The All-Star weekend is a lot of fun,'' said Sundin. "But the big picture is that we need to win hockey games. It will be a good rest for me, and we have two big games coming up after the break, so I'm on the same page as (coach/general manager Pat Quinn).''
Quinn made no bones about influencing his top forward's decision to stay home.
"We fully support the league in this game, but sometimes you have to look at the owners and what they have at stake,'' said Quinn. "Mats is sort of in that twilight area (because of the shoulder). And we've collectively made a decision on which way to handle this. Clearly, he's disappointed because he believes in the All-Star concept and has represented his country and this organization with an impeccable approach. So, yeah, I almost had to say, 'This is my decision, not yours.' ''
In other words, desperate times call for desperate measures. Atlanta, under new coach Bob Hartley, is climbing, the Islanders are on a tear, and Tampa Bay is battling. The casualties are mounting. Welcome to the stretch run where desperation is the order of the day.
Depth chart
Montreal Canadiens defenseman Stephane Quintal is no rookie anymore, but the 34-year-old defenseman continues to stick up for his teammates as much as he ever did. Quintal didn't like the way Panthers enforcer Peter Worrell was taking liberties with some other Canadiens players Tuesday night. So he stepped up to the plate against the player -- at 6-foot-6, 235 pounds -- many in the NHL believe is the game's toughest fighter. Quintal was still hurting long after the bout was over. "He was running around,'' said Quintal. "It's not that I felt I could take him, but I can surely drop my gloves and show that he can't run around and expect nobody to fight him.'' Quintal's efforts didn't go unnoticed. "When you see something like that,'' said captain Saku Koivu, "you've got to appreciate it.''
There hasn't been a lot to get excited about in Buffalo this season, but one player who has taken a giant leap forward is rookie defenseman Henrik Tallinder. The 24-year-old, who played in the NHL's YoungStars exhibition, is averaging about 21 minutes a game for the Sabres. The Stockholm native played four years in Sweden and one in Finland before coming to North America, where he played for Rochester last season. "He's a guy that defensively doesn't make a lot of mistakes and has put together a very good first year,'' said coach Lindy Ruff. "He's the one guy that knows when he's made some poor decisions but he doesn't make a lot of them.''
The New Jersey Devils are looking like the same well-oiled machine that led them to Stanley Cup championships in 1995 and 2000. Goaltender Martin Brodeur keeps rolling along and was headed for his fourth straight shutout over the Philadelphia Flyers last Thursday, but he had it foiled with 1:58 left in the third period. That ended his streak at 265:02. The Devils have now earned points in 12 straight games and are 10-0-1-1 in that span. After winning 10 of 11 contests, the Flyers have dropped four straight and were outscored 12-2 during those losses. Philadelphia was never even in the game against New Jersey on Thursday, falling 5-1. "This was a total team hitting the wall,'' said coach Ken Hitchcock. Philly forward Jeremy Roenick described it as being "men against boys.'' It didn't help that the Flyers were missing their entire top line due to injuries and goalie Roman Cechmanek had a very off night. The teams see each other again on Feb. 18.
The biggest beneficiary of New York Islanders defenseman Adrian Aucoin being sidelined by a groin injury was Mattias Timander. Timander played a career-high of 25 minutes and 54 seconds against Pittsburgh last Tuesday. The Islanders ended the month of January in impressive fashion. Their 3-1 win over Montreal on Thursday gave them a 8-4-0-2 mark despite a banged-up roster.
The Carolina Hurricanes have been staggering for some time, now having lost 12 of their last 13 contests. They took another big injury blow on Thursday when they lost forward Erik Cole to a broken left leg in a game against Tampa Bay. It's likely Cole will miss 2-3 months, which sounds like the rest of the season. Despite all the losing, it's not as if the club is getting blown out, There are nights they've outplayed their opposition only to fall anyway, mostly because they can't score. "In all honesty, I'm tired of coming out and talking to (the media) and saying the same things,'' said captain Ron Francis after their loss to Toronto Wednesday night. "It's frustrating. I hate losing. I'd much rather have other guys come out here and talk about how well we played.''
Before his four-goal, MVP performance in Sunday's All-Star Game, Atlanta's Dany Heatley had a league-best 13 goals in January and has eight in his last six games. After starting the season with a woeful record of 0-8-0-1, the team has rallied lately. Since Curt Fraser's firing, they've gone 9-7-2-0.
Heading into their game against the Red Wings in Detroit on Thursday, the Florida Panthers had lost five in a row away from home and had been outscored 30-10. "Early in the year, we surprised some teams,'' said Olli Jokinen. "I don't think they respected us enough.'' No doubt they earned some respect in their 2-2 with the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Nancy Marrapese-Burrell of the Boston Globe is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
