BY VICTOR CHI
Mercury News
In recent weeks, we have devoted a good bit of space in this newspaper to the rise of Boston center Joe Thornton and the hot-and-cold runs of Sharks center Patrick Marleau.
But what of center Olli Jokinen, the third overall pick in the 1997 draft behind Thornton and Marleau? It's a subject that new Florida Coach Mike Keenan is eager to explore.
``Let's find out who he is,'' Keenan told the Sun-Sentinel of South Florida. ``There are a lot of question marks regarding his ability to make the grade in this league.''
Jokinen is already with his third team. Drafted by Los Angeles, Jokinen was dealt to the New York Islanders as part of the trade for Ziggy Palffy. A year later, the Islanders sent him and Roberto Luongo to the Panthers for Mark Parrish and Oleg Kvasha.
Jokinen had just six goals last season, and only one in 28 games this season for Florida. If he keeps up this pace, Jokinen will be skating for his fourth team soon. Keenan will make sure of that.
``He was a third overall pick,'' Keenan said. ``Either all the scouts made a mistake or he's an underachiever or a late bloomer. It's his time to demonstrate that he can play or he can't.''.
The karma
In 1999-2000, the Montreal Canadiens set an NHL record with 535 man-games lost to injuries, then nearly matched the mark last season with 531. Some believe the Canadiens' suffer from the Curse of Leaving the Forum.
Already this season, the Canadiens have lost captain Saku Koivu, who is being treated for cancer, and forward Donald Audette, whose forearm tendons were severed by a sickening skate cut.
Roy MacGregor, a columnist for the National Post of Canada, has offered a new theory for Montreal's health woes: ``It has been suggested that the new rink suffers from bad feng shui, a violation of the Chinese belief in building in harmony with nature. The front door of the Molson Centre faces the front door of a church, apparently a major feng shui sin.''
The special K's
Three years ago in Nashville, Dan Wood, then the Sharks beat writer for the Contra Costa Times, and I interviewed Roy Sommer, the Sharks' minor league coach who had driven down from Kentucky.
Although we didn't know it at the time, Alexander Korolyuk was just a few days away from being promoted to the Sharks. Sommer declared that Korolyuk was ready for the NHL and cited Nashville wing Sergei Krivokrasov as a measuring stick.
``He can do everything this Krivokravchuk guy can do,'' Sommer said, comically melding Krivokrasov with the last name of veteran NHL defenseman Igor Kravchuk.
On Dec. 8, there would be another confluence of Krivokrasov and Kravchuk in the waning moments of the Anaheim-Calgary fiasco, a game that featured a brawl in the final minutes. Wood, who now covers the Mighty Ducks for the Orange County Register, was on hand for this momentous Krivokravchuk occasion. In Wood's words: ``All you need to know about Saturday night's madness in Calgary is that it ended with Krivokrasov roughing Kravchuk. Now I've seen it all.''
Ex-Shark update of week
He took so much punishment in one of his first training camps with the Sharks that one team official noted that Ville Peltonen must mean ``Crash Test Dummy'' in Finnish.
After splitting time between Nashville and the minors last season, Peltonen returned to the Finnish Elite League this season and is starring for Jokerit. He was named to the Finnish Olympic team last week.
``He's the best player there by far,'' Sharks wing Teemu Selanne said. ``He's a perfect example of a player who can play well with a little extra time and space. He tried the NHL a couple of times and it didn't work out that well, but on that big ice surface, he is very good.''
The quotes
Anaheim and Calgary combined for 309 penalty minutes Dec. 8, including an NHL-record 190 by the Flames in the third period.
Anaheim Coach Bryan Murray said he had tough guys Kevin Sawyer and Denny Lambert on a late power play of the 4-0 victory for the Ducks because Murray didn't want to run up the score. Here was the response of Calgary G.M. Craig Button on CTV Sportsnet: ``When you work for Disney, you must start to live in a fantasy world. Maybe he believes in Peter Pan.''
Anaheim left wing Jeff Friesen was steamed at Flames captain Dave Lowry for firing the puck into the crowd to allow Calgary tough guy Craig Berube a chance to leave the penalty box in the final seconds of the game. When play resumed, Berube chased down Friesen to fight. ``He was a great teammate, but what he did was gutless,'' Friesen told the Los Angeles Times about Lowry. ``If he wanted to fight one of us, he should have fought us himself and not have Berube do it. To have Berube do it was a gutless thing.''