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In The Crease
The two-year, $20 million contract extension the Red Wings'
Norris Trophy-winning Nicklas Lidstrom signed last week contains
three incentive clauses not previously reported. Lidstrom will
get a $500,000 bonus for each of the following: if Detroit wins
the Stanley Cup, if he earns another Norris Trophy and if he's
named a postseason first-team All-Star....On a two-man breakaway
from the red line against the Coyotes in overtime last Saturday
night, the Canadiens astoundingly failed to attempt a shot on
goal. Worse, moments later Montreal had a three-on-one and again
didn't get a shot on net. The game ended 3-3....Filip Kuba, the
Wild's 24-year-old defenseman who has superbly quarterbacked
Minnesota to the third-best power-play unit in the NHL (21.8%
success rate), was cast aside by two other clubs. The Panthers
drafted him in the eighth round in 1995, but after Kuba
sustained a dislocated knee, the Florida medical staff advised
the Panthers to deal him because it believed his knee would
never hold up. Florida dealt him to the Flames for minor league
enforcer Rocky Thompson in March 2000. Three months later
Minnesota selected the 6'3", 205-pound Kuba from Calgary in the
expansion draft....The season's top two goaltending performances
occurred last week when the Lightning's Nikolai Khabibulin
stopped 42 shots in Tampa Bay's 1-1 tie with the Devils and the
Coyotes' Sean Burke turned aside 47 shots in Phoenix's 1-1
stalemate with the Red Wings....The NHL brass thinks that
players' diving embarrasses the game, so don't be surprised if
referees start cracking down by calling penalties. The league,
in fact, has identified three players it considers to be among
the worst offenders: forwards Jeff O'Neill of the Hurricanes,
Darcy Tucker of the Maple Leafs and Brad May of the Coyotes.
