What about Steve Larmer as a defenseman? Or maybe in goal?
Naw, but coach Darryl Sutter claims he is harboring a secret that involves a different role for the right wing.
“I think I know where I’m going to put him,” Sutter said of Larmer, who has been bounced around a bit since Joe Murphy’s arrival a month ago. He’s played a little left wing, and he’s worked on a line centered by Brent Sutter since Murphy joined Jeremy Roenick. Where is he headed now?
He hopes he’ll land somewhere that will enable him to stop a slide that has him without a goal in his last eight games and with one goal in his last 12.
An old timer: Steve Smith calls former Edmonton teammate Craig Muni, the newest Hawk, the last of the defensive defensemen. “Doesn’t try to do anything fancy, just competes hard,” said Smith. “The kind of guy that’ll be a big part of our team in a hurry.”
Still talking: Bob Pulford can’t make a trade now until after the season, but don’t think that means he won’t be talking trade as usual with fellow GMs. Because the rules prohibit it, Pulford would never say it’s true, but you can bet he’s been active trying to find a new home for backup goalie Jimmy Waite.
He will reach a tentative agreement with some team-maybe the Boston Bruins since goalie Andy Moog seems to have fallen into disfavor-and then sit on the announcement until after the season. He won’t allow Waite to be taken by either Miami or Anaheim in June’s expansion draft.
No promises: Muni said he had heard from Edmonton sources that he wouldn’t be protected in the expansion draft and expected to be available if he wasn’t traded by the deadline. Will the Hawks protect him?
“I don’t know” Sutter said.
It could be a close call to say whether Muni is among the five defensemen on the Hawk protected list. A lot will depend on his play from here on.