Leafs Watch

By TIM WHARNSBY -- Toronto Sun
WARRINER'S WOES: Maple Leafs left winger Todd Warriner, a healthy scratch in four of the past five games, left practice early yesterday after colliding with defenceman Dmitry Yushkevich.

Warriner limped off, favouring his left leg.

"It's nothing serious," he said.

Warriner, however, was not sure if he would be ready for the Leafs' next game, tonight in Pittsburgh.

Warriner and centre Alyn McCauley, who has sat out the past three games, once again were dressed in green sweaters for practice at the Gardens yesterday, meaning they were the only forwards without a complete line.

"It was just easy to tell our trainers: 'Same lines' (for practice)," Leafs general manager/coach Pat Quinn said. "There is a chance both could go (in Pittsburgh), although Todd has an injury now."

CLOSE, BUT NO HONOURS: Leafs leading scorer Yanic Perreault, who has seven goals and 18 points in 22 games, was edged by St. Louis Blues goalie Roman Turek for NHL player-of-the-week honours.

Perreault had four goals and one assist in three games last week. Turek was 2-0-1, including a victory against the Leafs, and a .955 save percentage.

Detroit forward Vyacheslav Kozlov (three goals and six points in four games), Edmonton winger Alex Selivanov (three goals and four points in two games) and Phoenix goalie Bob Essensa (three wins) also received consideration.

In 34 regular-season games with Toronto since being reacquired on March 23, Perreault has 14 goals and 33 points.

NO. 99, ALMOST A LEAF: Wayne Gretzky confirmed he almost signed with the Leafs during the summer of 1996 as an unrestricted free agent.

"I wish somehow, some way, that it could have worked out," Gretzky said yesterday.

Gretzky explained that he had a deal with Cliff Fletcher, the Leafs general manager at the time, but Toronto owner Steve Stavro put the kibosh on the move.

That was the summer Stavro cut Fletcher's budget and the Leafs got rid of high-priced talent such as Mike Gartner, Todd Gill and Dave Gagner, on the heels of Dave Andreychuk being traded in March 1996.

NEW TIMEOUTS: Quinn is not a big fan of the new television timeout format in the NHL this season. Instead of four 60-second commercial breaks, the league has gone with three 90-second timeouts. The new format was supposed to give the game more flow.

"I know the timeouts are important for business, but to me it's one of the biggest momentum destroyers of the game today," Quinn said.

"It's worked out the opposite. Three times we stand there and stand there. It's way too long."

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