Sullivan on waivers after Khristich joins Leafs

By NEIL STEVENS --Canadian Press TORONTO (CP) -- Steve Sullivan, affectionately known as the Timmins Tornado, figures on being blown out of town after being placed on waivers by the Toronto Maple Leafs.
"Hopefully, I'll get picked up and start fresh somewhere else," Sullivan said Thursday after what might have been his last practice with the Leafs.
Somebody on the active roster had to go on waivers, as per league requirement, after the signing of former Boston star Dmitri Khristich to a deal that would be worth more than $10 million US if it lasts through a fourth-year club option. Sullivan was being used sparingly, hadn't earned a point, and his 155 pounds didn't suit GM-coach Pat Quinn's intention of making the Leafs bigger.
Sullivan won't be going anywhere if none of the other 27 NHL teams scoop him up by noon Saturday. But a team source said he expected the fiery winger, 25, who has been with Toronto for 2 1/2 years and scored 20 goals last season, to be picked up.
Khristich, 30, lands with his fourth NHL club after a well-publicized contract battle with the Bruins, for whom he scored 29 goals last season. Boston GM Harry Sinden refused to pay the $2.8 million US the Ukrainian forward was awarded by an arbitrator in August, making Khristich a free agent.
The Bruins retained matching rights if any club signed him for 80 per cent or less of the $2.8 million. The Leafs sent Boston a second-round 2000 entry draft pick for those rights.
Khristich will get $850,000 US this season, $2.5 million for each of the second and third years, and $2.75 million for a fourth year, at the club's option. He'll also receive signing bonuses of $750,000 and $700,000 to be paid over the next two years, plus $300,000 if a fourth year kicks in.
"I'm looking forward to getting back in the NHL," said Khristich, who has been working out with a team in Kiev.
His addition brings to nine the number of Europeans on Toronto's 23-man roster.
"It really didn't matter," he replied when asked if the presence of five Russians in the Leafs' dressing room prompted him to opt for Toronto. "It's nice just to see faces I know. They don't have to be Russians."
If Sullivan goes, the Leafs will have 11 Canadians -- fewer than any other Canadian NHL team.
While Quinn admitted that he never would have imagined during his playing days in the 1960s and 1970s that the Leafs would employ this many Europeans, he says he's adapting to changing times.
"You always want to have the best players, regardless of nationality," he said.
Sinden's knocks on Khristich included a contention the player disappeared during last year's playoffs. But Quinn didn't heed that criticism.
"There was that out there," Quinn said of the player's reputation. "But that has been, in my opinion, a bad tag."
Attempts to land Khristich intensified after captain Mats Sundin suffered a broken bone in his right ankle Oct. 9.
"He can help our hockey club," Quinn said of his new acquisition. "He's a good player.
"The team's scouting reports, even long before I got here, are solid on this guy. He looks to me like the kind of guy who can play a two-way game pretty well."
Khristich, who will wear jersey No. 19, replaced a limping Todd Warriner in practice on a line with rookie centre Nikolai Antropov and third-year pro Mike Johnson. He says he'd like to make his Toronto debut against visiting Montreal on Saturday night.
Now, after a flurry of moves that include Quinn trading Sylvain Cote to Chicago and Derek King to St. Louis, the boss is going to take a deep breath and see what happens on the ice.
"What I'd like to do right now is stop for a little bit and pull our guys together," he said. "We've had some changes involving guys who were well-liked and well-respected here and that's unsettling.
"It's hard emotionally. It creates some fear (in those who remain). It gets the wrong emotion in. We have to slow that down and see if we can do some team building now. We're going to stop (roster moves for now)."
Khristich says he would have been playing a lot sooner had teams not ignored him.
"They had some kind of collusion going on," he said. "I had a pretty good year and in a normal case if I become a free agent without compensation I think I would have been taken way before the season started."
Things were good in Boston before his contract problems started, he said.
"I was part of a team going up," he said "We had a hard-working team."
It is no mystery there is no love lost between Khristich and Sinden today. And the Bruins are winless in their opening nine games.
"They gave up on me and Byron (Dafoe) because of contracts," Khristich said. "I hear the guys and the coach are not happy with management doing this kind of stuff to the team, and they are not going to pay the price to win.
"But that's their stuff. I'm out of there now."
Teams with the fewest number of points -- Boston and Buffalo today -- get first shot at players placed on waivers. Atlanta would pass if their turn came up to take Sullivan and his $875,000 US salary.
"At this time, it doesn't make sense for us," said Thrashers GM Don Waddell.

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