Canadian skaters become a minority with Maple Leafs

By NEIL STEVENS -- Canadian Press TORONTO -- Tie Domi has some work to do on his behind-the-back passes.
He tried one during Toronto's 3-2 victory Saturday night over the Montreal Canadiens and it was off target, but just to witness the Maple Leafs' mauler attempting such a trick was shocking.
Who does he think he is, Sergei Berezin?
Domi couldn't help himself. There are so many European skaters in the Leafs' lineup now that some of that dipsy-doodling brand of hockey is bound to rub off.
The strong European influence is changing the way the Leafs play, and the point was driven home when Dmitri Khristich took to the ice for his first game.
It was, in this one way, an historic game: the balance with the bash-and-crash Canadian style had been tipped in the Leafs' dressing room.
When captain Mats Sundin completes his recuperation next month from a broken ankle, Toronto will present for the first time a lineup in which non-Canadian skaters are the majority.
The Leafs are a finesse team now.
Eddie Shack fans, shudder if you must.
When the Leafs got their first power-play chance, GM-coach Pat Quinn sent out Khristich, Berezin, Igor Korolev, Danny Markov and Alexander Karpovtsev -- a Ukrainian and four Russians. The passing was something to watch.
Playing the Russian-speaking players together on power plays, with Dimitri Yushkevich an option to Karpovtsev on the point, appeals to Quinn.
"Detroit used it with great success in their Cup years and it may have some possibilities for us," Quinn said.
Khristich had more shots on Canadiens goaltender Jeff Hackett -- five -- than any other Leaf.
"I had some chances and too bad I didn't score," he said of his debut. "Otherwise, it was great."
Nikolai Antropov, Tomas Kaberle and Jonas Hoglund are regulars, too, and the two best prospects on the AHL farm are Marek Posmyk and Dmitri Yakushin.
With Steve Sullivan claimed off waivers by the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday, the remaining Canadian skaters on the 23-man roster are: Domi, Steve Thomas, Garry Valk, Mike Johnson, Todd Warriner, Alyn McCauley, Yanic Perreault, Cory Cross, Chris McAllister and the seldom-used Kris King.
Greg Andrusak played Saturday but only because American Bryan Berard was completing a two-game suspension. Both goalies, Curtis Joseph and Glenn Healy, are Canadians.
The only downside Quinn sees in his revamped squad is defensive deficiencies.
"We had a lot of stick checking going on and on a lot of nights when you play like that you don't win," he said.
As it was, Toronto barely scraped past the injury-depleted Canadiens. Fewer drop passes and more body checks would please Quinn.
But times change, and so does hockey, although the Leafs have no plans to distribute English-Russian dictionaries in the dressing room.
"Some teams have lots of Russians, some teams have lots of French Canadians," says Perreault, the only Toronto player who understood every word of the bilingual national anthem warbled by Douglas Tranquada. "But most of the players know English so it's not a problem for anybody."
The win-loss record is what counts, not the nationalities of the players wearing the blue and the white, says Quinn, who admits that during his playing days 30 years ago with Toronto, Vancouver and Atlanta he never imagined this many Europeans would be playing in the NHL at the turn of the century.
"No, not a chance," he said. "But, to think back and try to see where the league has come in the last 30 years, you'd have had to say that the players would have had to come from somewhere, and they're not going to all come from Canada."

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