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Saturday, September 19, 1998
Stars have leaders without letters on sweaters
By MIKE HEIKA
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
VAIL, Colo. -- Ken Hitchcock just couldn't resist giving a
verbal jab to Brett Hull.
"Hey Hully," the Stars' coach shouted over morning
coffee yesterday. "We had our captain's meeting, and we only
spent about two hours talking about how we're going to deal with
you."
Hull just laughed and fired his comeback: "Hey, did they
discuss everything on that list of concerns I sent in with them?"
Brett Hull might be able to stop being a captain, but he likely
can't stop being a leader. The superstar winger, who signed a
three-year, $17 million free-agent deal with the Stars over the
summer, is fitting in just fine with new linemates Mike Modano
and Jere Lehtinen on the ice. And so far, he's doing a pretty
good job off the ice, too.
Despite being one of the most outspoken players in the NHL
and a former captain with the St. Louis Blues, Hull will not be
one of the five players given a share of the Stars' five-man captaincy.
Instead, he'll have to be part of what Hitchcock is calling "the
support group" -- a handful of players who will be expected
to lead in a quieter role.
All of which, Hitchcock said, makes the 1998-99 season one
in which leadership boundaries have to be reformed.
"When you come into these situations and you assume you're
going to have the old chemistry back, that's the wrong assumption,"
he said. "It has to be different. We have different people
at different focal points in their careers. We have to adapt to
that."
In addition to Hull, the Stars have five former captains on
their team -- Joe Nieuwendyk (Calgary Flames), Pat Verbeek (Hartford
Whalers), Guy Carbonneau (Montreal Canadiens), Brian Skrudland
(Florida Panthers) and Mike Keane (Canadiens). Only Nieuwendyk
is part of the captaincy team -- captain Derian Hatcher and alternate
captains Mike Modano, Craig Ludwig, Sergei Zubov and Nieuwendyk.
That captain's group is intact from last season, but the input
of Keane and Skrudland (acquired in a March trade) and Hull in
July make this a new locker room.
"I think it's a great situation," Hull said. "You
have great leaders who might not say as much but lead on the ice.
And then you have guys like Luds and Carbo who a player can go
to and say, 'Hey, can you tell the coaches this.' Different people
lead in different ways."
And Hull is not without his style. He often jabbers on the
ice or on the bench. He's generally a cut-up in the locker room.
He'll often address leaguewide concerns in the media. And that's
kind of given him a bad reputation as a busybody who might have
his nose too deep in management's business.
"Over the past four years, it seems, I've had the worst
reputation," Hull said. "And I don't think any of it's
true."
In fact, despite Hitchcock's ribbing, he believes that Hull
will fit into the Stars' leadership picture perfectly.
"The risk is not so much in Brett Hull, the risk is can
the guys who have been captains and been leaders on other teams,
can they come in and be strong support people for the leaders
who wear the letters.
"We saw him at the World Cup -1/8in 1996-3/8, and we saw
at the highest competition level that Brett Hull was equal to
the task and probably better than most," Hitchcock added.
"He's a good player in a good atmosphere, and we think that
atmosphere is here. But he's in a support group as far as leadership
goes."
Which is just fine with Brett Hull.
"I like it this way," he said. "It's just like
a bunch of friends talking."
------
Distributed by The Associated Press
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