FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – On the ice, the Southeast Division has a bright future. But make no mistake, the NHL better be concerned about the future of the Southeast Division.

All five teams – Atlanta, Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay and Washington – are in non-traditional markets. Four of the teams, the Lightning being the only exception, are in the bottom third in average home attendance, with two of the teams, Carolina and Atlanta, in the bottom five.

To try to create rivalries and add more meaning to divisional games, each team in the NHL plays divisional opponents six times (one more than previous years) – three at home and on the road.

Despite the fact that each Southeast team has its share of exciting players and stars, despite the fact that two of the teams, Tampa Bay and Atlanta, are in the playoff race with the Panthers right on the verge, hockey fans in these cities don’t seem to be finding Southeast Division matchups sexy.

The Lightning, who has the 15th-best attendance in the NHL at 16,367 a game, has seen a decrease to 15,250 for Southeast opponents. The Panthers, averaging 14,373 a game (22nd in the NHL), has seen a marginal increase (241 fans). Carolina, last in the league at 11,646 a game, has averaged 9,777 fans for four Southeast matchups.

On Nov. 9, 9,821 arrived to watch the Hurricanes play Tampa Bay, at the time the No. 1 team in the East. On Nov. 13, Atlanta came to Raleigh and played in front of 8,674.

Tampa Bay has stars like Vincent Lecavalier, Brad Richards, Martin St. Louis and Nikolai Khabibulin and Atlanta has arguably the most dynamic scorer in the game, Ilya Kovalchuk.

The Panthers have loads of talent, led by Olli Jokinen, Valeri Bure, Jay Bouwmeester and Roberto Luongo.

Whenever the Panthers play Atlanta, it always seems to be a wild, exciting, end-to-end game.

There’s still hatred between Florida and Tampa on the ice, and it’s even filtered off the ice as former colleagues, Panthers General Manager Rick Dudley, Tampa’s former GM, and Jay Feaster, Tampa’s current GM, make no secret of their disdain for each other.

If you’re a hockey fan, who wouldn’t want to see the Panthers and Washington, who bring stars like Jaromir Jagr, Peter Bondra, Sergei Gonchar and Robert Lang into Office Depot Center three times a year?

Since the divisional matchups don’t seem to be selling themselves, what needs to happen to make fans come?

“In our parts of untraditional hockey, you have to win,” Dudley says bluntly. “And our division as a whole has not been very successful for awhile, but I think it’s starting to turn. There’s going to be some very good teams. Atlanta is going to be a great team. Tampa Bay is already a great team. We have the ability. So does Washington and Carolina.”

Maybe the Lightning is proof positive that winning matters. In its last two non-playoff years in 2001-02 and 2000-01, the Lightning ranked 20th and 25th respectively in average attendance.

The Panthers should be a perennial contender in a few years, which means they might have to wait for the fans.

But with Southeast Division opponents arriving 12 times (29 percent of the home schedule) a season, there has to be another way to entice unenthused fans to come.

“One of things we need to do is have some rivalries,” Dudley said.

“We’re starting to get that with Tampa. We’re starting to get a little hate going with Atlanta. I think our next game with Atlanta should be an interesting one. Those are the kind of things that draws people.

“It’s got to be in a successful package though. It’d be nice if four of the teams were in playoff contention. In Toronto, in Montreal, you’re going to sell tickets whether you win or lose. It’s not the same in the rest of the world. So you have to win and you have to have some definite hate. I came up through the minor leagues in management and we used to do it on purpose. We made sure everybody knew we hated somebody. People came and they knew that it was going to be a war.”

Dudley was reminded of his ingenious marketing ploy when he was the Lightning’s GM. In order to incite the feud between the Panthers and Lightning, Dudley said, “I don’t think Panther fans have the guts to come across the state and buy tickets for our games against them.”

The Panthers Booster Club rented two buses and brought 100 paying fans across the Everglades for what they called the “Rick Dudley Challenge.”

“Emails were just vicious,” Dudley said. “I just got a ton of hate mail from Panthers fans, but I don’t think anything is wrong with that.

“If two players on the Washington Capitals and Florida Panthers hate each other, play it up. Why not? I’m no different than anybody else. I love the war aspect of sport. That’s why I’m a football fan. That’s why I’m a hockey fan. And I think I’m in the same mold as a lot of other people. I think they like that aspect of our game. Maybe we don’t see it often enough in this division.”

The Panthers and Lightning are trying to play that rivalry up with the Florida Challenge, with the loser in the season series donating $5,000 to the winner’s charitable foundation. The Panthers are ahead 1-0.

Hard hats in Detroit

After each Red Wings’ victory, the coaching staff has been awarding a hard hat to the Detroit player who exemplifies the character and heart that former Wings defenseman Vladimir Konstantinov, whose career ended after a limousine accident after a 1997 Stanley Cup celebration, personified.

Konstantinov’s No. 16 is on the hat.

“We give it out every win,” coach Dave Lewis said. “That’s the type of standard Vlade set. That’s the type of standard we want. Not to tie. We want wins. The hard-hat award isn’t necessarily for the guy who scores the game-winning goal, but who best exemplifies the style, character and heart of Vladimir Konstantinov. We wanted to do something in our own way to honor Vlade. I know the players know how Vlade played, and that’s a good thing.”

Lafleur not thrilled with NHL

Hall of Famer Guy Lafleur is not happy with the current state of the NHL.

“I’m not a fan,” he said. “Too many teams. The talent is so diluted. You listen to people and it drives them nuts. I know it can’t be like the 70s or 80s, but if we cut down the number of teams or added a European division, I think it would be great. But, I hardly watch, all the hooking and grabbing today.”

When it was suggested that commissioner Gary Bettman thinks the on-ice product is wonderful, Lafleur said, “Tell him to buy a team and he’ll see how great it is.”

Bang for the Buck

Wild forwards Marc Chouinard, Alexandre Daigle and Christoph Brandner have combined for 13 goals and 23 points. Dubbed the “Bang for the Buck” line, they make a combined $1.575 million, $225,000 less the average NHL salary.

“It means the league average is too high,” GM Doug Risebrough cracked.

Teen scoring

Columbus’ Rick Nash, just 19 years old, is tied for third in the NHL with 13 goals, 28 percent of the Blue Jackets’ offense.

“He wants to be a scorer, he’s intimidating and he can score goals from in front of the net,” teammate Todd Marchant said. “Keeping it simple, with all that talent, contributes to being a great player. He’s starting to put it all together now. He’s like John Leclair, Keith Tkachuk. They know when to go to the net and how to get there.”

Nash is enjoying the media attention he’s receiving because “Someday, no one’s going to want to talk to me, so I might as well enjoy it.”

Owner cites Capital offenses

Tired of his team being last in the NHL, Capitals owner Ted Leonsis motivated his team for one game at least by telling the Washington Times the Capitals “stink.”

“We can’t score goals, we can’t stop goals, we aren’t hitting, we can’t play on special teams. . . we all stink,” Leonsis said. “We can try to improve but to do so we will need to make trades. And who would want our players that are underachieving?”

The Capitals responded by traveling to Detroit and winning 4-1. Of course, they followed that by losing to Buffalo to 5-2.

Catfish on ice

A few Nashville Predators fans have been lobbing catfish onto the ice in celebration of the team’s first goal every game. The strange tradition began Oct. 30 in a win over Detroit, maybe in response to Detroit’s octopus throwing.

“They are so gross,” said Jessica Hanley, a member of the ice crew in Nashville. “They’re huge, they’re heavy, they stink and they leave this slimy trail on the ice.”

Rookie forward Jordin Tootoo, an Inuit, has eaten plenty of raw meat in his day, so “I kind of get a kick out of it. It reminds me of home.”

Biting back

Supposed to be out three months with an ankle injury, Atlanta’s Marc Savard returned in three weeks. But he’s in trouble with the NHL for biting Toronto agitator Darcy Tucker.

“He shoved his fingers in my mouth, so how do you get rid of a mouthhold?” Savard said “The guy’s mauling you, you can’t breathe. It’s like a chokehold. How do you get rid of that, stomp on someone’s foot?”

Said Toronto coach Pat Quinn, “I’ve seen guys in scraps before, a little biting here and there, but usually it’s the WWF.”

Top picks on the rise

Pittsburgh’s Marc-Andre Fleury, Carolina’s Eric Staal and the Panthers’ Nathan Horton continue to be important contributors five months after being drafted 1-2-3.

The last time the top three draft picks played in the league the same year they were drafted was in 1997 when Joe Thornton played for Boston, Patrick Marleau played for San Jose and Olli Jokinen, now the Panthers’ captain, played for Los Angeles.

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(c) 2003 South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

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AP-NY-11-29-03 1852EST