BC-HKN–Stanley Cup-Rekindled Flames,0660

Flames built Stanley Cup finalist with Penguins castoffs

Eds: STANDS as early lead to BC-HKN–Stanley Cup, Bjt

By ALAN ROBINSON

AP Sports Writer

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Some on-the-rise teams use their minor league system as the cornerstone for rebuilding. Others rely on free agents or players dumped for salary reasons at the trading deadline.

The Calgary Flames, as surprising a Stanley Cup finalist as the NHL has seen in years, took a seldom-seen and rarely copied tactic.

They leaned on the Pittsburgh Penguins – another small-market, modest-revenue team that seemingly wouldn’t want to part with younger, lower-priced talent, yet did exactly that.

Three of Flames’ core players in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup finals against Tampa Bay on Thursday night – defenseman Andrew Ference and forwards Shean Donovan and Ville Nieminen – all played for Pittsburgh a year ago before coming to Calgary. Defenseman Krzysztof Oliwa made the Pittsburgh-to-Calgary move two years ago.

What was uncommon about their migration was the way it happened. It didn’t occur in a major trade, as so often happens when a pool of players moves from one team to another. All came in separate transactions.

Nieminen came by way of a short stopover in Chicago that cost the Flames little in return, yet resulted in their first trip to the finals since 1989.

Ference led the Flames in minutes played and was a plus-2 in their 4-1 victory Tuesday in Game 1. Donovan brings exceptional speed, and Nieminen adds feistiness to a second line that, with Marcus Nilson, combined for 10 goals and 13 assists in the Flames’ first 20 playoff games. Oliwa had a key goal in Game 1 of the Western Conference final against San Jose.

What did the Flames give up to get the ex-Penguins? Only Mathias Johansson and Micki DuPont, neither playing in North America this season; Jason Morgan (to Chicago for Nieminen) and two conditional draft picks. That’s it.

The way Ference, Donovan and Nieminen have performed, the Flames most likely would have given up the entire package and more for any one of the three.

None of the players was costing Pittsburgh that much money, either; Donovan made $700,000 last season, not even half the NHL average salary of about $1.8 million.

“There are so many stories like that in NHL, where just having the right timing and right situation, playing for someone that believes in you, is such a big thing in so many guys’ careers,” Ference said. “You see huge turnarounds where guys have the exact same situation as me. It’s just getting the right coaching staff, the right belief in you.”

The turnarounds have been dramatic, too.

Ference was a minus-16 in 22 Penguins games last season; he’s a plus-3 in these playoffs. Donovan had only nine points and was a minus-6 in 52 Penguins games in 2002-03. He has eight points just in these playoffs after having 18 goals and 24 assists during the season.

Nieminen was a minus-25 with Pittsburgh last season, scoring only nine goals in 75 games, but is a plus-1 in the playoffs. He also had three goals and eight points with Calgary in 19 regular-season games.

“In this business, you have to be careful with what you say or do because it seems that whatever goes around comes around a lot,” Nieminen said. “But the atmosphere (in Pittsburgh) was not for me.”

Ference suggested he received better coaching in Calgary than in Pittsburgh, where Rick Kehoe was fired following a second straight losing season in 2003. Ference did not play for the Penguins’ current coach, Eddie Olczyk.

“I can’t speak for them,” Ference said when asked why Pittsburgh let him go. “All I know is this is a great opportunity for me, to play for somebody like Darryl (Sutter). To be coached so well is something I’ve really looked forward to, to help me develop.”

AP-ES-05-27-04 1535EDT