Gretzky May Enter Hall Earlier

Wayne Gretzky is one step closer to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The Hall’s selection committee waived the standard three-year waiting period for Gretzky on Thursday. It’s now up to the board of directors, which has the final say on induction matters, to do the same at a June 14 meeting.

Three-quarters of the selection committee’s votes were needed Thursday. The vote was unanimous.

Gretzky’s nomination for induction will officially be discussed at a meeting June 23. A news conference announcing this year’s nominees will follow. The next induction ceremony is Nov. 22.

Gretzky, whose remarkable 20-year NHL career ended April 18, is expected to become the 10th NHL player to be inducted without the customary three-year waiting period. He would join Dit Clapper (1947), Maurice Richard (1961), Ted Lindsay (1966), Red Kelly (1969), Terry Sawchuck (1971), Jean Beliveau (1972), Gordie Howe (1972), Bobby Orr (1979) and Mario Lemieux (1997).

Gretzky, 38, retired holding 61 NHL records from a career that included 1,487 games, 894 goals and 1,963 assists. He played on four Stanley Cup-winning teams at Edmonton and had his No. 99 retired league-wide by Commissioner Gary Bettman.

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Superstars Jaromir Jagr, Eric Lindros and Jeremy Roenick have been hurting lately. They still are.

Pittsburgh’s Jagr, who said he was sure to play in Game 5 of the Penguins’ playoff series with New Jersey after missing the last three games because of a groin injury, was less sure after skating Thursday.

The Philadelphia Flyers’ Lindros is out for the series with the Maple Leafs at the very least after suffering a collapsed lung during an April 1 game, but he has said he wants to play if the Flyers advance to the second round. Doctors have not yet made a ruling on Lindros’ availability, but he has been skating lightly at practice recently.

The Phoenix Coyotes’ Roenick has been doing the same while recovering from a broken jaw. His jaw was broken in a late-season hit by Dallas Star defenseman Derian Hatcher, suspended by the league for seven games--five in the playoffs.

Like Lindros, Roenick was not expected back this season. But he hinted that he might return should the Coyotes advance.

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Carolina star center Ron Francis, sidelined since Game 1 of the Hurricanes’ Eastern Conference playoff series against the Boston Bruins because of a sprained right ankle, will return tonight with the best-of-seven series tied 2-2.

While Francis and Sami Kapanen (knee) will return for Carolina, Boston lost Landon Wilson for two to three weeks after a shoulder separation Wednesday night.

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Lemieux met with the Civic Arena’s landlord in a critical phase of his bid to buy the bankrupt Pittsburgh Penguins.

“We had a good exchange of information,� said Chuck Greenberg, an attorney for Lemieux, who declined to elaborate further on the talks with Philadelphia-based SMG in Pittsburgh.

Daniel Shapira, a Pittsburgh attorney representing SMG, said the sides agreed to meet a second time. A hearing on Lemieux’s plan to buy the Penguins is scheduled for today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.