It Can’t Get Much Worse for Islanders

These aren’t Ken Morrow’s New York Islanders, the team that dominated the NHL in the late 1970s and early 1980s and won four consecutive Stanley Cup championships.

“It’s tough. We’ve been going through a lot,� said Morrow, who went from the gold medal-winning 1980 U.S. Olympic team to a soon-to-be Cup winner, and now is the Islanders’ director of pro scouting. “You can go back 10 years and see there are a lot of factors.�

Start with their failure to nourish their farm system and the neglect of owner John Pickett. Throw in an outmoded arena and the misdeeds of would-be owner John Spano, who last week was sentenced to 71 months in federal prison for bank and wire fraud--a month more than former King owner Bruce McNall, for those keeping score.

Top it off with new owners who ordered major payroll cuts, which led to trades of their four top scorers. Those owners, Edward and Howard Milstein and Steven Gluckstern, agreed to sell the club but the deal has dragged and may be derailed by a dispute over development rights to land for a proposed new arena.

In sum, the Islanders have a glorious past and an uncertain future.

“This team still has a history, and you want it to be that players want to come here,� said Morrow, a sometime tutor to defensemen. “I’m not sure that was the case a few years ago.

“We’ve got a good group of kids now. One thing that’s been consistent is, they’ve come to play every night. They’ve shown passion. And when they have that, you can teach them.�

The Islanders’ season-high three-game winning streak ended Monday in a 5-2 loss to the Kings in their first meeting since trading Ziggy Palffy, Bryan Smolinski and Marcel Cousineau to Los Angeles for Olli Jokinen, Josh Green, Mathieu Biron and a 1999 first-round draft pick. The Kings appear to have “won� the deal, but each team got what it needed. The Kings have a proven scorer, second-line center and goaltending depth, and the Islanders got young, low-salaried prospects.

“Ziggy wasn’t going to be able to change the direction of the team and it just wasn’t feasible for us to surround him with the talent to make it better,� said John Sanders, the Islander president. “On the balance, I’d say the trade helped both teams. I know L.A. is happy. And we still have a piece, the first-round pick [used to select junior winger Taylor Pyatt].�

The key to their future, however, may be Coach Butch Goring. A former King whose trade to New York set up the Islanders’ Cup run, he last coached in the NHL in 1987 but built a strong resume with Utah of the IHL.

“We’re able to compete with any hockey team in the league,� he said. “We’re making strides.

“The biggest thing is, we wanted to be a competitive team this year and we were a little leery because there was a big change in personnel. We’ve made life miserable for a lot of hockey teams.

“[General Manager] Mike Milbury has some plans. We’re going to have some trying times, but we can see the bright lights.�

Maybe so, but they aren’t red lights illuminated by Jokinen, who after Monday’s game has three goals and eight points in 50 games.

“We’re trying to establish what he is,� Goring said. “There are some areas he needs work on and we’re trying to find what his niche is.�

Jokinen had been eager to face his old team.

“I was disappointed in how the trade happened,� he said. “No one called me from the L.A. Kings. I found out from the New York Islanders. . . . I want to beat every team every game, but I will have more energy for my game Monday.�

DOLLARS OR RUBLES

Goalie Nikolai Khabibulin insists his impasse with the Phoenix Coyotes has nothing to do with money.

Which means it has everything to do with money.

Khabibulin, who became a restricted free agent last June, wants more than $4 million a year. The Coyotes, who are for sale, last offered $9 million over three years. He proposed five years at $4-plus million a year or three years at less than $4 million a year, but the Coyotes declined. As protection, they signed Bob Essensa and acquired Sean Burke as their starter.

Even when Burke was idled for six weeks because of a thumb injury, the Coyotes didn’t soften toward Khabibulin, who recently signed with the IHL’s Ice Dogs to get back into shape. The IHL allows such moves because the Ice Dogs aren’t owned by an NHL team and have merely a working agreement with the Kings.

“It’s pretty clear to me there is some strange things happening in Phoenix this year,� Khabibulin said. “I have heard from other people [that] they thought I would give in to their ultimatum. It’s not the money. It’s that I rejected their proposal because it wasn’t fair market value but also because of the way they handled negotiations.�

The Coyotes, he said, “should know I have no interest to play for them. . . . I made a decision and I feel comfortable with it and I’m going to stick to it.�

OLDIE BUT GOODIE

Boston Bruin defenseman Ray Bourque, the fifth NHL player to have played in four decades, will join Wayne Gretzky on Sunday as the only players to have appeared in 18 consecutive All-Star games.

But Bourque, 39 and playing for a marginal team, knows he may never achieve the ultimate honor of winning the Cup. The five-time Norris Trophy winner is considering retirement but won’t decide until summer.

“It may very well be my last year,� said Bourque, who could have made more money and won the Cup elsewhere but stayed in Boston because his family likes it. “I really don’t know.

“The question, I know, is out there and it will continue to be, but I really don’t have an answer.�

The Bruins’ struggles--and his own--have made this season especially trying.

“The last couple of years, we were going in the right direction,� said Bourque, who joined Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull, George Armstrong and Carl Brewer in the four-decade club. “We had a good crop of young players and it seemed like things were coming together pretty well. And the loss of a couple of guys certainly has affected us this year and we’re in a battle again for just one of those playoff spots.�

Those “guys� are standout defensive center Tim Taylor, who signed with the Rangers as a free agent, and top goal scorer Dmitri Khristich, who became a free agent when General Manager Harry Sinden walked away from an arbitration decision Khristich had won. In addition, a contract dispute with goalie Byron Dafoe lingered into November, leaving another hole.

It’s remarkable that owner Jeremy Jacobs could ignore those problems last week when he told the Boston Globe, “Our coaching has not been what I think it should be. I think our coaches need to do a better job. . . . Our players are better than our record.�

As long as Sinden makes money for Jacobs, it will be the coaches’ fault--and the Bruins will be mediocre.

SLAP SHOTS

Ranger forward Kevin Stevens, arrested last week near St. Louis on a felony drug-possession charge, went to California for treatment in the substance-abuse program sponsored by the league and the NHL Players Assn. Stevens reportedly had an alcohol-related problem this season but wasn’t suspended because he was not using a controlled substance. He faces a hearing Friday and could be sentenced to three years in jail.

“We had known alcohol and him were not two good things that go together,� Ranger General Manager Neil Smith said. “He was trying to get away from all that. He fell off the wagon. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.� And doing the wrong things. . . .

It’s a miracle Montreal forward Trent McCleary survived after taking a shot in the throat from close range and suffering a fractured larynx and collapsed lung--and amazing more players aren’t seriously injured blocking shots. The puck hit one of the few unprotected areas on his body, a sobering reminder of how dangerous the game is. . . .

Theo Fleury still doesn’t have a power-play goal and Brian Leetch’s return from a broken arm has been delayed, but the Rangers are on a 10-3 roll. “We’re finally seeing a working chemistry,� Smith said. . . .

Kudos to the booster clubs of the Ice Dogs, Kings and Mighty Ducks for “competing� in a blood-donor contest that helped the American Red Cross meet its quota for January. The Ice Dogs had about 80 supporters. . . .

Eric Lindros was involved in several scuffles in his first game after having missed two weeks because of a concussion. Flyer fans cheered wildly, but would they have been happy if Lindros--whose helmet was knocked off in a bout with Florida’s Todd Simpson--had been knocked out and suffered another concussion?. . .

Ottawa General Manager Marshall Johnston issued a press release to deny rumors he will trade AWOL center Alexei Yashin. “Any discussions of a possible trade of Alexei reported by the media have been complete fabrication,� he said. “I want to make it clear to other teams’ general managers and hockey staff, as well as to the media and our fans, I will not entertain any conversations concerning Alexei Yashin.� Unless he gets an offer too good to refuse.