Continental drift apparent in scoring

"More than ever, it's a world league," mused Rolston, off to a sizzling start this year, building on a 2002-03 season in which he was often Boston's top performer. "And with so many skilled Europeans, that's probably going to be even more the case."

That Europe produces skilled skaters and shooters is nothing really new. Mother Russia began to release its aged veterans about 15 years ago, and by the early '90s, younger Russian sensations began sprouting up on NHL sheets.

Raise your hand high if you knew, without looking it up, that Sergei Fedorov is now in his 14th NHL campaign. Finns, Swedes, Czechs, and Slovaks have all done a pretty good job of filling the net, too, in the last 8-10 years.

Last season, five European players finished among the NHL's top 10 scorers. Over the last six seasons, Calgary's Jarome Iginla (96 points in '01-02) is the sole North American player to win the Art Ross Trophy as the league's No. 1 scorer. The Czech-born Jaromir Jagr won four in a row before Iginla, and Swedish star Peter Forsberg nosed out countryman Markus Naslund for last year's title.

"I still think the US and Canada produce skilled players who score," said Rolston, who has averaged 60 points per season his three years with Boston, never skating with the club's higher-profile forwards. "And you see more and more Americans getting drafted and getting into the NHL. Canada's a very proud country, and hockey's their game and everything, but there's no question that the European nations produce some great, great players."

The underlying cause, in Rolston's opinion, is an early emphasis on skating and skills development. Like many better NHL skaters, Rolston's first days on the ice were in figure skates. Ex-Bruins coach and Bay State star Robbie Ftorek learned on figures. Ditto for netminding star Tom Barrasso.

"I was skating for two years before I even touched a hockey stick," said Rolston. "Now I've got a 2-year-old son, and I've been going around to the European guys in our room -- like Sammy [Sergei Samsonov] -- asking them about how they started. Sammy learned on double runners, very young. I don't want my son to play unless he wants to play, whether it's hockey or anything else. But if it is hockey, I think the most important thing is to learn to skate first."

Gerry Cheevers, the Bruins' Hall of Fame goaltender, has long lived by the motto, "Everything in the game comes from one thing: skating."

Rolston, with perhaps the best set of wheels on the Bruins, lives by the same words.

"It's all about skating and then skills development," he said. "You see the Europeans, how they skate, and all their skills. I mean, it will always be a tough game, but underneath it all you've got to emphasize the skating. It cracks me up sometimes, watching young kids out there doing drills, and the coach has them working on breakout drills. Breakout drills? I mean, let's talk about skating and just making simple passes, one player to another, before we get to breakout drills."

Clock is ticking

Bryan Berard's agent, Tom Laidlaw, continues to talk with the Bruins about bringing Berard back for at least a year, but Boston's strong start obviously works against the former Mount St. Charles star returning to the Hub of Hockey. As the days tick off the 2003-04 schedule, notes Laidlaw, it also becomes easier for another club to sign Berard at a price that won't allow the Bruins the right to match. The offer would have to be north of $2.008 million per year, but the club acquiring Berard would be obligated to pay only the pro-rated amount, based on how many days remain in the season . . . The Kings, even without stars Adam Deadmarsh and Jason Allison (both out with concussions), were among the Western Conference leaders with a 4-4-0 record (second in the Pacific Division, 2 points behind Dallas). Ex-Flyer netminder Roman Cechmanek, dealt to the Kings in May for a second-round pick, blanked the Bullies, 4-0, Tuesday night, turning away 22 shots. Among the things Cechmanek likes in LA: the anonymity that comes with playing hockey in Southern California. "You're not going to be anonymous if you play hockey in Philadelphia," said Flyers general manager Bob Clarke, "especially if you're a goalie, and especially if the playoffs don't go real good for you." . . . An early crush was to be expected, but the new Fan Relations Department set up by the Bruins at times last week was receiving upward of 150 communiques per day. Keep those postcards coming . . . San Jose scout Cap Raeder, longtime pal of fellow Needhamite Ftorek, reports that the former Bruins coach has filled some of his idle hours moose hunting. Anyone heard or seen from Andre "Moose" Dupont? . . . Nice start for the Rangers (1-2-2 as of Friday morn), with Eric Lindros sidelined at least a couple of weeks with a sprain in his chest/collarbone area. The Blueshirts also were 0 for 23 on the man advantage in those games -- the only club without a power-play goal the first two weeks. The Rangers scored only eight times in those first five games . . . Their 4-1 loss to the Bruins Tuesday night had the Avalanche calling a player-led team meeting, and on Wednesday, GM Pierre Lacroix flipped Bates Battaglia and prospect Jonas Johansson to Washington for Capitals captain Steve Konowalchuk, the veteran left wing whose name was in the mix in March 1997 when the Bruins acquired Allison and Anson Carter. Forsberg, outplayed by Thornton Tuesday, came back 48 hours later and popped in three goals vs. the Oilers. Paul Kariya is out indefinitely with a wrist injury, in part the reason to acquire Konowalchuk, who turns 31 next month.

The hockey stores

Maple Leaf Gardens last week was sold to Loblaws, a huge grocery retailer, and the old hockey barn now stands to reopen in 2005 as a grocery store and retail operation. Zamboni breakdown in Aisle 3! Up in Montreal, the old Forum is now a movie theater, with various small retail stores also in the hallowed hall. Meanwhile, the three empty building lots around the FleetCenter, including the one that once served as the Boston Garden footprint, remain vacant. According to Charlie Jacobs, Bruins executive vice president, a 35-floor residential tower, with rentals, condos, and parking, will be the key component built on the "C" lot behind the Fleet. Completion date is expected to be in the three- to four-year range. Plans for the "A" and "B" lots on the East side of the Fleet, where the Garden stood, have not been finalized. According to Jacobs, initial plans lean toward mixed use of hotel, office, and retail space, with nothing open for business for at least another 4-5 years . . . The Bruins Foundation, the charitable organization headed by former referee Paul Stewart, will hold Hockey 101 for Women at the FleetCenter, 6-8 p.m. Nov. 3. For $80, females with a fondness for the game (divas on the dashers?) will receive some on-ice tutoring, get a tour of the locker rooms, and receive a ticket for the Bruins-Capitals game Nov. 20. In these politically correct times, it's hard not to offend someone. A number of HFboards.com posters last week found the 101 for Women idea objectionable. According to Stewart, the course is one of 10 similar programs that will be rolled out this season . . . A week from tomorrow, Grant Fuhr and Pat LaFontaine will be formally enshrined in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto. Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch and longtime junior coach Brian Kilrea (Nick Boynton's coach in Ottawa) also will be inducted. Longtime pal Michael Farber, ex- of the Montreal Gazette and now with Sports Illustrated, will receive the Elmer Ferguson Award in honor of his superlative work through the decades. Among the joys of taking in a Bruins game at the Forum over the years was to pick up the Gazette and savor the day's offerings of Farber and Red Fisher. Edmonton broadcaster Rod Phillips is this year's Foster Hewitt Award winner on the electronic side of the red line . . . Bob Sauve, agent for the injured Jonathan Girard, reports that the Bruins defenseman is making steady progress at a Laval, Quebec, rehabilitation facility, spending much of the day on crutches and exercising twice each day. Girard suffered a crushed pelvis, fractured in four places, and a broken neck in a late July auto accident outside of Montreal. In two or three weeks, said Sauve, the 23-year-old Girard expects to return for follow-up abdominal surgery in Montreal and, if all goes as expected, he could be home on or about Dec. 1.

He'll be back

Montreal's Saku Koivu, yet to see any action because of a sprained knee suffered in the preseason, should be ready for duty this week in back-to-back games (Tuesday, Thursday) with the Bruins. The diminutive captain was going to suit up last Thursday, but opted to delay his debut . . . Ex-Bruin netminder Byron Dafoe has not made an appearance for the Thrashers. Lord Byron is trim. He's fit. He's ready to go. But Thrashers coach Bob Hartley, dealing with a fragile team confidence after the auto accident that killed Dan Snyder and severely injured Dany Heatley, thus far has tossed the full load to Pasi Nurminen . . . The Wild, a moribund 1-5-1 in their first seven games, remain without star forward Marian Gaborik, who thus far has thumbed his nose at Minny's three-year offer of a minimum $9.5 million . . . Condolences to Cheevers and his extended family over the death last Saturday of Pat Cheevers, the 61-year-old brother of the former Bruins netminder, in St. Catharines, Ontario. Donations to the Heart and Stroke Foundation or the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation would be appreciated . . . If you've tuned in to an NHL telecast, you're probably seen the clever spots by Shania Twain and Jim Belushi, the latter dressed in a Blackhawks sweater, giving his pal a working over with a broom while explaining the game's rules. Yet to be seen: spots by Kiefer Sutherland, Denis Leary, and Cuba Gooding Jr. (he must have prepped with his appearance in "Snow Dogs"). How soon before the Kings, Ducks, and Sharks approach Governor Terminator for some homespun hockey promos?

Kevin Paul Dupont's e-mail address is dupont@globe.com; material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.