A classic reunion on tap

TOM JOHNSON Five straight Cups

Tom Johnson, the Bruins' former assistant general manager, played on the Montreal dynasty that won five straight Cups (1956-60). He'll be in Ottawa next weekend when the NHL honors the six living members of those Habs squads with a dinner reception Friday and a tribute at Scotiabank Place Saturday night when the Senators and Anaheim Ducks square off in Game 3 of the Cup finals.

"You know, there were 12 of us who played on all five of those Cups," the 79-year-old Johnson said Friday, reached at his home on the Cape. "Now we're down to six. When the league said they were going to get us together, I said, 'Great, but you better hold it pretty soon if you want all the guys there.' "

Johnson, the senior among the bunch, will be joined by Jean Beliveau, Henri Richard, Jean-Guy Talbot, Don Marshall, and Dickie Moore. Combined, those six have their names etched on the Cup 35 times, led by Richard (a.k.a. the Pocket Rocket), who leads all NHLers with 11.

Henri, younger brother of the legendary Maurice "Rocket" Richard, reported to his first Habs camp as a 19-year-old in the autumn of 1955. There were training camp rumblings that his brother, already a Montreal icon with three Cup triumphs by age 34, might put some pressure on coach Toe Blake to promote the younger Richard before he was ready.

Blake, recalled Johnson, made a habit of leaning heaviest on the club's veterans, sending a clear message that no one was exempt from the coach's wrath. To think that Blake might show preferential treatment toward the Rocket's little brother, said Johnson, was ridiculous.

"A lot of questions were swirling around," recalled Johnson. "So Toe calls three of us into his office -- me, Doug Harvey, and Bert Olmstead -- and he says to us, 'Am I seeing this thing right?' He didn't want any doubt why he was taking the kid, you see. So I was the first to speak up, and I said, 'Heck, he's had the puck for a week!' That's just how good the kid was, coming in."

Beliveau, perhaps the most admired and respected of all Canadiens, carried the moniker "Le Gros Bill." Johnson was "Tomcat." Marshall and Talbot, the quietest of the bunch, according to Johnson, were without nicknames.

And Moore?

"We called him the Indian, just because he was crazy," said Johnson, who came to the Bruins via waivers in June 1963. "We were on the train one night, I remember, and we hear all this commotion coming from the next car, the club car, and sure enough, there's the Indian, and he's got the porter by the throat. He was looking for a drink, I guess, but the bar was closed."

Harvey, the Hall of Fame defenseman, was perhaps Blake's No. 1 target, in part because he had the on-ice talent to gamble with the puck.

"And he took a lot of chances," said Johnson, also a Hall of Famer, as well as the last coach to lead the Bruins to a Stanley Cup ('72). "Toe would tell him, 'Look, I don't want you in front of that net handling the puck.' Well, some games, if we were winning, he'd be out there in front of the net and look right over at the bench. It drove Toe nuts.

"He'd take his hands -- and his fingers were so long, they were like a bunch of bananas -- and he'd just wrap them around one of our guys' throats if they did something wrong. Didn't matter who it was."

The five straight Cups, Johnson figures, likely won't be matched. The Islanders rattled off four straight, 1980-83, before surrendering to the Edmonton dynasty. As great as they were, with Wayne Gretzky their centerpiece, the Oilers could fashion only four Cups over five seasons (1984-88), and didn't win a fifth until 1990.

"It's just too tough now," said Johnson. "We only had to win two rounds, win eight games, in our day. Now it's four rounds and 16 wins. Just too tough.

"Look at Buffalo this year. A pretty good team, even though I thought the Rangers should have beat them, but a pretty good team. Against the Senators, they looked small, and they ran out of gas. People don't understand that, but that's the way it is in the playoffs -- run out of gas for a week and you're gone."

The keys for those great Canadien squads, said Johnson, were the roster architecture of general manager Frank Selke, the goaltending of Jacques Plante, and Blake's coaching.

"Plain old nuts-and-bolts coaching," he said. "No blackboards, videotapes, nothing. Just knowing what players to put out there at what times, that's all. Whatever the game, he could tell who could outplay who out there, and that's what the game is all about, isn't it?"

Johnson keeps active with daily workouts at a local health club. By Friday afternoon, he said, the Cape beaches were packed, even with the Atlantic water temperatures yet to reach 60 degrees. All in all, not a bad time to head north to see some old friends, spend some of the present thinking about and appreciating the past.

"Figure maybe I'll bring Doris with me," mused Johnson, referring to his wife, a woman who decades ago learned to accept her husband's barbs as just another of his many foibles. "You know, she can go with me if she behaves. Otherwise, I'm taking the cat -- the cat's Molly . . . that's M-O-L-L-Y."

Interesting names to watch

A pair of Bruins prospects, Milan Lucic and Wacey Rabbit, suited up Friday night for the Vancouver Giants in a Western Hockey League playoff tilt against Plymouth.

The 6-foot-2-inch Lucic was a third-round pick, No. 50 overall, in last June's draft. The 5-9 Rabbit, whose first name was borrowed from a famed rodeo rider, was picked 154th in 2005.

A read on both, according to an NHL scout (not a Boston staffer) who was in the stands Friday night:

Lucic: "He looks [bigger], maybe 6-3 or 6-4, and I'd say he projects as a high-end second-line winger in the NHL. I've seen him only three times, but I've liked him a lot. He's tough, makes big hits, and gets off a hard shot. I don't think he's going to be a big scorer at the NHL level, maybe 20-25 goals, because I don't think he has the hands of a true second-liner. But his elements of size and toughness move him up to a top six position."

Rabbit: "A checking-line guy, and in the NHL I think he's a third- or fourth-line guy who's going to run around out there and hit a lot of guys. And he's got an edge to him, too. Hey, with that last name he's going to have to play tough. I think both players will need a year in Providence, but Rabbit might get to the NHL faster because his skill set -- the game he plays -- translates at any level."

Rabbit's full name is Wacey Coleman Rabbit. His parents, huge rodeo fans, borrowed both his first and middle names from the horse-and-livestock sports circuit. Wacey Cathey was a world champion bull rider and the legendary Mel Coleman a saddle bronc rider. Early last week, Rabbit to the Edmonton Journal, reflecting on his name: "There's a lot of grins every time I say my name. You always get raised eyebrows and the little grin. It's fun, and I enjoy that."

Message could be delivered via letter

We take you now to the musings of Carl Steward, who for insideBayArea.com penned a concise "What's wrong with the Sharks?" synopsis that included this possible fix:

"Remove Patrick Marleau's captain 'C.' This actually should have happened before he spaced out against the Red Wings. Marleau's a good hockey player, but he's not a leader, vocal or otherwise. The Sharks need a stronger locker room voice when the team encounters tough times. Give it to Joe Thornton, Kyle McLaren, Mike Grier . . . anybody with more fire. Such a humbling demotion might bring back the hockey player we remember."

The view here: Not a bad thought, but probably more effective to deliver that message when a club is on the brink of playoff elimination.

Just a thought.

Etc.

Dogged pursuit
As the weekend arrived, the Coyotes had yet to name a general manager to succeed the fired Mike Barnett. Two sources confirmed Friday that ex-Ranger forward Don Maloney, now the Blueshirts' assistant GM, was the lead choice. One said Maloney was offered the job Thursday and was in the process of working out a contract. The other finalists were Kevin Cheveldayoff, GM of the Chicago Wolves, and John Weisbrod, the ex-Harvard player and former GM of the Orlando Magic. Weisbrod is now a scout for the Bruins. According to Boston GM Peter Chiarelli, Weisbrod had not heard back from Coyote ownership as of Friday.

High-end shopping
Chiarelli reported that at least three clubs called in recent days to inquire about his highest-priced players. "I tell them all pretty much the same thing: They're our core guys and I am not inclined to do anything," he said. The Bruins can't move Zdeno Chara or Marc Savard, who have no-trade/no-move clauses, without their permission. Marco Sturm and P.J. Axelsson also have considerable restrictions on when/whether they can be dealt. That leaves the likes of Glen Murray (due $4.15 million in 2007-08) and Patrice Bergeron (due $5 million) as the players with the least-fettered high-end contracts. Why three clubs calling in a span of 7-10 days? "Not really sure, other than maybe business is picking up again a little bit with the draft approaching," said Chiarelli. Another possibility: With Daniel Briere, Chris Drury, and Scott Gomez set to score perhaps $6 million a year or more as UFAs, maybe some of the Boston contracts look appealing to other clubs.

Spaced out
By the calculations of a front office official of another out-of-the-playoffs club, the Bruins will be among the five or six teams with the least amount of cap space when the free agent market triggers July 1. Provided they keep their priciest players, the Bruins will be among the spending-strapped likes of Minnesota, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Vancouver, and Ottawa, with New Jersey and Dallas also among the squeezed. Clubs with extra bucks, if they choose to spend: Washington, Florida, St. Louis, Columbus, and San Jose.

The NHL opens its combine Tuesday in Toronto, bringing in many of the high-end draft prospects for testing and interviews. The Bruins brass, Chiarelli included, will take in the testing and then head to Ottawa for organizational meetings with the club's pro and amateur scouts. "We planned all of this weeks ago, so obviously before anyone knew that the Senators would be playing for the Cup," said Chiarelli. NHL GMs meet the following Monday, June 4, in Toronto, no doubt to discuss the ongoing Russian rhubarb over NHL transfer fees and the former CCCP's refusal to buy into the standard IIHF agreement.

Bill Zito, agent for the top three goalies on the Bruins' depth chart -- Tim Thomas, Hannu Toivonen, and Tuukka Rask -- has pulled into Las Vegas, where last night another of his clients, Chicago-raised Terry Martin, squared off in UFC71, the mixed-martial-arts extravaganza that some predicted could score some 3 million pay-per-view buys. What's the UFC demographic? "Exactly the same as the NHL," said Zito. "And right now, I'm not sure there's anything hotter than the whole MMA thing." Martin, 26, said Zito, is a former gang member gone good, thanks to a police officer who upon arresting him years ago gave him a choice. "No. 1 he could go to jail, or No. 2 he could learn to box," said Zito. "So he learned boxing. He also got his masters in clinical psychology, and he's about to get his PhD."

The Bruins could be among the many clubs to kick the tires on Ducks goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere when free agency hits. One theory floated around Detroit late last week was that the Winged Wheels also could be interested, given that 42-year-old Dominik Hasek is getting long in the tooth. Ducks GM Brian Burke is on record that he'll make a solid effort to bring back Giggy, who earned just under $4 million this year. Giguere might consider how good Nikolai Khabibulin had it in Tampa, where he won a Cup in 2004, and how miserable he has been since getting behind the porous front-to-back defense of the Blackhawks. No one in the league can offer the 1-2 defensive punch of Chris Pronger-Scott Niedermayer in Anaheim . . . Internet reports circulated last week that Russian forward Sergei Zinovj ev, his rights still held by the Bruins, signed a long-term extension with Ak Bars Kazan. According to Chiarelli, it remains his understanding through Zinovj ev's Ottawa-based agent, Rollie Hedges, that the talented winger has an out in his deal that would allow him to return to the NHL. Meanwhile, said Chiarelli, the Bruins have continued talks with Hedges, and also received feelers from other NHL clubs interested in acquiring Zinovj ev's rights . . . Sources in Tampa have it that former Bruins coach Mike Sullivan is at the top of John Tortorella's list to join him on the Bolts staff as co-coach . . . Brian Leetch, who formally announced his retirement Thursday, collected very little in the way of memorabilia during his illustrious career. "I lived in Manhattan most of the time, and there was just nowhere to keep the stuff," said Leetch, who soon will close on a waterfront property in downtown Boston. Among the few things in his treasure chest: Ray Bourque and Chris Chelios All-Star sweaters. "I wish I had a Guy Lafleur stick," said Leetch. "I played with him on the Rangers late in his career, and I wish I'd grabbed one."

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.