Kurri Enjoying His Farewell Tour

Jari Kurri likes to joke that his eighth and final appearance in the NHL All-Star game is part of his world tour.

Kurri, 37, plans to retire at the end of the season after an 18-year career in which he won five Stanley Cups with Edmonton and became the eighth player in NHL history to score 600 goals.

“This is a great moment for me and I’m happy,” he said Saturday, looking ahead to today’s game in Vancouver, British Columbia. “When I retire, I’m going to go out like I’m happy and enjoy it, and I’m not going to start feeling sad.”

Wayne Gretzky, appearing in an NHL-record 17th consecutive All-Star game, teamed with Kurri to help Edmonton win four Stanley Cups in the mid-1980s.

“Both of us were unselfish. It really didn’t matter who scored the goals. If he scored or I scored, we were really excited for each other,” Gretzky said.

World team wins skills event

Dominik Hasek stopped all six breakaways he faced to force overtime and then made a glove save to rob Mike Modano to carry the World team to a 13-12 victory over North America in the NHL All-Stars SuperSkills competition Saturday night.

Teemu Selanne beat Patrick Roy to win it for the World team.

Defenseman Al MacInnis’ 100.4 mph slap shot gave him a record fourth career victory in the hardest-shot competition. Scott Niedermayer was the fastest skater. Keith Tkachuk, Brendan Shanahan, Mark Messier and Ray Bourque were most accurate shooters.

Sittler leads old-timers

Hall of Famer Darryl Sittler scored goals less than a minute apart as the NHL’s old-timers defeated their Vancouver counterparts 3-2 Saturday night.

Sittler, who retired in 1985 after stints with Toronto, Philadelphia and Detroit, still holds the NHL record for most points (10) in a game.

Hall of Famers Gordie Howe, Bobby Hull and Bobby Orr were introduced as non-playing heroes and received standing ovations from the crowd at GM Place.

Daigle traded for Falloon

Alexandre Daigle, who never realized his potential after the Ottawa Senators made him the top pick in the 1993 NHL draft, was acquired by the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Flyers sent center Vaclav Prospal, former Spokane Chiefs star right wing Pat Falloon and a 1998 second-round draft pick to Ottawa.

Daigle, a center who turns 23 next month, had seven goals and 16 points in 38 games this season.

Falloon, 25, the No. 2 overall pick by San Jose in 1991, has career totals of 114 goals and 245 points in 402 games. Acquired by Philadelphia in 1995, he has five goals and 12 points this season.

Slap shots

The NHL has enlisted the help of the International and American Hockey Leagues to conduct experimental rules changes designed to add to goal-scoring in hockey.

The proposals includ:

Removing the center-ice red line for two-line passes; denying goaltenders the opportunity to go behind the net and handle the puck; allowing a forward pass anywhere on the ice to an attacker crossing the red line; moving the nets out from the back boards, making it harder for a goalie to handle the puck and easier to mount an attack. Bigger nets and smaller goaltending equipment were discussed.

The NHL’s board of governors approved the sale of the New York Islanders to a partnership led by Steven Gluckstern, who has been a part-owner of the Phoenix Coyotes.

The board also approved Gluckstern selling his share of the Coyotes to that team’s co-owner, Richard Burke, freeing Gluckstern to buy the Islanders.

Russia’s top hockey administrator accused the Phoenix Coyotes of preventing goalie Nikolai Khabibulin from joining Russia’s Olympic team.

Alexander Steblin, president of the Russian Ice Hockey Federation, said general manager Bobby Smith persuaded Khabibulin to reject an invitation to play for Russia at the Olympics by promising a pay raise.

Peter Bondra is torn between his regular team, the Washington Capitals, and Slovakia, the country he’ll play for in the Winter Games.

The right wing won’t be able to join the Slovakian team for the Olympics preliminary round beginning Feb. 7, the same day the Capitals host Tampa Bay.

Slovakia needs to compile the most points to be one of two teams that join six other countries already assured berths in the final round.