|
COPYRIGHT 2001 South Florida Sun-Sentinal
Byline: Michael Russo
FORT LAUDERDALE _ Kevin Weekes is young and talented, but he's been the "goalie of the future" on four teams now.
He might be on his fifth soon.
Weekes, a former Panthers' holdout, mouthed off a few weeks back on the way the Lightning handled the Nikolai Khabibulin trade and how General Manager Rick Dudley questioned his durability after he missed two games last month because of a groin pull.
Weekes also was mad that Dudley publicly said he had the final quarter of the season to prove he was the Lightning's goalie of the future.
"I've been battling all season from Day 1," Weekes said. "And when people do things a certain way, it doesn't sit well with me. ... I have great parents and an awesome family, and I learned much from them. A lot of these things that are instilled in me have a great impact on my hockey and everyday life. When people question that, they're disrespecting me and I don't like to be disrespected."
Dudley wasn't happy.
"Have we ever said (Weekes) can't be the No. 1?" Dudley said. "We've just upped the level (by trading for Khabibulin). You win in this league if you have extremely good goaltending. That's a fact. Everything else is secondary.
"While I'm very happy with the way Kevin Weekes has played, it's not like he's had a career like Patrick Roy's just yet. I'm thrilled, but we have to hedge all bets. We have to make sure we have the best goaltending possible."
But Weekes isn't stupid. The Lightning just signed Khabibulin to the richest...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
