by Alan Hahn
Staff Writer
NEW YORK NEWSDAY
July 6, 2001

Defenseman Darius Kasparaitis remains a serious target of the Islanders, if and when the Pittsburgh Penguins decide to trade the disgruntled restricted free agent. The Islanders yesterday made two moves to possibly prepare for the chance to re-acquire Kasparaitis, who keeps an offseason home in Northport.

The team signed unrestricted free-agent defenseman Ken Sutton to a
two-year contract and placed Kevin Haller on waivers. Haller stands to make $1.6 million next season in the second year of a three-year, $4.6-million contract that he signed last summer as an unrestricted free agent. He could remain an Islander (at a lower price, of course) if no other team opts to pick him up.

Haller, 30, played only 30 games last season after suffering a
groin/abdominal injury and had season-ending surgery during the winter.

He expects to be fully recovered and ready for training camp in
September. Placing him on waivers is clearly a payroll-motivated move by the Islanders, who hope to bring back Kasparaitis.

The Penguins reportedly are not prepared to pay him the $2 million-plus per season salary he's looking for. Kasparaitis, who made $1.6 million last season, told reporters in Pittsburgh he wants to re-sign with the Penguins. He also said the two teams that have shown the most interest in trading for him, the Islanders and the Florida Panthers, would be ideal. "It would be very easy for me to move to those places," he said, "but I can't pick the teams." The Islanders, unlike Florida, still have some inexpensive assets to trade to Pittsburgh, but a deal for Kasparaitis most likely will not include Eric Cairns.

With Sutton, who was mostly a seventh defenseman for the Devils last season but provided good minutes during the playoffs, the Islanders' defense is deeper. Milbury is also very high on the trio of European defensemen he signed last month - Radek Martinek, Dick Tarnstrom and Marko Kiprusoff - and expects at least one to challenge for a spot on the NHL roster this fall.

With the roster mostly set, Milbury, who plans to take a vacation later this month, said he is back to concentrating on contract negotiations with the team's seven key restricted free agents. The two most important, newly acquired centers Alexei Yashin and Michael Peca, are still in preliminary stages, but Milbury said the talks have been amicable. "The spirit of compromise is in the air," he said.

Milbury also said he has reconsidered the organization's decision to offer Mariusz Czerkawski a one-year contract for the minimum mandated 10-percent raise. "I spoke to Mariusz to tell him we're still interested in his services," Milbury said, "and I hope he might come around to make a deal to avoid arbitration." Czerkawski has until July 15 to file for arbitration. Yashin and Kenny Jonsson also have arbitration rights, but Jonsson will not file. Milbury has offered sixth-round pick Dusan Salficky, the 29-year-old goalie from the Czech Republic, a one-year, one-way contract to join the team this season.