NHL'S NEUTRAL ZONE TRAP COULD BECOME OBSOLETE BY TODAY

     The NHL plans to announce today that it "intends to ban
holding, hooking and all other forms of obstruction between the
blue lines," according to Dave Fuller of the TORONTO SUN.  Fuller
reports that the new policy is expected to receive "unanimous
approval" from the league's GMs who are currently meeting in
Denver.  "A rubber stamp from the owners is to follow."  Some of
the game's "elite" players were skeptical of the new policy,
however.  Maple Leafs' Doug Gilmour:  "Every year we come to
training camp, they say they're going to change this and call
that.  And in training camp, and for the first three or four
weeks of the season, they do.  But it never lasts" (TORONTO SUN,
8/29).