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By Wayne Fish                                                                                                                          Courier Times-March 20,2000

PHILADELPHIA- And a rookie shall lead them.

    In the case of the Flyers over the weekend, it was freshman Simon Gagne who carried the scoring load...and maybe some of the leadership stuff, too.

    Yesterday, he notched the winner in a 6-2 turnaround victoryover Boston.On Saturday, he scored the only two goals in a 3-2 loss to the Rangers.

    Gagne is a 20-year-old going on 30. He plays with a calm, cool manner_can kill you without making a sound. One minute he's in front of your defensemen, the next the puck is in the net.

    Just ask the Bruins' Kyle McLaren. The puck hooped over McLaren's stick midway through the second period. Gagne zipped past like A Ferrari on the Schuylkill Expressway. Goalie John Grahame never had a chance.

    "That was a great individual effort to get past the defensemen," said an admiring Keith Jones.

    "For the last little while he's been one of our better players," said Brian Boucher. "I don't think anybody in here really looks at him like a rookie. We're going to count on him down the stretch. He's got the speed and he can be dangerous out there."

    Gagne now has 18 goals, just four off the league lead for rookies.

    Rick Tocchet is already comparing him to some of the game's greats.

    "He's the present and the future for the Flyers. You get in the situation where you might be in a lull and there can be a breakdown...he just flies and scores.      

    There's not that many guys in the league that can do that. (Paul) Kariya, (teemu) Selanne, guys like that, where it's just a pure finesse guy. When he gets a chance, boom! It's in the net. We're lucky we have him.

    Gagne says he's just happy to still be here. He's been mentioned in just about every trade rumor (Chris Chelios, Keith Primeau, Ray Bourque) for the past two years but GM Bob Clarke has no intentions of letting him go.

    "It's nice to know the team wants you, especially when you are talking about players like Bourque, and in the beginning of the year, Primeau," said Gagne, "I appreciate what Mr. Clarke has done."