N.H.L. Lockout Has Coaches Filling Time Productively SYOSSET, N.Y. - The Islanders" Jack Capuano was back on the ice Monday with his assistant coaches for a practice that included drills and a spirited scrimmage. Only the Islanders were missing. Wearing a blue Islanders cap, jacket and pants, Capuano conducted the third of six scheduled sessions of an adult hockey clinic, open to those who paid $30 a session. About 20 skaters, including a man in an Islanders "fish sticks" jersey, took part. Capuano said later that he was enjoying the clinic, even though he would much rather be coaching the Islanders. But the N.H.L. lockout continues, and many of the league's 29 other head coaches are also biding their time. With Friday's announcement that the N.H.L. has canceled all games through November, they will be doing so awhile longer. "There's a lot of passion for the game of hockey," Capuano said, "so it's all relative that you give something back." Then Capuano leaned on his stick and said, "It keeps your sanity a couple days a week for an hour and a half." Capuano, like many other N.H.L. coaches, is putting in somewhat regular office hours. John Tortorella, the coach of the Rangers, has attended games of their American Hockey League team in Hartford, the Connecticut Whale, and is spending time at the team's practice rink in Greenburgh, N.Y. Devils Coach Peter DeBoer and his staff are doing the same in Newark. "There's nobody out on vacation," said Lou Lamoriello, the Devils" general manager, although Darryl Sutter of the champion Los Angeles Kings is spending the bulk of his time at his family's farm in Alberta. The first-year Washington coach, Adam Oates, is helping to coach the Capitals" A.H.L. affiliate in Pennsylvania, the Hershey Bears. Capuano has gone to a couple of games played by the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Islanders" A.H.L. team, which has a couple of young players, notably defenseman Travis Hamonic, who would be playing for the Islanders were there no lockout. Several veteran Islanders are playing professionally overseas - the captain, Mark Streit, and the top-line center John Tavares are teammates in Switzerland, Streit's native country - and even though N.H.L. coaches are prohibited from contacting the players directly, Capuano said he had seen many of them play, albeit from long distance. "I have access to the Internet," Capuano said. I watch what I can watch. I've watched a lot of hockey. Capuano became the Islanders" coach nearly two years ago. About a month before training camp, he and his coaches met with the new Bridgeport coach, Scott Pellerin, and his assistants about establishing continuity with systems of play. Bob Hartley, who became the Calgary Flames" coach in May, said he conducts a meeting with his staff each morning. He said he had talked to each of his 15 veterans twice before the lockout and that he devised a plan for a brief training camp in case of a labor agreement. Besides spending a week at the training camp of the Abbotsford Heat, the Flames" A.H.L. affiliate in British Columbia, Hartley took his staff and the Heat coaches to a retreat in Victoria, B.C. "For us, it is important to create a chemistry between ourselves," Hartley said in a telephone interview. That's the situation we're facing. We're not in this business to try to make excuses. We try to find solutions. Hartley also said, "When you work in an N.H.L. community, it's your role to get involved with the community." The Anaheim Ducks Coach Bruce Boudreau held a seminar last week for high school coaches, preparing a full video session. San Jose Coach Todd McLellan is scheduled as a guest speaker at a workshop for hockey and figure skating coaches that seeks to combine winning with teaching life lessons. In addition to helping at clinics and dropping in on high school hockey practices, Columbus Coach Todd Richards and his staff are participating in several skating sessions with season-ticket holders and corporate partners. Nashville Coach Barry Trotz speaks at group lunches and dinners and on panels. Mike Yeo, the second-year coach of the Minnesota Wild, which added the free agents Zach Parise and Ryan Suter (at $98 million apiece), watched the University of Minnesota team practice, and took boxing lessons at a nearby gym. St. Louis Coach Ken Hitchcock held a free three-day coaching seminar, ran drills at college and youth hockey practices and talked to high school students about leadership and team building. He also met with his staff about how he handled lockouts while coaching in Dallas and Philadelphia. In a charity raffle, the Boston Bruins offered the services of Coach Claude Julien to a local youth hockey team. Capuano said he planned to watch a lot of college hockey on the East Coast for as long as the lockout lasts, especially to see Islanders draft picks and free agents play. He has lost 30 pounds since last season and has spent little time at home in Maine. Capuano is preparing as if there will be a season. "We expect, as a coaching staff, to be ready, so I would think all players would be ready to play as well," he said. The adult clinic was scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays through October. "Come down and improve your game!" a brochure for the clinic read. And the application form stated, "All sessions subject to cancellation due to the N.H.L. lockout." Capuano would have welcomed returning to his regular job. But he enjoys his students, saying, "They want to learn just as much, too."