The list of players trotting before the media to report doom on the horizon is growing with each passing day. The latest prophecy is Stevie Y, who expects that the labor fight will keep the league closed for business until at least January of 2005. Many players have already signed on to play in Europe, Peter Forsberg being the most noticeable defection from the NHL ranks. Trevor Linden represents the players union and he’s been trying very hard to say all the right things. In fact, following last week’s makeshift summit meeting between the principles, Linden was about the only person with anything positive to say.
The reality is that there isn’t anything positive to say about the prospects for progress on a new collective bargaining agreement. Many teams appear to be reluctant to make contract offers to their free agents. One thing is for certain, there will be an unusually large number of big name free agents available this off-season. Exactly how long this off-season lasts is anyone’s guess.
But fear not hockey fans, Bobby Hull has come to the rescue with the revitalized World Hockey Association. It won’t be as good as the last incarnation but at least it’s hockey. If the NHL remains locked out well into the New Year, I know I will be watching it. Martin St. Louis has already said that he’d consider joining a WHA team for $5 million.
They’re not going to have a center-ice red line, there’s going to be touch-up off-sides, automatic icing, three on three overtimes with shootouts to break ties and oh, there’s just one more little thing; the WHA is going to employ a hard salary cap. You read that right. The WHA is limiting each franchise to a total payroll not to exceed $15 Million. A so-called “marquee” player (Martin St. Louis, for instance) can make as much as a third of the team’s total payroll outlay. In order to encourage NHL players to cross over to the WHA in the event of a lockout, the suits are considering a rule to allow each team to designate two players that could be released back to the NHL if the labor stalemate ends. In other words, the teams will likely resemble your local beer-league squad with a player like Brett Hull on the wing. It could be interesting to watch.
But the irony is obvious. NHL players get to play the role of line-crossing “scabs” to protest an NHL salary cap system to play in a league with a very restrictive hard cap. That the WHA will be to the NHL what the USFL was to the NFL two decades ago is beside the point. The WHA might turn out to be wildly entertaining in the absence of NHL hockey. But it’s going to be funny to see how the NHLPA responds to players that crossover to join its ranks.
Finding Fault
Steve Moore is prepared to launch a civil suit in British Columbia court against Vancouver Canucks winger Todd Bertuzzi among others. Exactly who or what else is dragged into court along with Bertuzzi is an open question. But it appears as if Moore is prepared to take on Coach Marc Crawford, several players, possibly including Brad May, the entire Canucks organization as well as the National Hockey League itself.
Within the chronology of events leading up to Bertuzzi’s attack on Moore lays a sorted tale of hate, hostility and revenge. First was Brad May, who spoke of a locker-room bounty collection to go to the player that got revenge on Moore for his hit on Captain Markus Naslund. Then came Crawford’s inflammatory words to the media, words that surely struck an even more delicate nerve in the Vancouver dressing room. In the midst of the verbal barrages, GM Brian Burke was nowhere to be seen or heard from. The League pleaded with the Canucks’ to tone down their rhetoric. But in the end, after falling behind 5 goals and with the game well out of reach, Todd Bertuzzi did what was expected of him. The smirk on Marc Crawford’s face moments after the melee ensued was unmistakable.
If Moore is unable to continue with a career in hockey someone will be made to pay. Combined, the Canucks and Bertuzzi have handed over a million dollars worth of money in fines to the NHL. Bertuzzi himself has given up over a million in lost pay while he serves his open-ended league suspension. But there will be many more millions to come. The league, the team and Bertuzzi himself may opt to negotiate an out-of-court settlement with Moore, if only to avoid the embarrassment the suit would bring. Moore himself might like to avoid a courtroom battle as well since his brother is trying to break into the league with the Rangers. Both players may worry about retaliation from league insiders if Steve decides to go forward.
But the biggest reason the suit may not reach the point of a court room drama is that within the Canucks organization there has been and will continue to be a concerted effort to cover up exactly who ordered, or otherwise encouraged, the attack on Moore. Bertuzzi may have acted alone, but an environment was created in the Vancouver room that contributed to his actions. Maybe there wasn’t encouragement of a specific action at a specific place and time. But Crawford and a handful of players got caught up in their anger with Moore after Moore went out of his way to hit their team captain. That their hostility and anger carried over for several weeks proves that the emotions grew and festered rather than naturally subsided with time. That Moore’s hit on Naslund was even “dirty” was open for debate. But not in the Canucks’ dressing room. Within the private confines of the team environment the groupthink spiraled out of control.
Bertuzzi surely never intended to hurt Moore as badly as he did. But that he meant to hurt him, there is no doubt. The emotions and thinking that precipitated Bertuzzi’s attack on Moore aren’t unique to hockey. The same thing could happen any night at your local tavern. But hockey is unique in that there is a handful of players that lace up their skates night after night with the sole purpose of enforcing hockey’s unwritten code of conduct and to protect the players on their team that are paid to score goals. Bertuzzi isn’t an enforcer per se. But if they gave away an award for points per penalty minute, Bertuzzi would win it every year. Brad May and Jarko Ruuto fill the enforcer roles for Vancouver. But Bertuzzi has always shown a willingness to drop the gloves. May talked about a bounty on Moore’s head. Bertuzzi was more than willing to collect.
The problem is that incidents like this are an ugly inevitability in hockey. Even if the B.C. courts throw the book at Bertuzzi, something like this will happen again. The B.C. authorities dragged Marty McSorely into court several years back. Yet in the heat of the moment, Bertuzzi was undeterred. Others will be similarly undeterred by this. But what this might do is give a team a moment of pause before they let their collective emotions get the best of them. If the case becomes more an indictment of hockey rather than an indictment of Bertuzzi, the damaging effect on the league will be severe. But the end result might be worth the price.
News and Notes
Jarome Iginla’s contract is up. His most recent deal paid him around $7 Million. How much higher his number will go is anyone’s guess. But Iginla’s agent is likely to seek a multi-year deal starting at $10 million and working its way up. Even the Flames don’t know if they can keep their young group intact at that price. Iginla is the key piece in Calgary’s puzzle. But he won’t do much good without a supporting cast. The first concern is line mates. Craig Conroy is headed for free agency as well. Dean McAmmond struggled with a season-ending injury this year and never worked out on a line with Iginla. So, he’s history. But Conroy will be very tough to resign. That could leave the relatively inexperienced Matthew Lombardi to fill in at center on Iginla’s line. And that’s if they get Iginla back. A very big if indeed.
The Flyers wasted little time in getting their captain signed to a long-term deal ahead of the free agency period, which begins July 1st. Keith Primeau signed a four-year deal that actually has him taking a slight pay-cut below what he made previously. Primeau made $5 million last season. Under the new deal he’ll make roughly $4.5 million next season and only $4 million per year over the last three years of the deal. Primeau easily could have waited for the free agency period and seen what the market would bear for him. After his monster playoff performance it is likely he would have entertained some ridiculous offers. The Flyers are paying Primeau what he’s worth. But they aren’t paying him as much as he could have made as a free agent. This labor uncertainty is making players take the bird in the hand over the one in the bush.
The Flyers say they are now going to turn their attention to Alex Zhamnov. Now do you really think the Flyers would be in a rush to re-sign Zhamnov ahead of the free agency period if it weren’t for the CBA battle? Particularly after he disappeared in the Eastern Conference finals? Teams, not just players, are taking this bird in the hand approach too.
Brett Hull is certainly headed to free agency and he might be on his way to play in his father’s WHA. The Red Wings haven’t moved a muscle in terms of starting contract talks with the free agent. Detroit is taking the opposite approach from Philly. GM Ken Holland told reporters after the awards show that the Wings “aren’t going to do anything” this summer until a CBA deal is reached. They’re even prepared to let Hasek walk without getting anything in return. Hasek is in serious negotiations with the Ottawa Senators about becoming the team’s number one goaltender. Apparently Hasek wants to prove that he can still play. This despite the fact that he quit on the Red Wings and left the country to undergo groin surgery. This would represent his second Michael Jordan-esque return from retirement. But all signs indicate that Hasek will be a Senator in a matter of days. Ottawa GM John Muckler was in Buffalo during the Dominator’s days there and the two have a close working relationship. Vancouver, St. Louis and several other teams are interested in Hasek, but if Muckler asks Dom to join the Sens, the deal is as good as done.
Of course, that would leave Patrick Lalime on the outs in Ottawa. Pretty extraordinary when you consider the soap opera that Patrick Lalime has found himself in over the last four months. The rumor was that ex-coach Jacques Martin wanted to replace the struggling Lalime at the trade deadline with Olaf Kolzig but that it was Muckler that decided against it. Now with Martin fired, Muckler is looking into acquiring a replacement for Lalime. If the Sens get Hasek, and it appears likely they will at this point, and the season is lost to a labor disagreement, you can bet that Sens fans will be like Expos fans in the year of the baseball strike. All you’ll hear about is how they “would have” won the Cup if only there’d been a season.
In an effort to clear salary for an imminent deal with Hasek, the Sens are unlikely to make a qualifying offer to Peter Bondra, which would make the aging winger a free agent. He’ll certainly want to return to the Caps. But whether they’ll take him back with a big contract number is anyone’s guess. The Caps have their sights set on the number one overall draft pick. They’re likely to draft the top European prospect on the board and that is Alexander Ovechkin of Moscow Dynamo. He won’t come cheap though.
Perhaps the top defensive free agent available this off-season will be Scott Niedermayer. Niedermayer will become a restricted free agent on July 1st. The Devil’s offered Brodeur and Stevens money to Niedermayer but he’s reluctant to sign the dotted line. The rumor is that the mobile defenseman wants to return to his home in B.C. and play for the Canucks. But as a restricted free agent his options are limited by what other teams can offer in compensation to the Devils if they do take a run at him. Worst-case scenario for the Devils is that Niedermayer plays with the team next season and then they have to let him walk or face the ruling of a salary arbitrator. For the Devils, the choice may be between getting something now or nothing later in return for Niedermayer. The problem is that the notoriously cheap Canucks would have to put together a pretty serious offer for him. That would be out of character for them but Brian Burke isn’t there anymore and new GM Dave Nonis may be looking to put a bold stamp on his new toy.
Looking Ahead
The NHL entry draft gets underway in just ten days in Raleigh, NC. Next week we’ll take a look at the top prospects in what many are calling a thin draft class. There’s likely to be some wheeling and dealing in the days leading up to the draft as teams jockey for position. With so many players headed for free agency, many teams will be looking to deal pricey impending free agents for draft picks. The CBA mess is making the entry draft much more exciting than it would normally be.
The World Cup is also preparing to take center-stage in the hockey world as all the teams have named their rosters for the upcoming tournament. In an interesting turn of events Nik Khabiboulin has informed the Russian team that he doesn’t intend to play goal in the World Cup. Losing Khabiboulin would be a devastating blow to the Russian’s chances in the tournament. But the news might be getting worse as their other goaltending option Evgeni Nabokow is uncertain if he can go because of health. The Russian hockey club is in shambles, punctuated by their dismal performance at the World Championships this spring. Khabiboulin isn’t playing because he wants no part of the mess Team Russia has become. Other notable Russian players may end up following Khabiboulin’s lead.
Eric Slusher resides in Spokane, WA and covers the NHL for SportsFiends.com through his weekly Wednesday Morning Skate column and other hockey related articles. Readers can contribute to the Wednesday Morning Skate or send comments to Eric by emailing him at eslusher@sportsfiends.com.
