SAN JOSE, Calif. - The rules governing NHL player negotiations expire one year from Monday. A labor faceoff looms, and as he sorted out his thoughts on it, San Jose Sharks forward Mark Smith deked his way around a stock response.
"We'll cross that bridge . . . we'll fall off that bridge when we come to it," he said.
Smith's glass-half-empty vision reflects much of the mood around the NHL. The collective bargaining agreement in place since 1995 ends Sept. 15, 2004, and the league's insistence on future "cost certainties" is a signal that negotiators will be coming to the table with sticks high.
Players, while stressing the need to concentrate on the season ahead, are very much aware of the potential for a lockout this time next year.
Sharks defenseman Brad Stuart was one of more than 100 players who met in Orange County this summer for an NHL Players' Association update that was less than upbeat.
"You want to make sure you're not in a situation where you have to worry about not getting a paycheck for several months," Stuart said.
Bob Goodenow, executive director of the NHLPA, said his message was realistic, not pessimistic.
"We told players that last time, owners locked us out for 104 days and this time they've told us they're fully prepared to shut things down for the whole year," Goodenow said.
League-wide, management also has been gearing up for the showdown. But unlike his predecessor, Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson downplays it as a factor in recent negotiations. Last year, for example, Dean Lombardi was unable to get Evgeni Nabokov into camp and said contract length was the sticking point, not money. Lombardi was concerned the age for unrestricted free agency could drop below 31 and didn't want to lose Nabokov, now 28.
Wilson, who met his goal of zero holdouts, said "one thing we all agreed upon is no one knows what the system will be like going forward.
"I negotiated contracts on what I thought were fair market value, where the player's game was at, where they were trending, and under the present system, where those players fit in with our hockey team," Wilson said.
Some teams such as the Capitals and Rangers could find themselves handcuffed by long-term, high-end contracts if some form of a salary cap is in place. Not the Sharks.
By trading Owen Nolan and his $6.5 million salary to Toronto in March, they got rid of the one high-end contract that extended past 2003-04. Now, only six players from last year's roster - Stuart, Marco Sturm, Alyn McCauley, Kyle McLaren, Mike Rathje and Patrick Marleau - are locked in beyond this season. No contract exceeds $2.45 million.
Bill Daly, the NHL's chief legal officer and point person on the upcoming talks, defines cost certainty broadly as "an enforceable relationship between expenses and revenues.
"Once you agree on that concept, then the form it can take is almost limitless," Daly said. "The most obvious one and the one everybody talks about is a salary cap. But you can have wage scales - fixed salary levels based on years of experience and maybe performance - or some form of third-party arbitration."
Goodenow says teams already have cost certainty in that they each control their own budgets. "The league has indicated to us that it's something more than that, something that borders on a salary cap," the union leader said. "Players, as long as I've worked here, have told me that's something they're not interested in."
Daly, who was in San Francisco earlier this month for a briefing session with West Coast broadcast teams, said the forecast tightening of money in the free agent market this summer because of CBA concerns didn't occur.
Salaries for restricted free agents went up a little while salaries for unrestricted free agents' salaries might dropped a little, Daly said. "Overall," he added, "it was a summer not much different than any other."
Marleau, who signed a contract in July that will pay him $4.8 million over the next two years, said the labor situation "probably had a little bit of an effect on it, but not too much."
Sharks left wing Scott Thornton, 33, knows he doesn't have too many years left and says he hates the idea of missing even part of a season. Still, he said, players in the past have made sacrifices and "we do what we have to do."
Thornton said players are willing to concede the NHL has some financial difficulties, but don't see the CBA as the root of the problem. "They want an idiot-proof system," he said of ownership, adding that players don't think they should make concessions because some teams overspend.
"I believe in in-house budgets and you do what you need to do," Thornton said. "It's been proven in the last two years now that big market spending isn't what makes winners. When teams invest in the right management and the right scouts and minor league coaches, that's how you develop a winner."
Thornton said despite a lack of optimism, "there is some hope because there's still a lot of time left to resolve it."
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/6772819.htm
"We'll cross that bridge . . . we'll fall off that bridge when we come to it," he said.
Smith's glass-half-empty vision reflects much of the mood around the NHL. The collective bargaining agreement in place since 1995 ends Sept. 15, 2004, and the league's insistence on future "cost certainties" is a signal that negotiators will be coming to the table with sticks high.
Players, while stressing the need to concentrate on the season ahead, are very much aware of the potential for a lockout this time next year.
Sharks defenseman Brad Stuart was one of more than 100 players who met in Orange County this summer for an NHL Players' Association update that was less than upbeat.
"You want to make sure you're not in a situation where you have to worry about not getting a paycheck for several months," Stuart said.
Bob Goodenow, executive director of the NHLPA, said his message was realistic, not pessimistic.
"We told players that last time, owners locked us out for 104 days and this time they've told us they're fully prepared to shut things down for the whole year," Goodenow said.
League-wide, management also has been gearing up for the showdown. But unlike his predecessor, Sharks General Manager Doug Wilson downplays it as a factor in recent negotiations. Last year, for example, Dean Lombardi was unable to get Evgeni Nabokov into camp and said contract length was the sticking point, not money. Lombardi was concerned the age for unrestricted free agency could drop below 31 and didn't want to lose Nabokov, now 28.
Wilson, who met his goal of zero holdouts, said "one thing we all agreed upon is no one knows what the system will be like going forward.
"I negotiated contracts on what I thought were fair market value, where the player's game was at, where they were trending, and under the present system, where those players fit in with our hockey team," Wilson said.
Some teams such as the Capitals and Rangers could find themselves handcuffed by long-term, high-end contracts if some form of a salary cap is in place. Not the Sharks.
By trading Owen Nolan and his $6.5 million salary to Toronto in March, they got rid of the one high-end contract that extended past 2003-04. Now, only six players from last year's roster - Stuart, Marco Sturm, Alyn McCauley, Kyle McLaren, Mike Rathje and Patrick Marleau - are locked in beyond this season. No contract exceeds $2.45 million.
Bill Daly, the NHL's chief legal officer and point person on the upcoming talks, defines cost certainty broadly as "an enforceable relationship between expenses and revenues.
"Once you agree on that concept, then the form it can take is almost limitless," Daly said. "The most obvious one and the one everybody talks about is a salary cap. But you can have wage scales - fixed salary levels based on years of experience and maybe performance - or some form of third-party arbitration."
Goodenow says teams already have cost certainty in that they each control their own budgets. "The league has indicated to us that it's something more than that, something that borders on a salary cap," the union leader said. "Players, as long as I've worked here, have told me that's something they're not interested in."
Daly, who was in San Francisco earlier this month for a briefing session with West Coast broadcast teams, said the forecast tightening of money in the free agent market this summer because of CBA concerns didn't occur.
Salaries for restricted free agents went up a little while salaries for unrestricted free agents' salaries might dropped a little, Daly said. "Overall," he added, "it was a summer not much different than any other."
Marleau, who signed a contract in July that will pay him $4.8 million over the next two years, said the labor situation "probably had a little bit of an effect on it, but not too much."
Sharks left wing Scott Thornton, 33, knows he doesn't have too many years left and says he hates the idea of missing even part of a season. Still, he said, players in the past have made sacrifices and "we do what we have to do."
Thornton said players are willing to concede the NHL has some financial difficulties, but don't see the CBA as the root of the problem. "They want an idiot-proof system," he said of ownership, adding that players don't think they should make concessions because some teams overspend.
"I believe in in-house budgets and you do what you need to do," Thornton said. "It's been proven in the last two years now that big market spending isn't what makes winners. When teams invest in the right management and the right scouts and minor league coaches, that's how you develop a winner."
Thornton said despite a lack of optimism, "there is some hope because there's still a lot of time left to resolve it."
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/6772819.htm
