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GMs winning war on wages
It's a subject that's brought up more often than not in conversations with NHL general managers and player agents, the same people who set the league's wage scale. Are NHL GMs finally winning the war in wages? And if so, what happened? What, no more brain cramps by the brain trust? As one GM put it, "We're using live ammo this time and the players are starting to realize it." There's no doubt GMs, with some tutoring from NHL headquarters in New York, are using the tools of the Collective Bargaining Agreement to their advantage, most of the time anyway. While the escalation figures for the 1999-'00 campaign have not been released, the rate was around 5 percent last season, the lowest in a decade. The owners are definitely playing to win. Brad Isbister of the New York Islanders was bitter with Mike Milbury's take-it-or-leave-it ultimatium. Isbister swallowed hard when he took the offer, but all Milbury did was play within the rules. The owners got a boost in June when an arbitrator ruled that Alexei Yashin had to honor the final year of his contract. So much for that threat. And as far as Group II free agents go, when was the last time a player of note actually got a bona fide offer? GMs know this and players aren't stupid. So what we have now is a war of attrition between unsigned players like Jason Arnott of New Jersey, Joe Thornton, Sergei Samsanov and Anson Carter of Boston and their respective clubs. "The compassion has been taken out of it," says Bill Watters, who handles contract talks for the Toronto Maple Leafs. "It is strictly eye for an eye."
Rumors and loose ends:Norris Trophy winner Rob Blake is at odds with the L.A. Kings over the "tone" of the team's $7.5 million contract offer. Seems that Blake's agent, Ron Salcer, didn't like the take-it-or-leave-it offer and Blake resigned as captain in protest. If the Kings trade Blake, where will he end up? The Toronto Maple Leafs have to be interested, given the lack of mobility on their blue line. Why not Philadelphia, which lost out to Colorado for Ray Bourque last season? The Flyers have more to offer (rookie goalie Maxime Ouellet, Mark Recchi ) than Toronto. But Blake can become an unrestricted free agent next summer, which makes him hard to deal. ... Wayne Gretzky will be part of the management structure for Canada's Olympic team, but he won't be the lead general manager. Bob Gainey of the Dallas Stars has the inside line on that job. Look for St. Louis Blues GM Larry Pleau to run Team USA. ...There's pressure being put on the Russian Ice Hockey Federation to make Slava Fetisov head coach for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah. ...It hasn't taken long for New York Rangers coach Ron Lowe to tangle with Sandy McCarthy. Lowe ripped into McCarthy between periods of the Philadelphia-Rangers game on Tuesday for taking too many penalties and McCarthy later tore into Lowe for embarrassing him in front of his teammates. This is a battle McCarthy will lose . ...The Maple Leafs have 28 players on their roster with NHL experience and are looking to deal seldom-used defenseman Chris McAllister. He'll return a middle-round draft pick at most. ...Unsigned Boston forwards Anson Carter and Thornton can't afford to miss much of the season if they want to play their way into the ghost roster for Canada's Olympic team. Alan Adams covers hockey for the National Post in Toronto and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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