swflyers25
7-18-05, 7:35 PM
Associated Press
7/18/2005 5:57:10 PM
The action heats up again on the NHL front this week with players and owners set to vote on the agreement reached between the league and union last Wednesday.
By the end of the week Sidney Crosby should know his future home, fans will know what rule changes are being brought in to open up the game and a new collective bargaining agreement should be officially ratified so the league can re-open for business.
Colin Campbell, the league's director of hockey operations and executive vice-president, will meet with the newly created competition committee Tuesday to narrow down a final list of recommendations that owners will then vote on at a board of governors' meeting in New York later this week.
The NHL Players' Association kicks off a packed week in Toronto with an executive committee meeting Tuesday: president Trevor Linden and the rest of the crew - Vincent Damphousse, Bob Boughner, Bill Guerin, Daniel Alfredsson, Arturs Irbe and Trent Klatt - will get an update and oversee the week ahead.
The union will begin Wednesday with a player rep meeting followed by a late afternoon/early evening players' meeting. More than 200 players are expected in Toronto this week. The rest of the 700-odd players can follow and vote electronically.
The players' ratification vote comes Thursday. Later in the day agents will begin their two-day orientation session with the union.
The league has a leg up on educating its members. Bill Daly, the NHL executive vice-president and chief legal officer, held meetings with GMs starting last Friday and wrapping up Monday in New York.
One GM who requested anonymity Monday had two observations after seeing the deal in detail:
- The salary cap and revenue-sharing should ensure parity among teams in the NHL.
- Players didn't do badly for themselves with the minimum salary going up from $185,000 US to $450,000 as well as the ability, as of 2007-08, to become an unrestricted free agent regardless of your age as long as you have seven years of NHL experience.
In the end, it may take a few years to really know how the players fare under the new deal.
''We are in the sports world, so people want to declare winners and losers immediately,'' veteran agent Don Baizley said Monday from Winnipeg. ''We may have theories on how this will work out but realistically, who really knows?
''The hope is that in four or five years, instead of this being a total catastrophe, maybe we'll be able to look back at this being a seminal event in the history of the game where it was a real turning point and we're all better off for it.''
The players' first look at the deal will come at Wednesday's meeting while agents may get a copy of it as early as Wednesday night when most of them arrive in Toronto.
On the league side, everything remains tentatively set for Thursday in New York (although that could be switched to Friday) with a blockbuster board of governors' meeting whose agenda includes:
- A vote on the new agreement with the players;
- A vote on the new and possibly radical rule changes;
- Holding the draft lottery with Crosby as the big prize.
Commissioner Gary Bettman is expected to hold a news conference after the owners' meeting to announce the results of all of the above. But exactly where and when he does it remains up in the air.
The league and union have been working hard over the last several days to figure out a way to have both sides represented at the big news conference - either in New York or Toronto. With the NHLPA having its hands' full in Toronto, it's no small task. But both sides realize how silly they would look if they held separate news conferences this week.
The war is over so it makes sense for both sides to be sitting together when the big announcements are made.
The board of governors' meeting and news conference may also get pushed to Friday if that helps to get both sides in the same city although the union has the agents' meeting that day.
Crosby, meanwhile, will finally find out where he is headed. The New York Rangers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres are the only clubs with three balls in the lottery although every single club has a shot at the 17-year-old prodigy.
A modified version of the entry draft is expected to be held July 30 in Ottawa and that, too, should be made official during the league news conference.
As for proposed rule changes, Campbell realizes they will spark debate but says the bottom line is improving the game.
''What we're trying to accomplish here is to reward offence,'' Campbell said Monday. ''We're trying to draft rules that will allow the offensive skill to emerge.''
TSN (http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=130747)
7/18/2005 5:57:10 PM
The action heats up again on the NHL front this week with players and owners set to vote on the agreement reached between the league and union last Wednesday.
By the end of the week Sidney Crosby should know his future home, fans will know what rule changes are being brought in to open up the game and a new collective bargaining agreement should be officially ratified so the league can re-open for business.
Colin Campbell, the league's director of hockey operations and executive vice-president, will meet with the newly created competition committee Tuesday to narrow down a final list of recommendations that owners will then vote on at a board of governors' meeting in New York later this week.
The NHL Players' Association kicks off a packed week in Toronto with an executive committee meeting Tuesday: president Trevor Linden and the rest of the crew - Vincent Damphousse, Bob Boughner, Bill Guerin, Daniel Alfredsson, Arturs Irbe and Trent Klatt - will get an update and oversee the week ahead.
The union will begin Wednesday with a player rep meeting followed by a late afternoon/early evening players' meeting. More than 200 players are expected in Toronto this week. The rest of the 700-odd players can follow and vote electronically.
The players' ratification vote comes Thursday. Later in the day agents will begin their two-day orientation session with the union.
The league has a leg up on educating its members. Bill Daly, the NHL executive vice-president and chief legal officer, held meetings with GMs starting last Friday and wrapping up Monday in New York.
One GM who requested anonymity Monday had two observations after seeing the deal in detail:
- The salary cap and revenue-sharing should ensure parity among teams in the NHL.
- Players didn't do badly for themselves with the minimum salary going up from $185,000 US to $450,000 as well as the ability, as of 2007-08, to become an unrestricted free agent regardless of your age as long as you have seven years of NHL experience.
In the end, it may take a few years to really know how the players fare under the new deal.
''We are in the sports world, so people want to declare winners and losers immediately,'' veteran agent Don Baizley said Monday from Winnipeg. ''We may have theories on how this will work out but realistically, who really knows?
''The hope is that in four or five years, instead of this being a total catastrophe, maybe we'll be able to look back at this being a seminal event in the history of the game where it was a real turning point and we're all better off for it.''
The players' first look at the deal will come at Wednesday's meeting while agents may get a copy of it as early as Wednesday night when most of them arrive in Toronto.
On the league side, everything remains tentatively set for Thursday in New York (although that could be switched to Friday) with a blockbuster board of governors' meeting whose agenda includes:
- A vote on the new agreement with the players;
- A vote on the new and possibly radical rule changes;
- Holding the draft lottery with Crosby as the big prize.
Commissioner Gary Bettman is expected to hold a news conference after the owners' meeting to announce the results of all of the above. But exactly where and when he does it remains up in the air.
The league and union have been working hard over the last several days to figure out a way to have both sides represented at the big news conference - either in New York or Toronto. With the NHLPA having its hands' full in Toronto, it's no small task. But both sides realize how silly they would look if they held separate news conferences this week.
The war is over so it makes sense for both sides to be sitting together when the big announcements are made.
The board of governors' meeting and news conference may also get pushed to Friday if that helps to get both sides in the same city although the union has the agents' meeting that day.
Crosby, meanwhile, will finally find out where he is headed. The New York Rangers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres are the only clubs with three balls in the lottery although every single club has a shot at the 17-year-old prodigy.
A modified version of the entry draft is expected to be held July 30 in Ottawa and that, too, should be made official during the league news conference.
As for proposed rule changes, Campbell realizes they will spark debate but says the bottom line is improving the game.
''What we're trying to accomplish here is to reward offence,'' Campbell said Monday. ''We're trying to draft rules that will allow the offensive skill to emerge.''
TSN (http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=130747)