CBA negotiations
Last week both sides worked to negotiate a deal to put a halt to the current lockout. However, specifics have not been disclosed from the meetings. “Obviously, we know that time is of the essence in working to conclude a new CBA, and both sides are proceeding on that basis,” NHL executive vice president Bill Daly said in a statement.

Two weeks ago word leaked out that the NHL and NHLPA agreed on a deal that was based on a salary-cap system on a team-by-team revenue. According to the Globe and Mail of Toronto, each team will have its own salary floor and cap, which will be determined by team revenue. The cap could reasonably range from $34-36 million and the floor, $22-24 million. The Globe and Mail also reports that the cap would include benefits like signing and performance bonuses. In between the cap and floor, a luxary tax would kick in dollar for dollar. The players’ original offer of a 34 percent rollback is believed to remain part of that deal.

“Progress has been made in a number of areas, but there remains a considerable amount of work to be completed in order to reach an agreement,” union senior director Ted Saskin said.

While the draft was canceled in March, TSN is reporting that if a deal is reached, the draft date would be on August 6, 2005.

NHL players are “lab rats”
Bill Adams, a management attorney who specialized in labor disputes, views NHL players as “lab rats” after seeing the NBA close a deal and prevent a lockout for their next season. Adams believes that the NHL losing a full season to a lockout and its results will dictate sport league’s negotiations.

“I think you’re going to see a lot of modeling done in professional sports after the NHL situation. It probably will stabilize labor relations in sports for a long time,” he said. “While the financial circumstances are different, I think all professional athletes, except golfers, have been scared by the way it unfolded.”

NHL teams start to return staff
Today, June 27, the Nashville Predators extended head coach Barry Trotz’s contract. Trotz has been the only coach for the franchise since August 8, 1997. In 2004, he led the team to its first playoff game with an overall record of 183-328-60-21.

“This is the coaching staff that we want leading the Nashville Predators when the National Hockey League returns,” general manager David Polie said. “Our goal is for Barry Trotz to pick up where he left off and build upon our playoff run in 2004.”

The Predators on Monday also signed assistant coach Peter Horachek, associate coach Brent Peterson, goaltending coach Mitch Korn, video coach Robert Bouchard and strength and conditioning coach David Good to contract extensions.

The St. Louis Blues have also signed Mike Kitchen as coach. The Chicago Blackhawks and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim also have new general managers; coach Brian Sutter was fired from the Blackhawks. This recent flicker of activity among NHL teams and their staff are like the light at the end of the tunnel. Hopefully, they have been led to believe a deal can be met and that a season will be in place for 2005-2006.

Some Red Wings tidbits
The Hockey News reported in mid-June that Steve Yzerman along with seven hockey friends went to Scotland on an eight day trip in celebration of his 40th birthday. The tour included many of golf’s oldest and finest courses like Aberdeen, Carnoustie, and Troon. Yzerman’s hockey buddies include Kris Draper, Steve Duschesne, Eric Lindros, Darren Pang, Robert Lang, Ray Whitney, and Steve Thomas.

The Hockey News also reported:

Top right wing prospect Igor Grigorenko has agreed to play for Severstal Cherepovets of the Russian Super League in 2005-06. The 22-year-old native of Togliatti, Russia spent 2004-05 with both his hometown club (Lada Togliatti) and Salavat Yulayev Ufa in the RSL (41 GP, 11-8-19, +8, 28 PIM). Grigorenko could find himself with the AHL’s Grand Rapids Griffins–or possibly in Detroit–if NHL play resumes in September, but the organization may want him to continue to develop overseas. After all, he’s still not all the way back following a car accident in 2003.

Roenick: “We got our asses kicked”

Jeremy Roenick, speaking from Mario Lemieux’s charity golf tournament:

“They [the NHLPA] could have listened to the players who had an idea of where this was going – myself, Robert Esche, Jarome Iginla, and Chris Pronger…I really took a beating, a couple of guys took a real beating in February because we decided to do what we wanted to do and claimed that we should have signed that deal in February…If we would have signed that deal in February, in terms of what we’re getting now, we would have looked like heroes. Right now we look like a bunch of idiots…The deal in February beats the [expletive] out of the deal we’re gonna sign in July.”

“It’s unfortunate we had to go through a whole year to realize the [expletive] that was going on. We’ve hurt our league, we’ve hurt the reputation of our league and the integrity of our league by sticking up for something that might not have been the right thing to do.”

“If people are going to sit and chastise pro athletes for being cocky – for being suck asses – they need to look at one thing and that’s the deal we’re going to be signing in about three weeks. Pro athletes are not cocky. Pro athletes care about the game. Everybody out there who calls us spoiled because we play a game – they can kiss my ass….I will say personally, personally, to everybody who calls us spoiled, you guys are just jealous, and screw you guys because we have tried so hard to get this game back on the ice to make it better for the fans. And if you don’t realize that, don’t come. We don’t want you in the rink, we don’t want you to watch hockey. Period.”

“We might have won in 1994, the owners will win in 2005, somewhere in the middle let’s make the fans win once in a while. Let’s get the game better and get back on the ice and play.”

A few days ago I mentioned the sad reality Wings fans face with the new economic system. Here’s the situation:

Forwards

Kris Draper – $2,800,000 ($2,128,000)
Tomas Holmstrom – $1,800,000 ($1,368,000)
Jiri Hudler – $750,000 ($570,000)
Robert Lang – $5,000,000 ($3,800,000)
Kirk Maltby – $1,900,000 ($1,444,000)
Darren McCarty – $2,250,000 ($1,710,000)
Mark Mowers – $375,000 ($285,000)
Brendan Shanahan – $3,000,000 ($2,280,000)
Ray Whitney – $3,500,000 ($2,660,000)

Defensemen

Jiri Fischer – $1,700,000 ($1,292,000)
Derian Hatcher – $6,500,000 ($4,940,000)
Nicklas Lidstrom – $10,000,000 ($7,600,000)
Jamie Rivers – $400,000 ($304,000)

Goalies

Manny Legace – $1,500,000 ($1,140,000)

—-$49,475,000 (*$37,601,000) —-14 players
*24% rollback in parenthesis
Note: Minimum Salary was $185,000

Buyouts/Re-negotiations/Deferments

Based on a cap system with a floor of $22-24 million and a ceiling of $34-36 million, obviously the Wings will have to dump/re-negotiate or defer salaries:

Ray Whitney: re-negotiate at $1,500,000, otherwise buyout
Derian Hatcher: re-negotiate at $3,500,000, otherwise buyout
Nicklas Lidstrom: re-negotiate at $6,000,000, otherwise buyout

—-Payroll becomes $22,401,000 at least or $33,401,000 at most

Signings Left

Henrik Zetterberg – $1,500,000
Pavel Datsyuk – $2,000,000
Steve Yzerman – $750,000
Jason Williams – $750,000
Jason Woolley – $500,000
Niklas Kronwall – $500,000
Mathieu Dandenault – $750,000
Backup Goaltender – $1,000,000
Grand Rapids Griffin – $200,000

—-Cost of additions: $7,950,000 —- 9 players, 23 total

I’m assuming the Wings will sign all of the above nine players, or use the close to $8 million towards those roster spots. That brings the payroll to $30,351,000, without Whitney, Hatcher, or Lidstrom locked in. Not a good situation when the cap ceiling looks to be $36 million. It’s going to be virtually impossible to sign the “buyout trio” for a total $5,649,000. I’ll even go out on a limb and say the Wings might get McCarty, Draper, and Shanahan to defer a total of $1.5 million. That still leaves only $7,149,000 for the trio. Still not gonna happen.

So that brings the sad reality I mentioned a few days ago: buyouts. The hometown hero and boat-racing defenseman Derian Hatcher is out the door. His contract is an obvious dinosaur, and his value has been lacking. Granted he only played 27 games with the Wings due to a torn ACL, I just don’t think he’s worth more than $750,000 base salary (maybe more with bonuses). Don’t fret Derian, there are plenty of other places you can race your boats.

Without worrying about Derian’s dough, the Wings get Lidstrom and Whitney re-negotiated at $6 million and $1.5 million, respectively. So that brings the Wings’ total payroll to $36,351,000, with a roster spot open with Hatcher’s exit. Remember, a $36 million cap. Close enough for tonight…

To summarize what just happened, here’s how you get the Wings in the neighborhood of $36 million payroll:

- Keep 11 players already signed for the season (minus Hatcher, Lidstrom, Whitney)
- That makes $22,401,000 payroll
- McCarty, Draper, Shanahan defer a total $1,500,000
- Now we’re at $20,901,000
- Whitney and Lidstrom agree to re-negotiations for $2,760,000 less
- Buyout Hatcher’s $4,940,000 post-rollback salary
- Now $28,401,000
- Add in signings of nine player free agents
- $36,351,000 for 22 players (Hatcher’s spot open)

*This is all assuming the cap will be at $36 million, the 24% rollback across the board will be exercised, player re-negotiations/deferments will work out, and that buyouts can occur with the transfer fee not going towards the overall roster payroll that must stay under cap. A lot of uncertainty, but at least it’s a good exercise of accounting to see how things might work.

UPDATE 6/26 11:57 am

“The expected new collective bargaining agreement (due any day now at your local rink) is expected to contain a clause in which teams are allowed a one-time chance to buy out any and all contracts and not have it count against the new salary cap…Some big money teams wanted a dispersal draft, but the players shot that down. So, the buyout was a compromise, with one interesting twist – the teams can’t reacquire their own players.”

The Dallas Morning News

That answers two questions I’ve had, if that’s an accurate source. I’m glad buying out players won’t count against the teams, but it scares me a bit that they can’t reacquire bought-out players. What happens when a team buys out an aging veteran, and he remains un-signed by the rest of the league? Does he just have to wait till next season? There should be a interm period where the teams can’t re-sign their bought-out players, but say 180 days later, the possibility should be open. That’d be around December. I guess in that scenario, it would probably be pretty obvious the player would not be taken on the open market, and the player would have to re-negotiate his contract instead of being bought out and taking the risk of waiting 180 days.

UPDATE 6/28 8:24 PM

Well, it’s good to see someone’s reading the site. Ansar Khan from Mlive that is. Here’s his curiously similar take on the Wings’ 2005-2006 payroll. Only one thing he missed: Nick Lidstrom. And how can you forget a $7.6 million dollar post-rollback salary in a $36 million cap?

With the sides amassing an amazing 75 hours of talks over five days of negotiations in Toronto this week, it is believed that we will have new CBA agreed in principle next week or the first week in July. Words of optimism from Bill Daly:

“It was a very long week but I think both sides are working really hard to resolve and move the process forward. We continued to make progress this week but there are still some issues that we need to talk about. We’ve made significant progress on most of the critical areas but that’s all contingent on everything being resolved.”

The collective guess of the hockey community is that a salary cap system is already hashed out, and the major roadblocks that remain are salary arbitration, player rights, what to do with old contracts (Yashin deals) and a surge in free agency, and whether to participate in the Turin Olympics.

I’ve been waiting for players to start making peace with the process, and hopefully more come out than Jeremy Roenick, Jaromir Jagr, and player/owner Mario Lemieux. Quotes follow.

Roenick:

“What we could’ve got in February is probably 10 times better than what we’re going to get now. A lot of us knew that, but we did what we did and that’s what you’ve got to live with. It’s too bad that we’ve had a year off. For a lot of us, especially guys like myself, it’s going to be a hard year to come back from. It is what it is. We’ve got to live with it, get the game back on the ice. But we could’ve had a better deal back in February.”

Jagr:

“We started the fight because we didn’t agree with the introduction of salary caps. Now, we’ll be happy to get them. We didn’t expect the owners to be so tough and persistent. It was a risk that didn’t pay off.”

Lemieux:

“They should have taken the deal back in February. The cap was at $42.5 million, that was the offer from the owners, now it looks like it’s going to be a lot less than that.”

Now obviously it’s no surprise that Lemieux is saying those things in the interest of his dual role as player/owner of the Penguins. Even Roenick mouthing off isn’t very notable considering he’s been pretty outspoken during the lockout, occasionally taking statements back after the NHLPA sends men with bats to meet him at his front door. But for Jaromir Jagr to say that is a huge turn of events. This is the man who made $11 million during the 2003-2004 season, tied with Peter Forsberg as the highest paid player. Jagr has followed the money a lot during his career, including during the lockout when he decided to play for oil-rich Russian Super League team Avangard Omsk, rather than play for a native Czech club. And he’s already signed to return there if NHL play doesn’t resume as planned.

I find it amazing that players like Jagr didn’t realize the conclusion of this lockout was many paths leading to one CBA, the NHL’s version. Either that or they kept their lips sealed because the NHLPA was censuring any player comments not in line with Goodenow. But for Jagr to give us that statement now is basically a PR stunt. He’s trying to save face and be one of the first player’s to apologize or express their anger that a deal wasn’t reached when it should’ve been. Because it’s frankly an obvious statement to make.

The NHLPA’s “sticking by principle even if wrecking the Game” attitude made this lockout for the worse. The NHLPA was either grossly misinformed or very idealistic or both if they thought waiting five months (after February deadline talks) was going to make the NHL budge more towards their cap number at $49 million. No chance. The NHL’s best offer was at $42 million, and even then NHL owners said they would be in the red and struggling. You can question the Levitt Report and NHL accounting all you want, but I don’t think anyone should question that the NHL owners honestly felt that the system was slanted towards the players and the owners just weren’t going to make concessions on this issue. Even if the owners were all ignorant in this belief, they were not budging on the cap numbers enough for the NHLPA to “win.” And that’s where Goodenow misled his player clients.

I find it admirable to stick by principles and the NHLPA’s principles were that a cap was not an option in their vision of the league. Fine. But when you’re in the passenger seat of a truck, and Bettman and the owners are crazy-eyed in the driver seat racing towards the edge of a cliff, I don’t think sticking by principle is much consolation for the potential destruction of a league, loss of a season, and career suicide for a number of NHL veterans. And a black eye for the Game. It’s kind of like defensive driving. When you see a wreckless driver, you give them the space to avoid an accident. Even if that accident had been their fault, it’s no consolation knowing you’re “right” when you’re at the side of the road filling out a police report. Sometimes you have to give in. Especially for the health of the Game. Unless you want that accident. Unless it’s worth the chance of you “winning” even if the Game loses. That attitude really bothers me the most.

In that truck over the cliff, the NHLPA can say they were not of fault for the situation, that it was Gary and his buddies. But is it worth it? The NHLPA may say in the end they were fighting in the interest of the fans so the NHL wouldn’t turn into a socialist league, but I don’t buy it. That’s saving face. It was all about giving money back now and in the future. The 24% rollbacks offered by the PA were one-time only, and the league likely would’ve found itself with the same inflated salaries in five years. Yes, that is due to a spiderweb of problems in the NHL economic system, but my only acceptance of the cap system comes from knowing it may get a majority of struggling teams out of the red despite the owner’s economic disabilities.

I know the owners have been wrong with the economics. It only took a few of them to have the situation snowball. But I didn’t see very much willingness for the players to resolve the problem. They said, why don’t the owners share their revenues? Well, how do you share collective debt in the majority of the league. There just isn’t enough profit-making to make a difference for all the teams in the red. Making 75% of a business’ revenue is not the standard for most employees I know.

Maybe I’m being too hard on the players and their leadership. But maybe that reflects how I hold them to a higher standard. Bettman and his gang are businessmen, the majority of them don’t know the Game and many don’t even love it. But I really thought the players would avert disaster because they understood the importance. Maybe the owners really aren’t as crazy-eyed/ignorant as I think and it was a conspiracy to break the PA. But I have a hard time believing most owners are that smart in tactics and then in the red because they enjoy losing hundreds of milions of dollars over the course of their ownership, as the St Louis owners did and are now selling. It could also be possible that the NHLPA is a crazy-eyed bunch just like the NHL leadership, but this rant in the NHLPA’s direction is a testament to my belief that they know what’s up. And it’s criticism in believing they are able to do the right thing.

Guy Lafleur: “The players took advantage of the situation in 1994. They won the lottery for 10 years in a row. I have nothing against the guys who have taken advantage of the system for 10 years, I’m very happy for them. But it makes no sense. These guys have to be realistic. I know it’s going to be tough for them to leave this money behind, but they were lucky to have it for 10 years. From the beginning, the owners said they were going for a salary cap and they stuck to their plan. That’s why there’s no hockey today.”

I plead naivety on behalf of the owners. And I ask the players to consider an economic system that may be a lighter load on the intellect of the owners, at least for the time being. This CBA should be corrective, not permanent precedent. If the owners are meaning for this to stay, I’m inching back to the fence between us.

–Credit to HockeyBird for inspiring this unedited rant. I read Jim’s take on the recent quotes and got in the mood to rant. If I started to edit it down and make it into essay form, it wouldn’t be a rant anymore. And frankly, the NHL doesn’t deserve any more time than I’ve already given them tonight!

Our condolences to the family and friends of Charlie Tuttle, who passed away yesterday morning. Charlie, with Jason Kirk, ran the blog “Predator’s Den” while maintaining his own blog, “Flush My Nuts.” He will be missed by the hockey blogging community, which is now even smaller than before. Our prayers are with you.

The OtW crew (Matt Saler, Brian List, Christy Hammond, Daryl Shilling)

Buyouts

Among the issues a new CBA will bring up is what happens to current player contracts? Will salaries be rolled back? What happens to teams’ player rights? Free agency will be widespread. And if teams are already committed to payrolls above the maximum salary cap, what can they do? One of the options is player buyouts, where teams can pay a fee that releases their legal obligations to pre-lockout contracts. This is something all Wings fans will have to live with. Currently, the Wings have 15 players signed for the 2005-2006 season, making for a whopping $49.475 million payroll with key Wings still unsigned (Datsyuk, Yzerman, Zetterberg). At the numbers getting thrown around, $36 million looks to be the ceiling cap level, in addition to luxury tax penalties. And even if league-wide salary rollbacks happen, the Wings will be above any cap mark. So in the below analysis I name current market prices, and they could very well be scaled down salaries post-CBA. Either way, a $10 million dollar salary is going to be a dinosaur, whether it’s scaled down to rollback level or not.

So what players will the Wings buyout? I say Derian Hatcher ($6.5 million) and Ray Whitney ($3.5 million) are the likely candidates. That would leave Lidstrom ($10 million), Lang ($5 million), and Shanahan ($3 million) as the top paid Wings. And depending how rule changes go, the Game might become more offense-oriented and it might make sense to dump Lidstrom’s $10 million salary. Or the Wings could just use the logic that the money they aren’t spending on goaltenders ($1.5 million for Manny) is figured in with Lidstrom’s high pay. I know it’s heresy for me to suggest dumping Nick Lidstrom, but unless he re-negotiates a deal I just don’t see how the Wings could afford him with a cap, salaries rolled back or not. A franchise player exception to the salary cap might be the only way Nick stays around. Either that or weighted salary rollbacks on the highest paid players, something the NHLPA would never agree to.

So once the Wings dump two or three contracts, what’s next? First, offer Yzerman a front office position, or, if he insists on returning to the ice, a reduced player salary of $1 million, with performance bonuses up to an extra $1 million. We will not be able to afford the $4 million Yzerman was slated to make in the 2004-2005 un-un-cancelled season. Sure, the Captain demands a sort of sentimental salary that you can’t pay him based on his performance but his legacy, but I don’t think we’ll have room for that business practice anymore. Yzerman hasn’t played organized hockey since Game 5 versus the Flames, other than a charity game in Ann Arbor, and let’s face it, he’s 40 years old and is still suffering the effects of a serious eye injury. I’d love to see him back with the Wings but not at a super-star salary.

Then, the top priorities are bringing back Datsyuk and Zetterberg. They are the future of the team. Use money freed up to give them what they want, with performance bonuses built in so their base salaries are not over $3 million each. Then go down the list and sign bargain players like Dandenault, Mowers, Williams, Woolley, and for heaven sakes don’t forget AHL MVP Niklas Kronwall! Dumping Lidstrom might not hurt so much if we can get this kid on the active roster.

UPDATE (Matt) 23. June): Carole Lee Sussman has some observations on buy-outs that are well worth reading here.

Blues selling

After all the first/second round losses to the Wings in the playoffs, and having a competitive payroll the entire time, it looks like the St Louis Blues are hurting. Bill and Nancy Laurie are selling the entire franchise (team and the Savvis Center) based on losses of $225 million since 1994. If you read down towards the end of the FoxSports.com article, you even see Lyle Richardson (aka “Spector”) make mention of always-opinionated hockey blogger Tom Benjamin. When I was at the point of gouging my eyes out before writing another CBA rant, Tom was pumping out 2-3 rants daily. I’d like to see the bullet he’s been biting this past year of the lockout, because I don’t see how you maintain your drive to write about NHL hockey with all they’ve put the fans through. I admire Tom’s dedication to hockey blogging.

Quote of the Day

I ripped this off Sharkspage, but I think it’s a great quote for Wings fans. When Brian Burke (then GM of Vancouver, now rumored to be future GM of Anaheim) was asked whether he would try and sign free agent Sergei Fedorov in 2003, he replied “We already have a Fedorov [Fedor]. That’s one Fedorov too many.” Ahhh, now I wonder how Sergei feels about Burkey? If it really bothers him, Sergei can take a hike. His 5 year, $40 million contract signed in 2003 ($10 million for 2003-04, $6 million in 2004-05, and $8 million for 2005-06 through 2007-08) includes a player option to become a free agent after years two and three of the deal. FYI Sergei, we don’t want you in Detroit.

Earlier today I “bumped” into Ken Daniels with a friend and we inquired about the hockey league and if there will be a season next year. Ken Daniels does play by play announcing with Mickey Redmond for Fox Sports Net in the Detroit area for pretty much all of our Wings’ games. As you all know, I’m not one to spread rumors. But he said that after talking with many agents and GMs (but not the Red Wings’ GM, Ken Holland) that a deal should be signed in the next couple weeks and we’ll have a season in October. Take it as you will (probably with a grain of salt), but I wanted to let everyone know who reads this blog. And I sure hope he’s right!