O No, Canada! It Doesn’t Pay to Play Up There

Among the troubles besetting the NHL these days--a player strike is threatened--is the gap between Canadian and American tax rates.

Players with Canadian teams must deal with a 50%-or-more income tax rate, a 7% goods-and-services tax and an unfavorable currency exchange rate.

The differences, Canadians say, are steadily driving the best NHL players in Canada to the United States.

“If players have a choice of the two countries, you can bet they will choose to play in the U.S.,” NHL player agent Rick Curran said.

Canadian NHL executives have appealed to the Canadian government, to allow, among other things, tax-free deferred salary payments.

Canada’s teams are worried they will be unable to compete with U.S. teams when top players become available through free agency. Mark Messier, Pat LaFontaine, Scott Stevens, Brendan Shanahan, Kevin Stevens and Mark Recchi all were available in the last two years and all signed with U.S. teams. This year, the top 15 scorers all play for U.S. teams.

Said Gerald Diduck of the Montreal Canadiens, comparing his Montreal and New York Islander careers: “Instead of paying (income tax of) 33% (with New York), I was paying 55%. Over a career, it can cost a lot of money.”

Said Edmonton Oiler General Manager Glen Sather: “If a player makes $100,000 in the United States, we almost have to pay him $200,000 to give him the same take-home pay.”

Sorry we asked: University of Connecticut basketball Coach Jim Calhoun, after declining comment on rumors that he has been contacted about succeeding Jerry Tarkanian at Nevada Las Vegas:

“You can trust me on this one. My energies are fully directed, 101%, on the University of Connecticut, our kids and our program. All I’m interested in is getting us to be the best we can be and getting us into the NCAA tournament.”

Trivia time: What number was Babe Ruth wearing when he hit his 60th home run in 1927?

Go away, Donald: The Baltimore Sun’s Mike Littwin, on Donald Trump’s offer to help buy Mike Tyson out of a prison term by channeling his boxing money into a fund for Indiana rape victims:

“We were offended by the reliably offensive Donald Trump, who has floated a plan whereby Tyson would serve no time but would hand over future earnings to rape victims. . . . Can someone shut this man up?”

Winner at last: The 72-year-old retired payroll clerk who won $320,612.20 last weekend on a $64 Santa Anita pick nine bet, said his 45-year search for a big winner cost him a 38-year marriage along the way.

“I’ve been going to the races for 45 or 46 years, and she’d been trying to get me to quit for 40 years,” said the man, who declined to be identified.

“I always said we’d have to get a divorce, because horse racing had seniority on her--I’d been going to the races longer than I’d been married to her.”

His former wife, he added, is now his roommate.

Anniversary: Seven years ago today, Mike Tyson, in his first professional fight, knocked out Hector Mercedes in the first round.

Nadia connection: Anita Nall, the 15-year-old swimmer who broke two world records at the U.S. Olympic swimming trials this week, told reporters how young 15 really is.

“When I was born, Nadia Comaneci was performing at the 1976 Olympics,” she said. “My father was in the hospital waiting room, watching Nadia get a 10. I was baptized Nadia Anita Louise Nall.”

Trivia answer: He wore no number. The Yankees did not wear numbers until 1928.

Quotebook: Former pitcher Tug McGraw, when he signed his first big contract: “Ninety percent I’ll spend on good times, women and Irish whiskey. The rest I’ll probably waste.”