NHL Officials Win Concessions and Will Return to Work Today

NHL referees and linesmen will return to work today, after ratifying a four-year agreement that significantly boosts their salaries, playoff guarantees and severance pay.

Wednesday’s approval by the 58-member NHL Officials Assn., which voted unanimously to strike Nov. 15, was “not unanimous, but very close to it,” said Don Meehan, the association’s chief negotiator. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said all 24 of the 26 NHL governors he contacted supported the deal.

The agreement will be retroactive to the start of the season, but officials will not be paid for games they missed during the 17-day strike. The minimum salary for referees will increase from $50,000 to $65,000 this season and to $80,000 by 1996-97, with a top base salary increasing from the current $90,000 to $220,000 in the fourth year. Linesmen’s pay will go from $33,000 to $45,000 this season, with a top base salary of $115,000 in the last year of the contract.

Officials will also be guaranteed $6,000 in playoff pay, to a maximum of $11,500 in the last year of the deal, in addition to a maximum of $29,000 for referees and $24,000 for linesmen who work through to the Stanley Cup finals.

“I think it’s a fair deal all the way around,” said King owner Bruce McNall, chairman of the Board of Governors. “The money that was offered was in the ballpark of what was offered in the beginning. I’m happy to see them back.”