NHL NOTES : A Little Walk Helped End Officials’ Strike

The breakthrough that led to Wednesday’s settlement of the 17-day NHL Officials’ Association strike came Tuesday afternoon when Commissioner Gary Bettman and the officials’ agent, Don Meehan, literally took a hike.

The two left the negotiating table at a hotel in the Montreal suburbs, walked outside together and, Bettman said, “It was at that point that I think we believed we were getting close enough that maybe we should try to seize the moment.”

They returned to the table and a few hours later tentatively agreed on a four-year collective bargaining agreement for the 58 referees and linesmen who had been on strike since Nov. 15. The deal is retroactive to the beginning of the season. It was ratified Wednesday by the NHL Board of Governors and the officials association.

Bettman said he spoke to 24 of the league’s 26 governors and “they were all supportive of us concluding the deal.”

Meehan said the officials’ vote was “overwhelming -- not unanimous but very close to it.”

During the strike, games were handled by replacement officials. The regular officials resume work tonight. In exchange for concessions on fringe benefits, the officials accepted the league’s Nov. 9 salary package that provides a 29-percent increase in referees’ base salaries and a 26-percent raise for linesmen.

Sources said the deal provides that:

-- Officials with 12 or more years’ experience be entitled to a buyout package worth up to two years’ salary.

-- Playoff bonuses of at least $11,500 are guaranteed for officials with at least four years’ experience, whether or not they work playoff games.

-- Officials are to receive retroactive pay increases for the period Oct. 5-Nov. 14 but will not be paid for the period of their walkout.

-- All 58 officials were rehired but the league made no guarantee it would not add replacement officials. “Right now we haven’t made any plans to make any changes for the balance of the season,” Bettman said.

He added of the officials, “We’re thrilled and delighted to have them work. We missed them. ... We made an economic deal we felt was fair and reasonable.” Meehan said, “We’re pleased and very happy with the agreement. ... We’re going to have the best officials in the world back to work (tonight).”

Told the strike is over, Flames right wing Theo Fleury said, “That’s great news. For the most part, (replacements) did the best job they could. At times it was good, at times it wasn’t very good at all. The show must go on and it did but now that it’s solved, we can get back to normal.”

Bettman now must focus on a new CBA for the NHL Players’ Association, which has been without one since Sept. 15.

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Item: If the current pace continues, NHL teams will reach a 16-year low this season in average goals per game.

Through games of Nov. 23, 6.7 goals were scored in an average game, down 1.6 from the high mark of 8.3 in 1981-82. The current average is the lowest since 1977-78 (6.6). Why? Players and club officials offer these reasons:

-- Three expansion drafts in the past three years to stock five new teams have diluted talent and increased parity.

-- The conference playoff format has doubled the number of important games.

-- The Canadiens’ Stanley Cup victory re-emphasized the value of good team defense and it is back in vogue.

-- Some of the top scorers -- Mario Lemieux, Eric Lindros, Steve Yzerman and Pat LaFontaine -- are injured.

-- Goaltending has been outstanding.

“I think the goaltending is the best it’s ever been,” Devils executive vice president Max McNab said. “It used to be a tremendous adjustment for young goalies coming in the league. But now juniors are shooting the puck like rockets. Goalies are coming to the NHL having seen some bullets and they’re used to it.”

Through Monday’s games, seven teams had goals-against averages under 3.00 and 23 of 66 goalies who had appeared in games were under 3.00. “Goalies aren’t facing as many quality shots,” Islanders right wing Steve Thomas said, “because teams are playing more defensively. ... I haven’t been involved in a two-on-one all year. Well, maybe one.”

Caps defenseman Kevin Hatcher said, “More teams are going to a conservative style of forechecking and you don’t give up as many quality chances.”

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Just as Ron Francis seems to pick up his game when Lemieux is injured, Sabres center Dale Hawerchuk has raised his level of play since LaFontaine suffered a season-ending knee injury.

The Sabres were 5-1-1 in their past seven games without LaFontaine before last night. Hawerchuk had seven of his 13 goals in that span. He attributes his production to ice time with LaFontaine’s wings, Craig Simpson and Alexander Mogilny, and a shift from right point to down low on power plays.

“It’s a big difference playing with (Mogilny),’ Hawerchuk said. “When you go to the net, he knows where you are. When he has the puck, you just have to be around and he’ll get it to you.”