THE NHL / HELENE ELLIOTT : Talks Resume, but a Lockout Looms

Collective bargaining talks between the NHL and its players’ association are to resume this week amid whispers that a lockout is so likely to delay the Oct. 1 season opener, the league has already drawn up a 50-game contingency schedule with a January starting date.

King defenseman Marty McSorley, a member of the NHL Player Assn.’s five-man negotiating committee, painted a gloomy picture of the talks. While he clings to the hope that “there are a lot of owners who are hockey fans . . . and come Oct. 1 they’re going to want the season to start,” he sees a wide gulf between the sides.

Commissioner Gary Bettman’s rollback of training camp meal money, his declaration that players must pay their own expenses to camp--a ruling that kept four of the Buffalo Sabres’ draft choices home--and the league’s bluff about a training camp lockout widened that gap, McSorley said.

“Personally, I don’t believe owners believed a lockout would take place before training camp would open,” he said. “They believed training camp would open and they’d get revenues (from exhibition games) and if there’d be a lockout, it would be when the players start to make money.”

The players’ first pay period is Oct. 1-15. They are not paid during camp.

“The way it stands right now, I don’t think the season will start,” said Bob Corkum, the Mighty Ducks’ player representative. “Of course, I could be wrong, but my gut feeling is the owners will lock us out. . . . We’re going to stick to our guns on this. We’re very unified and solid and we’re not going to budge. It’s very important for us to (have the right to) shop ourselves on an open market.”

McSorley said: “There’s been a lot of talk. Whether there’s been a lot of area closed between the two parties, I’m not sure. I know the union would like to get everything closed up, but at the same time, you can’t sell the farm.”

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For players, selling the farm means (1) rejecting Bettman’s proposal that game rosters be cut by one to 17 skaters and two goalies and (2) refusing any form of salary-revenue links, even those applying only to first-year players.

“You put a cancer on your finger, you put a cancer on your toe, you still have cancer,” McSorley said. “We have to be careful about any form of salary cap. How can we get a true idea of what their revenues are? Some teams are owned by corporations, like the New York Rangers (owned by Viacom, which is selling them to ITT-Sheraton and Cablevision). With corporations of that size, what exactly are they determining as revenue?”

He also cited the imbalance between the revenues of small-market teams, such as Winnipeg and Quebec, and teams in larger cities. “I’m not saying we’re not sensitive to (small-market teams) but before you can ask players to accept the burden of helping small-market teams, you have to ask if the big-market teams are doing their share,” he said.

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Areas of potential compromise are few. What’s negotiable and what’s not?

Arbitration, perhaps? “It’s in the mix, but we have so few players move,” McSorley said. “You can count on one hand the number of players who move (through free agency).”

Said Tony Tavares, president of the Mighty Ducks: “Everything is negotiable, but you have to look at what the entire package is. And you have to remember agreements of this nature, you make in small steps. You don’t take one major issue and make the deal.

“The encouraging thing is the talks are going on. Nobody is staring at 20 paces and saying, ‘We won’t talk because of this or that.’ ”

The only agreement is that a lockout would halt the NHL’s growth spurt. “Last year was probably the best the NHL has ever had,” said Rob Blake, the Kings’ player representative, “and this is a big year for hockey. With the baseball strike (continuing), fans might turn to other sports.”

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Radek Bonk, selected third in the June draft, refused to report to the Ottawa Senators. He has been skating with his old team, Las Vegas of the International Hockey League. . . . San Jose Shark goalie Arturs Irbe, who suffered a broken finger, severed artery and nerve damage when his dog attacked him in July, played in the team’s first two scrimmages and allowed only two goals. He is expected to be ready when the season starts.

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The Detroit Vipers of the IHL have offered Washington defenseman Kevin Hatcher $1 million to switch leagues. Hatcher, a Detroit native, is a free agent with compensation. He has been working out with the Vipers since his talks with the Capitals stalled. Hatcher earned $1.325 million last season.

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The Edmonton Oilers’ Marc Laforge, commenting on the $3-million (Canadian) contract signed by teammate Bill Ranford: “The only way I’ll see $3 million is with a sawed-off shotgun and a ski mask.”

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Ranger captain Mark Messier, invoking a clause that allowed him to renegotiate his contract if the team won the Stanley Cup, is demanding a three-year, $18-million deal. His age, 33, and the uncertainty of the team’s sale are working against him.

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New King wing Rick Tocchet had an unusual ailment for a hockey player. “I was out driving the other day and I had the top down on my Jeep and I got a little too much sun,” he said. “When I put my shoulder pads on (Monday), my shoulders were aching.”

But Tocchet wasn’t about to complain to Coach Barry Melrose. “I don’t think with Barry, you’d get to go on the DL for sunburn,” he said.

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Former King General Manager Nick Beverley was named director of player personnel for the Toronto Maple Leafs.