NHL Labors Toward Postponed Opening : Hockey: Owners reject players’ pledge not to strike. Bettman makes decision today.

The NHL’s Board of Governors rejected a no-strike pledge offered by players Thursday, giving Commissioner Gary Bettman additional leverage to indefinitely postpone Saturday’s season openers until a new collective bargaining agreement is reached.

Despite that move, a lengthy delay is not certain. An NHL source said “there could still be some surprises” today in New York when Bettman holds a news conference to formally turn down the NHL Players Assn.’s promise to play through the season and playoffs if the owners did not lock them out.

However, when asked if it is still possible for the season to start as scheduled, the source said, “I can’t say that.”

Bettman said last week, in announcing he would not allow the season to start until a deal had been hammered out, that a one-week wait would be worth it--and the small number of games relatively easy to make up--if differences could be settled in that time.

No formal vote was taken by the governors Thursday, and none is needed for Bettman to prevent the first puck of the NHL’s 78th season from being dropped. A gag order was imposed on the governors, but sources said at least four clubs--the New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia Flyers, Boston Bruins and Dallas Stars--opposed accepting the players’ pledge and were adamant about establishing the salary-revenue link Bettman advocates. Players want owners to share the burden of subsidizing small-market teams through a levy on payrolls and gate receipts.

“We had a pretty frank conversation and rejected the offer,” a source who participated in the call told the Canadian Press.

A second source who listened in on the call said: “It’s pretty obvious we won’t be playing on Saturday.”

Bob Goodenow, executive director of the NHLPA, could not be reached for comment Thursday night. At a news conference earlier in the day, he said the union’s proposal would keep hockey in the public eye and ease Bettman’s concerns that, like baseball, hockey’s integrity would suffer if he allowed the season to begin and players walked out.

“We made a business proposal that would keep the game in place and keep the season uninterrupted,” Goodenow said. “It would avoid a labor fight. And if there is a labor fight, it will be a long, nasty, dirty fight, there’s no question about that.”

The players’ offer requires Bettman to restore a series of givebacks he imposed before training camp. He has previously said he would reinstate those benefits, which include meal money and insurance payments for players who make more than $350,000, if an agreement were reached before the season began.

“If the NHL wants a labor fight now, so be it,” Goodenow said. “The players are fully prepared to sustain a long battle throughout the season. We made this proposal because we are mindful of the effects a long owner lockout will have on our game. We hope our proposal will allow us to have another great, uninterrupted season.”

About a dozen prominent players joined Goodenow in a show of solidarity at the news conference. Coincidentally, it was held at SkyDome, home of the striking baseball Blue Jays.

Among those present were the Kings’ Wayne Gretzky and Marty McSorley, who took a red-eye flight to Canada after the team’s final exhibition Wednesday at the Forum. Gretzky, who has been sharply critical of Bettman and the commissioner’s lack of hockey experience, contended Thursday that a postponement would not benefit owners even though they would not have to pay players’ salaries during a lockout.

Gretzky, however, will receive his $6-million signing bonus.

“I know the Los Angeles Kings want to play hockey. I know our management would like to see the season start,” Gretzky said. “I know our owners would like to see us play in San Jose on Saturday.

“We’re all very disappointed. We all want the season to begin Saturday, especially with all the success hockey has had recently . . . the success we’ve had now in Florida, with Tampa Bay and Miami franchises doing so well, and Dallas, and of course the three California teams.

“We’re willing to play this year to push our league to another level and we hope the owners in the league feel the same way, that this is not the right time for a lockout.”

Mike Gartner, president of the NHLPA, said he fears a lockout might loosen hockey’s hold in the United States and drive away fans who are unhappy over the labor strife in professional sports. Baseball players have been on strike since Aug. 12 and NBA officials have talked about a possible Thanksgiving lockout of their players.

“I think there wouldn’t be anything worse to alienate the fans than not having hockey at all,” Gartner said. “If you see baseball and what’s happened in baseball, the national pastime of the United States, people turned it off in a heartbeat. What do you think is going to happen to hockey? What’s going to happen to the markets that have just been brought on in the United States?

“I think it’s going to seriously hurt all the steps that have been made over the last number of years, especially the last couple of years. I don’t think it’s going to be good for the game at all. I would certainly hope the owners realize that.”

Goodenow said no accord is near and that a rejection of the players’ pledge would not sweeten the tone of the talks.

“If there is a lockout and this proposal is rejected, things that have been said in the past and the positions of parties would probably change considerably,” he said.

The league’s latest proposal, which was rejected by the NHLPA on Wednesday, centered on a graduated levy imposed on teams whose payrolls exceed a negotiated figure of about $15 million to $16 million, reflecting the average payroll last season. The fees would be pooled and reallocated to small-market clubs.

Players, who vetoed that plan because they say it would restrain salaries, have proposed 5.5% levies on the salaries and gate receipts of the clubs whose revenues rank in the top 16 of the NHL’s 26 franchises. The funds would be redistributed to the teams whose revenues rank in the bottom 10.

Under that formula, the top-ranked New York Rangers would pay $2.406 million into the pool. The Kings, who rank fourth, would pay $2.237 million. The Mighty Ducks, who rank 12th, would pay $1.669 million.

The biggest beneficiary would be the Winnipeg Jets, who would receive $8.239 million, and the Edmonton Oilers, who would get about $5 million.

Goodenow also said Chicago Blackhawk defenseman Chris Chelios had apologized to Bettman for comments Chelios made about Bettman Wednesday.

Among his remarks, Chelios said, “If I was Gary Bettman, I’d be worried about my family, about my well-being right now. Some crazed fan or even a player, who knows, might take it into his own hands and figure that if they get him out of the way this might get settled. You’d hate to see something like that happen, but he took the job.”

Goodenow said he believed the comments to be a product of the players’ frustration but said he did not condone them. He said Chelios “did the right thing” in apologizing.

* REACTION

The end comes before the beginning for the Kings and Mighty Ducks. C7