Lacking NBA Dollars, the NHL Tries to Put Salaries on Ice

Lloyd Friedland had just finished negotiating a respectable, two-year contract for Kelly Hrudey with the San Jose Sharks, and he had every reason to be satisfied.

But the same day, Shaquille O’Neal signed a seven-year, $120-million contract with the Lakers, planting thoughts of astronomical sums in the minds of sports agents everywhere. Mindful of O’Neal’s deal, Friedland, who represents Hrudey and Florida Panther goalie John Vanbiesbrouck, pretended to be miffed about the $2.2-million agreement he had made for Hrudey.

“I told Kelly and John I was disappointed they weren’t point guards,” Friedland said. “When you look at the numbers some of these NBA players are getting, hockey is chump change.”

The NBA’s free-agent signing period has turned into a succession of breathtaking, can-you-top-this payouts, but the first month of free agency in the NHL has not produced a similar financial frenzy.

Several high-profile free agents have taken pay cuts, starting with all-time scoring leader Wayne Gretzky. He went from a league-leading $6.54 million salary with the Kings and St. Louis Blues last season to a two-year deal with the New York Rangers that guarantees only $3.25 million in salary a year but provides an annuity worth $1.75 million each year and incentives such as a television show.

“There was some concern about Gretzky, and he has slowed down. He’s the greatest player that has ever played the game, but he’s a little bit older,” said Phoenix Coyote General Manager John Paddock, whose club wooed Gretzky with an offer of part ownership. “If he were 31 . . . I think it would have been different. He might have gotten a bigger deal.”

Center Craig Janney, one of the NHL’s top playmakers, earned $2 million last season with Winnipeg, but the Jets (now the Coyotes) didn’t give him a qualifying offer and he became an unrestricted free agent. Finding no other takers, he re-signed with Phoenix for $1.1 million next season, $3.7 over three years.

Hrudey went from $1.69 million with the Kings to $1.1 million. Goalie Arturs Irbe took a $555,000 cut in going from San Jose to Dallas and even scrappy forward Warren Rychel’s salary dropped $250,000 in leaving Colorado for a three-year deal with the Mighty Ducks.

“Where teams feel they can get an impact player, they will spend the money. But the lower-echelon players are finding it more difficult than ever because a number of guys didn’t get qualifying offers,” said Ron Salcer, who got forward Ed Olczyk a raise from $550,000 in Winnipeg to $2.4 million for two years from the Kings.

Nor has there been movement among big-name Group 2 (restricted) free agents, such as Chicago’s Jeremy Roenick, Dallas’ Mike Modano or Edmonton’s Jason Arnott and Doug Weight. However, players in that category rarely change teams because signing them requires compensation of up to five first-round draft picks; they often hold out or ask to be traded, as Phoenix center Alexei Zhamnov has done.

“What we’re seeing is some of these contracts that were probably too high, like Craig Janney getting $2 million, have now been brought back to the reasonable level they should be,” said Tom Laidlaw, an agent for about 20 players. “People categorize players and put a certain value on them. Players have to realize what level they’re in and how much leverage they have.”

Only a few free agents have struck gold. The Washington Capitals gave Phil Housley, among the highest-scoring defensemen in NHL history, a three-year deal with a one-year option potentially worth $9.8 million, a bonanza for a one-dimensional 32-year-old.

The biggest winners are Pat Verbeek, a productive winger who got a three-year, $9.3-million deal from Dallas (up from $1.75 million last season with the New York Rangers); and second-line forward Joe Murphy, who got $10 million for three years from the Blues.

“That one shocked me. Some of them you just can’t figure,” Paddock said of the Blues’ largess toward Murphy. “I know some people question us with what we did, but Craig Janney and Cliff Ronning [signed by Phoenix for $3.75 million for three years], between the two of them, are making $400,000 less than last year. I like to think we were responsible. Every team has to conduct its business as it sees fit, but you wonder sometimes.”

Bernie Nicholls wondered why he didn’t get a deal like Murphy’s--and why he couldn’t get any offer from the Ducks. He got a two-year, $4.5 million offer from the Blues soon after the July 1 start of the free-agency period but held off in hopes Anaheim would make a comparable bid. The Ducks, wary of his age (35) and cost, never made an offer; Nicholls took a two-year, $4.4 million offer from San Jose on Tuesday.

“What bothers me is a guy like Joe gets offered that. I’ve played with Joe in Edmonton and Chicago and I’ve done everything he has,” said Nicholls, who has averaged a point a game for his career. “You should get paid for what you can do, not because you’re five or 10 years younger than the next guy [Murphy is 28].”

That the bidding on Nicholls involved only two teams “is a good sign, a sign of some sanity out there,” according to New York Islander General Manager Mike Milbury. “When I first heard Bernie was on the market I thought about it. He’s a veteran and we’re not strong at center, but I heard he was asking 1.7, 1.8 [million dollars], and that’s not what I’m willing to pay for a center who’s getting on in years. These days we’re paying players for what they do immediately, not what they’ve done in the past or might do.”

The Blues last summer lavished $18.9 million on four free agents but still fell well short of the Stanley Cup, to the delight of every cost-conscious NHL executive. Milbury said the Murphy and Verbeek deals haven’t touched off an inflationary spiral because they stemmed from unique circumstances.

“There is one rationale in each case: new owners [in Dallas] and the St. Louis factor,” he said, referring to the Blues’ spending big money on veteran players who may be past their prime. “In Dallas, new owners came in and wanted to make a good impression. They didn’t have to suffer through the lockout and don’t have any wounds to remind them how hard it was to get a reasonable collective bargaining agreement, so they spend big money.”

Gretzky could have gotten more money from Vancouver, but playing in New York reunited him with his old friend, Mark Messier, and put him near the center of the advertising industry.

Bob Goodenow, executive director of the NHL Players Assn., denied a theory that the union pressured Gretzky to avoid a pay cut for fear that would lower the standard for the rank and file. “We had no input in his deal,” he said. “If you look at Wayne, at 35, going where he wants to go, I think he’s going to do very, very well. I don’t see suggesting Wayne [and his salary cut] is indicative of any trend. If he were 28, it would have been a different story.

“On balance, salaries have stayed positive and reflective of the growth in popularity of the game. It’s going to be tough for the Group 2s, but it always is. That’s the way the system is structured now. But there are provisions for arbitration and guys can have leverage if they hold out.”

Said Laidlaw: “I don’t think its time for players to panic. It’s just that some of the guys that drove the market are getting older. What’s going to set the tempo is Eric Lindros and guys like that. Mark Messier is at 6 [million dollars a season], and when Lindros’ next contract is up, he’s going to want 7. Pavel Bure, Lindros, those are the guys to watch, and maybe Ed Jovanovski two or three years down the road will set the market for defensemen.”

The average NHL salary was $211,401 in the 1989-90 season and hit $733,000 in 1994-95, the season owners claimed rising salaries were outstripping revenues and invoked a 103-day lockout. That was an increase of 33% over the previous season average of $550,000. In 1995-96 the average salary increased 21.7%, to $892,000. Salaries are still rising, but more slowly.

“Teams are not putting out qualifying offers, which means they may turn players over faster,” Salcer said. “You’ll see guys sacrificing dollars for security.”

NHL players will never see the kind of frenzy NBA players are enjoying this summer. Hockey’s TV, licensing and merchandising revenues simply can’t support it, and the NHL faces costs the NBA doesn’t, such as maintaining minor league affiliates and larger teams. Still, players aren’t suffering.

That means that unlike the NBA, few multimillionaires will emerge in the NHL this summer. “There doesn’t seem to be a market for big guys over 3 [million dollars]. It’s just too much of a burden for a franchise to take on,” said Jimmy Devellano, senior vice president of the Detroit Red Wings. “There’s a limited amount of teams that can afford to pay players that kind of money. We have [Sergei] Fedorov and [Steve] Yzerman at 4 [million] and 4 [million] and [Paul] Coffey at 2.6 [million]. When you have three contracts like that, there are limits on what you can do. You can’t add anybody.”

Said Salcer: “The economics of the league are strong and getting stronger, but the NBA seems to be six or seven years ahead of us. But I can’t complain. Look at the way things have grown in leaps and bounds over the last four or five years. Only a few guys in the league a few years ago made $400,000 to $500,000. The pendulum during the 1980s was on the other side, pro-owners. It has kind of swung back and it’s getting toward the middle.”

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NHL Free Agents A look at some signings of the bigger-name NHL free agents.

GOING UP

Player: Joe Murphy

1995-96 team/salary: Chicago, $842,857

New team and contract: St. Louis, $10 million over three years

*

Player: Cliff Ronning

1995-96 team/salary: Vancouver, $900,000

New team and contract: *Phoenix, $3.75 million over three years

*

Player: Pat Verbeek

1995-96 team/salary: New York, $1.75 million

New team and contract: Dallas, $9.3 million over three years *

Player: Marc Bergevin

1995-96 team/salary: Detroit, $625,000

New team and contract: St. Louis, $4 million over four years

*

Player: Ed Olczyk

1995-96 team/salary: Winnipeg, $550,000

New team and contract: Kings, $2.4 million over two years

*

Player: Jeff Beukeboom

1995-96 team/salary: New York, $725,000

New team and contract: New York, $8.5 million four years

*

Player: Todd Ewen

1995-96 team/salary: Mighty Ducks, $487,500

New team and contract: San Jose, $900,000

*

Player: Dave Reid

1995-96 team/salary: Boston, $425,000

New team and contract: Dallas, $2.1 million over three years

GOING DOWN

Player: Wayne Gretzky

1995-96 team/salary: Kings-St. Louis, $6.54 million

New team and contract: New York, $6.5 million salary for two years, annuity valued at $1.75 million a year each year

*

Player: Craig Janney

1995-96 team/salary: San Jose-Winnipeg, $2 million

New team and contract: *Phoenix, $3.7 million over three years

*

Player: Kelly Hrudey

1995-96 team/salary: Kings, $1.69 million

New team and contract: San Jose, $2.2 million over two years

*

Player: Warren Rychel

1995-96 team/salary: Colorado, $750,000

New team and contract: Ducks, $1.5 million over three years

*

Player: Arturs Irbe

1995-96 team/salary: San Jose, $955,000

New team and contract: Dallas, $400,000 for one year

*Formerly the Winnipeg Jets