There Are No Easy Answers to the Canadian Rebellion

The Canadian government’s reversal on giving aid to the six Canadian franchises leaves the NHL at a crossroads.

Canada contributes about 60% of the league’s players and Commissioner Gary Bettman called it “the heart and soul” of the game. But there’s no room for sentiment in business, when high taxes and a weak Canadian dollar make it difficult for Canadian clubs to compete with their American counterparts. Losing the handout isn’t so crucial: The $3 million a club would have paid a first-line center but wouldn’t have dented the Vancouver Canucks’ $25-million deficit. It’s losing moral support that hurt.

The public’s outrage over the plan surprised politicians and NHL executives. They didn’t realize Canadians who watched “Hockey Night in Canada” in their cribs can’t relate to players who earn an average of $1.3 million, or that high ticket prices keep many fans away from NHL rinks.

“Frankly, they are fed up with the NHL and players’ salaries and the situation that has developed in the last couple of years,” Industry Minister John Manley said. “They don’t think the money they pay in taxes should, directly or indirectly, go to subsidize that system.”

Clubs on both sides of the border now want NHL Players Assn. boss Bob Goodenow to open the collective bargaining agreement, which originally was to expire in September but was extended to 2004 when Goodenow agreed to the NHL’s idea of sending players to the Nagano Olympics. Why should he accept a salary cap and alter a deal that has made his constituents rich? No player will lose a job if a Canadian club moves: Bettman acknowledged he has been contacted in recent years by would-be owners in Portland, Houston and Las Vegas, among others; players will move south and pay less in taxes.

“If the players association believes that this is something that, from their standpoint, needs to be addressed sooner rather than later, tell me where to be and when,” Bettman said.

Too late. The time to get a salary cap was during the 1994-95 lockout. The NHL lost half a season and a chance to institute a salary framework; the past two years, salaries grew faster than revenues and the Penguins went bankrupt.

Bettman said Canadian teams generate 11,000 jobs, $250 million in taxes and $1 billion in infrastructure improvements, more than is generated by the government-subsidized film industry. “If the government can’t help us fix the places where they are burdening us in the short term, then we’ve got to wait until 2004 and hopefully there will be enough survivors around for us to help,” he said.

Maybe not. American owners have backed the Canadian Assistance Plan and gave small-market Canadian teams about $50 million the last four years. Will they be so generous after seeing the Canadian government refuse to help its own?

There are no easy answers. But it’s clear the NHL must solve its problems from within--and that 2004 looms as Doomsday.

KING-SIZED LOSSES

Despite their move to Staples Center and revenues from suites and premier seats, the Kings will lose $5 million this season, club President Tim Leiweke said.

That’s a dramatic improvement over their $20-million loss last season at the Great Western Forum, and the deficit will shrink if they make the playoffs. However, the prospect of cutting losses, rather than making a profit, adds to Leiweke’s concerns over the NHL’s salary structure.

“It’s like saying cancer is going to kill me over a year instead of over a week. At some point, it has to get fixed,” he said. “We’re going to have to prove to players this is not a mirage. It’s reality. Or they’re going to continue to ignore reality and there will be Armageddon.”

The Kings’ payroll is about $36 million, ninth among 28 teams in a Hockey News study done early this season. Their highest-paid players are defenseman Rob Blake, at $5.267 million, and right wing Ziggy Palffy, at $5 million. Had they not acquired Palffy from the New York Islanders, Leiweke said they would have broken even, “assuming the same attendance.” But without Palffy, the Kings wouldn’t have as good a record or draw as well, and Leiweke has no regrets.

“I have to give great credit to [principal owner] Phil Anschutz. He has not hesitated to give us resources when we have asked,” Leiweke said. “We never sat and hesitated over making that deal. We were financially willing.”

Leiweke also said he’s happy with the new training center and considers Staples Center a success. The Kings have averaged 15,861 fans a game (87.5% of capacity), up from 12,428 (77.7% of the Great Western Forum’s capacity). “As to the team, I love the coaches. I think Dave [Taylor] did a great job there,” he said. “I love the fact we work as hard as we do and prepare well. . . .

“We have a lot of pieces in place. It’s been a good 12 months. This is not a real-estate play, despite what people say, that the team was bought to build an arena. We are committed to building a winning franchise.”

HOW SWEDE IT IS

Thursday will mark the 35th anniversary of the first NHL game played by a Swedish-born player.

The pioneer was Ulf Sterner, who played four games for the New York Rangers in the 1964-65 season and promptly disappeared. It took another decade before the first wave of Swedish players arrived to make an impact on the NHL.

The best known of that group were left wing Inge Hammarstrom, who Maple Leaf owner Harold Ballard once said could go in the corner with eggs in his pocket and emerge with the shells unbroken, and defenseman Borje Salming. Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson played in the World Hockey Assn. with Bobby Hull before joining the New York Rangers in 1978. Kent Nilsson debuted with the Calgary Flames in 1979, a year after Lars Lindgren and Thomas Gradin joined the Vancouver Canucks.

Defenseman Stefan Persson played a key role in the New York Islanders’ four consecutive Stanley Cup triumphs, as did winger Anders Kallur; defenseman Tomas Jonsson joined them for the last two championships. In 1986, Mats Naslund won the Cup with the Montreal Canadiens and goalie Pelle Lindbergh helped the Philadelphia Flyers get to the finals in 1985, a few months before he was killed in a car accident.

As the season began there were 37 Swedish players in the NHL, 5.6% of players on NHL rosters.

BORN TO BE A STAR

Signing left wing Kirk Muller was a smart move for the Dallas Stars, which gave him a low salary--$300,000 prorated to about $190,000--but added bonuses for production and playing time worth $147,000.

Muller, a character player and grinder, has adjusted quickly to his new team and has helped the defending champions weather a succession of injuries. He has 10 points in 15 games for the Stars, who face the Kings on Wednesday at Dallas.

“Knowing [Guy] Carbonneau and [Mike] Keane made it easier,” said Muller, who played with them on the Canadiens’ 1993 Cup winner. “This team reminds me a lot of our team in Montreal. This team has more superstars, but it also has solid goaltending and great leaders and plays a hard-working game. There’s a good mix right now of veterans and young guys, and everyone battles.

“Some people say, ‘You’ve lost a step,’ but I say I never was the quickest guy in the league. To play this style, you don’t have to be quick.”

SLAP SHOTS

The Flyers got bigger up the middle by acquiring Keith Primeau from the Carolina Hurricanes and signing him to a five-year, $22.75-million contract. But the size of a player’s heart matters more than his muscles, and they may lose in giving up stalwart Rod Brind’Amour. Primeau whined his way out of Detroit and Carolina and isn’t as good as his reputation suggests; nor did the deal solve the Flyers’ real problem: goaltending. They may yet acquire a replacement for John Vanbiesbrouck.

With Michael Jordan a part owner of the holding company that owns the Capitals, will he try another sport and take to the ice? Probably not. But while Jordan tries to revive the NBA’s Wizards, the Capitals hope he will help them by addressing the team. “He could have a sort of career-altering effect on some of our guys in terms of talking about wanting to be the go-to guy when the game’s on the line,” General Manager George McPhee said. The Capital coaches already have tapped an unusual source: McPhee said boxer Evander Holyfield came by the team’s locker room recently in Atlanta and talked to the staff for an hour about preparing for specific opponents.

Ranger defenseman Brian Leetch needs another week to recover from a fractured arm. He was due to return last week but couldn’t grip his stick. . . . After routing the Ducks last Monday at Anaheim, the Sabres lost the remaining three games on a tough trip. They don’t want to make a major move, but may have to. “I thought we had hit rock bottom before the trip,” Coach Lindy Ruff said, “but if you look at the end of the trip, we took another layer off of rock bottom.”