Players Approve NHL Deal

Abandoning their shattered ideals, members of the NHL Players’ Assn. on Thursday approved a collective bargaining agreement and prepared to become partners of owners they had so deeply distrusted not so long ago.

The union said the deal was ratified by 464 of the 532 players who voted, or 87.2%, leaving approval from the NHL Board of Governors the last obstacle to ending the lockout imposed Sept. 15 by Commissioner Gary Bettman. The board is expected to overwhelmingly assent when it meets today in New York.

“We look forward to starting fresh with this new agreement,” Bob Goodenow, the union’s executive director, said at a news conference at a hotel here.

“We are fully committed to the new deal and we anticipate great success for the game as we go forward.... The hockey world will soon be able to celebrate the return of NHL hockey.”

To Goodenow’s left sat his top aide, Ted Saskin, and on his right sat the NHL’s top executives, Bettman and Executive Vice President Bill Daly. Their talk of cooperation was a stark contrast to their old philosophical differences, which were never better symbolized than by Goodenow and Bettman choosing to sit at opposite ends of the rink during the 2004 Stanley Cup finals.

“We will come back strongly,” Bettman said, “and I believe you will see that this agreement will be a very effective and important catalyst in bringing us forward in ways we couldn’t have without the right structure.

“We stand here at a point where we can now together look forward in partnership to take our great game to spectacular heights.”

Although the union vowed it would never accept a salary cap or link payrolls to league revenues, Bettman and the 30 clubs held firm in demanding cost controls.

The deal will guarantee players 54% of league-wide revenues, establish the league’s first salary cap, roll back existing contracts and qualifying offers by 24%, institute revenue sharing, and impose restrictions on entry-level players’ earnings and on all bonuses.

“Maybe this deal isn’t how we wanted, how we envisioned, but there are some positives in there, too,” said Craig Conroy, who signed with the Kings as a free agent before last season was canceled.

“With this deal, the league can grow, together with the players.... Compared to other leagues and other sports, we’re comparable. When it’s all said and done, we took 70% [of league revenues] and maybe we shouldn’t have been getting that.”

Players will eventually gain free agency at 27 or after seven years’ service. Owners agreed to broaden the definition of hockey-related revenues in determining the salary cap each season, including allocations for naming rights and signage and limiting cost deductions in some areas.

Revenues for next season will be estimated at $1.7 billion, down from $2.2 billion in 2003-2004, and an escrow system will be set up. Saskin said payrolls would be calculated in early October and if they exceed 54% of revenues, players will pay a portion of their salary into the fund. The calculation will be done each October and will be adjusted three times a season; after 2005-2006, revenues will be estimated at 5% over the previous year’s figure.

The escrow provision drew the most questions during two days of player meetings. “That’s hard to take,” Ottawa center Mike Fisher said. “But we could also end up getting more than we signed for. Over time, if revenue grows, it can turn into a good deal.”

But at the cost of a lost season.

“I hope it never happens again. We’re both going to kill each other if we do it again,” said Mike Gartner, the union’s director of business relations and a catalyst in breaking the stalemate that followed the cancellation of the season in February.

Gartner, who is scheduled to join executive committee member Brendan Shanahan in representing the union today in New York, said the union had devised some plans “that were terrible and they wouldn’t have made for very good hockey.”

Agreeing to linkage paved the path for this deal, albeit after alienating fans and sponsors and losing the league’s ESPN contract.

“This was not something healthy for the sport,” said Gartner, a Hall of Famer who played 19 seasons in the NHL. “It takes the fans for granted and they won’t put up with it again. They might not put up with it this time.”

The union said 228 players voted in person and the rest by e-mail. Their defeat on many issues appeared to leave Goodenow’s position untenable, but he said he intended to stay. King forward Sean Avery recently said the union had “brainwashed” players into thinking they’d get a better deal, but they generally defended their leaders.

“I don’t think Bob’s the issue,” said Toronto forward Tie Domi, who verbally confronted Avery on Wednesday. “Is anybody happy through this whole thing? It doesn’t matter now. We’ve got to go forward. It is about going forward together as partners.

“There are going to be guys who aren’t happy about it, but that’s the way life is. We’ve got to move forward and we’ve got to market our game.”

Central to the NHL’s marketing plan is ending a decade-long scoring decline, and the governors will follow their ratification vote by voting on an array of rule changes.

Reducing the size of goaltenders’ pads is certain and adopting shootouts to settle ties is likely, although it’s unclear if the loser would get one point or no points.

Opinion is mixed over eliminating the red line for two-line passes and on expanding the playoffs from 16 teams to 20.

“I feel good about the situation we’re in,” Toronto forward Gary Roberts said, “because the game has got an opportunity to be the best game in the world, still.”

Ratification today would set off a flurry of movement on Saturday, when teams would be allowed to start buying out old contracts and negotiate with 2003 draft picks and their own free agents. The buyout period would end July 29, and the free-agent signing period would begin Aug. 1.

Also today, the NHL will conduct a lottery for the selection order in this year’s entry draft and the right to choose Sidney Crosby, whose skills and scoring touch have led scouts to tout him as the next Wayne Gretzky. ESPN News will televise the announcement of the draft order at 1 p.m. PDT.

Every team will have one chance at the top pick and some will have three chances based on lack of success the last few seasons.

The Kings and the Mighty Ducks will each have two chances. The entry draft, scaled back in scope and in number to seven rounds, will be held July 30 in Ottawa. “I’m excited. I can’t wait to see what happens,” Conroy said. “It’s nice to talk about hockey again.”