NHL'S MILLIONAIRES CLUB EXPANDS TO 147 MEMBERS

     Six years ago, according to Alan Adams of the CANADIAN
PRESS, the NHL had only two players that earned more than $1M a
season.  This year, according to a salary survey complied by the
NHLPA, 147 NHL players are in the "millionaires club."  Wayne
Gretzky leads the '95-96 salary list at $6,545,363 -- the final
year of his three-year, $25M deal with the Kings.  The rest of
the Top 10:  Mark Messier $6.0M; Keith Tkachuk $6.0M; Mario
Lemieux $4.57M; Pavel Bure $4.50M; Pat LaFontaine $4.30M; Eric
Lindros $4.18M; Sergei Fedorov $4.16M; Brett Hull $3.80M; Steve
Yzerman $3.70M (CP/Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 12/12).  USA TODAY has a
complete chart of all NHL player salaries (USA TODAY, 12/12).
The NHLPA will post the entire list on their Web site this
afternoon.  The address is http://www.nhlpa.com (NHLPA).