"Not since the labor lockout of 1994-95 have so many
good hockey players sat idle for so long because of
disagreements over wages," according to Joe Lapointe in his
"On Hockey" column in Sunday's N.Y. TIMES. Currently, six
Group 2 free agents are unsigned, including the Mighty
Ducks' Paul Kariya, the Red Wings' Sergei Federov and the
Canucks' Alexander Mogilny. NHL Senior VP/Legal Affairs
Bill Daly: "The longer it goes on, the more troubling it
gets. Both the clubs and the players are finding out what
their leverages are." NHLPA Exec Dir Bob Goodenow: "I've
had a number of club officials tell me that the league puts
pressure on teams to be fiscally prudent. What does that
mean? I'll leave it at that." While some team execs "feel
the player behavior is being orchestrated by Goodenow's
union," on the player side, "some feel the lack of free-
agent bidding is being orchestrated by the league office,
which hopes to hold the line against increasing payrolls."
Lapointe: "Although the lockout ended with significant
union givebacks and a slowdown in salary inflation, the
wages of players are again growing at a double-digit pace."
So the "tension of the impasse grows each day at a sensitive
time for the league. Most of the six will probably play for
their respective Olympic teams" during the Nagano Games in
February. But Lapointe added, "While the league hopes to
showcase its stars then, it can't even provide some of them
now to fans who buy -- or choose not to buy -- tickets for
regular-season league games" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/2).
CANADIAN BACON? The Canadian Liberal Government has
created a committee to study the impact of sports, "hockey
in particular, on the economy" in an effort to "stem the
rush of Canadian NHL teams to larger and more lucrative U.S.
markets," according to Anne Dawson of the TORONTO SUN.
Liberal Member of Parliament Dennis Mills will Chair the
committee and said issues, "such as tax breaks and regional
representation, will be studied" (TORONTO SUN, 11/1).
