Agents are scrambling to find deals for NHL players in European professional leagues next season, and a union official said he thinks “hundreds” of NHL players will head overseas if there is a lockout.
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| Saskin |
NHL Players’ Association senior director Ted Saskin said it behooves every agent and player to be prepared for the worst. “There’s not a lot of encouragement right now on the collective-bargaining front,” he said. “We’ve certainly been advising players to make alternative plans for next year.”
No player contracts expire until July 1, but most agents say they’re beginning to have conversations with teams that would like to bring European-born NHL talent “home” next season.
Ritch Winter, the leading agent for NHL players from the Czech Republic, said he has arrangements in place for every one of his European players, most of whom will return to clubs where they started their careers.
Even those with multiyear NHL deals will likely play with their European teams until an NHL labor settlement is reached, something they’d be allowed to do during a work stoppage. Free agents will have the option of signing yearlong contracts with European clubs or seeking deals that would allow them to return to North America should NHL play resume midseason. But many are ready to get comfortable in their native countries.
“We’re making plans to deal with the likely possibility that we’ll be out for a whole year,” Winter said.
Most European teams are expected to pay NHL talent between $100,000 and $300,00 for the season, far less than the NHL average salary of about $1.73 million this season. Russian teams, owned by wealthy oligarchs and hooked in with lucrative tax-free liquor and cigarettes sales in that country, potentially will pay more, $1 million per season or multiples of that for the very upper echelon.
Because the top North American minor league, the American Hockey League, is affiliated with the NHL, its teams won’t try to sign NHL players, leaving few alternatives other than Europe for players who want to get back on the ice and earn a few dollars in the process.
In Europe, teams pay all player living expenses and taxes, meaning that even on a modest salary a player will come out ahead. But more important than money to many of the NHL’s nearly 300 European-born players is the chance to return to the cities where they grew up and where many still spend the off-season.
“They want to come back to their home clubs,” Winter said.
American- and Canadian-born players also may head to Europe, but the professional leagues there put limits on how many foreigners can play for each team. Those limitations may be relaxed by leagues hungry to have NHL talent next season, and agents say they expect to hear about possible changes in the next few weeks. Still, it’s considered unlikely that clubs will give up more than one or two roster spots, if any, for foreign-born players who are not committed to play the whole season.
Length of commitment — whether a player will return to the NHL at the end of a lockout or play the whole season in Europe — is an issue that could limit NHL players’ opportunities no matter where they are born.
Any NHL player under contract with an NHL club would have to return once the possible lockout ends. So if the league and NHLPA settle their differences midseason, a player would have to leave his European team and rejoin the NHL club that has his rights.
European clubs may not want to open up roster spots for players who may end up in only a game or two should a labor deal be reached quickly. Then again, none is expected to turn away heroes like Sweden’s Peter Forsberg or Finland’s Saku Koivu.
“Peter has told me he’s going to make a decision as soon as the season is over,” said Don Baizley, who represents both Forsberg and Koivu, who play for the Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens, respectively. “My expectation is that most if not all European players in the NHL will have an appeal back in their native country that will result in them getting jobs.”
Not all agents are as bullish. Some say that for anyone other than superstars, European clubs will insist on signing players for an entire season, limiting the pool to NHL free agents whose contracts expire July 1.
“I think there’s a misconception,” said Don Meehan, who represents more NHL players than any other agent. “Some players from the NHL think there’ll be a mass exodus to Europe and that European teams will accommodate them. I think that’s not going to happen.”
Attempts to reach European league officials by deadline were unsuccessful.
Octagon Hockey’s Brian Lawton said European teams are looking for fringe NHLers who will commit for the whole season and for superstars, but it will be slim pickings for those in between.
“The reality is there are not that many jobs available over there,” Lawton said. “We’re going to come up with something for our clients. What it will be, I’m not sure.”
While jobs for North American-born players will be even scarcer, Lawton noted that some younger players will head to Europe at all costs for the sake of career development. For instance, he said he’s determined to find a job for 21-year-old Canadian Matthew Spiller, who just came off his rookie year with the Phoenix Coyotes. The same for teammate David Tanabe, 23, who was injured much of this season.
NHL training camps will be postponed until after a labor deal is reached, so going to Europe is the only way players will get competitive hockey in next season should the league and union not reach an accord.
Injuries are an issue facing players considering Europe next season, as they risk losing millions of otherwise guaranteed dollars under contracts with their NHL clubs. The New York Rangers’ Jaromir Jagr, for instance, has four years remaining at $11 million a season. He’s reportedly set to play in Russia next season in the event of a lockout. But should he suffer a career-ending injury while there, it could cost him $44 million. The Rangers would not be required to pay him for games he misses should he be hurt while playing for another club.
“Maybe a lot of the compensation scheme will be related to insurance,” said J.P. Barry, Jagr’s agent at IMG. He said an IMG representative has already spoken to clubs in Russia and the Czech Republic on Jagr’s behalf, but several hurdles stand between Jagr and a deal. “There’s large insurance issues that have to be overcome.
“[With] insurance [costs], it may be that he is playing for free.”
Players can buy personal disability insurance to carry over to wherever they play, but the premiums would represent a healthy chunk of the salary earned in Europe.
For players above the age of 30, every million dollars of coverage costs about $25,000. That means a $5 million policy, typical for a high-caliber player, would be about $125,000 for a season.
NHL executive vice president Bill Daly said insurance is one of many potential snags NHL players could hit if they try to play overseas.
“It’s not going to be as large a contingent of players as some have speculated,” Daly said. “It’s not a big concern for us.”
A true alternative for NHL players certainly would make it easier for players to withstand a lockout and, therefore, hold out for a better labor deal from the league. But no one claims Europe will actually be a tipping point in the negotiations.
Said Baizley: “I don’t see it as a bargaining tactic as much as a practical alternative.”
