League cancels draft events

Sunday, April 24, 2005

The NHL lockout had already cost Atlanta the opportunity to host this year's All-Star game, and on Thursday it was made official that Ottawa's opportunity to host a full-blown 2005 NHL Entry Draft will suffer the same fate.

"In the absence of a Collective Bargaining Agreement, we are not able to conduct an Entry Draft in the traditional sense on the dates scheduled," The NHL's Bill Daly said in a statement. "We apologize to the fans who had planned to attend this great event or participate in Draft parties both at their local NHL arenas and elsewhere.

"We apologize, as well, to the City of Ottawa, to the entire National Capital Region, and to everyone who already had put so much time and effort into creating a memorable weekend for the players and their families."

While the league wasn't canceling the draft, it was canceling the events surrounding the draft which was scheduled for June 25-26.

There is still a chance that if the league and the NHLPA reach an agreement soon a scaled down version of the draft could be held in Ottawa in at some point this summer.

Perhaps only the top prospects would be invited for the first couple rounds and the rest of the draft would be done by conference call.

This draft was considered a particularly big one, which was a key reason the league wanted to hold it in the Canadian capital. Highly touted youngster Sidney Crosby is the grand prize of the draft.

"I'd be lying if I didn't tell you the league hadn't approached us many times about holding the draft and we were certainly looking to this year," Ottawa Senators president and CEO Roy Mlakar told the Canadian Press. "The impact of Sidney Crosby and the universal publicity that he has generated would have been fabulous for Ottawa, to welcome him and see him put on a jersey - preferably a Senators one."

Crosby said he was disappointed. His agent, Pat Brisson, said it was another black eye for the game and the league.

"We keep getting negative news in this hockey world," he told the CP. "It's another way of tarnishing the brand by continuing to cancel events surrounding the NHL."

NHLPA wraps up meeting

The NHLPA wrapped up three days of meetings Thursday in Pebble Beach, California. The get together involved top PA officials and the players' executive committee, which consists of president Trevor Linden and vice-presidents Bill Guerin, Vincent Damphousse, Bob Boughner, Arturs Irbe and Trent Klatt.

On the agenda was planning strategy and what kind of response to make to last week's proposals from the NHL.

One offer, which reportedly is on the table until April 8, is a "de-linked" system with a salary cap set at $37.5 million. Once that offer is off the table the league says it will revert back to a linked system where the players would get 54 percent of hockey related revenues.