Replacements on hold

Bettman says 2005-06 season won't start on time if there is no deal with NHLPA

Sunday, April 24, 2005

NHL owners emerged from Wednesday's Board of Governors get together indicating they are focused on getting a deal with the NHLPA, not on using replacing players.

"We will continue to plan for the start of next season with an on-time opening in October, that is where our efforts will be," Bettman told the Associated Press after the four-hour meeting in New York. "If we do not have a new collective bargaining agreement, we will not open the season on time.

"If that is an eventuality at that juncture, we will have to start again on what options we will pursue."

Bettman said the issue of replacements was one of many options the league was exploring and Tuesday's decision against it for now was not any kind of reversal in course.

"The fact of the matter is, and we made this clear over the last month or so, we were going to explore all of our options," Bettman told the Canadian Press. "That doesn't mean you're doing it or not doing it, it doesn't mean it's a good idea or a bad idea.

"Obviously if we can't open on time, the options become an issue again. But it was never that it was in, and rejected, or out and accepted."

Richard Peddie, president of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, offered this take: "It was really just a far-reaching discussion of all the alternatives and updating us. In the end, everyone agreed 'let's keep focusing on trying to get a deal.' "

Bettman said the owners were united and called on the NHLPA to get a deal done soon.

"There would be no point in stalling in any longer. The ownership resolve is unquestionable. The unity is there. The result is inevitable - this is going to get fixed so let's get it done. Let's get through the dollars and cents and let's start planning for a season.

And Bettman said he would contact the NHLPA to set up another round of negotiations.

"We will continue to plan and work very hard with the Players' Association to reach a new collective bargaining as soon as possible so that our players can be on the ice for the start of the season," he told the CP.

Wednesday's meeting included team owners, executives, general managers and league officials. There was a sense that the two sides were making their way towards an agreement.

"The feeling in the room was that we're getting closer to a deal with the players," Dallas Stars president Jim Lites told the Canadian Press after the meeting. "They're inching towards a settlement. We're on the same page finally."

The same page is the the NHLPA concept that would establish a team payroll floor and a payroll cap, where the cap would be linked to NHL revenues on a yearly basis.

Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford said if the numbers are right, the NHLPA proposal does have merits.

Bettman said the league is ready to negotiate off the NHLPA concept and indicated it is down to numbers at this point. But there is still a wide gap.

"Two weeks ago when we met, we said to the union that this was a concept we could work with," Bettman told the CP. "The fact of the matter is, if you want to tweak the concept we can still work with it. I think this is really now just about dollars and cents.

"The economic realities are such that I believe at some point the union will decide to finally negotiate, to stop the jockeying," Bettman added. "Because if you look at where we are, the union having said for as long as anyone can remember that they'll never, ever, ever agree to a cap, is now negotiating a cap. So that's the good news. The bad news is it bears no economic reality to what we need. But at least now we're in the negotiations over dollars and cents."

The PA is said to be pitching the idea of a $50 million cap with a $30 million floor based on $2 billion in league revenues.

Tuesday's six-and-a-half hour negotiating session between the league and the NHLPA ended with no substantive progress. The NHLPA indicated the league was still fixated on limiting players to 54 percent of league revenues, which the PA said reflects an unwillingness to move on the league's part.