Sports

Hockey

No end in sight

The only NHL action is between commissioner Gary Bettman and union president Bob Goodnow.

By TOM JONES
Published December 19, 2004

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	[Times illustration: Steve Madden]

What now?

Tuesday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was asked that simple two-word question. Moments earlier, the league rejected a proposal by the NHL Players' Association to end the NHL lockout. Moments after that, the union shot down an offer by the league.

Like two kids yanked away from each other on the playground, the sides stomped off muttering about how the other guy was to blame.

And now the days tick away with no solution in sight, no negotiations planned, no proposals being drafted. With perhaps two or three weeks left to reach an agreement and salvage a season, the NHL is on the brink of the unthinkable: becoming the first North American sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute.

Right now, the owners and players seem further divided and more entrenched than ever. The verbal jabs have become nasty, condescending and personal with Bettman and union director Bob Goodenow often sounding like professional wrestlers.

So, what now?

"What now?" Bettman said. "That's a good question."

Unfortunately, there isn't a good answer. Hope flickered momentarily Thursday when the union announced a news conference. Turns out, it was to pour more lighter fluid on the owners' proposal that members already burned beyond recognition.

The problem is there doesn't appear room for compromise because the sides aren't trying to find the common ground between two numbers. One side is black, the other white and there is no shade of gray if each side gives a little. They are on parallel roads heading in opposite directions.

The sides are split by ideology, each convinced it is absolutely right and the other side is absolutely wrong. It all hinges on a salary cap. The owners must have one. The players say, "Never."

How can they get by that?

"I'm not sure they can," Phil Esposito said.

Esposito understands both sides. He has been at each end of the players' pay scale, once making the minimum as well as being the league's highest-paid player. He spent the late 1970s as president of the union, fighting owners for things such as pensions, health care, better salaries. He also has been an owner, running the Lightning through the 1990s. And, adding even more perspective, he is a former GM of the New York Rangers, a franchise blamed for sending player salaries out of control.

"Every time there has been a problem, I've backed the players," Esposito said. "Even the last time in '94, I thought the players were right. I was an owner then, but I thought the players were right.

"But, this time, for the first time in my life, I think the players are wrong, dead wrong. I don't understand why they won't accept a salary cap."

Esposito believes that players will still get their money, that the cap won't make a difference in salaries. He might have a point. The owners' proposal, which uses a salary cap, gives players about 54 percent of the league's revenues. The union's offer, based on a luxury tax, gives the players about 56 percent of the league's revenues.

Closing the gap, though, appears impossible.

"Someone," Esposito said, "is going to have to give in."

Neither seems likely. Bettman has a mandate from the owners to get a salary cap. Goodenow doesn't want to be remembered as the man who let a salary cap slip by. The owners have Bettman's back. The players fully support Goodenow. Neither is willing to let someone else negotiate.

That, then, begs for a neutral party to get involved, but both sides have turned down such offers.

"I don't think there is an upside to a third party coming in," said Jeff Citron, a Toronto attorney who specializes in labor law. Citron once consulted for the NHLPA and helped draft the collective-bargaining agreement that recently expired.

"Third parties, I don't believe, work," Citron said. "Nobody wants a solution imposed on them that they don't want. You want an agreement both sides can live with."

When that doesn't seem possible, a third party might be the only solution. U.S. presidents have stepped in to settle transportation strikes. President Clinton became involved in the baseball strike of 1994. Paul Martin, the Canadian prime minister, offered federal mediators a few weeks ago but was turned down by the league and the players.

"Both sides are more than capable (of) coming to a solution rather than accepting a third-party recommendation," Citron said. "I don't see that happening."

If anyone is waiting for the owners to crack, bring a pillow.

"(The owners) are totally in synch," Flyers owner Ed Snider told the Philadelphia Daily News. "I have been in this league since 1966, 38 years I've been involved in the league, and I've never seen the owners so solidly together as they are today. They are as solid as a rock." Bruins owner Jeffrey Jacobs hinted the league should wait until next year to negotiate again.

Meantime, the Rangers' Bobby Holik called the owners "liars." The Lightning's Martin St. Louis compared Bettman to a dictator. And union president Trevor Linden said he would be content to have played his last game if it meant not backing down to the owners.

Back and forth it goes. My dad is stronger than your dad. My mom is prettier than yours. I'm smart, you're stupid.

With so much ill will, it's hard to imagine the sides sitting down and reaching a compromise.

"This thing has become much more public than these things usually do," Goodenow said. "It started years ago. I think the league has made some mistakes, frankly, on how they've gone public with some of these issues. The lockout will extend an awful long time if the parties don't work together.

"Public airing of these things can leave a sting and a stain, if you will. I hope that wouldn't be the case."

So, what now?

Word is little will happen before Christmas except more posturing. Optimists say that hockey still is a couple of weeks away from the nitty-gritty when the threat of a season going down the drain is real and the real negotiations start. Pessimists say that time is now.

And the fans are left with ... what now?

[Last modified December 19, 2004, 08:18:09]

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