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Sunday, July 22, 2001

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

More than $500 million has been committed to new NHL contracts since the first day of this month. Yes, half a billion, from owners whose teams are bleeding in red ink with no promise of significant new revenue on the horizon.

Will the spiral ever stop?

It could, as soon as 2004.

That's when the Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and the NHL Players Association expires, and it's starting to sound as if battle lines are being drawn on the salary-cap front.

Take a look at three incendiary quotes from the past week ...

From a general manager ...

"I have never been more embarrassed to work in the NHL as I was on July 1st and 2nd," the Canucks' Brian Burke told reporters in Vancouver, referring to the opening of the free-agency season. "I know we can't support the salaries. I know that some of the teams who have spent that money are doing it without the financial capability to pay the money. I'm running my business like a business. I'm going head-to-head with people who are crazy, as far as I'm concerned."

From a player ...

"If they want to pay us, they must be making money," Sharks center Vincent Damphousse said at a golf tournament in Montreal. "It's not up to us to say: 'No, don't give us that much money.' "

And from the only guy on both sides of the fence ...

"You can see there are a lot of teams losing $10 million, $15 million, $20 million every year," Mario Lemieux said at that same golf tournament, repeating a recurring theme for him in the past year. "That's OK for owners who are billionaires and can withstand that, but there aren't too many teams in that position. Obviously, the next Collective Bargaining Agreement is going to be very important. They'll have to get salaries back in line and probably have a salary cap."

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman reported two months ago that the league's 30 teams had gross revenues of about $1.8 billion, yet paid out close to $1.1 billion in salaries, an unwieldy percentage.

Trouble is, Bettman has yet to call for a cap or revenue sharing, perhaps fearing the freezing effect it would have on relations with Bob Goodenow, head of the NHLPA. All Bettman has allowed is that he seeks "an economic system that provides a degree of cost-certainty."

The words that fly in the next three years figure to be far more colorful than that.

Icy chips

The NHLPA has reversed its stance on allowing members to participate in Olympic camps. A two-day meeting is permitted, but little on-ice activity will occur and attendance is voluntary. Lemieux will attend Canada's session in Calgary in early September, and he urged others to do likewise. "It's going to be a question of having all the guys there to try to get to know each other better," he said. The United States team will meet in Colorado Springs, Colo.

An Associated Press report out of Washington described the Penguins as being "financially strapped" in an effort to explain why Jaromir Jagr was traded to the Capitals. Really. The Capitals, playing in a new arena, lost $20 million last season. The Penguins, paying Jagr's $9.4 million salary and playing in the league's oldest facility, turned a profit of $3 million. It doesn't take a subscription to the Wall Street Journal to know which team's bean-counters lose sleep.

The Rangers remain in the Eric Lindros hunt, if only to quell the sour taste over losing Jagr to the Capitals. But General Manager Glen Sather sharply denied that the Oilers' Kevin Lowe was trying to acquire Lindros only to ship him to New York. Edmonton wanted to keep him, but Lindros laughed off their one-year, $4.5 million offer.

Tom Barrasso, who told the Raleigh media he signed with the Hurricanes at the suggestion of Ron Francis, plans to push for as much ice time as possible even while supporting Arturs Irbe as the starter. His deal is for one year and $600,000, but incentives could push it to $2 million.

The Penguins have lost another of their minor-league defensemen: Chris Kelleher, who starred at both ends in the Calder Cup playoffs at Wilkes-Barre, has agreed to terms with the Bruins.

Only 71 days until the puck drops between Lemieux and Joe Sakic.

Dejan Kovacevic can be reached at dkovacevic@ post-gazette.com.