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Sunday, December 09, 2001

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

No wants to suggest it. No one even wants to mention it. Not Gary Bettman, the NHL's commissioner. And certainly not Bob Goodenow, head of the NHL Players Association.

But it's highly likely that when the current Collective Bargaining Agreement between the owners and players expires in 2004, a salary cap will be the focus of some rigorous, rancorous debate.

Listen to comments made by Bettman a few days ago to a group of Canadian reporters ...

"You need to have the ability to control your costs, and you need to have the ability to do so in a way that all teams can be competitive where they are."

But if no agreement can be reached on a cap, what then?

From the home office in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, here is a top-10 list of suggestions for possible alternatives:

10. Abolish the draft and force all 18-year-olds to start out with the Tampa Bay organization. That way, the Lightning can stunt their development, express disgust with their progress after a brief spell, trade them to a contender for a handful of mid-range veterans and keep the general cost of skilled players down for the rest of the league. Call this one the Vincent Lecavalier Plan.

9. Make Neil Smith, formerly of the Rangers, the general manager of whichever team has the highest payroll each season. Give him a blank check, and let him spend $50 million on over-the-hill, undermotivated free agents such as Valeri Kamensky, only to sit out the playoffs.

8. Expand by one team each year from now until 2032, doubling the league from 30 to 60 and bringing in an extra $100 million each year to be divided by owners. This one's not original, of course, but it would allow the NHL to tap into even more hockey-starved markets. Poughkeepsie, anyone?

7. Agree that no owner is permitted to spend more than the Blackhawks' Bill Wirtz, no matter how big the market, how deep the pockets, how solid the fan support. This one, of course, is the Tony Amonte Plan.

6. To help offset the weak Canadian dollar, compensate all players in their native currencies. Pay Sergei Fedorov in rubles, Jaromir Jagr in korunas, Olaf Kolzig in rands and Mario Lemieux in denominations of 64 cents or so.

5. Force each owner to spend a few months on the 54th floor of the USX Tower in bankruptcy court to learn the harsh reality of giving out more money than you take in. The view is spectacular up there, but the fall can be a real pain.

4. Let players choose their employers. Only force them to play for half their market value if they pick a contender. This should finally end all those I-really-just-wanted-to-play-for-a-winner quotes heard after just about every free-agent contract signing.

3. Have contracts come with refunds. It's not the cap or the revenue sharing that makes the NFL the best-run outfit in sports. It's the accountability that comes with having no guaranteed contracts for players.

2. Compensate players by the point. It's medieval, you bet, but imagine how much more offense would be created. There isn't a player in the league who would abide by any coach's neutral-zone trap if it meant his livelihood were on the line. The games would be more exciting, attendance and television ratings would soar, and there would be plenty of wealth for all to share.

1. Make each team's star player an owner. Actually, make every player a part-owner by imposing a form of employee-stock program. As go the fortunes of the franchise, so go those of the player.

Either that, or just send in the governor of Minnesota to clean up the whole, sordid mess.

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