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Sunday, March 16, 2003

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

To be sure, the Penguins drew the most attention for cutting costs at the NHL's trading deadline Tuesday, engineering an incredible five deals in which they shaved $3.96 million in salary in exchange for players who mostly are prospects.

But, as General Manager Craig Patrick put it that day, "Look around the league. We're not the only team that did this."

Not by a long shot.

The Edmonton Oilers, sitting in a Stanley Cup playoff spot and benefiting from home attendance at 96 percent, gave up top scorer Anson Carter and top defenseman Janne Niinimaa in separate trades.

The Los Angeles Kings, based in the league's second-largest market and also the beneficiaries of good fan support, sent away Mathieu Schneider and Bryan Smolinski.

The Chicago Blackhawks, based in the third-largest market, pulled off five deals, discarding Sergei Berezin, Phil Housley and Steve Thomas.

The Sharks, who have played for years before passionate, sellout crowds in San Jose, made available nearly every player on their roster.

So did the Carolina Hurricanes, less than a year removed from reaching the Stanley Cup final.

Of the record 24 trades Tuesday, only one could be viewed as a pure exchange in which each party received players of similar age, salary and talent level, that being the Avalanche's acquisition of Bates Battaglia from Carolina for Radim Vrbata.

Patrick never comments on the workings of other teams, so he declined to discuss the deadline-day selloffs. But plenty others spoke out, highlighted by one of the growing number of players who seem to recognize the need for drastic economic change.

"You know what surprised me?" the Red Wings' Brett Hull told reporters in Detroit. "It's how many of these trades there were where there was really nothing going back the other way. Like Tony Amonte or Owen Nolan. I mean, I know the GMs don't want to do it this way. But that's just the way the business is these days."

Or, as Cliff Fletcher, the Phoenix Coyotes' vice president, said, "Welcome to the new NHL."

What Patrick will say is that the answer to this problem -- and most off-ice problems the league is having -- is that this new NHL needs to be short-lived. He is openly embracing a "survival mode" while awaiting an improved Collective Bargaining Agreement in 2004, when owners will aim for a salary cap and, possibly, revenue sharing.

Days such as Tuesday will not ease the implementation of a cap.

The New York Rangers' payroll topped $80 million with the acquisition of Carter, while the Detroit Red Wings' reached $70 million and the Toronto Maple Leafs approached that. Which begs the question: How could those teams, with so much salary committed for years to come, fit under a cap expected to be in the range of $40 million?

It is not enough to suggest that the cap will be staggered to start at, say, $50 million or so, then work downward. For one, that will be of no use to teams such as the Penguins in need of immediate relief. For another, there is almost nothing the Rangers could do to cut that much payroll that quickly. Which team, in a cap environnment, would take Bobby Holik's $9 million annual salary off their hands for the next four years?

One answer, as a member of the Penguins' management offered this week, is to force teams to execute their two-thirds buyout options on any contracts they deem too unwieldy for a cap. From there, those players could be allowed to become unrestricted free agents.

Will that be painful for five or six big-money teams?

Sure, but no less painful than what fans in Pittsburgh and other NHL cities endured Tuesday and in the past few months.