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Sunday, July 27, 2003

By Dejan Kovacevic, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

Almost an entire month has passed since the opening of the NHL's free agency season and, possibly for the first time in league history, it appears that the value of its players will take a step backward. At the least, it is certain not to escalate much.

Sure, Sergei Fedorov and Derian Hatcher swelled their bank accounts a bit, but many other huge names remain available on the open market or in trade offerings with little interest. Prime example is Brian Leetch, a world-class talent who has sat untouched for 27 days as an unrestricted free agent. In a normal summer, he would have his choice of eight-figure offers in the first few minutes of free agency.

All of this is due, of course, to the looming expiration of the NHL's Collective Bargaining Agreement in 13 months. Owners seem unified in their desire to install a salary cap for the 2004-05 season, and even those who traditionally have spent the most now realize that they must limit the high-priced talent on their rosters.

A rigid economic structure, ironically, could mean that the teams with the biggest stars will end up the biggest losers.

Consider the Capitals.

After going on their can't-beat-the-Penguins-so-we'll-buy-them spree, they now have some sizable albatrosses on their roster. Owner Ted Leonsis, tired of losing $20 million a year on a team that has not won a round in the Stanley Cup playoffs since 1998, has tried to trade Jaromir Jagr for two months. But there are no takers for the $55 million he is due the next five years. That failing, Leonis this week gave the OK to shop Robert Lang, who has $20 million due the next four years. He even offered to pay $4 million of that. No takers.

That presents this ominous scenario for the Capitals: Annually, Jagr ($11 million) and Lang ($5 million) will consume half their payroll if the NHL achieves its goal of a cap in the range of $32 million. If they keep Peter Bondra, Olaf Kolzig and Sergei Gonchar, who next year will make more than $16 million, that would leave not one penny to fill out the 23-man roster.

Extended shifts, anyone?

Others are in similar straits. How would you like to be in Mike Milbury's position on Long Island, knowing you must pay underachiever Alexei Yashin $10 million annually for the next eight years? Or Glen Sather in Manhattan, who is on the hook for a combined $14 million to Bobby Holik and Darius Kasparaitis for each of the next four years? How will he sign Leetch? Or keep Alexei Kovalev? Doug Armstrong is in a pinch in Dallas, too. He has Bill Guerin at $9 million the next four years and a shadow of Pierre Turgeon at $7.5 million the next three. This is why Hatcher was allowed to leave for Detroit and, more important, why it will be a challenge to keep franchise icon Mike Modano when his deal expires after the coming season.

The Penguins, as one might guess, have no such hang-ups.

At the moment, they have only three NHL contracts committed for 2004-05: Martin Straka at $4.7 million, Michal Rozsival at $1.3 million and Josef Melichar at $750,000. There are none beyond that season. Although that total is sure to grow as the team signs its nine restricted free agents in the coming month, it has little chance to become unwieldy.

It is far from a certainty that the NHL will have its way in the new CBA, especially since negotiations have yet to begin. But, if the financial end works out the way many expect it will, the Penguins' payoff could be handsome.

Any form of a cap that the NHL installs is sure to have increased revenue sharing and a salary floor, thus forcing low-revenue teams such as the Penguins to achieve a minimum payroll. That would be done at the insistence of the players, who figure to be more willing to accept a cap if more teams pay more money.

Should the Penguins maintain a low payroll before then, in the range of $20 million, they could have as much flexibility as any team in the new environment. Just as NFL teams with the most room under the cap are the most free to pursue free agents, so, too, could the Penguins outspend the usual big spenders.

Icy chips

The Penguins' sixth annual alumni golf outing opens at 10 a.m. tomorrow at Oglebay Resort in Wheeling, W.Va. Among participants: Mario Lemieux, Craig Patrick, Joe Mullen, Les Binkley, Phil Bourque, Jay Caufield, Mario Faubert, Denis Herron, Pierre Larouche, Jim Paek, Kevin Stevens, Ken Schinkel and Ken Wregget. Proceeds benefit the Lemieux Foundation, Children's Hospital, Achieva and Pennies from Heaven.

It is not known if Lemieux will use the setting to finally announce if he will play next season. It is nearly a month past the time when he projected he would reveal his decision.

It must be mildly amusing to the Penguins that the Rangers are offering Kovalev no more than $6 million annually on a long-term deal. The Penguins last summer offered Kovalev a five-year deal worth $5 million a year. Those finances do not represent as large a chasm as the one between Kovalev's production in Pittsburgh and New York: 347 points in 345 games here, 288 points in 426 games there.

The NHL's new restriction on the height of goaltenders' pads will not affect the Penguins, as Johan Hedberg, Sebastien Caron, Jean-Sebastien Aubin and Marc-Andre Fleury all use pads within the maximum 38 inches. League officials believe that one-third of all goaltenders used taller pads last season. Caron was among those who failed to understand the advantage: "To me, a taller pad would just be in the way if you're trying to move."

The odds are against Dick Tarnstrom going to arbitration Saturday. In the past five years, 118 of 181 who filed settled before the hearing. Talks being underway is another sign.

The fledgling World Hockey Association still lists Pittsburgh among its 12 target cities for the 2004-05 season, but the league still is not divulging the identity of the potential local owner it says is worth more than $100 million.

The Penguins are offering for the first time a 10-game season-ticket plan allowing buyers to pick from 15 of the most coveted dates, even the opener. In the past, choices for 10-game plans were highly limited.

Only 46 days to Southpointe.