Moments before the NHL draft on Saturday, with league and team executives quietly assembled before more than 15,000 fans, a lone voice rang out from the grandstand across the RBC Center.
"Start negotiations," the man shouted. "We want a season. No lockout."
His plea drew a few smiles but no immediate rush toward collective bargaining. His voice emphasized the downbeat pall over the draft, which concluded on Sunday with the final six of nine rounds. There was also one modestly significant trade.
With the collective bargaining agreement between team owners and players expiring on Sept. 15, the NHL appears headed for another lockout. The first one delayed the 1994-95 season for 15 weeks and shortened it to 48 games.
Commissioner Gary Bettman said again on Friday that he wanted the 30 franchises to receive a larger share of about US$2 billion in yearly revenue while reducing the players' share from what he said was about 75 percent.
"We can't go on the way we are," said Bettman, who said a majority of teams were losing money. "We need a fundamental, systemic change, and the union won't talk about it. We've lost too much money for too long. We've got to make the right deal. Otherwise, we're in big trouble."
The union has said repeatedly that it is prepared to make concessions in the current arrangement but that it wants a market-based system that does not force artificial restraints on wages -- which, the players say, amounts to a salary cap.
Uncertainty contributed to the lack of trade activity during the draft, an event that has often involved considerable wheeling and dealing. In Sunday's biggest move, Ottawa traded goalie Patrick Lalime to St. Louis for a fourth-round draft choice in 2005.
The trade further fuels speculation that the Senators, who hired Brian Murray earlier this month to replace Jacques Martin as coach, will replace Lalime with Dominik Hasek. A groin injury limited Hasek to just 14 games with Detroit last season; he has expressed interest in playing for Ottawa.
Hasek and other unrestricted free agents become available, as usual, on July 1. The crop this summer could be larger than usual if some teams decide to shed veterans by not making qualifying offers.
Among those who could become free agents are Brendan Shanahan, Ed Belfour, John Madden, Kris Draper, Mark Recchi, Paul Kariya, Craig Conroy, Aleksei Kovalev, Mathieu Schneider, Brett Hull, Chris Osgood and Matthew Barnaby.
Also on the list are the captains Steve Yzerman of Detroit and Mark Messier of the Rangers. But Yzerman is expected to re-sign with the Red Wings and Messier may retire.
Another player available is Eric Lindros, whose season with the Rangers was curtailed by injury again.
Uncertainty over the labor agreement could subdue the bidding; the average salary for an NHL player rose only slightly last season, to about US$1.8 million. Blues General Manager Larry Pleau said: "Last year, we had a little bit of a rollback in salary. This year, we'll continue."
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but