Once this is over, and it is far more likely than not that Owners’ Lockout III will conclude with an agreement in principle by sunset following yesterday’s productive meetings, how great would it be in the future if free agents simply refused to sign with the Bruins as long as they are owned by Jeremy Jacobs and with the Maple Leafs for as long as Brian Burke serves as the team’s general manager?
Seriously. The players will still retain the right to choose under the new collective bargaining agreement, even if choices will be limited to some degree at least for the first couple of years of a new CBA. Each individual will thus have the right to say no to the men in the boardroom who did their best throughout this lockout to ensure the players’ options would be limited in the future.
I recognize it is not likely to happen. Players will seek the situations best for themselves and their families, and in particular, Boston and Toronto are great cities in which to live and work, but wouldn’t it be grand if not a single NHL-caliber goaltender would agree to sign with the Bruins next summer, and wouldn’t it be grand if upper-echelon players continue the recent tradition of spurning the Maple Leafs?
Several individuals who attended negotiating sessions in which Burke participated have told Slap Shots they believe the GM’s sole agenda was to ensure the new CBA would allow the league to a) punish teams for front-loaded contracts that were legal under the past agreement; and b) penalize teams who waive players on existing one-way deals out of the NHL.
How convenient defenseman Jeff Finger, who spent the last two years in the AHL on a one-way Toronto contract worth $3.5 million per, had his deal expire following last season.
Indeed, Finger was one of three players with NHL cap hits that would have been over $3 million to spend the 2011-12 season in the AHL. The others are the Rangers’ Wade Redden ($6.5 million) and the Blackhawks’ Rostislav Olesz ($3.125 million), both with two years remaining on their deals and whose numbers will be counted against the NHL cap until amnesty buyouts become available following the season.
Front-loaded contracts clearly were meant as tools to give teams maximum maneuverability within the cap. But the idea of being able to use the AHL as an escape route never entered into the mix with deals gone wrong such as the Redden contract. It was a last resort. Does anyone believe Rangers owner Jim Dolan thought he had put one over on the league by paying Redden $13 million the last two years to play in Hartford?
Burke has made a particular cause of crusading against front-loaded contracts even though doing so is contrary to the interests of his own ownership and to the ticket holders who essentially pay his salary. The GM of the NHL’s wealthiest team arguing for contract restrictions is tantamount to the GM of the Yankees arguing for more punitive luxury taxes in Major League Baseball.
Punishing teams for prior legal acts is purely vindictive. Not allowing amnesty buyouts until the summer punishes Redden by ensuring he spends another year out of the NHL. (True, Redden could refuse to report to the AHL when assigned and thus become a free agent by defaulting on his obligation, but he would forfeit $6.262 million by doing so.)
Again: Wouldn’t it be grand if the players remember and are vindictive themselves when it becomes their time to choose?
* Painting the players with the broad brush of greed doesn’t quite apply when they’re willing to accept higher escrow hits in return for a higher cap in 2013-14 that will allow more players to stay where they are and avoid the disruption in their lives that would otherwise accompany the higher incidence of trades and buyouts, does it?
But this too: The players who have stood up so admirably for one another through these negotiations, wouldn’t these athletes pay more honor to the brotherhood by putting an end to the head-hunting once they get back onto the ice?
Truly, with so much talk about respect, or lack thereof, at the bargaining table, the players have a tangible way to show respect for one another on the rink.
* The plan is for JT Miller, the Blueshirts’ 2011 first-round draft pick and one of the leaders of the Team USA World Junior club that struck gold with yesterday’s 3-1 triumph over Team Sweden, to return to the AHL Whale even if NHL camps open within the week.
But should the winger, who does not turn 20 until next month, continue to progress the way he did over his last month in Hartford, there’s no doubt the Rangers will call on him, and sooner rather than later, if there’s a need up front to be filled on Broadway.
This NHL season will be a sprint, with less time for patience than most. It will be tough on older players around the league to hold their spots from standing starts when younger guys have been playing all year in the AHL.
* Finally, a fond farewell from these pages to my good friend and longtime colleague Mark Everson, who has retired to days of vineyards and roses following a career in which he distinguished himself by talking truth to power. The Post will miss him, hockey will miss him, and so will our profession.