Ice thaws in NHL standoff

Page 2 of 2 -- Encouraging, though, is the fact that the philosophical divide has been bridged, even if it doesn't result in a 2005 season being salvaged. Daly made the key move Monday night when he removed the longstanding league demand that a salary cap be tethered to gross annual revenues.

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The linkage demand removed, Saskin countered Daly's offer of a $40 million cap with the union offer of a $52 million cap. Left standing in the union offer as of late last night: the 24 percent rollback on 2004-05 salaries that it proposed back in December. The players' original offer early yesterday morning also allowed clubs -- for three times over the span of the proposed six-year deal -- to override the cap by 10 percent, and boost annual payroll to the $57.2 million figure. In its followup offer last night, the union still had the 10 percent override attached to its new figure of $49 million, but was willing to have it kick in a maximum of two times.

The players' proposal also included luxury taxes on payroll, ranging from 25 percent (for the $40 million-$44 million range) up to 150 percent (for the $49 million-$53.9 million range). According to reports, the league suggested only a 50 percent tax on payrolls in the $34 million-$42.5 million range.

What moved the process forward, shattering the philosophical logjam that has cost the players some $1 billion in lost wages? By a number of accounts, it was the back-channel maneuverings of a few player agents and rank-and-file players, who applied heat on Goodenow to abandon the "no cap" stance.

Neither Goodenow nor Bettman, the lead negotiators and policy-makers for both sides, attended the meeting in Niagara Falls. According to one veteran agent, speaking on the condition of anonymity, it became clear in recent weeks "that things moved along much better without those two in the same room."

It now remains a matter of finding the right mathematical payroll formula to make a new CBA work. Easier said than done, especially for a union that has suffered a financial bloodbath over the last 4 1/2 months, at a rate of about $7.5 million in lost wages per day. Other key issues that no doubt will be bargained in the process.

Salary arbitration. For the last 10 years, general managers have been beaten like practice goalies in these proceedings, with huge awards bumping up salaries. The owners also want to be able to trigger arbitration, in cases where they believe a player has underperformed and should see a cut in salary. Two-way arbitration did not exist in the CBA that expired Sept. 15.

Entry-level salaries. The owners want players entering the league to have their starting pay maxed out at around $800,000 a year, with performance bonuses minimized. Huge financial scores by young Bruins stars Joe Thornton and Sergei Samsonov, in the opinion of Daly and other league officials, fast-forwarded the obliteration of what were tolerable entry-level salaries.

Qualifying offers. The expired CBA called for restricted free agents, those making less than the league average (approximately $1.8 million last year) to receive a minimal raise of 10 percent as a qualifying offer, or be granted unrestricted status. Owners prefer to retain player rights without boosting their pay, and in some cases to be allowed to lower salaries.

Age of unrestricted free agency. Historically, players in most cases have not qualified to become UFAs until age 31. Club owners have been open to lowering the age, perhaps to 29 or 30.

"Franchise" tags on key players. A concept that has never been part of the NHL's CBA language, it could be placed on the table now, with clubs able to designate one, two, or more players as the nucleus of a franchise, triggering negotiating privileges not allowed the other 29 clubs.

Ultimately, the NHLPA will sign off on a deal that includes a salary cap, a system that has been in place for years in both the National Football League and the National Basketball Association. The prevailing question around the league yesterday was why it took so long for the union to acquiesce to what many felt was inevitable. After all, the NHL is far more challenged for revenue streams than the NFL, and also slots in fourth behind the NBA with gross annual income of some $2.3 billion.

"We probably could have gotten this thing done in the summertime," said Chicago Blackhawks forward Matthew Barnaby. "Am I mad? No. I want to get back to work. But at the same time, I'm just a little disappointed that it went this far, to play poker and have someone call your bluff."