Take a look at the hit Yashin will take. Some guys will be hit hard but I agree this one time rollback isn't the way to go and hte players know they will make that back.
Canadian Press
12/10/2004
TORONTO (CP) - Alexei Yashin woke up Friday facing the prospect of being more than $15 million US poorer.
Considering Yashin has seven years and $64.8 million remaining on his 10-year deal with the New York Islanders, the 24 per cent salary rollback offered by the NHL Players' Association as part of its proposal to the NHL would be a blow to his bank account.
"It's a fact, he'd be the hardest-hit player," Yashin's agent Mark Gandler said Friday. "It's nice to wake up to a lot less money, isn't it?
"But it is what it is. If the season starts tomorrow, we're all very happy - for the fans, for the league, and for ourselves. But if the season does not start, then I suppose this proposal should be off the table because as time goes by, I think the 24 per cent makes less and less sense from our perspective."
New York Rangers star Jaromir Jagr would be the hardest hit in the short-term, going from an $11-million salary to $8.36 million this year and next. That would be pro-rated for a shortened season this year.
In fact, the union's rollback promises $270 million in savings to owners this year but that number was based on a full 2004-05 season, which of course can't possibly happen. One-third of the season has now gone by the wayside.
Still, the rollback hurts players for the entire existence of their current contracts.
Star winger Ryan Smyth of the Edmonton Oilers would drop from $3.55 million to a pro-rated salary of $2.7 million if there's hockey this year. He had heard of a massive rollback a few weeks ago but didn't believe it.
"I was skating down in Phoenix with Shane Doan and Tyson Nash, and I guess they had talked with (NHLPA executive committee member) Bob Boughner about the proposal, and they were talking to me about a 20 per cent rollback. And I said: `Not a chance,"' Smyth said Friday from Vancouver.
"So (the 24 per cent rollback) came as a surprise, for sure. But we have full faith in the union. They've put a lot of time and effort in this proposal and I think now the ball is in the league's court."
The NHLPA says its proposal would save the league more than $1 billion over six years, a figure that on the surface would seem to address the financial concerns stated by Arthur Levitt in his NHL-commissioned financial report.
"For the sake of the game, and the fans, I'm pleased that a dialogue has begun. And obviously I'm gratified that the arrangement that the players have announced acknowledges or recognizes the losses established by our studies," Levitt said Friday in phone interview.
Levitt, the former Securities & Exchange Commission Chairman, stated combined NHL losses of $273 million for the 2002-2003 season and using his formula the losses amounted $224 million last season.
The NHLPA denies reacting to Levitt's report in any way.
"That really had nothing to do with it," NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin said Friday. "The attempt was to re-set the marketplace in a dramatic fashion in favour of the owners and to move forward from there.
"As we've said before, we have our issues with the Levitt numbers, and we know what the Forbes numbers are, but our rollback number had nothing to do with either of that."
While Levitt admires the rollback, like commissioner Gary Bettman he doesn't see it as fixing the financial landscape for years to come.
"I think it would help address the ills for one year, but that's hardly a long-term solution," Levitt said.<
"I think that whatever solution is arrived at has to address what I regard as a systemic problem. Too much of every dollar is going out to salaries - 73 cents is simply non-economic. So whatever arrangement they come up with has to establish an enduring response to that problem. Merely to create a fix for one year will just put them back at the bargaining table one year from now and that's not good."
NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow argued strongly that in fact the rollback has a ripple effect on the entire system, dragging down salary arbitration awards and all future signings, putting owners in the drivers' seat for years to come.
"We know that it was a very significant offer, it was intended to be that way," Saskin said Friday. "And we're optimistic that we will be able to move forward and get a deal completed."
The spotlight is now on Bettman and what his counter-proposal will include when the two sides resume bargaining talks Tuesday at 1 p.m. EST at the league's Toronto office.
Veteran agent Don Meehan says the union's offer shows the NHLPA understands and appreciates the league's financial concerns and that if Bettman still wants a salary cap, that means he's not really negotiating.
"Can he say they're not trying to understand and appreciate their problems? No, he can't do that anymore," Meehan said Friday.
"So get in there now and find a way. But if you're going to be in a position where you are dictating terms on systemic issues, what kind of collective bargaining agreement is ever conducted in a fashion like that?"