CBA -- FRAGILE: HANDLE WITH CARE!
Jun 17, 2005
That precious carton containing the new NHL Collective Bargaining Agreement immediately should be labelled, FRAGILE: HANDLE WITH CARE!
It should not be seen anywhere near the negotiations which continue Friday in New York amid muted optimism.
"We're going to get this done," one of the negotiators assures me. Except, he didn't say when.
Even though the new CBA hasn't even been fully crafted by league and union leaders, it has for the past month been used, bruised and abused by the media and those special interests -- as in NHLPA boss Bob Goodenow -- attempting to gain a last-minute edge.
Despite an unprecedented aura of "secrecy" blanketing the ongoing negotiations, reports circulating about its form and completion run the gamut from (Pick one of the following):
ECSTASY
Purveyors of positivism have been cranking out erroneous "deal" stories ever since the ill-advised Wayne Gretzky-Mario Lemieux Expeditionary Force failed to even gain a CBA beachhead in Manhattan. Still, the optimists continue to orate. The latest line is that a deal will be done by the end of June. Don't laugh, it could happen!
REALITY
Since the CBA -- whenever completed -- will be of Einsteinian complexity, it has forced union and league lawyers to work overtime; and will continue to do so. Yes, progress has been made, but the difference between progress and completion at least another week more of work.
DESPAIR
Sad to say, but there are reliable folks in Hockeyland who still question whether an agreement can be forged before July 15; and even if it does come to pass, who says the players will approve the document? While this group remains in the minority, it must be heard as long as nothing is signed, sealed and delivered.
That explains why the FRAGILE: HANDLE WITH CARE! sign is imperative whenever visions of that precious CBA carton are brought forth.
It also emphasizes why honest, down-to-earth hockey people such as Calgary Flames G.M.-Coach Darryl Sutter refuse to even go near that CBA carton.
"Quite honestly," Sutter told Randy Sportak of the Calgary Sun, "I think we're still a long ways off. It's a lot more complex than what you're seeing and hearing."
"There are big issues and a lot of small ones that hook into them. So, to think there's any resolution is really premature."
If there has been any significant new development in the last month of talks it is that more and more player representatives -- Brendan Morrison of Vancouver being a good example -- are speaking out.
What's more, many are eschewing Goodenow's company line and actually are questioning the stewardship of union leadership through the whole, ugly mess.
In an interview with Luke Decock of the Raleigh News Observer, Carolina Hurricanes player rep Kevyn Adams was remarkably candid in wondering why a CBA hadn't been fashioned in February.
"There was absolutely no reason that we shouldn't have played hockey this past season," Adams told Decock. "In saying that, though, the issues were so contentious, and both sides dug their heels in. Unfortunately, a lot of people suffered for it. To miss a year, I didn't feel that needed to happen."
Like many of his sidekicks, Adams is now questioning the "No-Cap, No-Cap" theme hammered by Goodenow for a decade.
"This whole process has been a situation where you're going to have to give on the players' side. As players in the beginning, maybe we were fighting for ideological reasons, for the right reasons but the reality is we had to get a partnership with the league."
To get that "partnership," the union has had to make major concessions, the precise details of which are known only to those at the bargaining table.
One such individual is Nashville Predators' owner Craig Leipold. Considered a hard-liner among the NHL governors, Leipold should be beaming if some reports seeping out of the talks are true.
For example, the Salary Cap -- once vehementaly fought by the union -- will range from $22-$36 million, according to some sources. It will be linked to 54 percent of revenues. There supposedly will be a 100 percent luxury tax starting around $29 million and a 24 percent rollback in salaries.
Those who prefer accentuating the positive can take heart from Minnesota Wild player rep Dwayne Roloson. Talking to Kevin Youngblood of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Roloson argues that a completed CBA is getting close to its precious carton for delivery to NHL offices.
"Now," said Roloson, "it's just a matter of trying to work out the final numbers. Finding out the higher and lower end. I always felt the season would start on time (next fall). Now it seems inevitable. The momentum is there to carry over that should get a deal done."
Yet another optimistic source insists that so much negotiating progress has been made that another trip to NHLPA headquarters in Toronto for more talks will be unnecessary.
Some teams are slating pre-season games and others are preparing to add to their staffs. Dallas Stars president Jim Lites said that once the CBA is completed his club will hire at least 80 employees for game operations, marketing, etc.
But this much IS certain: The hoped-for CBA is so complex -- so revolutionary, one negotiator tells me it is like re-inventing the wheel -- that meticulous discussions and lawyer-work continue to brake the progress.
Keep those labels fresh and ready to be glued on to the carton.
But, most of all, remember the message: FRAGILE: HANDLE WITH CARE!
