Toronto — Fifteen locked-out National Hockey League players and an entourage boarded a plane last night to begin a 10-city, two-week exhibition tour of Europe.
Each player had a bag full of hockey gear, new Primus World Stars Tour sweaters, sticks and their own luggage. Oh, yes, everyone had a cellphone primed for use in Europe.
Player agents J.P. Barry and Pat Brisson, accompanying the players on the tour, promised to keep them abreast of talks tomorrow between the league and the NHL Players' Association, but the players wanted to keep open their own lines of communication to confidants back home.
"Hopefully, we'll be coming back early," Colorado Avalanche defenceman Rob Blake said.
"The union has taken a step in putting its best proposal forward. Whether it's accepted or rejected, or whether it creates dialogue, we'll have to wait and see. But at the same time, everybody in our union can look at each other and say we did what we could to get a deal done."
Only NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow, his associates and the players' executive committee know for certain what the proposal will encompass.
There has been, however, plenty of speculation.
The proposal will not include a 10-per-cent rollback on salaries, but there will be an increased rollback from the 5 per cent promised in the two earlier NHLPA proposals. There also will be a lower threshold for a luxury tax and revenue-sharing system and stiffer penalties for violating the payroll limit, as well as more favourable changes for the owners to salary arbitration. There was a plenty of optimism among players about the proposal, which will be presented to the league tomorrow.
After World Stars coach Marty McSorley put the players through a 75-minute practice at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto, NHLPA associate counsel Ian Pulver and former player Steve Larmer, who now works for the NHLPA, met with the players.
"I hope there is a compromise to be made," New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur said. "The outcome, I think, will tell us if there will be a season, whether or not they want to negotiate with us."
Many players believe the club owners have no interest in negotiating, that the league's plan all along has been to wash out the season and then declare an impasse in order to impose a hard-salary cap on club payrolls.
One player whispered yesterday that he wouldn't be surprised if the owners rejected the new proposal and a few weeks later put forth a new "cost certainty" concept that the owners know would be tossed aside by the NHLPA. That could pave the way for the owners to attempt their impasse plan.
Other players hope the new offer will put pressure on the owners to start talking.
"Hopefully, this provides some groundwork to hammer something out, and that when we come back from Europe in a couple of weeks, something will be done," Detroit Red Wings centre Kris Draper said.
"You have to be optimistic until something happens otherwise. Obviously, this is a crucial month for not only the proposal, but for the state of the league. This proposal was thought over long and hard by [Goodenow] and our executive committee.
Draper was asked whether he has had any contact with Wings owner Mike Illitch during the 83-day lockout. He said no, but was hopeful Illitch might be one of the owners who likes the new proposal.
"Right off the bat, the [salary] rollback puts Detroit in a pretty good range where our team would fit [in the rest of the league]," Draper said. "It's something I believe the Detroits, Torontos, Colorados and Philadelphias can work with. They are the teams that have shown a commitment to winning.
"I'm fortunate to have played in Detroit for 11 years. If there was a player available for Mr. Illitch to go out and get to make his team better, he always has. That's his competitive edge. You hope he still has that luxury. He won't with a salary cap."
