Tag Archives: contract

Canucks say NHL’s latest proposal addressing buyouts, contract lengths is a positive sign

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No sooner did a trio of Vancouver Canucks respond Friday to leaked details of the NHL’s latest collective bargaining agreement proposal than the union advised its members to zip their lips. A conference call to review the league’s 300-page document and a crafted response from NHL Players’ Association executive director Donald Fehr would come first. Then perhaps a counter-proposal. Any necessary venom would be spewed later or not at all.

After the sides talked on the phone Saturday in an information session, they agreed to continue the process Sunday and meet face-to-face in New York where there could be a bargaining session.

However, by not initially taking the league to task on only moving contract lengths from five to six years, adjusting contract variance from five to 10 per cent and insisting that one contract buyout next summer that won’t count agains the salary cap will allow teams to comply to a $60 million US ceiling, the union is biting...

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Garrison’s Christmas concerns are a sign his injury woes are over

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Jason Garrison must be feeling better.

Medically cleared by the Vancouver Canucks after overcoming a chronic groin strain that has hampered the White Rock native the last two years, the defenceman was more concerned Tuesday about preparing for the festive season that wondering if his groin will hold up when the NHL lockout ends.

With local physiotherapist Rick Celebrini strengthening his core through a vigorous training regimen, Garrison is confident the ailment has been cured. As for being a holiday host, he’s not so sure.

“I’m having Christmas dinner at my place and I have no idea what I’m doing, but I’ve got to make sure it looks like Christmas,” chuckled the 28-year-old Garrison, who purchased a downtown residence after agreeing to a six-year, $27.6-million-US contract on the first day of free agency.

“It’s the first time in a long time where I’ve been around for Christmas and I’ve just got to figure it out. Thank goodness I’m not cooking. I’m...

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Big hurdles still remain on road to NHL deal

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With a degree in finance, Kevin Bieksa can wrap his head around collective bargaining agreement issues as easily as he wraps up opposition forwards.

The Vancouver Canucks defenceman can take the complicated and make the layman feel educated and entertained.

With the NHL and NHL Players’ Association agreeing to renew talks Wednesday at an undisclosed location with federal mediation in an effort to end the lockout, there may be less venom spewed with other voices of reason in the room in a non-binding setting.

More calm should be in order but three high hurdles still need to be cleared.

Aside from agreeing on CBA and player contract lengths, the one that could trip up a deal is the year-to-year variance on contracts. Players want a 25 per cent difference on multi-year deals that are seven years or longer, meaning the lowest point of the salary scale must be a minimum 25 per cent of the highest point.

It would include...

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Schneider gives up on playing in Europe

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Cory Schneider has nearly given up hope.

That’s of playing in Europe. There’s not much chance now, unless the season is cancelled.

Of course, that is not completely out of the question, especially with the way a wind change has altered the dynamics in the NHL labour stalemate.

Schneider is baffled by the current situation, which has developed into a street fight to the finish over players’ contract rights.

Even after the sides agreed revenues will be split 50/50, the owners are seeking significant changes to entry-level deals, contract-length limits, arbitration rights, and free agency.

Is that all?

The owners claim they won’t budge, eliciting a predictable, emotional response from the players. They’re angry.

“They’ve already got a billion dollars and now they want the most restrictive contracting rules in sport,” Schneider said. “It seems a little heavy-handed on their part. We’re willing to talk, but it doesn’t seem like they are.

“It’s very frustrating. We feel we’re close and they come out and say, ‘No,...

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What if NHL players got militant about CBA and the impending lockout?

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The first and essentially only sign of impatience from NHL players in the process of being milked of their cash by NHL owners came in Calgary this week when the Flames players decided not to participate fully in a charity golf tournament run by the team.

Not surprisingly, Flames president Ken King got in a little dig in his released statement. First he said he understood, then thanked the golfers and sponsors who stayed with the event, saying that the latter two groups “totally appreciate that the heart of the event is about important fund raising for local charities,” as if somehow the players don’t — after donating their time for all these years for the endless events that teams think up.

Can’t imagine he’ll be fined by commissioner Gary Bettman for those lovely words. What made the Flames’ move stand out is that it goes right to the heart of how nicey-nicey these disputes really are, even...

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Canucks looking to sign Alex Burrows, Alex Edler — and if they’re lucky, maybe even Shane Doan

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The expiration of the Collective Bargaining Agreement on Saturday isn’t the only deadline this week for the Vancouver Canucks.

The team is working on three pending deals it would love to have signed before midnight Saturday.

The Canucks are trying to close the gap in contract negotiations with Alex Edler and Alex Burrows, and are still holding out hope for Shane Doan.

For the two Alexes, the team is attempting to sign them to multi-year extensions before the current CBA expires.

After averaging 29 goals a season for four years, Burrows is in line for a significant raise from the current $2 million per season he’s earning. He’s heading into the final year of a four-year, $8-million contract.

How much of a raise? Consider Troy Brouwer just signed a three-year, $11-million deal.

Edler is about to start the final year of his contract, which pays him $3.25 million. Like Burrows, he’s been a bargain and is in line for a big payday. Look for...

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Canuck Roberto Luongo’s first choice? A return to Florida Panthers

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VANCOUVER — While most NHL players are approaching lockout limbo, Vancouver Canuck netminder Roberto Luongo is in double limbo: he doesn't know if he'll play and he doesn't know where he'll play either.

Luongo, who lives in South Florida during the summer, wants to be moved out of Vancouver and he told a Florida newspaper Tuesday that the Panthers are his first choice. While this was not a startling revelation — he acknowledged the Panthers were a preferred destination in a radio interview July 6 — the story received new life with his remarks to South Florida Sun-Sentinel reporter Harvey Fialkov.

"It's been a tough summer, not knowing what's going to happen,'' Luongo told Fialkov after a workout at the Panthers' practice facility. "It's tough to not know what your future is going to be with your family and everything. There were a couple of stressful moments, but we're still here and everything's good.

“[The Panthers] make sense for myself, for...

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Shane Doan’s agent sets deadline, Canucks still in running

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A big NHL free-agent domino is expected to finally fall.

While several suitors, including the Vancouver Canucks, have patiently waited while Shane Doan hopes the Phoenix Coyotes ownership picture can be resolved so the club's long-serving captain can remain in the desert, his agent Terry Bross has changed the timeline.

A looming Sept. 15 lockout could create uncertainty how long-term contracts of players 35 and older will be affected. Under the current collective bargaining agreement, multi-year deals to those players count against the salary cap in the second year, even if a player is inactive. Hence a deadline, finally.

"[It has to] be done before the 15th, otherwise we're signing somewhere because we don't know what the new CBA is going to look like and I don't know if it's going to limit any scope of a contract," Bross told the Arizona Republic. "We want to make sure we sign before then. I guess in that respect, time is ticking."

While prospective...

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Luongo lingers, and Canucks’ questions mount for Burrows, Edler and Raymond

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VANCOUVER – The Roberto Luongo drama seems set to drag on into the fall and, should the NHL owners lock out the players if no new collective bargaining agreement is reached by Sept. 15, perhaps December.

But the Canucks have other player decisions to make, as well. (The most important one they dealt with right away, locking up Cory Schneider for three more years.)

It makes sense for Canucks general manager Mike Gillis to wait to see the lay of the land after a new CBA is finally agreed to, but there are several players entering the final year of their contracts who are set to become unrestricted free agents next July 1.

At some point, the Canucks will want to start renegotiating with at least a couple of them: Alex Burrows and Alex Edler.

In Edler’s case, Gillis has joined the more excitable members of the media and callers to sports radio in declaring Edler a potential Norris Trophy candidate down...

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Messier the new $6 Million Man after Canucks pay up

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Many would argue that bringing Mark Messier to Vancouver 15 years ago at a cost of $20 million was a colossally poor investment, but the remarkable thing is the Canucks were still required to pay for it as recently as this week.

Thanks to a ruling by New York-base arbitrator George Nicolau, Messier, 51, was awarded just over $6 million US to settle a grievance claim for deferred money he believed was owed him from the lucrative contract he signed as a free agent in 1997 when he left the New York Rangers to come to Vancouver.

It's a different ownership now, of course, than the John McCaw-led Orca Bay Sports Entertainment that pulled out all stops in the summer of 1997 to get the future Hall of Famer into a Canucks uniform a year after missing an opportunity to lure Wayne Gretzky to Vancouver.

The Canucks' eye-popping offer committed a potential $30 million to the 36-year-old Messier --...

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Which Canucks owners — past or present — must pay Mark Messier $6 million?

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VANCOUVER — The Aquilinis may not be on the hook for all of the $6 million the Vancouver Canucks now owe Mark Messier.

Messier's longstanding salary grievance was almost certainly on the books as a potential liability when the Aquilini Investment Group bought the team from Seattle businessman John McCaw, and two Vancouver lawyers said Friday that liability was likely accounted for during the transaction.

"In this case one of the ways to do it would be to put a proviso in the purchase agreement that the vendor, being McCaw, would pick up any liability that was outstanding as a result of the arbitration," Michael Carroll, a Queen's Counsel and partner at the Vancouver firm of Davis LLP, said in an interview. "That would be something that would be quite normal to do. Whether it was done or not in this case, I don't know."

Carroll's comments were echoed by Marko Vesely, a partner at the Vancouver firm of Lawson Lundell.

"I...

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Mark Messier wins $6-million arbitration case against Vancouver Canucks

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VANCOUVER - Mark Messier has been awarded a $6-million settlement in the Hall of Famer’s long-standing grievance over money he claimed he was owed by the Vancouver Canucks.

George Nicolau, an 87-year-old New York-based arbitrator with a long history of handling high-profile sports arbitration cases, rendered his decision recently after meeting with both sides earlier this year.

The Canucks made only a brief comment on the decision.

“Canucks Sports Entertainment is aware of the arbitrator’s decision and will have no further comment on the matter,” the team said in a statement to The Vancouver Sun Thursday.

Messier did not return a message left for him with the New York Rangers, for whom he serves as special assistant to the president.

Messier signed a five-year, free-agent contract with the Canucks in 1997 for $6 million a season. The dispute between Messier and the team is believed to centre on deferred money the hockey player felt was owed to him.

It has been reported...

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