Money Problems Cast Big Chill

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Instead of stars in their eyes, players gathered for today’s NHL All-Star game saw dollar signs, reflecting concern for the league’s future as it combats financial crises in Ottawa and Buffalo and tries to bolster struggling Canadian franchises.

However, players say it’s not up to them to correct owners’ business mistakes, even though some agreed with a recent assertion by outspoken Detroit forward Brett Hull that 75% of the league’s players are overpaid.

“The game’s obviously at a very critical stage right now,” Jeremy Roenick of the Philadelphia Flyers, a reserve on the East squad, said Saturday. “But I don’t think players have to concede anything. We’ve worked really hard to get salaries where they are. There’s nobody twisting anybody’s arm to get these salaries. We’re in the game only a short time and if somebody’s going to give you that kind of money, you’d be crazy not to take it.”

Ominous financial news has overshadowed such feel-good stories this season as the crackdown on obstruction and subsequent improvement in the flow of play, Pittsburgh Penguin captain/owner Mario Lemieux’s pursuit of a seventh scoring title, and the ascendance of the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars.

The Ottawa Senators were late in delivering players’ Jan. 1 paychecks and filed for protection from bankruptcy last month, a few days before the Buffalo Sabres filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The Senators’ creditors are evaluating a bid by owner Rod Bryden, and the Sabres are expected to go on the open market if businessman Mark Hamister can’t assemble financing for a proposed purchase by Monday, when his exclusive negotiating period ends.

“Five, seven, 10 years ago you didn’t hear all this. It was all about hockey and scoring goals and making the playoffs,” said center Sergei Fedorov of Detroit and the West stars. “Now, there are so many business issues. You hear things like that and they’re attached to your mind....

“In my opinion, there’s no such thing as overpaid. It’s a tough sport. There are a lot of games, a lot of action and a lot of travel.”

Goaltender Martin Brodeur, of the New Jersey Devils and East stars, joked that he wanted to ask Hull if he’s in the overpaid 75%. “We’re getting paid what the owners want to pay us,” he said. “Nobody brought guns to their heads to make them pay us the salaries they’re paying.”

Said Colorado and West defenseman Rob Blake: “I don’t think players or owners want to go through a work stoppage. I think we have to take a look at baseball and how they settled things. Perhaps that’s a good indication of how things should go.”

Major League Baseball and its players reached an accord hours before a possible strike. Its collective bargaining agreement incorporated a luxury tax, leaving the NHL the only major professional sports league without a tax or salary cap. The NHL’s revenues have reached about $2 billion but still trail those of the other sports.

Three teams are known to be for sale -- the Mighty Ducks, Canucks and Stars -- and league insiders say four or five others can be had at relatively low prices. Finding buyers might be difficult until a new labor agreement provides a means for owners to estimate their costs. The current agreement was forged after a 103-day lockout that cut the 1994-95 season to 48 games. The agreement has since been extended twice and expires Sept. 15, 2004.

“We did projections for a lockout,” said one club executive who didn’t want to be identified. “If there’s a lockout, those will be our glory days. We’ll lose the least amount of money any year that we’ve had the team. We don’t play at all, and it’s going to be our best financial year ever. That’s scary.”

Gary Bettman, marking his 10th anniversary as commissioner, noted during his annual state-of-the-league address that he faces an array of challenges, adding wryly, “Some days I have a lot more fun than I probably deserve.” He said Saturday nothing new has come from his “constant” talks with NHL Players’ Assn. head Bob Goodenow. “I can’t be Pollyanna and the voice of gloom and doom at the same time,” he said. “I try to be realistic.

“We would be ready [to negotiate] in five minutes. The union right now is not legally obligated to come to the table.... My preference would be to have this done before the 11th hour. There’s a school of thought, and it happens not to be mine, that you make the best deal at the strike of midnight. As far as I’m concerned, the sooner we make the deal, the sooner we can go about growing our business.”

The sooner the Sabres’ situation is settled the better, as far as Buffalo and East All-Star winger Miroslav Satan is concerned.

“It’s in the back of our minds since the summer,” he said. “We thought it would be resolved quickly. Now it’s dragging along and taking more time. We try to be hockey players and do our jobs like before and leave the situation to the people who are in charge, but I’m a little bit sick of it because it’s taking too long now.”

For some players, the All-Star game remains an occasion to celebrate, not to fret over matters they can’t control.

“A lot of people said, ‘Wouldn’t you rather have stayed home and rested,’ but I wanted to be here,” said St. Louis and West defenseman Al MacInnis, 39, who will appear in his 12th All-Star game. “I realize this is probably going to be my last one. I wanted to come and collect some autographs. I still enjoy coming to these.”

King defenseman Mathieu Schnei- der said most of his teammates planned to spend the break in Palm Springs, but he’s glad to be here. “It’s my second time,” said Schneider, who made his All-Star debut in 1995-96, “and the first time I was in awe. This time I’m enjoying it more.”

Former King Glen Murray, whose 27 goals for the Boston Bruins rank fifth in the league, brought his parents, wife, infant daughter and best friend from childhood to share his first All-Star appearance. “You dream about this, but you never think of it happening, being from Nova Scotia,” he said. “It’s a dream come true. It’s awesome.”