Players are aching for the refs to return

Sporting News, The, Nov 29, 1993 by Larry Wigge

Blues defenseman Jeff Brown had a big welt on his forehead after a game against the Kings last Saturday. When asked what happened, he said he walked into a door.

The door actually was a Los Angeles player. But Brown didn't want to comment for fear that he would be fined by the NHL for bad-mouthing the replacement referee in charge of that game while the regular referees and linesmen are on strike.

"The bad part about the play," Brown said, "is that I got called for a penalty."

Oops, I forgot Brown wasn't supposed to complain about the officiating, under a gag order by Commissioner Gary Bettman.

Well, excuse me, Mr. Bettman, but I don't see the replacement officials' performance with the same rose-colored glasses you do. Every game is chippy, and players are doing whatever they think they can get away with.

Even though players have been told to keep quiet, they aren't really keeping their opinions to themselves.

"This is not like 3-on-3 basketball, where you call your own fouls," Kings center Wayne Gretzky says. "There's too much at stake, and penalties are not being called."

Says Tampa Bay winger Petr Klima: "The referees are not seeing the high-sticking. I don't want to say anything bad about the referees, but the regular officials need to get back soon."

Calgary's Theoren Fleury even offered to give some of his own money to end the strike. "We didn't play a dirty game against St. Louis, but they got six power plays to our two. The regular officials give you a chance to win or tie, these guys can't keep up with the play and then guess at what to can.

"I'd be willing to chip in 50 grand to get the regular officials back."

Bettman actually called Blues star Brett Hull after he lambasted the officials following a game last week at Vancouver.

"I didn't know if it was a hockey game or rodeo," Hull said. "There was the holding of the stick, the grabbing in front of the net, the cross-checking from behind, the high-sticking that wasn't called.

"The league has done a great job the last few years cleaning up the game. But it's like a flashback to four or five years ago now."

I get the impression that if this dispute goes long. enough, a few players could go on strike in sympathy -- or self-preservation.

"This isn't a Persian bazaar where the sides are haggling over $100 for a rug," says Brian Burke, executive vice president of hockey operations. "There's a difference of $6 million -- $1.5 Million a year."

The officials reportedly were ready to accept the league's 29 percent increase -- from $50,000 for entry-level referees to $65,000 and $33,000 to $45,000 for linesmen -- in pay before the league threatened them with a letter that said jobs would not be there for some if they went on strike.

NHL refs point out that NBA referees get guaranteed $8,000 playoff bonuses, plus travel bonuses in which an NBA official gets a first-class air ticket after he travels a certain number of miles. The referee is free to cash in the ticket, fly economy class and pocket the difference. NHL officials likely would settle for a playoff bonus similar to the NBA's.

The wild card in this whole dispute is that the NHL needs the referees and linesmen and, in fact, is looking to improve officiating. It will go to two referees in the very near future after successfully experimenting with two refs in six exhibition games.

Thus, a guarantee of more jobs and an incentive system for the playoffs similar to the NBA's is the solution the two sides Will talk about this week -- and it will be the beginning of the end of the strike. Welts and all.

Respect

After learning that star center Pat Lafontaine will be sidelined for the rest of the season for reconstructive surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, Sabres Vice President Gerry Meehan said Aretha Franklin had it right in her hit song.

LaFontaine first injured his knee in the second round of the playoffs against Montreal last spring. It happened again in the opening game this season and a third time November 13 against Philadelphia.

"The star players have become targets," Meehan says. "If you're paying a guy like Mario Lemieux $6 million a year, then it's become a bad business decision to pay a star like that to be a target. It shows a lack of respect for players and one another and it's appalling."

Cheli's chili

Defenseman Chris Chelios had Blackhawks Owner William Wirtz over a barrel -- of chili -- when he was negotiating a four-year contract extension. Wirtz will get 16 autographed cans of Cheli's Chili as part of the $12.275-million extension.

Despite restrictions from the $2.25-million league arbitrated contract given Boston defenseman Ray Bourque, Chelios, who is making $1.1 million this season, will make $2.65 million in 1994-95, $2.725 million in '95-96, $2.8 million in '96-97 and $3 million in '97-98. He will also receive $1.1 million for giving the Blackhawks permission to use his face in advertising and marketing.

Icy bits

The holdout of Quebec defenseman Steve Duchesne is heating up. Tom Reich, Duchesne's agent, says he knows the Nordiques have had three legitimate offers for his client -- reportedly from San Jose, Vancouver and Chicago. "This is an explosive situation we have tried to defuse by asking for a trade," Reich says. "But if we do go to arbitration (December 5), it will be war." Nordiques G.M. Pierre Page says he doesn't think he can trade Duchesne until after the arbitration hearing, when other teams will know what they have to pay Duchesne. This is a landmark case because it is the first time a club has asked for arbitration, and the Nordiques are dragging their feet. . . . Before they traded Darren Turcotte and James Patrick to Hartford, the Rangers offered them to Vancouver for center Petr Nedved but were turned down. . . . The Islanders and Offers are talking trade, with New York eying left wing Shayne Corson. Left wing David Volek and defenseman Uwe Krupp are known to be on the block, and together they would make an even swap for the Oilers. Toronto and St. Louis also are interested in Corson. . . . Now that defenseman Dave Manson has returned to the lineup, look for Edmonton to trade him. If the Nordiques agree to pick up more than half of left wing Valeri Kamensky's $950,000 contract and give a prospect (left wing Rene Corbet), a trade for Manson is possible.