Bettman shows he is not keen on renegade deals

Sporting News, The, August 1, 1994 by Larry Wigge

If Mike Keenan was allowed to declare himself a free agent and sell his services to the highest bidder simply because a payment was one day late, then what would happen if a team was a day or two late in making payroll for one reason or another? All of that team's players certainly could not declare themselves free agents.

If that were true, Wayne Gretzky and the entire Los Angeles roster could have become free agents last year when Kings Owner Bruce McNall was late with bonus payments to his players. And all of the Rangers would have been free agents because no one received bonus payments July 14, not just Keenan.

Commissioner Gary Bettman had no choice but to come down hard on all parties - from Keenan to the Rangers, Blues and Red Wings. Bettman couldn't let Keenan set precedent by bolting to the Blues just because he lost a power struggle to Rangers General Manager Neil Smith. And he couldn't let the Red Wings and Blues negotiate with an employee of another team while he was still under contract.

"The member clubs of the NHL and their employees may not engage in a kind of frontier justice, where every question of a contract's validity becomes an invitation to self-help in the form of unilateral declarations of free agency and the immediate entering into inconsistent contractual obligations," Bettman says.

Here's the report card on Bettman's decision:

* Bettman was right to fine the Blues $250,000 for negotiating with and signing Keenan when he was still with the Rangers.

* Bettman also had to fine the Red Wings $25,000 for negotiating with Keenan.

* He also needed to fine the Rangers for filing a lawsuit against Keenan and his agent. This was a league matter, and a $25,000 fine for taking it to an outside party was needed.

* Suspending Keenan for 60 days without pay and fining him $100,000 was slap on the wrist, however, since the suspension will be lifted September 24, one week before the regular season begins October 1.

* Ordering the Rangers to pay Keenan his $608,000 playoff bonus was obvious as was making Keenan repay the Rangers $400,000, which represented four-fifths of the signing bonus he received when he was hired last spring.

But this deal wasn't over without the Blues having to pay compensation for Keenan. And that turned out to be the heaviest penalty of all when the Blues traded promising center Petr Nedved to the Rangers for Keenan, left wing Esa Tikkanen and defenseman Doug Lidster.

Rangers fans, you just got a steal.

Nedved is only 22. He had 38 goals for the Canucks in 1992-93 and cost the Blues forward Nathan LaFayette, defensemen Jeff Brown and Bret Hedican and a second-round draft choice in March. He will be around the NHL long after Keenan, Tikkanen and Lidster have left St. Louis.

Losing Mike Keenan doesn't make the Rangers non-contenders, not when they still have Mark Messier, Brian Leetch, Mike Richter, Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Zubov and Nedved. And with Colin Campbell ready and willing to take over behind the bench, they will be just fine.

But the Blues also win in this deal because Keenan brings instant credibility to a team in need of discipline and a system that works. And Tikkanen and Lidster bring that Stanley Cup experience with them that will help Keenan in his transition.

"As far as we're concerned, we think we have the best coach in hockey and we'll go on from here to move closer to the Stanley Cup," Blues President Jack Quinn says.

Most important, the power play is over and both teams are back at full strength.

Icy bits

It appears on the surface that the Blackhawks won their latest battle with Keenan by signing free-agent left wing Bob Probert. Or did Keenan get St. Louis into the Probert sweepstakes simply to make the Blackhawks pay through the nose? Wouldn't you say a four-year, $6.6-million contract is a bit excessive for a guy who had only seven goals and 10 assists last season? The Blackhawks say they will play Probert on a line with Jeremy Roenick and Tony Amonte. They say they needed Probert's muscle after being pushed around by Toronto in the first round of the playoffs. In reality, the Blackhawks lost in the playoffs because they took too many stupid penalties and failed to score. The way I look at it, Probert adds more stupid penalties and little scoring. Advantage Keenan. . . . Look for Canucks General Manager Pat Quinn to officially step down as coach this week and name assistant Rick Ley as his replacement and for the Panthers to give former Red Wings general manager Bryan Murray Bobby Clarke's old G.M. position. ... Free agents continue to dominate the hockey news. Two weeks ago, it was Bernie Nicholls signing with Chicago, Jimmy Carson with Hartford and Randy Moller with Florida. Last week, it was Probert. This week? Look for the Blues to make Toronto's Bob Rouse the next millionaire defenseman as Keenan begins to build around his team's nucleus.