Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 10, 1995 TAG: 9501100085
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Canadian Press sources said the sides had tentatively agreed on previously contentious issues such as salary arbitration, rookie salary cap and the reopening of the contract. The news agency didn't provide terms of the resolutions.
An agent familiar with the talks told The Associated Press just before midnight that ``free agency has not been resolved.'' He said he understood the other issues had been tentatively settled. ``They're making good progress,'' he said.
Owners don't want players to become unrestricted free agents until they reach age 32; the union wants it to be 30.
Earlier, reports varied of what had been accomplished before the negotiators took a short dinner break. The sides met for 11 hours Monday and continued past midnight.
``I hear everything is going good,'' said Jeremy Roenick, the Chicago Blackhawks' player representative. ``I heard from one of the other player reps, who called a practice for Wednesday. I hear a lot of different stuff, but I'm not going to get my hopes up. Everything is just a guess situation.''
Edmonton Oilers owner Peter Pocklington was confident Bettman and Goodenow would beat today's noon deadline, but Boston Bruins president Harry Sinden said nothing had been accomplished.
``Based on the conversations I've had, I think it will happen,'' Pocklington said.
But Sinden said: ``All I got was that there was very little progress.''
The owners' disagreement with one another was nothing new to the lockout, which reached its 101st day Monday.
Owners voted 19-7 Saturday to reject the union's latest proposal. They then voted 20-6 to present a more restrictive counterproposal; the players rejected that offer on Sunday, sending Bettman and Goodenow back to the table for their first face-to-face meeting since Dec.6.
Curiously, one of the seven clubs that voted to accept the players' proposal - Toronto - was among the six that voted to cancel the season rather than send the counteroffer back to the players.
The Maple Leafs were making a protest vote.
```T' is right at the bottom of the list, alphabetically, and the vote was already over,'' said Cliff Fletcher, Toronto's general manager. ``Everyone knew what our position was going in. We were straightforward. We didn't want to risk the season going ka-poof.''
But for owners of several other teams, ka-poof was better than the alternative.
Quebec's Marcel Aubut said his team would do better financially without a season than with an agreement that doesn't include a salary cap. Pocklington said his club can survive only if fellow owners keep a promise to enact some form of revenue-sharing in the future.
On the other end, Philadelphia's Ed Snider voted along with Fletcher and five others to accept the players' proposal.
``None of the differences between the sides is major,'' Snider said. ``Any reasonable person would see this, find a happy meeting ground and end this ridiculous situation.''
by CNB