NEWS OF MAPLE LEAFS
Last Update: Thursday September 30, 1999 7:41PM EST
Thursday September 30, 1999 Leafs finally sign Berard
One down, one to go.
The Toronto Maple Leafs re-signed Bryan Berard to a two-year contract Wednesday, ending one of the off-season impasses that had kept Berard and fellow defenceman Dimitri Yushkevich off the ice.
The contract will pay Berard, 22, a reported $3.3 million over the two years: $1.5 million this year and $1.8 million in the second year.
"We really weren't that far apart and I think both sides said it was time to get this thing done and both sides gave in a little bit," Tom Laidlaw, Berard's agent, told The Fan radio station.
Yushkevich, the team's most consistent defenceman last year, remains unsigned with three days to go before the Leafs open the season in Montreal on Saturday.
The Leafs told Berard and Yushkevich, both restricted free agents, not to come to training camp without signing contracts. Their absence raised questions about the Leafs' ability to match their surprisingly successful 1998-99 season with a defence missing its best offensive and defensive performers.
The negotiating between the team and the players was often acrimonious, raising doubts that the sides could bury the hatchet.
"Obviously, you wish some of things that were said were not said," said Laidlaw.
"But honest to God, there's a ton of respect from Bryan Berard to the Toronto Maple Leafs. They've treated him great there. Pat Quinn is exactly the kind of coach that he needs. He's got patience and will let him do his thing."
The Leafs acquired Berard from the New York Islanders in January in a trade for goalie Felix Potvin. He scored five goals and had 14 assists in 38 games for the Leafs, adding a goal and eight assists during the playoffs as the Leafs made it to the Eastern Conference final.
Berard was the first overall draft pick in 1995 by the Ottawa Senators. He won the Calder Trophy with the Islanders in 1996-97, scoring eight goals and adding 40 assists in 82 games.
Berard is to join the Leafs today. Laidlaw said the swift defenceman is in good condition, having hired a personal trainer during the summer, and could play Saturday.
"I just hope that everybody's careful and they don't rush him into the lineup and you get some kind of groin strain and then he's out for two weeks."
Friday September 24, 1999 Bohonos, Bonsignore and Kohn unprotected
Centre Adam Mair and defencemen Marek Posmyk and Dmitri Yakushin have been assigned by the Toronto Maple Leafs to their AHL farm club in St. John's.
The NHL club also designated for assignment forwards Ladislav Kohn, Lonny Bohonos and Jason Bonsignore and goaltender Jimmy Waite, who were left unprotected for the waiver draft of veterans to be held Monday.
Kohn, Bonsignore and Waite are likely to play for St. John's if they are not claimed in the waiver draft. Bohonos has said he'll join the IHL's Manitoba Moose if he isn't on an NHL team at season's start.
Goaltender Jason Muzzatti was given his outright release.
The eight move leave 26 players on the Leafs' roster. They are allowed 23 when the season begins Oct. 1.
Rookie forward Nikolai Antropov, fourth-line centre Kevyn Adams, and free-agent acquisitions Greg Andrusak and Terran Sandwith survived the latest round of cuts. With veteran defencemen Dimitri Yushkevich and Bryan Berard absent in contract disputes, Andrusak and Sandwith are substitute candidates for the Leafs' season opener Oct. 2 in Montreal.
Saturday September 18, 1999 Holdouts are given one week to re-sign
The Maple Leafs yesterday gave Dimitri Yushkevich and Bryan Berard until next Friday to sign new contracts.
Otherwise, head coach and general manager Pat Quinn can't guarantee either defenceman will be with the club this season.
The urgency to reach a settlement relates to next week's roster freeze which sets up the annual National Hockey League waiver draft.
Since there are no newcomers at this camp capable of filling in for Berard or Yushkevich on more than a short-term basis, Quinn suspects he will have to trade for help or sign an Ulf Samuelsson-type free agent.
"If I go and sign a free agent, I'm using the salary that's been allocated for them," Quinn said. "Once we make the decision, (Berard and Yushkevich) might be frozen.
"They are, supposedly, assets but they may stay in Europe or Rhode Island for the whole year because then you get to the point of having your economic plan change."
The unsigned defencemen would be in a similar dilemma if the Leafs traded for help -- which may happen sooner than later in light of the Sept. 27 waiver draft where teams can protect only 18 skaters and two goalies.
MAY MAKE A TRADE
"We're going to have extra forwards that probably won't be protected in the waiver draft," Quinn said. "So, if we have an option (before the draft) to make a move with a club that might have a problem (with its forwards), then we might do that."
The Leafs already have had discussions with the Calgary Flames, who have 10 veteran defencemen but are thin at centre.
"There comes a point," Quinn said, "that once you make that decision, the leverage is gone from both sides. (Yushkevich and Berard) are out there and we have their rights. They can go and play in Europe or the International League, but they can't play in the NHL."
While Quinn still is hopeful of re-signing the duo, he said the contract dispute already has hurt the club and the two players.
Quinn, one of the most astute minds in the game, arrived at camp with a revised system, designed to improve the club's overall defensive game.
"Both those players are known more for how they move the puck than how they defend," he said. "By not being here, they are not learning the new defensive aspects that we planned. They're not making any progress where they are."
Friday September 17, 1999 Antropov impressing Leafs brass
Leafs rookie Nikolai Antropov has become the story of the Toronto Maple Leafs' training camp.
In exhibition play, the six-foot-five centre has shown a head for the game that can't be taught. He has big-league puckhandling and shooting skills and his skating, though choppy at times, is far better than expected.
In Wednesday's 3-2 exhibition loss at Calgary, Antropov skated on the left wing on a line with speedster Mats Sundin and veteran Steve Thomas. He did not look out of place, nor did he get left behind.
"You always hope a player you select has a reasonable chance of becoming a player. He's shown he has that chance," coach and GM Pat Quinn told the Toronto Star. "We had a similar situation with (Adam) Mair last year and, quite frankly, right up until cutdown day we were thinking about keeping him.
"I'm sure it's going to be the same situation with Antropov. Hopefully, we'll make the right decision. I think we did with Adam. We'll just bide our time, make a decision and then hope we're right."
Thursday September 16, 1999 Dryden not worried about contract squabbles
Toronto Maple Leafs president Ken Dryden says negotiations with restricted free agents Bryan Berard and Dimitri Yushkevich haven't been further complicated by a recent rant from team executive Bill Watters.
Earlier this week, Watters, who is handling both negotiations, told The Fan 590, a Toronto all-sports radio station, that Berard and Yushkevich were, "grossly overpaid."
"Both of these players have the right to go to 27 other teams and seek that figure (their respective asking prices) or larger," Watters said.
"Guess what? They can't get it."
Watters continued the venomous diatribe by saying he had his fill of both players and that "the Maple Leafs are overpaying them."
Yushkevich is seeking a three-year, $9.9 million US deal after earning $1 million last year. Berard, who made $825,000 last season, wants a salary of about $2 million annually. Dryden said an agreement with either player doesn't appear imminent.
It should be noted that Yushkevich's agent is the infamous Mark Gandler, also the player representative for holdouts Alexei Yashin of the Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh's Darius Kasparaitis.
Dryden, who participated in Thursday's draw for the $1.05 million Cdn Atto Mile thoroughbred race at Woodbine race track, quickly went into damage-control mode when approached by reporters.
"No, I don't think so," Dryden said when asked whether Watters's outburst has strained relations between the club and its two players. "Negotiations go up and down.
"They become promising at some point, then you hit a roadblock and then they become promising again. That was just a snapshot and we hope that there will be another turn for the better soon."
And Dryden said he wasn't bothered by Watters's controversial comments.
"It becomes part of things that both sides say back and forth," Dryden said.
"This is the state of the NHL in 1999 and it's going to continue this way. There are going to be holdouts every year in any kind of forseeable future."
Under the NHL's collective bargaining agreement, both Yushkevich and Berard can seek offers from other teams, with the Leafs having the right to match or receive compensation in the form of draft picks. No restricted free agent has received an offer sheet this off-season.
Dryden was quick to say that is not a sign of collusion among NHL owners.
"The situation is so clear in the league now that when anybody issues offer sheets they get matched," Dryden said. "If Joe Sakic and Sergei Fedorov get matched at huge amounts of money, then clearly what has happened is teams realize that that's what the pattern of things is.
"When somebody makes an offer to somebody else, then it's as if it's a personal challenge so it's up to that local owner to meet the personal challenge and he does it every time no matter whether the amount is large.
"It's just a pattern of behaviour."
The Leafs have taken a hard-ball approach in their negotiations. Watters says he has tabled Toronto's final offer on a one-year contract to both Berard and Yushkevich and that the club will decrease those amounts weekly until they return.
But again Dryden downplayed the notion that the Leafs are attempting to send both players the message that they aren't prepared to sway from their $34-million US budget and won't be bullied into signing a contract.
"The state of the negotiations have nothing to do with whatever our budget is," he said. "We have made what we believe to be fair offers; they think otherwise.
"Whether our budget was three times as much or half as much, this is where we would be in terms of negotiations."
Dryden scoffed at the notion that bitter contract squabbles are new in the NHL. He said players and management have traditionally squared off when it comes to money.
"What happens is the contract you're negotiating for, in some ways, is a symbol to you of what you think you're worth," he said. "The offer you get back is some indication that someone else doesn't think you're as good as that and you don't like that very much.
"So you take it competitively, you take it personally and I think that's the way it was 30 years ago and that's the way it is now."
Wednesday September 8, 1999 Gardens put up for sale
Maple Leaf Gardens is up for sale, meaning the last of
the Original Six arenas could soon become anything from condos to a
shopping mall.
Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd., which owns the Maple
Leafs, Raptors and Air Canada Centre, says it is looking at the
redevelopment or sale of the 68-year-old building.
"We're going to explore, develop or sell," Richard Peddie, president and
CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, said Wednesday. "All
we know is that it can't exist in its present form."
Peddie said the Gardens will lose more than $1 million this year. Only
about 40 events have been held since the Leafs moved to the Air
Canada Centre in February, mostly Toronto Rock lacrosse matches and
St. Michael's Majors junior hockey games.
"Like the Air Canada Centre, Maple Leaf Gardens needs events in
excess of 200 (a year)," said Robert Hunter, senior vice-president and
general manager of the Air Canada Centre and the Gardens.
Putting a price tag on the Gardens isn't easy, however.
"Depending if it stays in existing use or it gets torn down to use for
condos or retail use, it's tough to give any value to it," said Ray Wong,
director of research at Royal LePage.
Toronto-based realtor CB Richard Ellis has been hired to oversee the
potential sale or redevelopment.
The options are vast.
For beginners, city zoning where the Gardens lies provides for both
residential or commercial development, which means anything from a
shopping mall, a condominium complex or theatre.
The restrictions lie in the fact that the Gardens is designated as an
heritage building, meaning the city of Toronto will go out of its way to try
to preserve some of the distinctiveness of the Gardens.
"They'll have real trouble demolishing the building," said Blake
Hutcheson, executive vice-president of CB Richard Ellis. "A significant
portion of the building will be maintained."
The buyer could receive permission from city council to completely
demolish the building, but it's very doubtful Toronto councillors would
allow that given the Gardens' history.
In any case, Leafs president Ken Dryden doubts the new owners
would even think of tearing it all down.
"If you remove the character that's there then you have a pile of earth,"
he said. "The features of Maple Leaf Gardens will remain because it's in
the best interest of the buyer."
And Peddie noted, "ultimately we have the last say who we sell it to."
Still the days are numbered for a building that was built during the Great
Depression and hosted such memorable events as a Beatles concert, a
Muhammad Ali fight and the first-ever NBA game.
The Gardens tried not to follow the lead of Montreal, Boston and
Chicago in selling quickly or demolishing the buildings they left.
"That was certainly the case in Montreal," said Dryden. "But we
wanted to see if we could make Maple Leaf Gardens work. It has been
a great home for 68 years. ... But a past cannot sustain the future."
Ironically, the Air Canada Centre is to blame.
"We are where we are today in part because of the success of the Air
Canada Centre," Dryden said.
Concert promoters left the Gardens for the Air Canada Centre almost
as soon as the Leafs did.
Thursday September 2, 1999 Leafs re-sign Kohn and Bohonos
The Toronto Maple Leafs re-signed restricted free
agent forwards Ladislav Kohn and Lonny Bohonos on Thursday.
Bohonos played in seven regular-season games with the the Leafs last
season, scoring three goals. Bohonos, who spent most of last season
with the AHL's St. John's Maple Leafs, also appeared in nine playoff
games, where he recorded three goals and six assists.
In 16-regular-season games with the NHL club, Kohn recorded a goal
and three assists. He also made his post-season debut, playing in two
games. He spent most of last season in St. John's
Thursday September 2, 1999 Berard and Yushkevich to miss camp opening
Toronto Maple Leafs defencemen Bryan Berard
and Dimitri Yushkevich won't be in attendance when the club opens
training camp Sept. 4, the team announced Thursday.
Both players are restricted free agents and have not signed new
contracts. Negotiations between the team and players will continue.
Wednesday September 1, 1999 Yushkevich and Berard could report to camp
Toronto free-agent defencemen Dimitri
Yushkevich and Bryan Berard want to participate in training camp
despite being without contracts.
The Leafs, however, still haven't decided whether they'll allow the pair
to take part. Mathieu Schneider and Steve Sullivan were told to stay
away last year, but GM-coach Pat Quinn likely won't decide until
Friday. He has said he would tolerate no more than "a week or so" of
contract disruptions with the Group 2 free agents.
"There are still a couple of (unsigned free-agent) defencemen out
there," Quinn told the Toronto Sun, apparently referring to Mark Tinordi,
Dave Babych and the injured Gerald Diduck.
"In Yushkevich's case, it takes a veteran out of our lineup," Quinn said.
"But Berard is still learning. He's mistake-prone and he could get a lot of
value out of coming to camp."
Yushkevich is just playing the waiting game.
"I would like to know what Toronto wants to do," Yushkevich told the
Toronto Star from his home in Medford, N.J. "I want to come to camp,
but I have to get in shape and prepare for the season."
Berard is seeking somewhere in the neighbourhood of $1.7 million US
per year and Yushkevich is looking for about $2 million. The Leafs are
offering $1.5 million to Yushkevich and less to Berard.
Wednesday September 1, 1999 The Voice calls it a career
After 1,585 consecutive games at the mike for Maple Leafs home
games, Paul Morris has some advice for his successor.
Keep the noise down.
"It's a matter of personal taste, of course, but I've always been
conservative," the 61-year-old Morris said yesterday as the club began
scrambling to find a public-address announcer for the first time since
October 1961. "They've gone toward a louder approach (around the
National Hockey League) the past few years. Some people like it, but
I'm just thinking of what would appeal to me."
Word of Morris's decision this week to seek early retirement caught the
club off guard as he and vacationing Leafs president Ken Dryden hadn't
officially determined his status. Casey Vanden Heuvel, the club's
manager of hockey operations, said no plans for auditions will be made
until later this month.
"If Paul is leaving, we would be very sensitive to getting the right
person to replace him," Vanden Heuvel said. "For someone who has
done what Paul has for our team for so many seasons, we wouldn't just
toss anyone to the wolves. We want the appropriate person."
But Vanden Heuvel did concede the Leafs are copying most aspects of
the razzle-dazzle now prevalent in pro sports on game night, particularly
since moving to the Air Canada Centre with its giant video screen and
big sound.
"That's where we are headed, but that is not to say we wouldn't want to
keep a class act such as Paul's just the way it is. Everything in this story
is just sorting itself out right now."
Morris began thinking of ending his historic run earlier this year, when
his 9-to-5 job as head sound man at the Gardens was eliminated. Public
opinion convinced Dryden to keep him on as PA announcer at the Air
Canada Centre, but Morris didn't want to stick around town strictly for a
few hours and a few dollars. He has vacation plans in the Muskokas
and in Florida and has some medical problems that might make it hard to
continue.
"It's not easy quitting," he said. "My father (Doug) was there when they
put the shovel in the ground for the Gardens in 1931. They could always
come back with a really good offer for me, but I don't want to go
through this (rehiring debate) every couple of years.
"I have no (children), so I guess this is the end of the line for my family
and the building. But it was nice."
Doug Morris was the first building superintendent at the Carlton St.
landmark and was responsible for innovations such as penalty clocks.
Paul Morris, who joined his dad during the 1950s was the sound man for
all Gardens events and helped build the famous green Dominion
scoreclock.
Paul Morris was an emergency replacement for Red Barber on opening
night of the 1961-62 season and worked the Maple Leafs, Marlboros
and all manner of hockey games since.
Morris gained respect -- and spawned more than a few imitators -- with
a smooth nasal tone that adhered to a long-ignored NHL code that PA
men were not to doctor their decibels for the home team.
"The streak was something special, but if everything in the world was
perfect, the Leafs would have never left the Gardens," Morris said.
"Times change."