The Province
October 9, 1998
By Terry Bell

They waited till the midnight hour, but rookie defenceman Bryan Allen was too expensive for the Vancouver Canucks.

Allen and the Canucks failed to reach a contract agreement before Wednesday's midnight PDT deadline and is headed back to the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario League. The Canucks offered Allen, 18, three years at $975,000 US per year, the largest allowable salary under the cap in the collective bargaining agreement. But they weren't willing to meet bonus demands made by Allen and agent Larry Kelly.

Both sides were saying the right things Thursday, you just know, but the Canucks are choked about not having the teen talent. The Canucks claimed that the NHL Players Association had interfered.

"I'd be willing to bet Bob Goodenough (NHLPA president) called Larry Kelly (Allen's agent) during the negotiations," said president and GM Brian Burke.

"I was on the team that negotiated the CBA. I was there. We put in a cap. The union got its butt kicked in negotiations and now they're trying to eviscerate the cap.

"There's no sense whining. I hate whining. I will never apologize for making good business decisions.

"This was a good business decision for the Canucks."

The area of contention is bonus structuring. Standard rookie contracts now have about six bonus categories -- goals, assists, points etc. But it's been a practice to let a player cash in on all six bonuses even if he hits just two. The Canucks say they were willing to pay Allen for bonuses but only if he reached them.

"I'd pay Allen a million dollars if he was rookie of the year, but not if he was third or fifth in rookie voting," said Burke.

Canucks vice-president Dave Nonis was in Kelly's Ottawa office from 1 p.m. Wednesday till 3 a.m EDT Thursday.

"We made it clear," said Nonis, "that if he hit a bonus, then, yes, he'd get paid for it."

"On Wednesday, (New York Ranger rookie) Manny Malhotra's contract came in and it had the kind of structure we opposed. Later (Calgary rookie) Rico Fata's came in and it was closer to what I'd offered.

"Larry then offered our contract to the Allens but Bryan felt he'd rather decline that offer and go back to junior.

"There's nothing negative about any of this. The agent, Bryan and his parents, were all great. Our intention is to get Bryan Allen signed (next year). It didn't end with any hard feelings."

"I'm pretty disappointed," said Allen. "I had a chance to play in the NHL. He (Kelly) told us what the other rookies were getting and he left it up to my dad and us (family). I'm not bitter at all. But I'm disappointed that we couldn't get to an agreement."



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