Martin Brodeur: "It's hard to be optimistic. Obviously, there is little to no time left to salvage a decent season."Around the NHL
Union leader says players won't budge
Alfredsson: NHLPA made its best offer and has nothing in the works.
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Several reports have surfaced in recent days suggesting that the NHL Players Association is putting together another proposal in a last-ditch effort to save the season.
No way, says Daniel Alfredsson, Ottawa Senators forward and NHLPA executive vice-president. Alfredsson said the union's offer to cut salaries by 24 percent was a satisfactory start to serious negotiations.
"We're not working on anything," he said. "We're not going to do anything to change our offer. We've got nothing else planned. We felt we gave them our best offer, an offer they could work with. We found out they have a one-track mind. (Commissioner Gary Bettman) is stuck on one thing and we're not going to play under a cap system.
"We're willing to lose the season if that's what it takes. We're prepared for it."
The league's counter-proposal included a salary cap and tiered pay cuts that reached as much as 35 percent for players earning more than $5 million.
Many NHL analysts saw the tiered system as a way to divide the union. Alfredsson said the association is as united as ever.
"Everybody I've spoken with -- and I've talked to a lot of people through this -- understands what we're going through right now and they support what we're trying to do," Alfredsson said. "We want a deal that is fair for both sides.
"I know a lot of players are frustrated that we're not playing, but they're also frustrated that we made what we thought was a good offer and the league didn't engage in any kind of discussions to try to make something happen.
"If people are saying (players don't support the union), they're wrong."
'Hard to be optimistic'
Around the league, players had a collective shrug when informed of owners canceling their meeting scheduled for this Friday.
"The season was (already) canceled," Carolina forward Jeff O'Neill said. "At the beginning of December, when we made our offer, as substantial as it was, and they turned up their noses, we knew this year was done. And next year is in jeopardy, too."
Said New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur: "It's hard to be optimistic. Obviously, there is little to no time left to salvage a decent season."
Brodeur noted Jan. 11 was the drop-dead date during the labor dispute of 1994-95. A last-minute deal was brokered, allowing the NHL to play a 48-game season.
"This time the two sides aren't even talking," Brodeur said. "At least there has been no official announcement yet that the season is cancelled."
Similar situation
Here in Detroit, fans are concerned that Steve Yzerman's career might be over. Down in Tampa Bay, forward Dave Andreychuk is in the same boat.
Andreychuk, 41, said he might retire if this season is canceled.
"I'd have to see how I felt," Andreychuk said. "Taking a full year off if the season goes down, I'd have to see how I felt mentally as I'm training and getting ready to go again. You got to remember, I'll be 42 at that time. And it would be tough for me, especially, taking a year off.
"I do feel better now not going through the grind of the season, but I've also lost a little bit."
Tampa is a unique case in this lockout. The Lightning have lost the momentum in the community they earned by winning the Stanley Cup last season.
"Here in Tampa, we're most hurt by what's going on," Andreychuk said. "We won the Cup and we got a lot of (fans) at the end of the year just getting into it. Will they come back? They'll come back in Canada. Here in Tampa, we got a lot of people on our side (but) we're going to lose some of them."
Blackburn's setback
The New York Rangers could be counting on University of Michigan goalie Al Montoya more heavily in the near future than anticipated.
The Rangers picked Montoya in the first round of the 2004 NHL draft with hopes that he would be given time to develop into a No. 1 goalie. But that timetable could be sped up with last week's news that Dan Blackburn's troublesome left shoulder isn't healing.
Blackburn, 21, found in his last neurological exam that the damaged nerve in his shoulder hasn't healed sufficiently, 16 months after the original injury and nine months after surgery.
Blackburn played in 31 games for the Rangers in 2001-02 and 32 in 2002-03.
The New York Daily News said doctors fear Blackburn will never regain full use of his left arm for goaltending purposes.
Blackburn is headed to Charlotte, a Rangers minor-league affiliate, to test equipment (essentially two blockers and no catcher) that might allow him to restart what was a promising career.
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