NHL Hockey

Defenceman inks contract extension that will pay him $5.8-million a year

The Toronto Maple Leafs have agreed on a five-year contract extension with Bryan McCabe that will see the hard-shooting defenceman earn $5.8-million (all figures U.S.) a season.

Sources from both sides confirmed yesterday that McCabe's lucrative deal will contain not only a no-trade clause, but a restriction on the Maple Leafs' buying him out of the contract before its term expires.

McCabe would have been an unrestricted free agent on July 1.

With McCabe locked up, the Maple Leafs management has now committed more than $21-million in salary to 12 players for the 2006-07 National Hockey League season.

Next year's salary cap is expected to fall between $43-million and $46-million.

This will take the Leafs out of the bidding for defencemen such as Wade Redden and Zdeno Chara of the Ottawa Senators, who both could become unrestricted free agents on July 1.

Maple Leafs captain Mats Sundin said at the end of the regular season that he wanted the team to re-sign McCabe.

By making McCabe, who will turn 31 a week from today, the best-paid defenceman on the club, the Leafs indicated they deem him more valuable than 28-year-old Tomas Kaberle, who was inked to a five-year, $4.25-million-a-season deal three months ago.

Both players participated in the Olympics, but it was the pass-first Kaberle who returned to the Leafs and flourished with three goals and 19 assists in the final 25 NHL regular-season games.

McCabe, on the other hand, scored only twice and registered 14 assists after Turin.

But McCabe did finish third among league defenceman in points with 68. Kaberle was tied for fourth at 67.

The Maple Leafs missed the playoffs this season for the first time since 1998.

Much of the blame was laid on a January tailspin during which they lost seven of nine games that McCabe missed with a groin injury.

McCabe never wanted to go elsewhere.

"I love it here," he said in March. "I want to be here."

McCabe has 95 goals and 243 assists in 781 NHL games. He previously played for the New York Islanders, who drafted him 40th overall in 1993, the Vancouver Canucks and the Chicago Blackhawks.

Chicago traded him to Toronto in October of 2000 for Alexander Karpovtsev and Toronto's fourth-round choice (Vladimir Gusev) in the 2001 entry draft.

Meanwhile, the Leafs have informed chief amateur scout Barry Trapp that his contract will not be renewed at the end of June.

Trapp, who will turn 65 on Aug. 14, was a former minor-league teammate of Pat Quinn, the former Maple Leafs coach who was fired two days after the regular season concluded.

The NHL's revenue will surpass initial projections by $300-million, the players association told agents at a meeting yesterday.

The National Hockey League Players' Association's executive director, Ted Saskin, met with 115 agents during a nine-hour gathering and provided good news to the player representatives. The final numbers won't be tallied until the end of June, but league-wide revenue will likely exceed $2.1-billion, easily topping the $1.8-billion estimated for this season in the new collective labour agreement.

The larger revenue figure also means this year's $39-million salary cap will go up for next season, likely to between $43-million and $45-million.

Wayne Gretzky

MISSISSAUGA, Ontario (AP) - Wayne Gretzky sidestepped questions about the gambling investigation that has engulfed him and his wife, and insisted Monday he won't distract the Canadian Olympic team despite a scandal that has shaken all of hockey.
Gretzky spoke for just 4 1/2 minutes in a news conference cut off by a Hockey Canada official when the NHL great repeatedly was asked about the integrity of the game.
"That's not for me to talk about," Gretzky said.

Gretzky's shoulders sagged at one point, and he reacted with a nervous laugh a couple of times. Hockey Canada official Andre Brin interrupted five times to say Gretzky would take only game-related questions.

"There's no story about me, that's what I keep trying to tell you. I'm not involved," Gretzky said.

This was Gretzky's final media availability before he left for Turin. The Canadian team was to fly from Toronto's Pearson International Airport after practice.

Gretzky was scheduled to fly with the team and Brin said it was his understanding that Gretzky's wife, Janet Jones, was also flying with them.

Gretzky wanted to discuss Canada's defense of its gold medal. The Phoenix coach declined to take questions about a gambling ring that authorities said was financed by Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet and allegedly took bets from Jones.

"Not much really to add to what I said two days ago," Gretzky said after practice at a rink in suburban Toronto. "Nothing for me to talk about. I'm not involved. It's been a hard week for my family."

"The only focus I have right now is this hockey team getting ready for the Olympic Games," he said.

Philadelphia Flyers coach Ken Hitchcock, an assistant on the Canadian squad, said the players are so focused on a gold medal that he doesn't think they "would dare let something like this distraction get in their way."

Gretzky acknowledges the pressure on Canada to repeat as gold medalists.

"They're always under the microscope," he said. "We're a team that's always looked upon to winning gold medals. This will be no different."

New Jersey authorities announced charges last week against Tocchet, a New Jersey state trooper and another New Jersey man for running a nationwide sports gambling operation. State police said wagers - primarily on professional football - exceeded $1.7 million in the five weeks leading to the Super Bowl. Tocchet is on an indefinite leave from the Coyotes.

Jones has not been charged with any crime but is expected to be subpoenaed to testify before a grand jury investigating gambling activity, attorneys said.

Team Canada players backed Gretzky.

"He's put this team together and we're excited he's coming and that he'll be a part of that," team captain Joe Sakic said. "I know people are trying to bring up, 'What's going on with Wayne?' ... It's not an issue."

Said goaltender Martin Brodeur: "You feel for people that are getting judged for sometimes no reason. So for people to waste any energy asking us these questions, you just brush it off and move on to the next question."

Gretzky is in his first season as Phoenix's coach. The investigation is the latest burden in what has been a tough two-month stretch for him.

Gretzky's mother, Phyllis, died of lung cancer on Dec. 19. Three weeks later, his grandmother died.

Canadian national team players arrived by bus in Mississauga, an hour east of Gretzky's hometown of Brantford in the early afternoon. About 100 fans cheered the players, and one fan held a poster-sized picture of Gretzky in a Los Angeles Kings uniform.