By TIM WHARNSBY
HOCKEY REPORTER

Thursday, February 17, 2005


TORONTO -- Robert Esche, a goaltender who came into his own last spring in backstopping the Philadelphia Flyers to the Eastern Conference final, played a key role in almost saving the National Hockey League season.

Esche, 27, has been biding his time during the lockout as an assistant coach for the Colgate University men's hockey team near his home in upstate New York, and his team was about to visit Philadelphia to play Princeton last Thursday.

What bothered Esche, also the Flyers' team rep, was he kept hearing diverse viewpoints from different players on the direction of the collective agreement talks.

So while back in Philadelphia he called his teammates together for an airing-out session.

"There were all sorts of questions that needed to be answered," Esche said. "What is our end game? Was there really a better deal to make down the road?

"So I called [National Hockey League Players' Association executive director] Bob Goodenow with their questions. He filled me in and I went back and called each player individually."

Esche wondered if other player reps underwent a similar experience. So he called Jarome Iginla of the Calgary Flames, St. Louis Blues defenceman Chris Pronger, Los Angeles Kings forward Craig Conroy, among others, to encourage each of them to talk to their teammates and forward their concerns to Goodenow.

Somehow, Esche said, all this communication between the players and the union got twisted by other players in a classic case of broken telephone lines that Iginla, Pronger, Esche and Flyers veteran Jeremy Roenick informed the league that the players would accept a salary cap.

"I read that stuff that I called the league or J.R. called, and so did Pronger and Iginla to make a proposal," Esche said. "But that's the furthest thing from the truth.

"I think it was a ploy to rattle the union, and some people bought it."

Several players expressed their anger in the direction of Esche, Pronger, Iginla and Roenick this week. When reached yesterday Pronger refused to give the story legs.

"The truth will come out," Pronger said. "Right now, emotions are running high. Now is not the right time to get into this."

Esche praised NHLPA president Trevor Linden and his six vice-presidents for a job well done.

"These guys are hockey players," Esche said. "But Trevor, [vice-presidents] Bob Boughner, Bill Guerin, Arturs Irbe, Vincent Damphousse, Trent Klatt and [Daniel] Alfredsson had the pressure of the hockey world on them and they did a great job."

Esche said he communicated with Linden often, and Linden said he heard from a large contingent of players last weekend on the status of negotiations.

"I was amazed how uninformed some gentlemen were," Linden said. "But we learned from each other."

Did this players' concern contribute to coming off the no-salary-cap stance last Monday? Not according to Goodenow.

The NHLPA boss said the players changed philosophies when the league offered a cap with no linkage to league-wide revenues on Monday afternoon.

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman differed in his response. He said the league became aware that the players were willing to accept a salary cap if there was no linkage during a mediation session between the two sides in Washington last Sunday.

In fact, league executive vice-president Bill Daly made it clear in an interview last Friday that the league would discuss a salary cap without linkage.

The players have been concerned all along that a hard salary cap would translate into the loss of guaranteed contracts and salary arbitration, and salaries would be linked to revenues.

In recent offers the league made sure the players would still have guaranteed contracts and shared salary arbitration rights with their club.

Linden said his big concern was dealing with the hard-line owners Bettman surrounded himself with on the league negotiating committee.

"I commend Bill Daly and some of the other owners and management people [who weren't on the negotiating committee]," said Linden, who chatted with several management types last weekend.

"I wanted to get their understanding on things. I wanted to get a feel from these guys on what it would take to get a deal done and it was helpful. It's very unfortunate that these important people were left out of it."