Gleason: no need to reopen CBA

TORONTO — Defenseman Tim Gleason, the Carolina Hurricanes' player representative, sees no need in reopening the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement after this season, much less risking another lockout.

"That would be the worst thing to do right now," Gleason said today. "We're getting our fan support back — it's pretty solid so far — and there's no reason to do it.

"We agreed to these (CBA) terms a few years ago and we're going to follow through with it and keep things going."

The Toronto Globe and Mail reported Monday that there was a consensus among the player representatives of the 30 teams to continue with the CBA. A vote of the executive board of the NHL Players Association is expected Thursday in advance of the All-Star Game festivities in Montreal.

The NHLPA holds the right to reopen the CBA after its fourth year and must notify the NHL by May 18 of its intentions. The NHL's 2004-2005 season was wiped out by a lockout, and both management and the players emerged from the labor strife with gains — the owners got the salary cap they desired and the players share in 57 percent of hockey-related revenues.

"Things are going well. As of today, the players are happy," Gleason said.

One concern for the players, Gleason said, was the escrow issue. A percentage of the players' salaries are kept in escrow to cover financial shortcomings in the NHL's projected revenues. The escrow payment this season has been set at 13.5 percent but could go higher.

"It would great to cap that," Gleason said of the escrow payments. "But we're in this together, so we have to build a relationship. It obviously has to be stronger and however we're going to get there, to get stronger, we need to do it as soon as we can.

"It's all about the fans. That's how we get our money. It's all about them, so we have to keep them happy and just keep things rolling along."

Given a tough economy, the NHL salary cap of $56.7 million may be frozen next season. That shouldn't be a problem for the Hurricanes, whose own budget is well under the cap.

"That's true but every player I know is happy right now," Gleason said. "We play a game. We're lucky to get the money and we work hard at it. The fans pretty much pay our salary and we want to keep them happy and keep things on a positive note."