Ice hockey: 301-day lockout set to end

TORONTO - The National Hockey League (NHL) and the union representing its players have reached a tentative deal which could end the lockout that has already wiped out an entire hockey season, the two sides said today.

The NHL and the National Hockey League Players' Association expect to ratify the deal next week before they discuss the terms of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

"It is anticipated that the ratification process will be completed next week, at which time the parties will be prepared to discuss the details of the agreement and plans for next season," both sides said in a statement.

"No further comment will be made until then."

The agreement is reportedly a six-year deal that gives the union a chance to reopen negotiations after the fourth year.

It is said to include a team-by-team salary cap of between US$21 million ($30 million) and US$39 million, a rookie salary cap of US$850,000 and a 24 per cent rollback of salaries for players on existing contracts.

The deal would also allow NHL players to take part in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin.

The draft lottery, which will be used to decide the order in which teams select players, is expected to be held on July 21 while the entry draft could take place on July 30 in Ottawa.

While details of the deal were not released, it was already being viewed as giant step toward making all of the league's 30 teams more competitive once play resumes.

"The fact of the matter is our game, in one sense, was damaged because of where teams basically were headed as far as the economic system we were working under," Carolina Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford told a Canadian sports TV station.

"Now there is a new economic system and it gives every team a chance to stabilise their franchise, and certainly without even knowing what the new agreement says it should give teams a chance to compete on a year-to-year basis."

"It's a level playing field now," former NHL defenceman Barry Melrose told ESPN. "Thirty teams have a chance at winning the Stanley Cup now. Three-hundred-and-one days ago that was not the case."

NHL owners locked out players last September after they were unable to reach a new labour agreement, triggering a shutdown of the league and wiping out the 2004-05 season.

The tentative agreement, which arrived on the 301st day of the lockout, could end what has become the longest labour dispute in the history of North American professional sport.

- REUTERS