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TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 1999
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By
STEVE POPPER
Lou Lamoriello, the president and general
manager of the Devils, had his suspicions in 1994 when the St. Louis Blues tendered an
offer sheet to the free agent Scott Stevens. Even though the Devils matched the offer and
retained Stevens, who went on to become their captain and cornerstone, Lamoriello and the
Devils did not forgive and forget. Instead, they pursued an investigation into the
dealings.
More than four years after the fact, the
efforts of the Devils and the National Hockey League resulted in a settlement that awarded
the Devils a record cash payment of more than $1.4 million from the Blues and their choice
of one of the Blues' first-round picks in the next five years of the entry draft. New
Jersey will also gain the ability to swap first-round picks once during that time period,
with the Blues able to defer the claim one time.
"I don't look at something of this
nature as a triumph," Lamoriello said yesterday in a conference call after
Commissioner Gary Bettman handed down his decision. "It's a detriment to the N.H.L. I
don't think the compensation could be severe enough. My request was five first-round
picks, plus damages."
Stevens, who came to the Devils as
compensation for the Blues' signing of Brendan Shanahan in 1991, was a restricted free
agent when the Blues tendered him an offer sheet worth $17 million over four years on July
4, 1994, three days after his contract with the Devils expired.
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Lamoriello, who would not disclose details of what his own investigation had
produced, suspected that a deal was in place long before the official unveiling of the
offer sheet between Jack Quinn, who was then the president of the Blues, and Richard
Bennett, who was then Stevens's agent and who died two months later."In a process of
negotiations, when they are ongoing and you are speaking, you can usually sense when there
is something else involved," Lamoriello said. "I sensed that I was talking to
myself."
The league investigated, forcing the current
management of the Blues to open its books. According to Lamoriello, the league found the
evidence he had lacked, in the form of an offer sheet that preceded the end of Stevens's
deal with the Devils by "a substantial period."
The Blues said they would not contest the
penalty, but in a news conference yesterday, their chairman, Jerry Ritter, was hardly
happy to be left taking responsibility for actions of his predecessors.
"I am appalled at the severity of the
penalty," Ritter said, while adding that he was also appalled by the actions of the
former management in St. Louis.
Among the penalties imposed was a $500,000
payment that the Devils had to include in matching the Blues' offer. The Devils will
receive an additional $925,000, and the league will collect a $75,000 fine for a total
cash payment of $1.5 million
Lamoriello said that Stevens was unaware of
the illegal dealings. |
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| ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH |
| BLUES GET PUNISHED AGAIN FOR STEVENS |
By Dave Luecking
NHL charges tampering and awards Devils a first-round pick plus
$1 million. Scott Stevens has cost the Blues another first-round draft pick. More than our
years after the fact, the Blues are being sent to the penalty box for tampering with the
New Jersey captain before he officially became a free agent on July 1, 1994.
According to sources, the National Hockey League has ordered the
Blues to surrender a first-round pick and swap first-round picks in another year with the
Devils, who have until the 2003 draft to collect these bounties.
There are two limitations: New Jersey cannot take the
first-round pick and swap picks in back-to-back years, and the Blues have a one-time right
to refuse a New Jersey claim.
In other words, if New Jersey decides it wants the Blues' No. 1 pick this year,
the Blues could say, 'No." But then the Blues would have no right to refuse New
Jersey for the next four years. |
In addition, the Blues must pay the Devils
$1.5 million in financial compensation.
All this comes on top of the five No. 1 picks it originally cost the Blues to
lure Stevens from the Washington
Capitals as a free agent on July 4, 1990. All this for only one year of service
from Stevens. The Blues lost Stevens to New Jersey as compensation for luting the Devils'
Brendan Shanahan as a restricted free agent in July 1991.
On Sunday night, Blues officials were said to be reeling from the news, which
comes on the heels of a $17.7 million cash call - the team's fourth in four years. |
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