| | PHILADELPHIA -- Philadelphia Flyers chairman Ed Snider
angrily denied a report Wednesday that he asked general manager Bob
Clarke to reduce the team's payroll.
"I didn't order Bob Clarke to reduce salaries," Snider said.
"I never said that. I just said we want to reduce salaries in the
future. In essence, I was saying that salaries are too high in the
league and so forth, and they have to come down and we have to do
something about it."
The Philadelphia Inquirer quoted Snider in a story Wednesday
saying, "We have too much salary on our books and we have to find
a way to bring it down."
Asked how that could be done, Snider said, "Get rid of players.
High-priced players who maybe aren't worth it."
"It amazes me that we can be so stupid as owners, all of us, me
included," Snider added.
Snider said Wednesday that he was only speaking in general terms
and that he has not met with Clarke in an effort to lower the
team's $47.3 million payroll, second-highest in the NHL.
"I was referring to the state of hockey and the fact that most
of the teams need to be concerned about reducing salaries," Snider said.
The NHL Players' Association released the salary information
Tuesday on its Web site, nhlpa.com. The Flyers' payroll is second
only to the New York Rangers' $58.9 million. Philadelphia had the
fourth-highest payroll last season.
Snider applauded the contract stances by Ottawa, which faces the
threat of a season-long holdout by center Alexei Yashin, and
Boston, which is holding firm on its $10 million, three-year offer
to goaltender Byron Dafoe.
"What's happening with Yashin and Dafoe, the fact that Boston
didn't accept arbitrators, it's a necessity today" to keep
salaries down, Snider said.
After the Flyers were eliminated from the playoffs by Toronto in
the first round last year, Snider said it would be up to Clarke to
reduce the team's $43.2 million payroll.
The Flyers did not sign any free agents from other teams, but
signed nine restricted free agents and two unrestricted free agents
of their own. The biggest increase was Mark Recchi's $25 million,
five-year contract, which added $5 million annually to the payroll.
But the Flyers have only two of the top 30 highest-paid players
in the league this season -- Recchi and captain Eric Lindros, who
will make $8.5 million. Lindros is tied with the Rangers' Theoren
Fleury for the fourth-highest salary in the league behind
Pittsburgh's Jaromir Jagr ($10.4 million), Anaheim's Paul Kariya
($10 million) and Colorado's Peter Forsberg ($9 million).
"I was referring to the state of hockey and the fact that most
of the teams need to be concerned about reducing salaries," Snider said.
Snider also said the Flyers compute payroll differently than the NHLPA, using average salary in a contract to get yearly figures. According to the Flyers' calculations, their payroll is about $44 million this season.
"If you think it's $44 million or $48 million, what's the difference?" Snider asked. "It's still a lot of money." | |
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