How Times Have Changed: Brad Park's Contract Dispute

Nowadays the NHL is concerned with salary cap circumventing contractual disputes, such as the 17 year, $102M contract the New Jersey Devils tried offering Ilya Kovalchuk.

Long time hockey writer Gerald Eskenazi remembers 40 years back when New York Rangers all star defenseman Brad Park's contract came due. Park, the best defenseman in the game besides Bobby Orr, had just finished a contract that paid him $14,000. The Rangers offered $20,000 a year. Park wanted $45,000 but eventually settled for $30,000.

Before signing the final contract Park and the Rangers engaged in a lengthy holdout. Missing training camp, Park wanted to keep skating so that he would be ready for the NHL season whenever he did sign. But the Rangers would not give him his skates.

Here's how Eskenazi tells the story:

Park was among four Rangers holding out. Still, he wanted to skate on his own — but the coach and general manager, Emile Francis, would not allow Park to pick up his skates, and skates cost about $120 a pair. So Emile confiscated his star defenseman’s skates. And Park, not springing for the $120, did not skate.

How times have changed!