The action heats up again on the NHL front this week with
players and owners set to vote on the agreement reached between the
league and union last Wednesday.

By the end of the week Sidney Crosby will know his future home, fans
will know what rule changes are being brought in to open up the game
and a new collective bargaining agreement should be officially
ratified so the league can re-open for business.

Colin Campbell, the league's director of hockey operations and
executive vice-president, will meet with the newly created
competition committee Tuesday to narrow down a final list of
recommendations that owners will then vote on at a board of
governors' meeting in New York on Friday.

The NHL Players' Association will not be present Friday in New York,
but NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and NHL executive vice-president
and chief legal officer Bill Daly will join the NHLPA for a media
conference following the players' vote Thursday in Toronto.

The NHLPA kicks off a packed week in Toronto with an executive
committee meeting Tuesday: president Trevor Linden and the rest
of the crew - Vincent Damphousse, Bob Boughner, Bill
Guerin, Daniel Alfredsson, Arturs Irbe and Trent Klatt -
will get an update and oversee the week ahead.

The union will begin Wednesday with a player rep meeting followed by
a late afternoon/early evening players' meeting. More than 200
players are expected in Toronto this week. The rest of the 700-odd
players can follow and vote electronically.

After the players' vote Thursday, agents will begin their two-day
orientation session with the union.

The league has a leg up on educating its members. Daly held meetings
with GMs starting last Friday and wrapping up Monday in New York.

One GM who requested anonymity Monday had two observations after
seeing the deal in detail:

-The salary cap and revenue-sharing should ensure parity among teams
in the NHL.

-Players didn't do badly for themselves with the minimum salary
going up from $185,000 US to $450,000 as well as the ability, as of
2007-08, to become an unrestricted free agent regardless of your age
as long as you have seven years of NHL experience.

In the end, it may take a few years to really know how the players
fare under the new deal.

"We are in the sports world, so people want to declare winners and
losers immediately," veteran agent Don Baizley said Monday from
Winnipeg. "We may have theories on how this will work out but
realistically, who really knows?

"The hope is that in four or five years, instead of this being a
total catastrophe, maybe we'll be able to look back at this being a
seminal event in the history of the game where it was a real turning
point and we're all better off for it."

The players' first look at the deal will come at Wednesday's meeting
while agents may get a copy of it as early as Wednesday night when
most of them arrive in Toronto.

On the league side, everything is set for Friday in New York with a
blockbuster board of governors' meeting whose agenda includes:

-A vote on the new agreement with the players;

-A vote on the new and possibly radical rule changes;

-Holding the draft lottery with Crosby as the big prize.

Bettman will hold a news conference after the owners' meeting to
announce the results of all of the above.

Crosby, meanwhile, will finally find out where he is headed. The New
York Rangers, Columbus Blue Jackets, Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo
Sabres are the only clubs with three balls in the lottery although
every single club has a shot at the 17-year-old prodigy.

A modified version of the entry draft is expected to be held July 30
in Ottawa and that, too, should be made official during the league
news conference.

As for proposed rule changes, Campbell realizes they will spark
debate but says the bottom line is improving the game.

"What we're trying to accomplish here is to reward offence,"
Campbell said Monday. "We're trying to draft rules that will allow
the offensive skill to emerge."