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Thursday, October 21, 1999
A Primeau stalemate
Hurricanes general manager Jim Rutherford met yesterday with Don and Todd Reynolds, the father/son agent team for Primeau.
Rutherford is not budging from his latest offer, a two-year contract worth $3 million US a season.
"We have established what we think he is worth," Rutherford said.
Last June, the Hurricanes offered Primeau a three-year contract worth $4 million US a season, then five years at the same rate. Primeau turned down both packages.
Offer reduced
Then, two days before training camp, the Hurricanes put a two-year, $7-million contract on the table. That offer since has been reduced to two years for $6 million because Primeau missed training camp and the first three weeks of the season.
It is believed the Primeau camp has lowered its asking price to $4.5 million a season from $5 million.
"We just think ($3 million a season) is where he fits into our salary structure," Rutherford said. "We don't think he is worth twice as much as (Carolina forward) Sami Kapanen."
Kapanen makes $1.8 million US a season.
Primeau, who apparently returned to the Toronto area from Carolina yesterday, turned down an interview a request from The Toronto Sun this week.
Without Primeau, the Hurricanes -- 3-1-2-0 entering last night's game against the Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre -- could not have asked for a better start.
The Hurricanes are opening the season with nine consecutive road games before their new building in Raleigh is ready for the home opener on Oct. 29.
"Sometimes when you open up on the road and you get in trouble, you can look to that first home game, say it's your fourth game, to get you going," Hurricanes coach Paul Maurice said. "But we didn't have that luxury.
"We were prepared for it. Our past two seasons, our home games were in Greensboro and that was like playing on the road."
The time on the road also has given the Hurricanes an opportunity to build cohesion.
"One of the things we lacked the past two years was a chance to get together after home games because each player would get in his car and drive from Greensboro back to Raleigh, 90 minutes away," Maurice said.
"We never had a chance to socialize as a team. This season has been and will be different."
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