NHL, USOC AGREE ON DRUG-TESTING POLICY

The NHL and U.S. Olympic Committee have paved over one of the final
potholes on the road to player participation in next winter's Salt Lake
City Olympics, tentatively agreeing on a out-of-competition drug-testing
policy that will take effect this summer.

The arrangement requires a pool of players eligible for the U.S. Olympic
team to make itself available for random tests for steroids and their
masking agents as early as mid-June, after the Stanley Cup playoffs have
ended. In accordance with general Olympic drug policy, no athletes will be
tested for substances such as marijuana, cocaine or other stimulants until
they actually get to Salt Lake City for the games.

"This is great, a step in the right direction, and I'm pleased we could
take a leadership role on this," said Scott Blackmun, the USOC's acting
chief executive officer. "Based on the discussions we'd had with them,
there was always a fairly high degree of confidence that we could work this
out, and it's nice to see that happen."

A result of a series of talks between Blackmun, NHL chief counsel Bill Daly
and representatives from the NHL Players Association, the agreement also
reaches a series of compromises concerning timing and testing bodies.

By starting the program after the playoffs, the NHL feels it will have
enough time to educate players about testing procedures and potential
hazards, such as the over-the-counter training supplements that are not
banned in the NHL but contain steroid content that can cause positive
Olympic drug tests. On the other hand, by starting this summer, the USOC
still feels it has not made too much of a concession to its own new drug
policy, which requires all potential Olympic athletes to be placed in a No
Advance Notice testing pool up to 12 months before the Games.

Blackmun indicated that it was very important that no one be left with the
impression that the NHL players had a more flexible drug policy than the
other athletes on the U.S. Olympic team.

"That has always been on the radar screen to a degree," he said. "I think
everyone is very pleased with this."

The agreement also addresses the NHL's concern that its players be tested
by one uniform body. To that end, U.S. players will be tested by the World
Anti-Doping Agency, an arm of the International Olympic Committee, instead
of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, which was created by the USOC.