Yashin

Ottawa general manager Marshall Johnston announced the suspension Tuesday, and said the Senators' position is that Yashin still owes them a year's service and that he should be liable to some extent for any losses incurred by the club during his holdout.

The NHL is fully behind the Senators.

"The league supports the Ottawa club," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in New York on Wednesday, adding that the issue of financial penalties "is up to the club in the first instance."

The NHL Players' Association says it will issue a statement after Mark Gandler, Yashin's agent, returns to his New Jersey office from Europe next Tuesday.

"We don't have a time frame for any type of response," Todd Diamond, an associate of Gandler's, said Wednesday. "We'll take our time and discuss it amongst ourselves."

"This will probably be decided through the courts and it would be a precedent-setting case," said veteran forward Kris King, Toronto's player representative. "Personally, and I know from talking to the guys about this, a guy who signs a contract should fulfill his contract."

Vancouver Canucks GM Brian Burke, who had his own standoff with superstar Pavel Bure last year, told the Ottawa Sun that "everybody in pro sports is going to be watching this fight because by the time this one is over it's going to set a precedent for the future."

Yashin is working out with a team in Kloten, Switzerland. Last season, he scored 44 goals for the Senators and was a finalist for the league's MVP award. But he has stayed away after the club rejected Gandler's request to have his contract renegotiated.

This is the last year of a five-year, $13.5-million contract Yashin signed in 1995. He was to earn $3.6 million this season.

Forty-four players currently earn more than $3.6 million this season.

Tugnutt said he phoned Yashin last week.

"I wanted him to know a lot of guys talked about it and if he was concerned at all about what it would be like here (in the dressing room) if or when he returned, he would be welcome," Tugnutt told the Ottawa Sun. "This would probably be the only place he would be comfortable."

King said he'd be interested in hearing more from Yashin's end.

"We don't see Alexei's side because he hasn't been here to tell us what's been said to him by Ottawa," he said. "All we're hearing is how Ottawa is handling all of this.

"It's tough to comment without hearing all the specifics. We'll all be watching it very closely because it might effect other players."

Maple Leafs GM and coach Pat Quinn said he agreed with the Senators' position on a further year's service.

"I don't know if I have a particular astounding comment to make other than that's Ottawa's right," Quinn said. "He's violated his contract.

"Obviously, there is no such thing as enforcement of this sort of contract. You can't force him to play. But what are the results? Is it right that a man can walk away, and then supposedly better his position, become a free agent because he does that? I don't think he should be able to, and I certainly support Ottawa's position through this."