Barring the players rejecting the proposed labor deal, the NHL officially re-opens for business Saturday.

That marks the start of a six-day window in which clubs can determine buyouts and a nine-day period to negotiate exclusively with their own unrestricted free agents.

Player agents better be quick learners. They'll be under the gun just 24 hours after wrapping up their orientation sessions with the NHL Players' Association in Toronto

IMG's J.P. Barry is expecting ''one of the busiest summers ever.''

The union did e-mail agents a 21-page document Monday detailing most of the transitional and free-agent issues that will affect their clients this summer. Also included in the document, obtained by The Canadian Press, is a list of critical dates:

- July 23: Buyout period begins; also begins the period to negotiate with 2003 draft picks and teams' own free agents.

- July 28: 5 p.m. EDT deadline for signing 2003 draft picks (otherwise they re-enter 2005 draft); deadline for exercising club/player options for 2005-06 season.

- July 29: 5 p.m. EDT deadline for player buyouts.

- July 30: NHL entry draft in Ottawa. Modified version with only top prospects invited and cut down from nine to seven rounds.

- July 31: 5 p.m. EDT deadline to extend qualifying offers to clubs' own free agents. Qualifying offers are needed to retain rights of restricted free agents.

- Aug. 1: Official free-agent signing season begins.

- Aug. 10: Players notify teams whether they've elected salary arbitration.

- Aug. 11: Clubs notify players whether they've elected to bring them to salary arbitration.

- Aug. 12: NHL and NHLPA schedule arbitration cases.

- Aug. 15: Qualifying offers expire automatically.

- Aug. 22-Sept. 1: Salary arbitration hearings.

But first thing's first. The players and owners must ratify the deal. More than 200 players will meet Wednesday evening in Toronto and resume the next morning before a vote is taken some time Thursday.

Following the players' vote, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and his right-hand man Bill Daly, the league's executive vice-president and chief legal officer, will join NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow and senior director Ted Saskin for a joint news conference in Toronto around 5 p.m. EDT.

Then the league will have its show Friday in New York, a board of governors meeting slated to begin around 1 p.m. EDT that will feature a vote on the new deal and a vote on new rule changes proposed by the newly created competition committee. The draft lottery, now a live event instead of the original idea of holding it behind closed doors, will be held around 4 p.m. EDT. Afterwards Bettman will then host another news conference.

Some agents have privately grumbled that their counterparts, the league's 30 GMs, got their crash course over the weekend and have a step up in learning the long and complicated labor document. But GMs did not go home from New York with the CBA in hand. The full document was still being proofread as of Monday night.

The 21-page e-mail agents got Monday will be the most important part of knowing how to prepare for this summer. Some other interesting tidbits:

- Restricted free agents have until Dec. 1 to re-sign with their teams otherwise they cannot play in the NHL for the duration of the 2005-06 season.

- Those players qualifying for Group 5 unrestricted free agency - 10 years of pro hockey and making less than the NHL's average salary - will get to count the 2004-05 wiped-out NHL season as a year of service. The average salary for determining Group 5 free agency is set at $1.39 million US, which was the 2003-04 average salary reduced by the 24 per cent salary rollback.

- Unsigned draft picks from 2003 and 2004 can negotiate under the terms of the old CBA but with the 24 per cent rollback lumped on. That means 2003 draft picks can earn a maximum of $942,400 next season - which includes salary, games played bonus and signing bonus. The maximum for 2004 draft picks will be $984,200.

- Any player bought out during the six-day period starting Saturday cannot re-join his old team under any fashion during the 2005-06 season, not through the waiver wire or a trade.

Lance Armstrong earns his 79th yellow jersey, tying him for second all-time with Bernard Hinault. (AP)

Linebacker Tedy Bruschi will sit out this season because of a stroke he suffered 10 days after helping the New England Patriots win their third Super Bowl in four years.

''Tedy . . . has declared his intentions to forgo the 2005 campaign,'' Patriots spokesman Stacey James said in a statement. ''The Bruschi family wanted to express their heartfelt appreciation for the tremendous outpouring of support they have received from fans throughout New England and others around the country.''

Bruschi, 32, suffered a mild stroke Feb. 16, three days after playing in the Pro Bowl and 10 days after helping New England beat the Philadelphia Eagles 24-21 in the Super Bowl. James said Bruschi has made daily progress in his rehabilitation.

He has attended team meetings, helped new players learn the defence and worked out in the Patriots' weight room. But didn't practice during the team's June minicamp.

Training camp begins July 28.

''All off-season, we have seen and felt Tedy's strong and upbeat presence,'' coach Bill Belichick said. ''As usual, we will keep the focus on the short term and address the future in due course.

''We are pleased Tedy continues to be part of the team and he has our complete support.''

Bruschi had said it was possible that he could sit out the 2005 season and return in 2006.

''Football to me, it's something I love and it's something I'll always want to do,'' the Patriots linebacker said last month at a party to pass out the latest Super Bowl rings. ''But I've got to think about my wife and my sons and just make sure things are right.''

Bruschi not only was a star player for the Patriots, but was an inspirational leader on the team, an overachiever who was an example to the players around him. A 250-pound defensive lineman at Arizona who was converted to linebacker as a rookie in 1996, he was usually around the ball, making game-turning plays on a unit known for them.

Since the stroke, he been largely silent about his status and had not indicated whether he would return. But with training camp approaching, he was forced to make a decision.

''The organization has been so supportive for me,'' Bruschi said at the ring ceremony. ''I'm not pressured with any timetable.

''My family and I are worried about my health and we're just making sure I'm getting better and that's the only thing we're focusing on right now.''

Bruschi was scheduled to earn $850,000 US this season, $1.35 million in 2006 and $1.7 million in the final year of his contract. That deal would be voided if he retires, but he could earn his full salary if the team puts him on the physically-unable-to-perform list.

Following are the top 10 mid-season power rankings as picked by CBS.

1.		St. Louis Cardinals Sorry, White Sox. The Cardinals are the only team in baseball that can lose a starting left fielder with 18 homers and hardly miss a beat.
2.		Chicago White Sox Heading into the All-Star break getting swept at home is ancient history now as they open on the road and bury once-hot division contender Cleveland with a four-game sweep.
3.		Los Angeles Angels They started 4-1 in an 11-game stretch against top contenders Minnesota, Oakland and the Yankees. They have the third-largest division lead in baseball, so there is no other place to rank them right now. A spot we have had them for almost a month and a half since Vladimir Guerrero returned from the DL.
4.		Atlanta Braves Within a week's time they get Tim Hudson, Chipper Jones and Mike Hampton back and close within a half-game on the steadily sinking Nationals. We are all fools to think anyone other than them would win the NL East from now to eternity.
5.		New York Yankees Red-hot Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield are great Band-Aids right now for those warts in the pitching staff. If you're keeping track, the Yankees' $100 million rotation has shuffled a baseball-leading 11 starting pitchers through its rotation. That's nearly $10 mil a starter.

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