Trade Ban Nears Reality

The National Hockey League and the NHL Players’ Association are completing terms on an agreement that will forbid teams from making trades during the 16-day break the NHL takes for the Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan.

The provision calls for a ban on trades based on the prohibition of such moves each year from Dec. 19-27. That break for the December holiday period is included in the collective bargaining agreement.

“They are clarifying (the terms) right now,” players union spokesman Rick Winston said. “It will probably be complete in the near future.”

The league and union are looking for a ban during the Feb. 8-24 break because neither wants to upstage the Olympics.

Waivers not needed

Pittsburgh Penguins restricted free-agent center Petr Nedved won’t have to clear waivers before returning to the league this season, an arbitrator ruled.

Nedved, 26, who hasn’t played for the Penguins this season because he doesn’t have a contract, recently played in four games with a low-level Czech team.

Under NHL rules, any player who skates in a league outside North America after the NHL season starts must clear waivers before returning. The rule is designed to prevent NHL teams from stocking up on European players for the playoffs.

The arbitrator ruled that Nedved doesn’t have to clear waivers because he wasn’t paid and the league in which he played isn’t an elite league, nor even a second-tier league.

On the ice

At Tampa, Fla., Zigmund Palffy and Robert Reichel scored two goals apiece as the New York Islanders snapped an 11-game winless streak with a 7-1 victory Wednesday over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Grant Marshall scored 57 seconds into overtime as the Dallas Stars became the first team to reach 30 wins this season with a 2-1 victory over the St. Louis Blues in St. Louis.

The Boston Bruins, the league’s worst team last season, head into the all-star break with a seven-game unbeaten streak after a 5-2 win over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.