21.   Fricks will retire once the deal has been finalized.

22.   General Manager Bobby Smith had been trying to finalize the deal for the past few days.

23.   Gene Michael is not averse to signing Jack McDowell to a multiyear contract and he would prefer to finalize the deal before the owners possibly implement their salary plan.

24.   He was on his way to the free-agent camp in Homestead, Fla., when the Rangers finalized the deal.

25.   Houston is reportedly close to finalizing a deal that would send the Oilers to Nashville in a couple of years.

26.   However, it may be weeks before the slow-moving administration finalizes the deal.

27.   However, even the most interested suitor could find it difficult to finalize plausible deals.

28.   Medallion had been in talks with See Level Advertising for about three months, Murstein said, and the deal was finalized last week.

29.   Money might be the pivotal barricade to finalizing the deal to this point.

30.   Negotiations became serious late last week and the deal was finalized Wednesday night, according to Jim McDowell.