The National Lacrosse League has terminated the contracts of five New York Saints players, ending a dispute between those players and team ownership.

The action, announced today by the league office, means that forwards Josh Black, Nick Carlson, Gavin Prout, and Matt Shearer and goaltender Gord Nash are unrestricted free agents, able to sign immediately with any team.

The league found that the Saints had violated the players' contracts and that team owner Mike Gongas failed to rectify the problem in the allowed time.

The specific violation was not revealed, but the popular suspicion around the league is that some paychecks were never received by the players.

In any case, the Saints' loss is a big one at both ends of the floor.

Prout (28 goals, 44 assists) and Shearer (28 goals, 20 assists) were the second- and fourth-leading scorers for New York in 2003, and since the Saints' top point-getter (Chris Driscoll) was traded during the season, they are now in serious need of some offense.

New York also must address its goaltending. With Nash (14.71 goals-against average, 74.7 save percentage) gone, Phil Wetherup is the club's only experienced netminder.

In related news, the Outsider's Guide reported last month on similar grievances from six other players -- Scott Stapleford of New York; and Derek Suddons, Dan Dawson, Bill Greer, Travis Gillespie, and Jon Harasym, all of the Columbus Landsharks. Their status is unknown.