There are still more questions than answers as to the status and start date of the 2020-21 NHL Season, which has yet to officially declare a start date.
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And according to a report from The Athletic, the holding pattern that the NHL is currently in comes with some less than ideal news.
The NHL is reportedly requesting an additional 13 per cent salary deferment, which would drop the players gross pay for next season to about 62%. Naturally, that didn’t go over so well.
Per Pierre LeBrun:
“So we have reached a rather delicate stage, the 2020-21 NHL season hanging in the balance.
Don’t get me wrong, I think the NHL and NHL Players’ Association will find their way through this, but what has transpired over the past few days is already a dramatically different script from the spring.
……
And there was certainly hope the same feelings would carry through in hammering out an agreement for the 2020-21 season.
Not so, it turns out.
The NHL has come asking the NHLPA to tweak some systemic financial details that had just been agreed to in the freshly minted CBA extension, essentially because NHL owners are hurting, perhaps more than they thought they would be.
And we know if there is a season, it will be with massively reduced revenues as a result of fewer games and empty if not near-empty arenas.
……
So I suggest the NHL and NHLPA figure this out in a hurry before this blows up any further. And there’s reason for optimism, both sides have remained quiet this week, not wanting to inflame the situation. You always know when things have hit a real wall during a lockout because both sides come out swinging through the media.
I’m told Bettman and Fehr continue to talk every day, including Thursday, so the lines of communication remain open.
If I had to guess, we’ll be past this brouhaha about a week from now. At least I’m hoping I’m right. For the sake of the sport.”
Will the two sides be able to hammer out an agreement?
– – Quotes via Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic Link – –
