Monday, the NHL and NHLPA reached a tentative agreement on the return to play protocol and CBA. The collective bargaining agreement is for four additional years, giving us potential labor peace until after the 2025-26 season. The NHLPA Board of Governors met yesterday evening and are expected to send in their vote over the next 24 hours. If this passes, the full NHLPA membership will vote, likely starting Wednesday, spanning 48-72 hours with a simple majority needed for approval. As noted in my blog Sunday, a player has three days following ratification to decide if he is opting out of playing.
NHLPA, NHL Reach Tentative Agreement on Return to Play Plan, CBA Extension; Set Dates for Resumption of Play https://t.co/QKnu4L2jWV pic.twitter.com/6ClJWYhQwH
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) July 6, 2020
In the attached link are the Phase 3 and 4 Return to Play Protocols. Each is an interesting read, with substantive overlap in terms of safety protocols. The second tweet is a high level summary of what's located in the protocols. The extended agreement will enable planning for an international calendar and events including the NHL All-Star Game, NHL Winter Classic and NHL Stadium Series. In addition, and likely more important to many, is that the agreement is expected to result in NHL players suiting up in the 2022 and 2026 Olympics, subject to agreement with the IOC.
The NHL and the NHLPA have agreed in principle on a memorandum of understanding for a four-year extension of the collective bargaining agreement, through the 2025-26 season, and protocols for Phases 3 and 4 of the NHL Return to Play Plan.https://t.co/ZNchGJLrSE
— NHL.com (@NHLdotcom) July 7, 2020
Key questions, answers on protocols in Phases 3, 4 of Return to Play Plan https://t.co/wOekNYzpeu via @NHLdotcom
— NHL.com (@NHLdotcom) July 7, 2020
CBA instant analysis by Elliotte Friedman and a pair of really good CBA summaries by Frank Seravalli:
The best news from the NHL CBA negotiations, who won’t like the deal, and when will @FriedgeHNIC shave his beard? 🤔
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) July 7, 2020
This edition of Instant Analysis with @DavidAmber and Elliotte Friedman has all the answers. pic.twitter.com/0aLabRecZ8
With #NHL and #NHLPA on the verge of labour peace, here is the template for the next CBA - with tweaks to entry-level deals, playoff pool, cap recapture and of course the salary cap and escrow as hockey stares down a grim financial reality:https://t.co/z2sEC0HAZE pic.twitter.com/okWjPCmRWB
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 7, 2020
For the first time, we have concrete details on how the #NHL plans to pull off a 24-team #StanleyCup tournament inside two strict ‘bubbles’ in Toronto and Edmonton.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 6, 2020
Inside bubble life, testing, positive protocols, and how they could even pull the plug: https://t.co/m0lydXUrzW pic.twitter.com/eQevLKJ37W
The Rangers provide a quick timeline. Monday is the start of phase 3. July 26 is when players go to the Hub Cities and August 1 is the start of play.
They’re back to drop some more knowledge. ðŸ˜
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) July 7, 2020
Hockey is [tentatively] back. https://t.co/ks93lTrrff pic.twitter.com/SO94gj6m1d
A whole lot can happen between now and Monday, let alone August 1. Hopefully, we get hockey, and more important, hopefully, everyone stays healthy. If the season is for some reason capsized, the good news is that we have labor peace and don't have to worry that we will have a strike or lockout for the next five years. The flat cap OF $81.5 for the next two seasons and $1 million uptick for 2022-23 means that every team will have tough decisions. Couple that with no amnesty buyouts, as that was reportedly never on the table due to the current finances within the league adversely impacted by the revenue. In short, owners didn't want to be shelling out cash for more buyouts with no cash coming in.
New York, due to the number and type of pending UFAs and RFAs, including Quickie, Strome, ADA, Lemieux and Georgiev, coupled with already used dead cap space (Girardi and Shattenkirk) and contracts they would love to move (Staal, Smith and potential Lundqvist), may have a tougher decision than most. This is where Glen Sather, John Davidson and Jeff Gorton will need to get creative but also make moves that many of us may not like. It's the nature of the beast - telling myself this now so I stay measured in the future. We will discuss all this down the road. Right now, the focus should be on hockey resuming shortly.