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Last season Berggren had a long NHL stint due to injury. This year, he’s on the shuttle and Veleno made the team out of camp. Berggren’s upside as a young depth player for low $ seems to be a plus. The biggest response from the comments is the desire to get either more size and toughness or possibly a package for a defenseman. Still, that’s leaving a bit of an empty taste unless there’s a component I never considered. The sight locked up but NHL rumors had a bit that “wondered… if Berggren’s representation asked for a move. Very much like Zadina, Berggren feels under utilized. There’s no guarantee, but it would make sense as to why an Yzerman deal is getting more press than usual.
It wouldn’t be a stretch for Berggren to feel like other names are passing him by. It will be interesting to follow up until the deadline. There seems to be some consensus in the crumb seekers (yours truly included) that teams are letting cap space grow as the season heads toward the new year. It will be interesting to follow, and another draftee who couldn’t break through if it comes to fruition.
Any of you who followed me during the shutdown and beyond have seen me reference the MOU (memorandum of understanding) that was used to establish a path back to games being played and how best to address lost wages. Among other issues this is where the 20% escrow cap came in. Players realized that a shortfall of up to 2 billion could hit, darn near half off the HRR level around 5 billion that the cap is still tied to. Without that cap, players could have paid escrow above 50% (with really high estimates in the 70s). However, it came with a cost.
If you’re familiar with “Good Fellas… or American social clubs, protection comes with a price. There’s an amendment in that same MOU that would allow the NHL to nix Olympic participation that was included in the last CBA. If players violate their side, ownership can fall back on the CBA and collect any outstanding debt from the shortfall, etc. So, why does this matter?
We’ve seen players now blamed for not taking on more escrow to open jobs. That would never happened a short time ago. The early predictions of a 5-7 million dollar bump in the cap has now been downgraded to “up to 4.7 million IF projections hold…. You all know that I don’t believe they will. There is almost no scenario moving forward that wouldn’t result in higher escrow in order to get raises to potential UFAs and arbitration eligible RFAs. All roads lead through Toronto and by announcing 4.7 million, that’s just enough room to keep Nylander and pacify the fan base for now. Keep in mind, the NHLPA has to vote to ratify increases and some are sick to death of Escrow.
The Olympics could be cheese in the maze. Apparently the NHL has offered to hold the hockey portion in North America instead of whatever country the Olympics are played in multiple times. The NHL doesn’t make money on the Olympics and may lose a player. Travel, insurance and a league shutdown are all unattractive to owners.
The league and owners have benefitted greatly from the last CBA. Escrow and a hard cap help minimize risk and allow pay cuts. I communicated with one of the football/basketball YouTubers and they had now idea Escrow existed. Someone who puts out multiple videos a day couldn’t believe that a system of taking money back from players like Escrow existed. Hockey is not the priority sport of the U.S. for sure.
Players have some hard decisions ahead of them. Matthews just got a nice raise and on another non max term deal. Traditional escrow didn’t take signing bonuses into account. That was added in once it became fixed for post shut down recoup. Players see what’s happening and it is not well received. The Canadian dollar is causing issues for clubs like Winnipeg that have to pay players in American dollars which are worth .4 or so more than Canadian. So ticket prices go up and attendance goes down.
Here’s where you come in. The players are stuck. Violate a bad deal and you get a worse one. The league didn’t vet ownership in AZ to make sure they would pay the lease/rent on the arena and now that is a sieve. How can you infuse money into a league when entertainment spending is hard hit? Let me know your thoughts. Players could go to the Olympics and risk suspension in the past, with the MOU capping escrow it’s not something most could afford to violate.