NHL, NHLPA negotiators will have to find common ground quickly to be up and running by New Year's DayGetty Images
Time is "growing short" for the NHL to meet its target of launching the '20-21 season on Jan. 1, and the "list of obstacles is growing longer," according to Helene Elliott of the L.A. TIMES. Without an agreement between the league and the NHLPA by next week, the opener "could be pushed back another month, slashing the schedule below the hoped-for 60 to 62 games." Negotiations "hit some snags" this week. Sources said that NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman "asked players to defer an additional 13% of their salaries next season beyond the 10% deferral they accepted in July." Players will "eventually get that money back, but without interest." Bettman also proposed "raising the escrow cap in each of the last three years of the labor agreement from 6% to 9%." The NHL will have to "find common ground quickly to be up and running by New Year's Day, which is already a month later than Bettman had hoped." To open on Jan. 1, the seven teams that missed the expanded playoffs last season would "have to start around Dec. 11, followed a week later by the other 24 teams." There is "little time to waste because players who went overseas will have to comply with quarantine requirements in their team's home city before they can take to the ice" (L.A. TIMES, 11/20).
TONE CHANGE: THE ATHLETIC's Pierre LeBrun wrote the NHL and NHLPA "will find their way through this, but what has transpired over the past few days is already a dramatically different script from the spring." Early in the pandemic, the NHL and NHLPA "worked hand in hand and nearly flawlessly delivered a 24-team, return to play package that was remarkable in almost every facet on and off the ice," which was "truly the NHL-NHLPA partnership at its best." There was "certainly hope the same feelings would carry through in hammering out an agreement" for the '20-21 season. LeBrun: "Not so, it turns out." Staging an NHL season "will be about keeping the brand alive, not because there's any great money to be made from it under these circumstances." LeBrun wrote, "I suspected the NHLPA will agree to tweak on some of the salary deferrals, although not at the NHL asking rate, and certainly not without the players getting something in return. Nothing is free in bargaining" (THEATHLETIC.com, 11/19).
CRUNCH TIME: SPORTSNET.ca's Elliotte Friedman wrote, "My personal belief is that if the season is set to begin Jan. 1, a deal needs to be reached by the end of the month." Friedman: "Hopefully sooner, but if some things have to be rushed, they'll be rushed." Wednesday's events "knocked things off course," and the players "will need a few days to regroup." They are "angry and feel betrayed" (SPORTSNET.ca, 11/19). ESPN.com's Kaplan & Wyshynski wrote the players' argument is that "a deal is a deal." When the CBA was negotiated during the pause, both the owners and players "presented financial outlooks for the best-case, moderate-case and worst-case scenarios, with the worst case being a full season without fans in the arenas." NHLPA Exec Dir Don Fehr and Bettman "remain in regular communication and spoke again Thursday." If talks are going to happen on the owners' request, they "need to happen fast" (ESPN.com, 11/19).
