The
National Hockey League has made an initial offer to the
NHL Players' Association and I am going to be honest with you, this could be a very long off season, especially if the Owners don't budge from their current position. There owners have suggested some major changes to the current CBA. Here is a pretty good break down by
Julie Robenhymer of Hockey Buzz.
Here are the main points of the reported proposal:
- reduce hockey related revenues to 46% from 57%
- 10 seasons in NHL before becoming UFA
- contracts limited to 5 year terms
- same salary in each season of contract
- no more salary arbitration
- ELCs are 5 years instead of 3
- no signing bonuses
- cap ceiling to be $4M above midpoint, floor $8M under.
After taking a look at this proposal by the owners, it definitely looks like a red herring to me. I can't see the players signing an agreement that looks like this. I also don't see how the NHLPA would accept that big of a roll back in players salaries.
