‘No one wants to cancel the season.’ NHL talks resume, but angry players discuss starting as late as Feb. 1

NHL players have reacted angrily to commissioner Gary Bettman’s comment that he was not trying to “renegotiate” the deal the league signed with the players association in July.

“A lot of guys called in and want to know what’s going on,” an industry source told the Star, after a day of developments that really don’t seem to have moved the NHL any closer to releasing a schedule for the coming season.

While the NHL’s last statement on a start date targeted Jan. 1, the players are now focusing on Jan. 15 or Feb. 1 in return-to-play talks amongst themselves, according to multiple sources.

“No one wants to cancel the season,” said one source.

Talks between Bettman and NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr resumed this week after 10 idle days, dating back to when Bettman approached the union for a further $300 million in concessions to help owners through a season that would at least start without live crowds.

His comments this week in an online interview during Sports Business Journal’s Dealmakers in Sports conference didn’t help his standing with the players. In it, he said he wasn’t trying to reopen the league memorandum of understanding by asking for further concessions, which didn’t sit well with the players. He also said the league was “taking its time” with the schedule to see how the pandemic impact pans out.

To the players, that sounded like an idle threat: Give us money or we won’t schedule the season.

On that front, TSN reported and the Star has confirmed the NHLPA is preparing legal briefs that would take the NHL to court should such a conflict arise.

The league may well believe it has the right to do so, citing the dangers of the pandemic and its management powers under Article 5 of the collective agreement. A lockout, however, is expressly forbidden under the terms of the memorandum and the 2012-13 contract that it extended.

The players believe that by negotiating during a pandemic — and multiple sources told the Star repeatedly that the spring-summer negotiations anticipated a season without fans — they’ve given the league and owners the tools they need to complete a season.

“Good luck explaining to a judge why the New York Knicks can play in a pandemic while the New York Rangers can’t, when it’s the same owner and the same arena,” said a second industry source.

What’s at stake is how the sides divide hockey-related revenue.

The league had been at about $5 billion in revenue, dropping to $3.1 billion once the pandemic hit, pausing the season and resulting in summertime Stanley Cup playoffs. Some have suggested revenues for 2020-21 could plummet to as low as $2.5 billion.

The memorandum bridged the difference. Players agreed that, this season, they would accept 72 per cent of their salaries with 10 per cent simply deferred until a later date. Conservatively, that amounted to giving the owners back about $700 million this season.

It still means players expect to collect about $1.8 million in salaries, $550 million more than the traditional 50/50 split might allow. The memorandum that Bettman and the owners agreed to in the summer says they get that overpayment paid back later — as late as seven years from now. Some owners have told Bettman they want that money now, arguing they’d be better off financially by not playing if they don’t get it.

Bettman also appears to be trying to drive a wedge between the players.

It’s in the interests of highly paid players, and those near the end of their careers, to get as much as possible now — so, 72 per cent. It’s in the interest of younger players on entry-level deals to hope for a bigger salary cap down the road, for a bigger pay day.

Deferring repayments back to the owners over the life of the memorandum will keep the salary cap flat.