By Kyle Gunn-Taylor:
The NHL and NHLPA are set to continue negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement in New York City, Tuesday.
The current CBA is set to expire on Saturday, September 15, the date that will also signify the beginning of a new lock out should an agreement not be reached.
TSN has reported that the two sides made little to no progress in the meetings held in Toronto, ON last week, but the NHL should be coming to this week’s meetings with a new offer.
Issues that are currently driving the two sides apart are similar to the ones that forced the league into a work stoppage in 2004-2005.
Salary cap and floor, revenue sharing, and guaranteed contracts are the main points of disagreement between the NHL and its players.
With a $70.2 million salary cap and a $54.2 million floor, the problem the NHL needs to resolve stems from the financial strain the floor puts on low revenue organizations.
The teams that generate little or no profit will move to abolish the floor altogether as it can often force them to spend beyond their means as a franchise. However, the NHLPA will assert that a cap floor helps to maintain a competitive balance in the league.
In 2010-2011 the players received approximately 57 percent of the league’s $3.3 billion revenue. A figure that grew 3 percent from 2005 (54 percent), in conjunction with league profits rising 33 percent over that span.
The NHL reportedly offered a 10 percent decrease for the players split of revenue in their most recent offer, while the players are more likely to consider a number closer to 50-50.
As far as concessions are concerned, the guaranteed contract is where the players will probably be the least flexible.
Should a player get cut from a team within the current CBA, the team is obligated to pay them two-thirds of their remaining salary and maintain the players cap hit for the remainder of the contract.
Organizations will look to curtail that by absolving the cap issue and attempting to place a limit on the length of player contracts.
Because of Terry Pegula’s win at any cost attitude, the Sabres organizational philosophy won’t be dictated by the results of this labor dispute. The rift has stalled their pursuit of a blockbuster trade this summer though, as the market for movement is currently at a standstill.
Should the lockout take effect, many of the Sabres players will be relegated to staying at home and training or heading to Europe to skate in professional leagues abroad.
Cody Hodgson, Kevin Porter, Marcus Foligno, Luke Adam, T.J. Brennan and Brayden McNabb are the only 23-man roster hopefuls who have two-way contracts that will allow them to play out the stoppage in Rochester.
There is a grim outlook for the league and players as a lockout might undo most, if not all of the progress the league has made since 2005. The biggest losers however, will be the fans.
People who have invested their hard earned money and emotional support into a league that has come a long way from the dark days of the previous lockout.
There is one emphatic sentiment that comes to mind when imagining what life will be like without a season, Winter Classic, All-Star game and most discouragingly the electricity that embodies the NHL playoffs – get it done.