National Post (National Edition)
THE PUCK DROPS HERE
EDMONTON AND TORONTO TO HOST ANTICIPATED NHL SEASON.
Afew days of soul-searching this week to balance health and wealth will determine the National Hockey League’s path through the COVID-19 conundrum.
As the league and players conduct a dual negotiation, ground rules of the 24-team playoff tournament and a revised, multi-year collective bargaining agreement, hot-button issues such as COVID safety, the salary cap, escrow and participation in the Olympic Games have become intertwined.
The arrival of a new NHL fiscal year on Canada Day, with barely a week until the playoff training camps are due to start July 10 has fired up talk at a time of year when the sport usually fades from view on summer hiatus.
The one solid bit of good news north of the border is that if the tourney goes ahead late this month or in August, Toronto and Edmonton will be the hub cities. That’s by process of elimination when worsening COVID conditions took Las Vegas out of the mix. While no fans will attend games at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto and Rogers Place in Edmonton, there’ll be plenty of interest in having 11 visiting teams come in and at least some boost for hard-hit sectors of the two cities’ economy such as hotels and dining. The NHL will also save some money with a low Canadian dollar.
Playing in the midst of a pandemic, even if COVID numbers are under control in Canada, still won’t be ideal for the players. There are some dissenting family men in their ranks concerned about being separated for weeks. But if there’s progress elsewhere on the business and CBA issues, they’ll be more agreeable, especially if the league is willing not to plunder their salary escrow payments to recover COVID-related losses and change its stance on not going to the Olympics.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman tweeted Wednesday morning that — subject to approval — 10 per cent of next season’s salaries could be deferred and the league wants changes to contract structure, limits on signing bonuses and less salary fluctuation year-to-year. There is also talk of a flat salary cap of US$81.5 million for the next couple of years that would take into account the anticipated drop in profits, at least for 2019-20 losses. Escrow, that portion of salary withheld from players to help address any significant losses by owners, could get as high as 20 to 25 per cent, according to some projections with a $1-billion loss to the league if 2019-20 isn’t completed. TSN’s Frank Seravalli reported Wednesday escrow might be capped at 20 per cent as part of the new deal.
The players are looking to stave off such a hit and get two other concessions from their bosses, the right for individuals to back out of this month’s Return to Play plan and getting the league to bend on going to the 2022 and 2026 Games, in China and Italy, respectively. The latter also means a separate dialogue with the league and International Olympic Committee after league commissioner Gary Bettman was adamant they not go to another unfriendly TV time zone after skipping South Korea in 2018.
All of this is subject to final documentation, a simple majority vote by players, and by two-thirds of the league’s board of governors, expected to come by this weekend.
July 1 is usually the start of the league’s new fiscal year, but the ’19-20 season isn’t technically done. Free agents who signed recent deals can’t join their new teams until ’20-21, which itself might not start until late into this calendar year depending on the playoff tournament and where COVID numbers go. Player signing bonuses that were due Wednesday were paid by teams as scheduled, costing more than US$300 million.
There is no firm date set for the actual tourney to begin. Six of the seven Canadian teams with the exception of Ottawa qualified on the basis of pre-interruption standings in March. Fans won’t be allowed in the rinks, while no decision has been announced on media or other personnel to be let in the buildings at a safe distance.
NHL teams have already been granted permission for a “cohort quarantine” by the Canadian government, allowing groups of up to 50 per club to get around the 14-day isolation rules for incoming guests. They are obligated to stay mostly in their “bubble” of the rink-hotel-practice facility and undergo frequent tests at league expense.