What’s not There

There has been a fair amount of comment relative to the offer from the NHL owners to the NHL players association. Mostly 2 comments come from these articles. [a] the offer is a huge difference from the present agreements and probably nothing presented would be approved. And [b] This is the first step in the negotiations.

From A Portzline’s Blue Jacket Extra post:

The NHL seeks:

– to change how hockey-related revenue is figured, no doubt adjusting the formula so that some of the owner’s income is not deemed ‘hockey-related’

– to lower the player’s percentage of hockey-related revenue from 57 to 46 percent

– a salary cap of $4 million over the midpoint rather than $8 million; the salary floor would remain $8 million below the midpoint.

– to delay unrestricted free agency until a player has spent 10 years in the NHL; currently, it’s seven NHL seasons or age 27

– a contract-term limit of five years, with no signing bonuses and the same salary in every year of the contract

– five-year entry level contracts

– to abolish arbitration

But please note that the item that is near and dear to the Blue Jacket faithful is the “League Realignment” issue. As we all recall, the realignment was set to go and the PA rejected it. In the initial owners offer, it is not mentioned. Remembering that this is an initial offer, and remembering there will be a lot of negotiation as both sides work toward an agreement let’s just keep an eye on media reports of items discussed. The PA will be making their initial offer in response, It will be interesting to see if they mention realignment and even more interesting if they should present a plan. Honestly, I doubt that they do at this point, but it would be interesting.

We Want the Cup