[News] NHLPA declines to reopen CBA and will continue to have discussions about extension

[sureLoss]

Chris Johnston @reporterchris
The NHLPA has decided not use its option to reopen the CBA. The current agreement now runs through Sept. 15, 2022.

Frank Seravalli @frank_seravalli
The #NHLPA announced today that the Executive Board has declined to reopen the CBA with the NHL following the 2019-20 season. The current CBA remains in effect through the 2021-22 season.

[transplant99]

Good news.

[Toonage]

Legit stunned as I always expect the worst when Fehr is involved.

This is great to see!

[Enoch Root]

great to see

[sureLoss]

Bob McKenzie @TSNBobMcKenzie
This guarantees a minimum of three years of labor peace. Ongoing discussions with NHL will continue to amend the remaining three years of this CBA with the possibility of a three- or four-year extension beyond that.

[bubbsy]

Tremendous news.

I just assume a hockey lockout whenever there is an expiring cba now. Am still shocked to see this happen.

[getbak]

[Locke]

[Enoch Root]

Not sure where to put this question, so this seems like a reasonable spot...

Regarding LTIR, is it correct that LTIR overages are included in the league totals when determining HRR? The reason I ask is that there are going to be several teams over the cap this year (including their LTIR), Much more than in past years, IMO. If the totals include the overages, then the total salaries this year are going to blow the HRR number out of the water. That will mean that escrow will be ginormous. Which will piss off the players.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

[Weitz]

Edit: I was incorrect.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Not sure where to put this question, so this seems like a reasonable spot...

Regarding LTIR, is it correct that LTIR overages are included in the league totals when determining HRR? The reason I ask is that there are going to be several teams over the cap this year (including their LTIR), Much more than in past years, IMO. If the totals include the overages, then the total salaries this year are going to blow the HRR number out of the water. That will mean that escrow will be ginormous. Which will piss off the players.

Will be interesting to see how it plays out.

If I understand what you're asking, yes.

All money paid to all players while on NHL rosters (including time spent in the AHL on a conditioning assignment and time spent on the IR) is included when calculating the players' share of revenue.

Also, that calculation is made using the actual money owed to the players during the season, not the cap hit.


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If you look at CapFriendly right now, the Leafs total cap commitments for a 23 man roster with 4 players expected to start the season on LTIR are almost $95 million. They are cap compliant because of the LTIR, but those players still will get their share of the players' share of HRR.

Even worse though, the Leafs "Estimated Salary Expenditure" (i.e. the actual money they'll be paying their players this season) is over $113 million. That is almost $32 million above the cap, and $42.5 million above the salary midpoint that is supposed to be the average team payroll.

That's all before the season actually starts and real player injuries start adding up.

[Resolute 14]

Yeah, what getbak said. LTIRetirement is a big issue swinging escrow right now.

[Enoch Root]

Yes, that is exactly what I was asking, thanks.

And as both of you also suggest, total salaries this year are going to be much higher than in the past. So the HRR ceiling is going to get blown out of the water, and escrow is going to be nasty.

Something will have to give. And this recent evolution (revolution?) of RFA salaries is going to have serious consequences.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Yes, that is exactly what I was asking, thanks.

And as both of you also suggest, total salaries this year are going to be much higher than in the past. So the HRR ceiling is going to get blown out of the water, and escrow is going to be nasty.

Something will have to give. And this recent evolution (revolution?) of RFA salaries is going to have serious consequences.

I think they will just hard set the ceiling for a few years to catch it all back up.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Weitz

I think they will just hard set the ceiling for a few years to catch it all back up.

Escrow is a function of total salaries and total HRR. If total salaries are more than HRR (which they will be, by a significant amount this year), then they apply escrow to bring the total salaries down to equal the HRR number.

What you are referring to is that they are talking about not pushing up the annual cap target (currently $81.5M) as quickly, so that actual revenues can catch up with growth on the cap number.

But escrow is a formula, it can't simply be held back until things catch up.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Escrow is a function of total salaries and total HRR. If total salaries are more than HRR (which they will be, by a significant amount this year), then they apply escrow to bring the total salaries down to equal the HRR number.

What you are referring to is that they are talking about not pushing up the annual cap target (currently $81.5M) as quickly, so that actual revenues can catch up with growth on the cap number.

But escrow is a formula, it can't simply be held back until things catch up.

Yes I am talking about the salary cap ceiling. If you don't grow the cap escrow will go down relative to HRR increasing (assuming of course).

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Yes I am talking about the salary cap ceiling. If you don't grow the cap escrow will go down relative to HRR increasing (assuming of course).

In coming years, yes. But that doesn't solve the pending problem for this year - which will be significant.

[delayedreflex]

One thing I don't really understand about the CBA - my understanding is that players are supposed to get 50% of the HRR, and this is achieved by escrowing a certain % of the revenues until the end of the year when HRR can be determined and the appropriate amount of escrow released so that the players as a whole get 50% of HRR. Right now, my understanding is that the salary cap is a fair bit higher than 50% of HRR, so players aren't actually getting paid out their contract value. Is there any provision in the CBA for what would happen if HRR exceeds 2x the salary cap (+LTIR salary owed I guess)? Do the owners pocket all the upside of any situation where revenues exceed expectation?

If so, it might help explain why the NHLPA has elected to escalate the cap every year, even though it seems like revenues did not increase that much over the last while (at least according to this article from 2017), even though increasing the salary cap basically only benefits the players who are up for a new contract that year (and, based on what we saw with Mangiapane, really just star players) - everyone else who has a longer-term contract can only lose out from the salary cap going up.

[Enoch Root]

If revenues exceed expectation, HRR will be higher than expected. If HRR were higher than total salaries, players would get a bonus.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

If revenues exceed expectation, HRR will be higher than expected. If HRR were higher than total salaries, players would get a bonus.

Does anyone know how the bonuses are paid out? Is it divided equally among all players or is it paid out relative to the size of their individual contract? For example would a player with a $10M dollar salary get a bonus 10 times the amount of a player with a $1M dollar salary or do they each get the same amount?