NHL owners forced to pay more than $300 M to players today!

After a long night of negotiations as TSN insider Bob McKenzie reports that negotiations between the NHL and the NHLPA appear to have resulted in agreement on most issues on Phase 3/4 return to play, CBA extension and transition with a couple of items left to finalize. 

And some NHL players will have more cash than others to celebrate this huge step towards a new CBA agreement in order to get the 24-team playoff tournament underway, as the players and the NHL agreed the July 1 bonuses would be paid as scheduled. 

We are talking about amounts of $ 15.2 million to Auston Matthews (Maple Leafs), $ 14.3 million to Mitch Marner (Maple Leafs), $ 13 million to Connor McDavid (Oilers), $ 12 million to Artemi Panarin (Rangers), $ 11.09 million to John Tavares (Maple Leafs), 9.87 million to Sebastian Aho (Hurricanes) and 8.75 million to Carey Price (Canadiens).

It is more than $ 300 million in bonuses in total that owners will have to pay while they have had no incoming income for several months already. That's gotta hurt...The Maple Leafs alone will have to pay nearly $ 41 million in bonuses to their trio of star players Matthews, Marner and Tavares!

As of now, if there are no hiccups in finalizing the tentative agreement, NHLPA membership could be voting on return to play/CBA/transition/critical dates by Friday or Saturday.