The National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players Association have once again found themselves at odds and unfortunately once again it is the fans that are getting the short end of the stick.
The league and the players were targeting January 1st as a starting date for the 2021 NHL regular season and although that may still be the plan, a dispute over finances has put the entire thing in jeopardy. It is a story that is all too familiar to hockey fans and I am genuinely concerned that, given just how much people are struggling at the moment, there are fans out there who will finally say 'enough is enough'.
That being said though I do feel this time things are a little bit different and that is due to the pandemic. The NHL owners are taking massive losses as a result of the pandemic and it is a poorly kept secret that there are some NHL owners who would prefer to forgo the 2021 season entirely in order to help mitigate some of those loses. In fact the only thing that may be stopping that from becoming our reality right now is NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. By all accounts Bettman is adamant that a season must be played and that the league can ill afford to lose more fans to another cancelled season.
The owners have asked the players for an increased escrow and even a payment deferral, but the players are refusing to budge.
I can also see why the players are being stubborn however, given that they negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) in good faith just a few short months ago. The players argue that they already have a new deal and that they should not have to give up more money than they already have, a considerable amount to be sure. The owners however expected that fans would be back in the building for the following season, and with that looking like a pipe dream right now it would appear that they are set to lose even more than they had originally forecast.
Coming into this past weekend things looked really, really bad. Since the initial ask from the league the players had completely shut down communication, but there was a sign of hope over the weekend. SiriusXM NHL radio host Nick Alberga confirmed that after 10 days of no communication at all, the two sides did resume those talks over the weekend.
I won't sell you false hope however, there are still plenty of reasons to be concerned. The latest comes from NHL insider John Shannon who reports that while both the NHL and NHLPA have confirmed there were in fact discussions, those discussions failed to lead to any progress between the two sides so far.
The fact that they are talking has to be seen as good news, but how good that is will depend on how confident you are in these two sides coming together to give us an NHL season. I remain cautiously optimistic.
