While the expiration of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement is still several years away (the earliest expiration date is September 15, 2020), NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly has already brought up one element that the owners will be looking to tweak. Speaking at the Sports Lawyers Association Annual Conference, Daly told the attendees, including Liz Mullen of the Sports Business Journal (Twitter links), that they will be looking to redefine the definition of Hockey Related Revenues, more commonly referred to as HRR, which set the salary cap and floor. He clarified that they want to make definitions more precise and that it wouldn’t necessarily mean that they would be looking to exclude (or include) certain income as part of HRR.
On the union side, Steve Fehr, special counsel for the NHLPA, noted to Mullen (Twitter link) and others in attendance that the biggest issues they intend to look at are escrow and cap management issues. Escrow has risen sharply since being instituted to the point where some expect that the players won’t exercise their cap inflator next month in an effort to reduce the percentage that is withheld off of each pay.
CBA talks are still probably another couple of years away but we’re already starting to hear what some of the key points will be when discussions get underway.
Elsewhere around the hockey world:
- Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf has been fined $10K for a homophobic remark uttered during Thursday’s Game Four against Nashville, the league announced. The fine is the maximum allowed under the CBA.
- There will be two Ekman-Larssons in the Coyotes organization next season. Arizona’s AHL affiliate in Tuscon announced the signing of defenseman Kevin Ekman-Larsson to a one year, minor league contract. He is the younger brother of Coyotes blueliner Oliver Ekman-Larsson. The 22 year old has spent the past two seasons with Tingsryds AIF of the Swedish Allsvenskan.
- Canadiens center prospect Jacob de la Rose is drawing interest from the SHL, he told Värmlands Folkblad’s Johan Ekberg (link in Swedish). However, the pending RFA noted that his priority is to remain playing in North America and that talks have already started with Montreal on a new contract. He played in just nine NHL games this season, the fewest in his three years with the Canadiens.