Pandemic-sized problems cloud new NHL season

If and when the puck drops on the 2020-21 NHL season, players are likely to take a major pay cut to make up for the league's projected lost revenue.

Speaking at a Sports Business Journal symposium on Friday, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that while the league is not attempting to reopen the collective bargaining agreement that was extended in July, the fiscal realities exposed by the pandemic mean the 50-50 revenue-sharing split between owners and players will be impacted for at least the foreseeable future.

Bettman said the players will have to decide whether it's in their best interest to pay the money back in the short term by deferring a higher percentage of their salaries, or face the potential of having the salary cap stay flat over the remainder of the six-year CBA.

"If we have to pay out lots of cash, two-thirds of which is going to come back to us, that may cause some stress," Bettman said. "And by the same token, if the players owe us more money than anybody imagined, the salary cap could well be flat or close to flat for the next five or six years, and players into the future will be repaying what we're owed."

The CBA currently calls for players to defer 10 percent of their salary for the upcoming season and caps how much money will be kept in escrow over the length of the deal. According to an NHL source who requested anonymity, the league has raised the possibility of having the players increase salary deferrals to up to 25 percent and increasing the escrow cap.

Under terms of the July extension, the salary cap, which is tied to hockey-related revenue, will remain at $81.5 million until that revenue surpasses $3.3 billion.

In response to accusations that it looks like the league is attempting to renege on the deal that led to the resumption of play and completion of last season, Bettman said the agreement at the time was "based on collective assumptions that are no longer applicable".

Another issue is the likelihood of a temporary divisional realignment due to cross-border travel restrictions. Canada's seven teams would compete exclusively against themselves in one division, while the 24 US teams would play in hub cities.

"If you're playing a regular schedule of games you can't quarantine players for 14 days as you're moving in and out of Canada, which is why, among the other issues that are going to impact our season, is we literally would have to realign and create a situation where maybe the Canadian teams only play each other," the commissioner said.

"It's part of the myriad of issues that we're dealing with, which is why when people say, 'Oh, they're trying to renegotiate,' the answer to all of this is, we've got a lot of issues and a lot of problems to deal with, and the system is going to be stressed for everyone. And is there an appetite for working through all of those issues?"

In an email to Canadian Press, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said "as of right now", the NHL is still targeting Jan 1 to start the season, before adding: "That is obviously subject to change."

The regular season could feature as few as 48 games－the same as the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign.