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As we all wait for concrete news on the 2020-2021 season, it’s easy to forget a pretty basic fact: this is a business, and a whole bunch of people are losing money right now.
A report from the New York Post laid that bare, with Larry Brooks claiming that the league is asking the players to defer 13% of their 2020-2021 salary.
That 13% is on top of a 10% deferral that the NHLPA already agreed to over the summer.
Per Brooks, if the NHLPA agrees to this, the players “would be guaranteed 61.6 percent of their pay for 2020-21, with 23 percent due to be returned at later dates.”
Yikes!
You can certainly see why this isn’t exactly the most enticing offer from a player’s perspective: “Play the season for 2⁄3 of your pay, and you’ll get the rest eventually!”
Brooks also confirmed that the league remains fixated on a Jan. 1, 2021 start, and reported that training camps could begin in just a few weeks.
Crazy times, folks.
Today’s highlight
Larry Brooks also covers the Rangers, which reminded me of this goal.
Tim Schaller not only scored a highlight-reel goal, but he also chased a future Hall-of-Fame goalie from the crease and got Brendan Smith placed on waivers post-game.
That’s a powerful goal.
Today’s discussion topic
I used to go to New York once (or so) a year. It was fun. This isn’t so much a discussion topic as waxing poetic for the pre-COVID days.