The National Hockey League Players’ Association has declined to reopen the current NHL/NHLPA Collective Bargaining Agreement.
According to an article on the NHL website, the “10-year agreement that was ratified in January 2013 will remain scheduled to expire Sept. 15, 2022.”
The league had a September 1 “deadline to make its decision” and “announced Aug. 30 it would not reopen the agreement. The NHLPA had until Monday to decide.”
Don Fehr, the NHLPA executive director said that “while players have concerns with the current CBA, we agree with the League that working together to address those concerns is the preferred course of action instead of terminating the agreement following this season. We have been having discussions with the League about an extension of the CBA and expect that those talks will continue.”
If either the NHL or the NHLPA had opted to reopen the CBA, it would have expired September 15, 2020.
Gary Bettman said: “we are pleased with the NHL Players’ Association’s decision not to reopen the Collective Bargaining Agreement. We look forward to continuing to work with the NHLPA for the benefit of all stakeholders, especially our fans.”
According to the article on NHL.com, the two sides have met “regularly throughout the offseason to discuss a possible extension and plan to continue meeting. Each side has said talks have been productive and cordial.”
The article then mentions the 1994-95, 2004-05 and 2012-13 season lockouts, including losing the entire 2004-05 season to a work stoppage. That was the only (to date) time that that has happened in a major North American sports league.
In other news, tonight the Devils have two split squad preseason games (home against Boston and away at Montreal). We will try to have some coverage of those games for you right here.