Players discuss options under NHL's labor deal

If you're a diehard hockey fan, you remember the misery of 2004-05 when the NHL owners locked out the players and the entire season was wiped out.

By MICHAEL RUSSO, Star Tribune

Last update: November 4, 2008 - 8:49 AM

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SAN JOSE, CALIF. - If you're a diehard hockey fan, you remember the misery of 2004-05 when the NHL owners locked out the players and the entire season was wiped out.

While it's still far-fetched to think another work stoppage is on the NHL's horizon, the NHL Players' Association is touring all 30 teams to discuss with its membership whether it's time to reopen the collective bargaining agreement.

The union has some issues it's concerned about, maybe most significantly the right to have input on expansion or potential relocation of languishing franchises.

The six-year CBA, which runs until Sept. 15, 2011, gives the NHLPA the right to reopen the agreement and begin negotiations on a new one by May 15.

"I'm pretty careful not to give my opinion publicly out of respect for the players," said NHLPA Executive Director Paul Kelly, who met with the Wild players last Tuesday in Dallas. "This is a very serious issue that we're discussing on the fall tour."

Every player in the NHL will receive, or has already filled out, a confidential questionnaire that will be put into a sealed envelope until all 30 teams have been surveyed. They're being asked a yes-or-no question: "Should we terminate the CBA at the end of the current season?"

"A yes vote means depending on what the majority says, potentially we could pull the plug at the end of the year," Kelly said.

However, it should be noted the survey is not an actual vote. The purpose is to get each players' opinion so the NHLPA's executive board can make a rational decision.

Kelly said the union would not wait until May to inform the NHL of its decision, especially if it is to reopen the collective bargaining agreement.

"We just soon put this issue to rest one way or the other, so by mid-January this issue should be resolved," Kelly said. "If the answer is to pull the plug, we might as well get started working our way toward another agreement."

Asked for some of the NHLPA's concerns regarding the current CBA, Kelly said, "If we were going to reopen, the question of having a voice and getting some benefit from potential expansion or relocations is something we want to consider. We would want to have a guaranteed equal voice on some of the key business issues, such as sponsorship, national broadcast deals, future Olympic and international competition.

"...We would seek to hang on to the percentage of the hockey-related revenue we currently earn and possibly expand it or have clubs pick up more of the benefits that the players are provided in terms of insurance and pension."

Because players can't earn more than 57 percent of the NHL's pie, the NHLPA is concerned about struggling franchises.

"We'd like to see them all survive, but to be very candid with you, there are a couple clubs not on the most solid financial footing," Kelly said. "I don't anticipate a financial collapse by any of them, but depending on what the economy does, it could get difficult for them."

Defenseman Nick Schultz, the Wild's player rep, said, "Now that we're getting a percentage of the revenue, I think we strongly have to look at relocation. If there are better places for certain markets, we have to look at that and make sure we're getting all the revenues possible."

But Schultz said he highly doubts the NHLPA reopens the CBA.

"I think it's in our best interest, with how the economy is and how we're just a few years from the lockout, to stick it out," Schultz said. "Revenues have grown each year, so I think it'd be pretty crazy right now to reopen it."

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