Will NHL have another work stoppage?

The 2011-2012 season will be the last season in this new post-lockout Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and it is set to expire in the end of September 2012 unless the NHL and the Players (NHLPA) reach a new deal or extend the current deal for another given amount of time. There is no doubt that if the a new CBA is not reached by July 1, 2012 it might affect the way some or all of the teams conduct their business in the offseason. Zach Parise might not have a huge market for him with the possibility of the labor uncertainty.

But, there is a bright spot in the sense that two professional sports leagues, the NBA and the NFL just had their own labor uncertainties and the NBA one is still ongoing and there is a huge feeling that there will be no basketball this season. The NFL Lockout ended in the end of July and it went on for almost 160 days, which is almost 6 months and came within weeks of wiping out some games. Basketball on the other hand is likely to call an impasse and the sides a still very very and extremely far apart. So, will the NFL and NBA lockouts impact what happens with the NHL. I think the NHL should look at the two cases very closely and try to come up with a resolution as quickly as possible.

There is no doubt that the current system in the NHL has some flaws, but it is working much better than the old one. In the old system only big spending teams succeeded and small market teams struggled dearly. The NHL revenues are increasing every year due to the rising salary cap every year. If revenues fall, the cap will fall, but it has not. The NHL has just entered into a new 10 year deal with Comcast/NBC worth over $2 Billion dollars and that should be a blueprint as to why there should be no work stoppage.

NHLPA head Donald Fehr must educate the players on the current system and see what he and the players would like. My feeling is that the Salary Cap and Linkage (Cost Certainty) should remain intact. I think that the two sides will reach the CBA and look at the NFL and NBA as the reason to avoid a work stoppage. Here are 5 issues that will likely come up in CBA talks:

1. Salary Cap Format
2. Front-Loaded Contracts/Maximum Yearly Salary/Term Lengths on Contracts
3. Head Injuries/Player safety
4. Rules
5. Season Format