NHL Blames Only Fehr for Unsuccessful Deal with Players

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The NHL has doubled the pressure on NHLPA Executive Director, Donald Fehr, by spreading the word on Friday that Fehr is the only reason that the negotiation sessions between the two parties are ending unsuccessfully for the second time. It was mentioned that NHL is ‘frustrated with his bargaining style.’

A magazine cited different sources to reveal that NHL believes that it has offered everything to the players that they asked for, but it was implied that NHL feels that Fehr isn’t fairly passing on the information to the players. This suspicion was linked with a leak memo of Fehr to his membership stating that there is a “considerable gap” in positions of the two sides.

Before Friday, both league and the union had kept news related to the negotiations in complete darkness. But on Friday, it seemed like the league had gotten fed up and was ready to offer its bargaining points to various media bodies, perhaps for the sake of conveying the information to the players directly, bypassing Fehr.

The league is allegedly promising to honor all existing contracts of players, along with guarantying them their $1.883 billion (U.S.) share, i.e. 57 per cent of last year’s revenue. The league claims that it has granted the association everything that it had asked for on revenue sharing, i.e. the core issue of NHLPA. It is offered that in exchange for the 50-50 share, players will be given the reduced part of their salaries deferred one or two years, “and the owners will pay them back, plus interest, and it would not go against their share and the league is guaranteeing it no matter where the revenue of the league goes.”