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Where we recap a wide-ranging interview with NHLPA chief Donald Fehr

Donald Fehr

The Hockey News had a long talk with NHLPA chief Donald Fehr recently to get his take on the upcoming CBA negotiations, as well as other union-related issues. You can read the entire interview here, but for the time challenged, here are three things we took away that haven’t been written a billion times already:

1. Fehr’s heard the rumors about the league possibly trying to cut the players’ share of revenue, but they’ll cross that bridge when/if they get to it. Just because the NBA and NFL did it doesn’t mean the NHL will, too.

2. He suggests baseball is in a good spot financially largely due to MLB’s “extensive revenue sharing” program. Translation: If small-market NHL owners want to improve their bottom lines, don’t ask the players to take pay cuts, ask the owners of the rich teams to spread more of their wealth around.

3. In speaking with the players, they’ve told him they want to make the game safer, but they “still want it to be a hockey game.” In other words, let’s not try to cover everything in bubble-wrap – they’re big boys, they’ve accepted the risks, now drop the puck.