NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly has responded to Donald Fehr’s claims that all signs point to another lockout when the CBA expires after the 2021-22 season.
And he’s responded rather pointedly.
“It’s a fairly naive and uneducated view of the situation, particularly as it relates to this league’s collective bargaining history and the reasons why we have endured work stoppages in the past,” Daly told TVA’s Renaud Lavoie. “Don’s musings are also entirely inconsistent with his own collective bargaining history, which is highlighted by his own precipitation of repeated work stoppages and unprecedented labor strife in an ‘uncapped’ sports league.”
Fehr, the NHLPA head who led the players’ association through the last lockout, recently told The Hockey News he sees no signs of capped leagues stopping the cycle of locking players out following the expiration of their respective CBAs.
“If you put baseball to the side where there’s no cap, I don’t see anything yet which suggests any of the other three [North American] leagues are likely to break out of the phenomenon of a lockout every time, because a salary cap produces that phenomenon on the management side,” he explained. “[Owners] think they’ve got nothing to lose: ‘Let’s just go see what happens, and maybe we’ll get a little bit more.’”
As mentioned above, the NHL CBA won’t expire for another eight years. Recent reports suggest next year’s salary cap will rise to around $73 million, up from $69M this season.