Something is still wrong in the Danish kingdom. A week ago, on the night of Friday to Saturday, Moscow time, the NHL published data on patients from the beginning of training in small groups on June 8. The league promised to make such reports weekly. However, Saturday has already passed and Sunday is in full swing, and there is no information on the virus from across the ocean. Is this somehow connected with the harsh statement of Artemy Panarin?
Let me remind you that on Thursday, the second most salary NHL player made the following statement:
– I really look forward to playing in the playoffs for the Rangers. I have concerns not only about the health of players and their families, but also about the long-term prosperity of the NHL. For almost two decades, players have defended owners’ incomes through escrow (conditional salary reductions). Including throughout the crisis due to the pandemic, although the capital of club owners continues to grow exponentially. It’s time to fix the escrow situation.
We, as players, cannot resume the season without a collective agreement already concluded. This is a common opinion of all players.
In addition, I know that the process of choosing cities for the playoffs is ongoing. I sincerely wish that my teammates and I could train and play Madison Square Garden. Thus, returning jobs and economic opportunities to New York for fans and all New Yorkers.
Hockey fans and experts began to wonder what Panarin wanted to say. Who is behind him? Why did not one of the NHL blocks support the Russian? The question is still open. Therefore, so far it remains to be limited only by assumptions. Personally, I draw such conclusions.
1) Few people paid attention to the ending of the speech of Artemy. Many media outlets have omitted it altogether. And it seems to me that it is in it that the whole sermyaga is enclosed. Why did the Uralean suddenly remember New York, which had never been listed as one of the two hub cities in any way for the resumption of the season? I have only one answer: Panarin made this statement at the urgent request of the owners of the Rangers, who really expect to host 12 clubs of the East at Madison Square Garden!
Why not? After all, the decision, as the Russian rightly remarks, has not yet been made. Yes, New York, along with New Jersey, was the focus of disease in the United States. Like Moscow and Moscow Region in Russia. But whoever first enters the pandemic is the first to emerge from it. The example of our capital confirms this.
In America, due to numerous mass protests and pogroms, the situation is different. On Friday, an anti-record was established for the daily gain of infected people – almost 41 thousand. The record virus spread this week, in particular, was noted in the states of Arizona, California, Mississippi, Nevada, Florida, Texas. But, as insiders convinced, among the candidates for the hubs of Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, the largest city of Nevada, is almost 95 percent one of the two hubs. After the NHL got burned in Florida, where three players and two Tampa employees fell ill right away, which caused them to close the main arena and Lightning training center for almost a week, Bettman and Co. would think a hundred times where to house two dozen teams .
Therefore, on the one hand, I am annoyed by the silence of the NHL regarding the case report for the week ending. On the other, it’s not surprising. So there is something to hide. There is something to think about. So, Panarin not just hinted that New York is ready to host 12 clubs in the East. Moreover, Apple has significant chances for this.
2) Also, few people paid attention to the phrase “this is the general opinion of all players” regarding the need to conclude a new collective agreement before the restart of the season. Again, in many media outlets, this crucial point when quoting Panarin was simply ruled out.
But does anyone really believe that a hockey player with a second patch in the league would say this without the consent and support of all union members? Of course not! So why wait for similar demarches from McDavid, Matthews, Marner, Bobrovsky, Vasilevsky, Tavares, Karlsson, Bextrem, Rantanen, Aho, Josie? I specifically listed only 11 of the highest paid NHL players who, in the 2020/21 season with subscription bonuses, should receive, like Panarin, more than $ 10 million.
On the contrary, it’s good that everyone is silent. So they agree with Artemy!
3) The current collective agreement between the union and the league is valid until September 2022. However, due to the pandemic, the structure and timing of the next season will obviously change dramatically. The NHL is ready to start it even in January, but hold in full format with 82 rounds in the regular season. And this means that the Stanley Cup-2021 will end exactly in mid-September.
Naturally, in connection with the force majeure that has arisen, it is necessary to agree on a new agreement on the shore. Right now. Until the restart of the season. When the union can still set conditions, for the end of the season and the Stanley Cup 2020 are needed first of all to the owners. Players have already received all the money for this season.
From the very beginning, Escrow was the NHL Trojan horse, which players with the union clearly underestimated, if not to say, profiled. Now it’s time for everyone to deal with him. How can players sacrifice relatively painlessly to stabilize the situation? Is that the growth of the salary ceiling! Owners at a certain level fix with a guarantee not to raise escrow, the trade union agrees on the same with regard to the salary ceiling. If anyone forgot, since 2005, when the payroll limit was introduced in the NHL, it has more than doubled – from $ 39 million to $ 81.5 million.
It seems that it is precisely in this direction that the league and the union are looking for consensus these days. The media has already leaked information that the parties are close to renegotiating the collective agreement for another 6 years. At the same time, the NHL for two seasons fixes both escrow – approximately at the level of 20 percent, and the salary ceiling in the current amount of $ 81.5 million.
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