NHL heading for another lockout? Players are preparing for it
It appears that NHL players may think another lockout is headed for the NHL and are starting to prepare for it by structuring their contracts in order to protect themselves.
The NHL and NHLPA have been able to work through situations since the 2012/13 lockout season, like when Covid basically shut down the world, the NHL made it possible for games to still happen through difficult times.
That may change as the NHL's current collective agreement will be expiring after the 2026 season.
The NHL is not as popular as many other professional sports including the MLB, NFL, and NBA, and those sports have seemed to bounce back since covid, and have seen massive increase in salary caps, the NHL has basically remained the same, and it seems like players are now expecting to seek a way bigger portion of the revenues generated.
Travis Yost of TSN reported that many more players are opting to take a big chunk of their money through signing bonuses during the lockout season. Many players with multi-year deals through the 2026-2027 season have a bigger payday coming through signing bonuses hinting a potential lockout could be coming.
By taking more pay through signing bonuses rather then generated revenue the owners don't have as much leverage over the players.
If the NHL had another lockout it would be detrimental to the league.
As seen on Bladeofsteel:
NHL Players appear to be preparing for another lockout
| POLL | ||
Do you think another lockout is on the way? | ||
| Yes | 36 | 32.7 % |
| No | 30 | 27.3 % |
| I hope not | 44 | 40 % |
| List of polls | ||
