from Michale Grange of Sportsnet,

The owners defend shrinking the dollars available to the players so drastically in the first year by saying it wouldn’t be all that different from the escrow payments the players have always made under the previous CBA.

But escrow is designed as a failsafe for book-keeping purposes, not a pay cut. In theory the players are supposed to get their escrow money back.

The owners run the hockey business and they have a right to run it how they see fit and if it suits them to run a hard bargain it’s up to them, and they do hold most of the cards.

But if they care about a proper season of hockey being played they should put some of them on the table; they should relent on trying to lock in savings in the first year of the new CBA as an act of good faith. It’s hard to see a deal of any kind getting done without one.

Do the right thing and see where it leads.

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