from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

- We are 14 months away from the NHL and NHLPA being able to exercise re-openers on the collective-bargaining agreement. The league has until Sept. 1, 2019 and the PA until Sept. 15, 2019 to opt out. If either side re-opens, the agreement expires following the 2019-20 season. The sides are expected to chat informally this summer, but no formal meetings have been scheduled.

The league is expected to move to redefine hockey-related revenue in order to come away with a larger share of its 50-50 cut. There will likely be a push to set maximum contract term at five years, the hill on which Deputy Dawg Bill Daly died during the 2012-13 Owners’ Lockout III. And we have been told by a mole that Commissioner Gary Bettman has already addressed/lectured the Board of Governors on the topic of signing bonuses for the lockout season; as in, stop giving them out.

Biometrics will be a significant issue in the talks. Indeed, we’re told the issue is already arising in certain precincts. We’re told that there are teams taking the position they own the right to monitor, for instance, a players’ heartbeat 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year. The players quite naturally feel otherwise. Who wouldn’t?

- Artemi Panarin’s decision not to engage in negotiations for an extension with the Blue Jackets was motivated solely by his desire to play and live in a major market. You (and more to the point, he) can take it to the bank that the Rangers will be all in if the transcendent Bread Man reaches free agency next summer.

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