from Damien Cox at the Toronto Sun,

The biggest question is whether the NHL can resume without substantial income from selling tickets and filling arenas. A few months of bubble hockey without fans is one thing. The players had already been paid. But another season without ticket revenue of any kind just doesn’t work. That is, it doesn’t work if players are to receive their full salaries.

What that means is that the next six months, and possibly the next year, is going to represent the biggest challenge for the NHL and the union since the 2004-05 disaster. The politics of NHL labour relations will determine whether the owners and players can work this out, or whether this becomes a massive labour imbroglio pitting the two sides against each other.

Right now, the signs are positive. The NHL’s return to play has basically gone off without a hitch. Just before these bubble playoffs began, the two sides agreed on an extension to the collective bargaining agreement to Sept. 15, 2026, and possibly another year after that.

In theory, this guarantees labour peace. But if the business can’t get back to pre-pandemic revenue levels relatively soon, that CBA agreement could be threatened, particularly if the players aren’t willing to absorb significant pay cuts.

Both sides are keenly aware of the threat. One of the less-discussed parts of the CBA extension is that players have already agreed to defer 10 per cent of their salaries, to be paid out over three seasons beginning in 2022-23.

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