from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

The expectation, affirmed in conversations within the past three days by essentially everyone on the NHL players’ side of the aisle, is that the union will decline to trigger the escalator for next season, thus creating a flat salary cap right around the current $73 million for 2017-18.

Well, not exactly. The NHLPA is not going to create the flat cap. The NHL will have done that by generating essentially no revenue growth over the past year. The players are picking their poison, choosing to go with a flat cap that restricts choices for free agents rather than creating a scenario under which escrow losses escalate.

We are told by individuals who traditionally have advocated pumping the maximum amount of dollars into the system that the infusion of dollars generated by the addition of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights has altered the equation for at least this time around.

Flatlining league revenue is one of the issues at the forefront of concern for a significant number of players and player agents that likely will lead to the installment of Chris Chelios, a hardliner from way back, as an ombudsman to the NHLPA as the union begins its preparation for the collective bargaining agreement negotiations that likely are on the 2019-20 horizon.

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