Quoting: aadoyle
Fleury not being allowed to wear that mask makes 0 sense
Bettman just be losing the room
Bettman cares about a different room (the owners) and not the players, media, or fans opinions about it.
NHLPA social media is crickets about this, and other similiar issues. Nothing from Marty Walsh
Feels like there is a big leadership gap here, or they are letting the NHL take all the heat as part of future leverage. Or is Bettman using this as a way to give the players a "win" in future negotations while his owners "win" when it comes to the money.
The CBA extension expires after the 2025-26 season and there seems to be 4 major issues:
1) Hockey-Related Revenues growth and sharing (Salary Cap). This is where I think we will see some challenges for individual players to earn outside of the HRR as the NHL has vastly under-monetized NIL for professional hockey players.
2) International participation = Olympic and World Cup of Hockey
3) Player Safety. Obviously cut-resistant gear will be discussed; but also penalites, suspensions, fines, and long term health issues (CTE, etc).
4) Mandates vs Freedom of Expression on auxiliary gear (laces, stick tape, goalie helmets, practice jerseys, etc).
What I worry about is that because there are 4 major issues; too many compromises will be made and we'll be back in the same boat with wishy-washy NHL governance.