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Friday, March 29, 2024

Contract Dispute Leads to NHL Lockout

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The 2012-2013 NHL season has been placed on hold, following a breakdown in negotiations between team owners and professional hockey players.NHL owners have suspended the 2012-13 season after the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) which had been ratified in the wake of the 2004-05 labor stoppage, expired at 11:59 last Saturday.

Just this past weekend, the league announced the cancellation all of its preseason games for the month of September. The regular season is scheduled to begin on Oct. 11, but with very little progress in recent labor meetings, many around the league doubt that will happen.

The current lockout is the leagues fourth since the 1992 season, and the first since the one that caused the cancellation of the entire 2004-05 season. The main issue dividing the two sides in this lockout is the distribution of hockey-related revenue. Under the recently-expired CBA, the players were entitled to 57% of hockey-related revenue (HRR). The owners last proposal before the lockout was offered the player a decreased 47%, while the players were looking at least 50%. “This is a lock-out of choice, they don’t have to do this,” said the players’ union head Donald Fehr after an unsuccessful labor meeting in midtown last week.

The lockout comes on the heels of one of the finest and exciting NHL seasons in memory. The 2012 campaign saw the New York Rangers have a breakout season leading the eastern conference in wins and points. Along the way, the blue shirts beat several of the top teams in the league and sent three of their players and their head coach to the Al-Star game. The Rangers and Devils met for an exciting seven game series in the conference finals with New Jersey advancing to the finals with an OT goal in game six. The Devils found themselves in a 0-3 hole in the Stanley Cup finals and eventually lost to the Los Angeles Kings four games to two.

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