2012–13 NHL lockout

The 2012 NHL lockout is an ongoing labour dispute that began at 11:59 p.m. (EDT) on September 15, 2012, following the expiration of the National Hockey League (NHL)'s collective bargaining agreement (CBA), less than a month prior to the scheduled beginning of the 2012–13 NHL season. The owners declared a lockout of the members of the National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA) after a new agreement could not be reached before their deadline. The lockout delays the start of the 2012–13 NHL season, which originally was scheduled to begin on October 11, 2012.

At issue for the owners is a desire to reduce the players' guaranteed share of 57% of hockey related revenues (HRR), a desire to introduce term limits on contracts, eliminate salary arbitration and change free agency rules. The union's initial offers have focused on increased revenue sharing between owners and a fixed salary cap that is not linked to league revenues. As the deadline for a work stoppage approached, the union challenged the league's ability to lock out players of three Canadian teams – the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames (in the jurisdiction of Alberta), and the Montreal Canadiens (in the jurisdiction of Quebec). The lockout is the fourth lockout (the third involving players) in the 19 years since Gary Bettman became NHL Commissioner in 1993, following player lockouts in 1994–95 and 2004–05 as well as an officials' lockout in 1993. This is also the second labour dispute for NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr, who was previously involved in the 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike when he was the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

Cancelled games

The NHL cancelled all September preseason games on September 19, and on September 27 the remainder of the preseason schedule through October 8 was cancelled, resulting in approximately $100 million in lost revenue. The start of the regular season, scheduled for October 11, was postponed on October 4, when a total of 82 scheduled games through October 24 were cancelled.

Issues

The owners identified their key issues in their first offer, presented on July 13, 2012. Their offer retained the framework established following the 2004–05 NHL lockout but made numerous changes to player salary and movement rights. Particularly:

• Reduce the players' share of HRR from 57 percent to 46 percent. Proposed modifications to HRR itself would actually reduce the players' share to 43 percent as defined by the expired CBA.
• Set a maximum term of five years on all new players' contracts.
• Eliminate signing bonuses and set a uniform salary for each year of a contract, thus eliminating "front-loading" of contracts.
• Extend entry level contracts for players entering the league from three years to five.
• Extend qualification for unrestricted free agency from seven years in the league to ten.

The players waited a month to offer a counter-proposal as it requested additional financial data from the league. When the union tabled its counter on August 14, it retained a salary cap, but de-linked it from revenue. It proposed a fixed cap for three years, followed by a players' option to return to the terms of the expired CBA in year four. Fehr suggested their proposal could save the league as much as US$465 million and would feature an enhanced revenue sharing system that would help lower revenue teams.

Negotiations

The two parties exchanged a pair of offers as the deadline for a lockout approached. The union's last offer before the lockout continued to call for an unlinked salary cap that would steadily increase over a five year term. Donald Fehr argued that if the league continued to see revenue increase at the seven percent average of the 2005–2012 CBA, the players' share of revenues would drop from the 57 percent they received in 2011–12 to a low of 52 percent in 2015–16, but increase in the final two years of the deal back to 54 percent. The NHL countered with a time-limited offer where it would continue with the existing definition of HRR and a linked salary cap that would pay the players 49 percent of revenues in 2012–13 and fall to 47 percent by the sixth year of the deal. Each side rejected the others' offer, and some veteran players expressed willingness to sit out an entire season if necessary. The National Hockey League officially locked its players out when the CBA expired. Several players then signed contracts to play in European leagues for the duration of the dispute.

The NHLPA challenged the NHL's right to lock out the players in two Canadian jurisdictions. Sixteen members of the Montreal Canadiens unsuccessfully sought a temporary injunction from the Quebec Labour Relations Board that would prevent the team from locking its players out of practice facilities and would have required the Canadiens to pay its players regardless. Twenty-one members of the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers sought similar relief from the Alberta Labour Relations Board, but the board ruled in favor of the NHL.

On October 16, Bettman offered a 50/50 split in the owners' latest CBA proposal, tabled on October 1.

The 50/50 split would ensure that the 2012-2013 season includes all 82 games, beginning November 2, as a full regular season would. It would do this by slightly condensing the season, adding a game for every team once every five weeks. Donald Fehr has yet to respond to this new deal, but said that it's an "excellent start" and will go over it with his membership at 5pm on October 16th.

Current proposal

The current proposal offered by the NHL offers the following.

• Six-year collective bargaining agreement with a mutual option for a seventh year
• Clarification of hockey-related revenue definitions and settlements
• 50/50 split in players share of hockey-related revenue
• Same payroll range methodology as the previous agreement
• "Transition Rules" to aid clubs in meeting the upper limit of the salary cap in 2012-13
• A payroll range of $43.9 million to $59.9 million in 2012-13
• Performance bonuses can no longer satisfy the lower limit of the salary cap.
• All years of existing contracts must be honored and counted against the cap whether or not a player is playing in the NHL, unless that player retires or otherwise ceases to receive pay.
• Money paid ot players in another professional league will not be counted against the players' share of hockey-related revenue, but will be counted against the cap
• Clubs will be allowed to trade cap space and salary payment obligations in trades under limited conditions
• Entry-level contracts are limited to two full seasons
• Maximum contract length of five years
• Group III unrestricted free agent eligibility for players who are at least 28 or have eight accrued seasons
• Stricter limits on year-to-year salary variability on multi-year contracts
• Elimination of re-entry waivers
• Four years of negotiation rights for drafted European players
• Revenue sharing pool of $200 million for 2012/13, assuming $3.033 billion in actual hockey-related revenue
• Half of revenue sharing pool to be raised by top 10 revenue grossing clubs
• Formation of Revenue Sharing Committee to administer revenue sharing pool
• No club will receive lessin total revenue sharing than it received in 2011/12
• "Disqualification" criteria for revenue sharing in large markets will be removed
• Provisions related to non-performing players eliminated
• Players retain right to arbitration
• No salary rollback
• Players share in subsequent years reduced to compentation for anticipated reduction in revenue from last year to this year and next year

Players' alternatives

As in the 2004–05 NHL lockout, the players have numerous options for playing professional hockey during the lockout. All players eligible for the American Hockey League were assigned to their AHL clubs leading into the lockout, as were players still eligible to play junior hockey. More experienced players have sought employment in European leagues such as the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), SM-liiga, Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL), Czech Extraliga (ELH), National League A (NLA) and the Elitserien (SEL). By October, over 100 NHL players had joined teams in Europe. Pavel Datsyuk, Ilya Kovalchuk, Evgeni Malkin, and Alexander Ovechkin were among the stars who returned to their native Russia.