NHL.com: Releases the full details of their offer to the NHLPA here with text.
NYIFC Comments:
Some things do stand out which can be interpreted different ways, until we know what the NHLPA response is to write more simply could be wasting time.
Donald Fehr, I have little doubt will want much more in terms of concessions, but this does shift the burden for a continued lockout to him.
Updated: AP: Fehr has made clear he's not a big fan of this offer.
Bottom line these are the terms Charles Wang has agreed to as an NHL owner in a new CBA which appear to give him possible revenue sharing, will lose the rights to Kirill Petrov entirely, and will force all NHL owners to make the cap floor without performance bonuses which is much tougher when you draft top prospects, who all receive the same the standard ELC bonus contract.
• 2012/13 Payroll Range
Lower Limit = $43.9 Million
Midpoint = $51.9 Million
Upper Limit = $59.9 Million
• Appropriate "Transition Rules" to allow Clubs to exceed Upper Limit
for the 2012/13 season only (but in no event will Club's Averaged Club
Salary be permitted to exceed the pre-CBA Upper Limit of $70.2 Million).
• Money paid to Players on NHL SPCs (one-ways and two-ways) in
another professional league will not be counted against the Players'
Share, but all dollars paid in excess of $105,000 will be counted
against the NHL Club's Averaged Club Salary for the period during which
such Player is being paid under his SPC while playing in another
professional league.
• In the context of Player Trades, participating Clubs will be
permitted to allocate Cap charges and related salary payment obligations
between them, subject to specified parameters. Specifically, Clubs may
agree to retain, for each of the remaining years of the Player's SPC,
no more than the lesser of: (i) $3 million of a particular SPC's Cap
charge or (ii) 50 percent of the SPC's AAV ("Retained Salary
Transaction"). In any Retained Salary Transaction, salary obligations
as between Clubs would be allocated on the same percentage basis as Cap
charges are being allocated. So, for instance, if an assigning Club
agrees to retain 30% of an SPC's Cap charge over the balance of its
term, it will also retain an obligation to reimburse the acquiring Club
30% of the Player's contractual compensation in each of the remaining
years of the contract. A Club may not have more than two (2) contracts
as to which Cap charges have been allocated between Clubs in a Player
Trade, and no more than $5 million in allocated Cap charges in the
aggregate in any one season.
5. Cap Accounting:
• Payroll Lower Limit must be satisfied without performance bonuses.
6. System Changes:
• Entry Level System commitment will be limited to two (2) years
(covering two full seasons) for all Players who sign their first SPC
between the ages of 18 and 24 (i.e., where the first year of the SPC
only covers a partial season, SPC must be for three (3) years).
• Maintenance of existing Salary Arbitration System subject to: (i)
total mutuality of rights with regard to election as between Player and
Club, and (ii) eligibility for election moved to five years of
professional experience (from the current four years).
• Group 3 UFA eligibility for Players who are 28 or who have eight
(8) Accrued Seasons (continues to allow for early UFA eligibility -- age
26).
• Maximum contract length of five (5) years.
• Limit on year-to-year salary variability on multi-year SPCs --
i.e., maximum increase or decrease in total compensation (salary and
bonuses) year-over-year limited to 5% of the value of the first year of
the contract. (For example, if a Player earns $10 million in total
compensation in Year 1 of his SPC, his compensation (salary and bonuses)
cannot increase or decrease by more than $500,000 in any subsequent
year of his SPC.)
• Re-Entry waivers will be eliminated, consistent with the Cap
Accounting proposal relating to the treatment of Players on NHL SPCs
playing in another professional league.
• NHL Clubs who draft European Players obtain four (4) years of
exclusive negotiating rights following selection in the Draft. If the
four-year period expires, Player will be eligible to enter the League as
a Free Agent and will not be subject to re-entering the Draft.
7. Revenue Sharing:
• Current "Disqualification" criteria in CBA (for Clubs in Top Half
of League revenues and Clubs in large media markets) will be removed.
