Agent: Players should 'stand firm,' avoid renegotiating new CBA

NHL player agent Andy Scott believes the NHLPA would be wise not to capitulate to the league so soon after signing off on a new collective bargaining agreement.

On Wednesday, the NHL reportedly asked the players to defer twice the amount of salary they'd consented to in the adjusted CBA, which both sides rubber-stamped over the summer before returning to play.

"The NHL is waiting on a response from the PA and I don't think the players want to do anything with respect to that proposal," Scott told Postmedia's Bruce Garrioch on Sunday. "Looking at it from 30,000 feet, you go back to the CBA extension that was signed in July and you're four months into the future and they're already looking (to) renegotiate."

The Ottawa-based player representative for Octagon Hockey doesn't think it's right that the league is trying to change the terms of the deal in such short order.

"That CBA was extended in the midst of the pandemic. Nothing has changed and no more information has come to light in the last four months," Scott said. "We knew we were in a pandemic, they finished the season in a bubble, the Stanley Cup was awarded in September, and we're still not into the 2020-21 season. The NHL is asking for all these concessions to a contract that was formalized four months ago.

“The players need to stand firm and they need to set a precedent they aren't willing to negotiate in the middle of a CBA.”

The NHL reportedly made two proposals Wednesday. One asked players to defer 20% of their salaries with escrow rising to 25%, and the second requested that they set aside 26% of their salaries for next season with escrow remaining the same until the final three years of the six-year CBA.

The current agreement calls for players to defer 10% of their salaries with escrow capped at 20%.