Player agent Allan Walsh threatens legal action against NHL if they force a season cancellation

Here we are in December with NHL and NHLPA negotiations at a near stand-still due to financial disagreements, yet a January 1st target has remained the NHL's focus to kick off the 2020-21 season. If it feels like you're missing something, you're not alone.

There is much confusion and even some doubt surrounding the status of the 2020-21 season, which looks poised for another delay. Prior to the start of these negotiations, a December 1st start date was the target, of course moving to a probable January 1st start date shortly thereafter.

The sticking point for the players in these negotiations is that they have already agreed to certain financial concessions with the NHL, agreeing to accept less pay to play due to the impact that COVID-19 has had on NHL organizations. Now the NHL wants to re-open these negotiations and strike a new deal, asking for an additional $300M in financial concessions from the players, which both they and their agents are vehemently opposed to.

The water was muddy at the start, but the latest development has the NHL considering a Force Majeure and outright cancelling the 2020-21 season if an agreement cannot be reached, per player agent Allan Walsh, who took to Twitter on Tuesday evening to explain why the league would be making a huge mistake if they did. You can see his rant below:

The threat of legal action taken on the players' part against the NHL should a forced lockout become a reality will hopefully be enough to dissuade the league from going that route. The financial impacts of COVID-19 on organizations is already hard enough without having to deal with a potential multi-billion dollar lawsuit that could have massive consequences for the entire league.

TSN's Darren Dreger reached out to Walsh on Twitter in response to his rant in an attempt to clear the air surrounding a possible Force Majeure threat, stating his opinion that he believes both sides want a deal to be reached and a season to occur, all but dismissing the idea of a forced cancellation or a possible lockout scenario.

Although we still await some answers regarding the fate of the upcoming season, we certainly won't have to wait long to determine whether training camps will begin midway through this month, as time is running out on that idea. At this point, it looks as though a mid-late January or early February start is far more likely should a season occur.

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