The Executive of the National Hockey League Players Association will meet in Chicago next week to discuss their next possible move when it comes to the league's collective bargaining agreement. That's according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun, who adds players have until September 15th to opt out of the current CBA, while the NHL has until this Sunday. He expects a decision from the league by the end of this weekend.
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Meanwhile, LeBrun's colleague, Darren Dreger, says he expects the NHL to decline its opt-out option.
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Should either side opt out, they would have until September, 2020 to reach an agreement, or a lockout will happen. The last one began on September 15th of 2012, and led to half of that season being missed before a new deal was reached. It was the third lockout in 19 years, since Gary Bettman took over as NHL commissioner in 1993. During the labour dispute, many NHL players went to other leagues in North America and Europe, while many businesses in the United States and Canada located near NHL arenas lost money as a result of the games not played.
If neither side is interested in opting out now, the current CBA will last until the end of the 2020-2021 season, at which point a new agreement would have to be reached before the next season starts.
