Here are some of the reported highlights of the NHL's new CBA,
which is expected to ratified next week by both the players and
the owners.
|
Element |
Status |
|
Term |
Six years. |
| Salary Cap System |
The system will cap league-wide player
salaries at 54 percent of league revenues. A portion of each players
salary will be put in escrow to insure that player salaries do not
exceed 54 percent. |
| Team Salary Cap Range |
For 2005-06 the salary cap maximum will $39
million and the minimum will be $21.5 million based on revenues of $1.8
billion. In following years the cap will be adjusted depending on the
growth or decline in league revenues. |
| Player Salary Cap |
No player can earn more than 20 percent of
the team cap. |
| Salary Rollback |
All existing player contracts will have
salaries rolled back 24 percent. |
| Free Agency |
Free agency will stay at the current age of
31 this summer and then will eventually drop to 27 by the summer of
2008. Players will also qualify for unrestricted free agency after seven
years of NHL service. |
| Salary Arbitration |
Two-way arbitration where both players and
teams can elect to go to arbitration. It will also be baseball style
arbitration where the arbitrator will pick either the player's offer or
the team's offer, instead of splitting the difference. |
| Qualifying Offers |
No new information. At last report
qualifying offers for restricted free agents were said to be in the
range of 100 percent across the board. |
| Entry-Level System |
Entry-level salaries will be capped at
$850,000 and there is expected to be strict limits on the bonuses that
players used to haul in big money under the previous system. |
| Minimum Salary |
$450,000. |
| Revenue Sharing |
The top ten teams will commit a percentage
of their revenues to be distributed to the bottom ten revenue teams in
the league. Playoff money will also be a part of the revenue sharing
pool. |
| Buyouts |
A one-time provision where teams will be
allowed to buyout player contracts at two-thirds of their value and not
have it count against the cap. |
| Olympic Participation |
NHL players will take part in the 2006
Turin Olympics. There will be no All- Star game in 2006 as a result. |
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