Ramblings: Board of Governors meeting; Bubble Keeper Week; Heiskanen vs. Dahlin – November 13

The NHL Board of Governors had a call on Thursday afternoon but there wasn't a lot of traction. This was not a call to offer a proposal to the players, but rather a call to start sorting out the affairs on the side of the owners before they send a proposal to the players. There wasn’t anything new to us a they reiterated the target of New Year’s Day, but that’s still a moving target.

One note from ESPN's Greg Wyshynski:

 

NHL and BoG discussed concepts and options for the 2020-21 season, but as expected there was no formal proposal on a format.

There was talk about discussions with NHLPA but “nothing” on the potential for pro-rated salaries, an issue ID’d by many as possible obstacle w/ players.

— Greg Wyshynski (@wyshynski) November 12, 2020

 

The pro-rated salaries are an issue. Players aren't paid on a per-game basis, but rather twice per month through the regular season. In other words, whether they play 82 games or are a healthy scratch for 30 games, as long as they're in the NHL, they get their full NHL salary for that year.

The likelihood of 82 games for 2020-21 seems quite low and obviously there will be fans either not at the arena at all or in a reduced capacity. Owners will lament the drop in revenue and may ask players to take quite a significant pay cut. Grab some popcorn.

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Pierre LeBrun over at TSN somewhat confirmed what has been suspected all along:

 

And finally, given the continued border restrictions, looking more and more like a 2020-21 season begins with an all-Canadian division at least until they can figure out how to cross the border later in the season…  so that should be fun. But again, nothing decided for sure yet

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) November 12, 2020

 

He later