the nhl in trouble
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Will the NHL be around next year? Not if the current war between the league commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow doesn't come to a happy ending before September 15, 2004. The issue is escalating player salaries and broken team economics. Under the current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) player salaries have jumped from average player salaries exploded from $558000 to an unprecedented $1.79 million. Bettman is pushing a radically reduced team salary cap to $31 million per team, and the NHLPA isn't biting. If this little battle isn't resolved by September 15, a strike or lockout will almost surely take place. If that happens, there will almost certainly be casualties. Older players like Mark Messier and Chris Chelios would be facing a premature end to their careers, and teams such as the Pittsburg Penguins and Carolina Hurricanes might not be able to sustain the financial pressure of a work stoppage. And of course, Canada will not have its Hockey Night in Canada...