Quick Hits: McAvoy, Mangiapane, Ekman-Larsson, and the CBA
Andrew Mangiapane will he hit arbitration?
© Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
McAvoy’s salary breakdown

Cap Friendly: Salary breakdown for Charlie McAvoy‘s new deal with the Boston Bruins.

2019-20: $1.2M base salary, $2.5M signing bonus
2020-21: $2.7M base salary, $1M signing bonus
2021-22: $7.3M base salary

Flames re-sign Mangiapane

Kristen Anderson: The Calgary Flames have signed RFA forward Andrew Mangiapane to a one-year, two-way contract worth $715,000.

It’s lower than he had been hoping for but it gets him in training camp.

Ekman-Larsson day-to-day

Richard Morin of the Arizona Republic: Arizona Coyotes defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson is listed as day-to-day. Ekman-Larsson had an offseason procedure and is skating.

He dealt with a knee injury last season and was attacked by a dog in the summer.

Coyotes GM John Chayka when asked if his issue was directly related to his knee injury for last year.

“In some ways, yes; in some ways, no,” Chayka said. “It’s just something that’s been nagging him for a number of years now. Just an opportunity for him to clean it up and get ready for the season, so he’s 100 percent healthy and strong, so he’s got no concerns heading into the season.”

Bob McKenzie’s tweet thread on the CBA, NHLPA, NHL and today’s deadline

Bob McKenzie: Today is the deadline for the NHLPA to decide on whether to open the CBA or not.

“You don’t want to talk about NHL labor issues. Neither do I. But talk about them, we must. Because today is a vitally important day that could be the difference between a possible work stoppage in one year or labor peace for at least three more years and possibly 6 or 7.

Of course, it’s never quite as simple as it looks. For the past number of days/weeks/months, the NHL and NHLPA have been negotiating potential amendments to existing CBA and discussing framework/details of a CBA extension that could give us labor peace to 2025, maybe even 2026.

The two sides haven’t reached agreement on current CBA amendments or a new CBA extension, but by all accounts they have made some notable progress. But today is the deadline for the players to make their decision on the re-opener, so a decsion is coming.

And here’s where things start to get tricky. If the players re-open and we’re on the clock with a deadline of Sept. 15, 2020 for a new CBA, do the cordial/progressive talks that have been taking place continue to be cordial? Or does the NHL revert to a more hawkish position?

This is the calculated risk of the players re-opening the CBA — the threat of the current amicable/progressive negotiations perhaps going south to a door that is wide open to a potential lockout.

Now, this threat must be weighed against risks associated with NOT re-opening the CBA today. As stated earlier, as soon as NHLPA announces NO re-opener, the current CBA is extended until Sept. 15, 2022. The players want changes to this CBA; that’s what they’ve been negotiating.

So the players have to ask themselves: How motivated will the NHL be to continuing negotiations on existing CBA modifications/new CBA extension when the existing CBA, exactly as is, has just been extended to 2022?

The NHL has pledged to continue good-faith negotiations. And for the first time, perhaps ever with a potentially expiring CBA, the NHL appears to be pre-disposed to NOT want a lockout this time, what with potential U.S. national TV deal and new gambling revenues on the horizon.

So, if you’re the players, what do you do? Re-open and take your chances on getting a new CBA in one year with a lockout threat looming? Or not re-open, extend this current CBA for three years and hope the NHL continues to negotiate amendments to current CBA and a new extension?

Either way, we find out today. The decision was finalized last night on an NHLPA conference call with its executive committee and team player reps. All that remains is for the announcement to be made today.”