How the Seattle Kraken will save the NHL

The NHL is in dire straits.

Unlike the NBA, NFL and the MLB, the NHL is still very much a "gate-driven" league. The NHL doesn't have the multi billion dollar contracts that these other leagues have and, as a result, the NHL relies on ticket sales for most of its revenue. Now, as you might have noticed, there aren't exactly many places where you can legally hold events and cash in on ticket sales these days... 

So as you might expect, the NHL is hurting... badly.

So who will save them? The Seattle Kraken.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post reports that the NHL and the NHLPA are currently at odds over the 2020-21 season due to a $300 million shortfall. The NHL contends that it cannot operate a season unless the players relinquish that $300 million from their salaries. Brooks reports though that the league may get its money in the form of an advance on the $650 million owed to them from the expansion Kraken who are set to hit the ice in 2021-22.

From Books:

If the NHL needs another $300 million in order to proceed with the 2020-21 season — and that is essentially what Sixth Avenue has represented to the NHLPA — why don’t Gary Bettman, Bill Daly and the Board of Directors simply ask Seattle to advance up to half of the $650 million expansion fee that is currently due before the Kraken’s inaugural 2021-22 season?

Wouldn’t that take care of it, and more appropriately than the owners approaching the players with hands out claiming that the league had massively miscalculated the impact of the pandemic even though the league ran models calculating the impact of the pandemic before agreeing to a six-year collective bargaining agreement extension four-plus months ago?

Instead of asking, say, Scott Mayfield, who is scheduled to earn $1.2 million this year, for an immediate rebate that would amount to $242,400 (or 20.2 percent of his pay), Bettman and his wartime consigliere, Boston owner “Mr. Jacobs” should ask Seattle owners David Bonderman and Jerry Bruckheimer to float the league.

An interesting proposition, but let's get real... if the Kraken are going to go ahead and cut a check for $300 million to essentially float the league for a season they're going to expect one Hell of a kickback when they hit the ice in 2021-22. Frankly, I don't see it happening. I think it's much more likely that the players swallow their pride and pony up so that they can hit the ice in 2020-21.