Fehr: salary cap could be on the table if lockout drags on

The NHLPA hasn’t put the salary cap on the table yet, but the union’s executive director, Donald Fehr, isn’t ruling it out if CBA negotiations with the NHL continue to falter.

“If this goes on for an extended period of time, I don’t know what they (the players) are going to do,” Fehr told the Toronto Star’s editorial board. “But I think it’s safe to say, they would be exploring all options.”

Suffice to say, if the players propose a return to a non-cap system we won’t be watching NHL hockey for quite some time. For the owners, that’s a non-starter.

Fehr has made similar comments in the past, so we can’t exactly call this a shot across the NHL’s bow. Just prior to the lockout, he told ESPN that “the players are as free to reconsider their positions as the owners.”

Fortunately, he’s not quite ready to lead the NHLPA down that path: “If there can be an agreement in a relatively short term, which puts the pieces back together and gets the season going, I think the players can live with that.”

Related: Salvador wants “the right deal so this doesn’t happen every five or six years”