The 1992 National Hockey League strike is a memorable moment in the league’s history. It was the first strike in the competition, and it was triggered by the National Hockey League Players’ Association and was against the owners of the NHL teams. The strike lasted for ten days from 1st April.
Motive for the Strike
The strike was by member players of the National Hockey League Players’ Association, a body formed in 1967 to represent the grievances of players. The players started the strike towards the end of the season, which placed them at an advantage over the owners since most profits were realized at this time. Hockey players rejected the offer tabled by owners.
Losing players in the first round used to get bonuses amounting to $3,000. Those who managed to get in the Stanley Cup playoffs were getting a more significant share which was $25,000. The owners’ stake was at $500,000, and this was the sole cause of the strike. Players wanted a bigger portion.
Negotiations
Talks took place to settle the issue and resume normal programmes. The first talks between the two parties resulted in players walking out of the meeting due to continued disagreements. After this incident, a Federal Mediator from the United States joined the negotiations the following day to help solve the stalemate. This resulted in a series of agreements between both parties.
Owners discussed how trading card revenues would be split and hoped to increase their annual revenue collection from $16 million. On 10th April, the strike came to an end after all issues were sorted. Players and owners had a detailed two-year agreement. This gave room for the remaining 30 games in the regular season to take place and also the Stanley Cup playoffs to be played. Players received more bonuses and the number of games in a season increased to 84 from 80.