Top NHL agent slams hockey league after Penguins' affiliate goes on strike

A work stoppage has taken hold in the ECHL as labor talks with the Professional Hockey Players' Association crumble further.

The league said Friday the PHPA did not respond to what it called its last, best, and final offer for a new collective bargaining agreement.

Earlier this week, the PHPA had announced its ECHL members had filed an official strike notice that became effective Friday, coinciding with the scheduled return-to-play following the holiday break.

By Friday afternoon, the ECHL confirmed it had heard from players who would not be showing up to scheduled games. Thirteen games were on the docket to be played.

The league said that its latest offer included a 19.8 percent increase to the salary cap for this season, along with further bumps over the next several years, amounting to a 27 percent hike.

The proposal also required off days, better equipment like custom sticks and five-star helmets, and per diem increases.

As tensions escalated, high-profile NHL agent Allan Walsh, an outspoken critic, lambasted the ECHL's approach to negotiations and assailed how the players have been treated since the strike began.

His remarks brought a largely behind-the-scenes dispute into the national forefront.

The ECHL is a developmental North American league that sits two tiers below the NHL. It exists beneath the American Hockey League and consists of 30 teams: 29 in the United States and one in Trois-Rivières, Quebec.

CBA talks began in January, with PHPA executive director Brian Ramsay previously accusing the league of unfair bargaining practices, including direct outreach to players with proposals that have since been reported to the National Labor Relations Board.