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Come Fan with UsTuesday, June 30, 2026

NHL Players To Receive Escrow Payments In October

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NHL players will receive escrow payments from last season sometime in mid-October, according to James Mirtle of The Globe and Mail. These paychecks could be particularly important to players as it becomes increasingly likely that the beginning of the season will be delayed by a lockout.

With the league and the players union struggling to make any sort of progress on a new collective bargaining agreement, it’s becoming all but assured that the league will lockout players for the start of the season. That has many players talking about playing in Europe, but it appears they will get some payment even if they don’t play elsewhere.

According to Mirtle, players will receive about 6.5 to 8.5 percent of their 2011-2012 salary In October, which equates to roughly two weeks’ pay. For the average player, that figures to be around $150,000 to $200,000 in each escrow payment, but star players like Alexander Ovechkin will receive as much as $700,000.

For more on the NHL and its collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the NHLPA, please visit SB Nation’s hockey hub.

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