“The top priority is to preserve German ice hockey and its clubs,” said the national team’s captain, Moritz Mller of the Klner Haien, the “Ice Hockey News”. “When it comes down to whether we can play a season or not, I would be willing to drop my salary,” said Olympic silver medalist Gerrit Fauser of the Grizzlys Wolfsburg. Other players made similar comments.
The DEL had previously stated that the voluntary waiver by the players of part of their money was part of the licensing process. If the clubs cannot prove that they save 25 percent of their salary costs by the end of May, the license can be refused. The background to this are the economic effects and the uncertainty during the coronavirus pandemic. It is still unclear whether the new season can start on September 18 as planned.
Since clubs are dependent on revenue from spectators, ghost games, such as those currently in football, are only available for a limited time. According to dpa information, a season start in December or January is also conceivable if necessary. Then only one main round would be played without playoffs. Due to the corona crisis, the DEL had canceled the previous season in March without losing a champion.
Regardless of the corona crisis, the silver winners of Pyeongchang Mller and Patrick Reimer (Nuremberg) are pursuing the founding of a players’ union. Right now, the interests of the professionals should be pooled for dialogue with the clubs and the league. “We quickly realized that it made sense for us players to speak with one voice on this issue,” said Mller, who has been planning a union for some time. There seem to be no fundamental problems of practically being forced to forego salary.
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