How Will the Looming ECHL Strike Affect the Texas Stars?

File photo from April 11, 2025
(Credit: Idaho Steelheads)

In case you hadn't heard, which would be excused in the bustle of getting ready for the holiday season, the ECHL players have served notice of their intent to strike, starting on Christmas.

As background, both the AHL and ECHL players are represented by the Professional Hockey Players Association (PHPA) and each league has its own Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players in that league. Since the summer, both the AHL and ECHL have been operating without a current CBA in place. Both expired, coincidentally at the same time not by any divine plan, and this season has been played in both leagues under an extension of the prior CBA while negotiations continue.

The NHL is operated under its own CBA, which is negotiated between the league and the NHLPA. Each of these deals is negotiated separately.

In November, the PHPA issued a statement broadly on behalf of the ECHL players listing their grievances against the league and stating their position. Another letter, an open letter to ECHL fans, followed on Monday.

The PHPA claims that the ECHL has been engaged in unfair labor practices related to the bargaining process. At issue are many items, including:

• Player safety - Rules (or lack thereof) regarding equipment fitment and condition are causing potential player safety issues. Some players claim they have been forced to wear ill-fitting or used helmets.
• Travel scheduling - The ECHL is mostly a bus league, and some of those trips can be grueling. It's not all a quick jaunt from Fort Wayne to Indianapolis. Some teams are putting in nearly a full day of bus travel (nine hours as claimed by the PHPA) to get home or even between road destinations. Further, the PHPA claims these travel days are the team's "day off".
• Holiday breaks - The PHPA wants to ensure a "meaningful" holiday break for all ECHL players, consistent with the ones that the AHL is currently on and the NHL starts on Christmas Eve.
• Pay - Of course pay is at issue here, as it would be anytime there is a CBA dispute. Player contracts are one of the largest expenses, if not the largest expense, the league's owners have. The PHPA, of course, being savvy to their audience that might see the players as ungrateful for being paid to play a game does not mention this in their release. The competing narrative from the ECHL includes a note about an offer the league has extended to increase the salary cap by 16.7% this year (including retroactive payments) and more in future years.

If all of this is not resolved by Friday, the ECHL will go dark. There are 13 games currently scheduled for Friday, including Idaho facing off against Utah in Salt Lake City.

(Credit: Idaho Steelheads)

With this labor strife on the horizon, the AHL, the PHPA or someone else with knowledge of the AHL-specific negotiations was sure to leak to the press that the AHL CBA is close to being finalized with a five-year term. Even if it weren't, the NHL would never let the AHL go dark like the ECHL might. There is simply too much riding on the AHL continuing operations for that to ever happen.

But no one from the NHL is coming to save the ECHL.

In talking to sources across the AHL, it is a mixed bag right now on what the league's teams will do. Most believe any NHL or AHL contracted players will be recalled to their AHL teams for the duration of the strike, but no one was able or willing to make a definitive statement to that effect. One gets the feeling that everyone is hoping this is an irrelevant line of questioning after the two sides come to some sort of agreement before Friday.

Texas Stars hockey ops was unavailable for comment before press time on this story.

Specific to Dallas, Texas and Idaho, there are just five players on the Steelheads roster who would be eligible for recall:

1. G Ben Kraws
2. D Aidan Hreschuk
3. F Francesco Arcuri
4. F Angus MacDonell
5. F Kaleb Pearson

Unless someone gets a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Future in the next two days, we'll all find out what a labor strike looks like in the minor leagues firsthand starting Friday.