The Utah Grizzles won’t be playing until further notice. Here’s why

The ECHL (formerly known as the East Coast Hockey League), which hosts the Utah Grizzlies and 29 other NHL-affiliated professional hockey teams, will halt gameplay effective Dec. 26.

The players are going on strike.

The Professional Hockey Players’ Association, a union that negotiates collective bargaining rights for players in both the ECHL and the American Hockey League, released two memos on Monday.

The first, posted on X at 1:35 p.m. MT, was a message to the fans describing the conditions under which players have been playing, as well as what they feel are “unfair and unlawful” attempts by the league to coerce the players into signing a new agreement.

Included in the memo were complaints alleging that:

• Players were not permitted to choose helmets that “properly fit” them.
• Travel days were to be considered days off — even when there’s a nine-hour bus ride involved.
• Players couldn’t get one day off per week.
• Teams were outfitting their players with used equipment.
• They couldn’t come to a conclusion on a holiday break.
• The league sent two communications directly to the players, rather than going through the union, attempting to “bully and intimidate players with tactics that violate U.S. labor law.”

The second memo came out at 6:15 p.m., notifying the public that the association had served a strike notice.

“We are asking for basic standards around health, safety and working conditions that allow the players to remain healthy, compete at a high level and build sustainable professional careers,” said PHPA executive director Brian Ramsay in the second memo.

The minimum weekly pay is $530 for rookies and $570 for returning players. The weekly salary cap for each team is $14,600 (with an extra $530 per week available in the first 30 days of the season).

The previous CBA expired this summer, and the two sides began this season under the existing terms while negotiations continued.

The ECHL released a memo Monday afternoon detailing what it says is its most recent offer to the players:

• An immediate 16.4% increase to the salary cap for this season (to be paid retroactively to the start of the season);
• Additional salary cap increases in future years increasing the cap by “nearly 27%”;
• Requirements for mandatory days off;
• Addressing travel between back-to-back games;
• Modifying holiday and mid-season breaks;
• Enable every team to provide custom sticks and enable all players to choose an alternate 5-Star rated helmet from the Virginia Tech Helmet Study;
• Increase per diems to $60 this year and more in subsequent years.

While the PHPA has shown frustration on the ECHL negotiation front, they have reportedly come to an agreement with the AHL — the league above the ECHL — on a new CBA, according to a post made by insider Elliotte Friedman Monday morning.

The ECHL did not have any games scheduled between Dec. 21 and 25.