ECHL players are on strike as of Friday, Dec. 26.
The hockey minor league's first in-season work stoppage took effect as games are being postponed leaguewide. The league, in its 38th season, had a previous strike in 2003, but in the offseason, and it was resolved before play began.
The Professional Hockey Players' Association confirmed the strike's initiation in a statement on Friday, Dec. 26, attributing the action to "the league's ongoing unfair labor practices, including persistent threats, coercive conduct, and a refusal to bargain in good faith."
The Florida Everblades did not have a game scheduled for Friday night, but team management announced the Saturday, Dec. 27, and Sunday, Dec. 28 games at Hertz Arena against the Reading Royals are postponed. The game against Reading on Monday, Dec. 29 is also in danger of being called off.
Work Stoppage:Florida Everblades' Saturday game postponed as ECHL players strike
"It's not something we expect to go through to play hockey, you know?" said Everblades forward Logan Lambdin.
Lambdin is the Everblades' team union representative and a member of the PHPA Executive Committee. He says players are "standing strong", but mainly just want to get back to playing hockey.
"The main goal is to get a fair CBA as soon as possible and get back to work," Lambdin said.
Not everybody is on board. The vote in favor of striking was a little more than 70 percent, which is a supermajority but not close to unanimity, either.
"It seemed like a mid-range," Lambdin said. "You're always going to not please someone, but it's pretty mid from what I expected. I wasn't really expecting it to be up in the 90s, but I also wasn't expecting it to be near 50."
South Carolina Stingrays center Josh Wilkins appears to be solidly in the 30 percent who voted against striking. He wrote a six-paragraph post on the Stingrays' private Facebook group condemning PHPA leadership and the strike.
"From my understanding, the league recently presented a solid proposal that was denied by the PHPA – without first asking the players or holding a vote to determine whether we felt the offer was fair," the statement read. "We are now being encouraged to strike, to not report to play, and to publicly criticize our teams – even if we personally want to play. That puts many of us in an extremely difficult and unfair position."
Everblades president Craig Brush declined to comment on the strike, saying that the ECHL issued a gag order to direct all media to the league website. For the league's part, there is no sign of the strike on the front page or the news page of ECHL.com. It takes a web search to find the league statements.
A full update, including details of our last, best, and final offer is available athttps://t.co/6cShzEXK9Zpic.twitter.com/rtebD4pV5O
— ECHL (@ECHL)December 26, 2025
To those not close to the team or following the buzz on the internet, the strike may have come as a surprise, but it has been building for nearly a year. Negotiations between the ECHL and the PHPA, which represents players in the ECHL and American Hockey League, have been ongoing since January. The league's collective bargaining agreement with the players expired in June. Public communication has been biting and accusatory, and private communication has been limited, which the union says is a big part of the problem.
"There haven't been many formal face-to-face meetings, which would probably speed up the process a lot," Lambdin said.
According to Lambdin, the league has been refusing to meet in person for about a month, and the sides have just been sending proposals back and forth. And he was not impressed with some of the in-person meetings that did happen early in the process.
An update from the Professional Hockey Players' Association.The PHPA would like to express its gratitude for the continued support shown by fans, the broader hockey community, our brothers and sisters in sport, active and retired players, and communities in and out of the…pic.twitter.com/qQ6IAwuHhi
— PHPA (@thephpa)December 26, 2025
"One thing that I did notice was that it seemed early on there was a lot of sloppy negotiating at that point, I felt like," Lambdin said. "Not much note-taking. Our side would be taking notes, and their side would be just going willy-nilly with it."
While the union demands are centered on player safety and pay, one of the things that the PHPA says is keeping them apart from the ECHL is the communication. The players accused the league of violating labor law by communicating with players through team management. The PHPA issued a statement on Tuesday, Dec, 23, claiming that they reached out to the league offering to return to work and avoid postponing games if the league would agree to use mediation or arbitration.
For the league's part, in its Friday statement, the ECHL stated that it gave its "last, best, and final offer" on Christmas Day. The league alleged that the PHPA did not submit that offer to a vote of its membership and suggested that future offers may cost the players.
"The ECHL made clear to union leadership that this was the best offer and that any future offers likely will need to account for losses in revenue attributable to missed games from a player strike," the statement read.
The league denied it has been negotiating in bad faith, saying that bargaining cannot happen because of what they called the PHPA's "extreme demands", though they did not specify any. They also denied the allegation of unlawful communications, saying their communications were legal, justified and transparent to the public.
"We have a right to make sure that our players have and understand the specifics of our proposals and what has happened at the bargaining table," the statement read. "It's also appropriate to make sure all parties know what could happen in the event of a strike. This is an outcome that would not benefit anyone, and it's important to know what is at stake."
The Maine Mariners were the first team to postpone, which is appropriate because their schedule is particularly brutal, and scheduling is one of the bones of contention for the players. The Mariners were scheduled to play games three days in a row 10 times this season, all during the second half of the season. This weekend would have been the first such series, with home games on Friday and Saturday (now postponed) and a 5-hour bus ride to Trois-Rivières, Quebec to play the Lions at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
"That's pretty hard on the body," Lambdin said. "Usually, you have a 7 o'clock, 7 o'clock, and then you're playing a 1 or 3 o'clock after that on Sunday, that third game of the week. It wears on your body. To play that many a year like Maine is - to play 10 - you see a way higher rate of injuries."
The Everblades have it a little better – the South Division teams are closer together, so series of three games in three days happen less frequently and bus rides are not as long – but teams out west in particular have long trips. And franchises will often consider the travel day to be a day off.
"Teams in other divisions will hop on a bus for a 12-hour bus ride and play a game the next day after the trip, do a three-in-three, hop on the bus for another 12 hours to go home, and then practice the next day because that day of travel on that bus is considered an off day," Lambdin said.
The PHPA is also seeking at least one day off per week separate from a travel day and a full week holiday break.
In its statement, the ECHL responded that their proposals include mileage limits, stricter requirements of off-days, and changes to in-season breaks.
Compensation is also at issue. Under the previous CBA, the minimum salary for a short-term player is $530 per week. Players who appear in 25 games or more have been paid $575 per week. The PHPA said that pay has not kept up with inflation. The ECHL responded by saying that it proposed a 19.8 percent increase to the salary cap with retroactive pay for this season, and that the cap would increase to 27% in future years. They also would provide a 24.5 percent increase to the per diem paid to players on road trips.
Only one Everblades player will likely continue to play, goalie Will Cranley, who is under an NHL contract with theSt. Louis Bluesand may be called up to the AHL affiliate Springfield Thunderbirds. Lambdin said some other AHL teams are calling up players during the strike, but the Everblades on AHL contracts will be part of the strike.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press:ECHL players strike explained as Florida Everblades join work stoppage
