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“If player agents are telling them to wait for the CBA, I’m telling the guys that I’m not waiting,” Desjardins said. “Whoever wants to do stuff now, we’ll do it now. The quicker we have that certainty, the better off we are. If guys want to wait for the CBA, they may be waiting into training camp next year. That’s when it happened the last time. We were in training camp in 2014 before the CBA got ratified.

“The other part of the equation for the players. They’re not getting (bonus) money until the CBA is ratified anyway, so what’s the difference whether they get it done now or get it done in April or May? I guess what they’re banking on is there being an increase in the cap.

“There are going to be a lot of players out there. If guys really want to be back here and if they understand what their value is and we’re on the same page, hopefully we get something done sooner rather than later. Later may not work out for some guys if they wait too long.”

The players talk about “keeping the band together.” Desjardins hopes it’s not just talk.

“I would hope they’d look at the big picture a bit and see, if everybody starts to ask for more, more, more … the more guys who are asking for more money, the more sacrifice that’s going to have be made with certain players, meaning they wouldn’t be back,” he said. “The goal is to try and keep as many players here as possible. I know that’s not realistic, that you can keep them all. I think most of them want to be back if everything else is equal.”