The expectation, affirmed in conversations within the past three days by essentially everyone on the NHL players’ side of the aisle, is that the union will decline to trigger the escalator for next season, thus creating a flat salary cap right around the current $73 million for 2017-18.

Well, not exactly. The NHLPA is not going to create the flat cap. The NHL will have done that by generating essentially no revenue growth over the past year. The players are picking their poison, choosing to go with a flat cap that restricts choices for free agents rather than creating a scenario under which escrow losses escalate.

We are told by individuals who traditionally have advocated pumping the maximum amount of dollars into the system that the infusion of dollars generated by the addition of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights has altered the equation for at least this time around.

Flatlining league revenue is one of the issues at the forefront of concern for a significant number of players and player agents that likely will lead to the installment of Chris Chelios, a hardliner from way back, as an ombudsman to the NHLPA as the union begins its preparation for the collective bargaining agreement negotiations that likely are on the 2019-20 horizon.

Beyond that, sources have told Slap Shots there currently are up to a dozen agents who support the idea of forming a committee of active players to buttress the current union administration, though it has been stressed this does not signal a revolt or an attempt to overthrow the current Don Fehr-Steve Fehr leadership.

Flatlining revenue under a small-picture commissioner — whose objective seems to be maintaining a low cap/floor and a system that somehow conflates widespread mediocrity into an asset — is only one of the areas of player concern.

We’re told there is widespread frustration over the fact commissioner Gary Bettman and the league were able to withdraw Olympic participation from the CBA during the Owners’ Lockout III negotiations. Imagine: The NHL, as global a pro sport as there is, does not have a best-on-best international competition scheduled at any time in the foreseeable future. Astonishing.

Not that the players are prepared to rush into a World Cup of Hockey encore under the current arrangement. We have been told the athletes have yet to receive a nickel from the September 2016 tournament, while both sides await even preliminary financial reports.

Because the union is entitled to just 50 percent of the net proceeds — as opposed to 50 percent of the gross hockey-related revenue under the CBA — the ultimate payout will be minimal. That’s another point of contention among the rank and file.