Having endured a pair of lockouts that canceled the entire 2004-05 season and part of the 2012-13 campaign as an NHL player, Pittsburgh Penguins assistant general manager Jason Spezza is certain of one axiom when it comes to labor disputes in hockey.

“Never a good time for any sort of work stoppage,” said Spezza, a two-time NHL All-Star. “For any of the players.”

One of those times appears to be coming to a conclusion at the ECHL level. Players, under the guidance of the Professional Hockey Players Association, went on strike early Friday morning, but by Saturday night, the league and PHPA announced a tentative deal on a new collective bargaining agreement.

That deal is pending ratification by the PHPA’s ECHL membership and approval by the ECHL’s board of governors. Players are to report to their teams in “good faith” and prepare to resume playing.

At dispute were several factors, including universally understandable items such as pay and insurance. The ECHL and PHPA were also at odds over guidelines for travel, holiday breaks and equipment.

Prior to Saturday’s agreement, the ECHL began postponing games on Friday.

For the Wheeling Nailers, the Penguins’ ECHL affiliate, a road contest against the Toledo Walleye (Friday) and a pair of home games against the Indy Fuel (Saturday) and Cincinnati Cyclones (Sunday) have been postponed indefinitely.

When the strike formally began Friday, the Penguins promoted 11 players from Wheeling to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. That group comprises:

Forwards: Matty De St. Phalle, Brayden Edwards, Max Graham, Connor Lockhart, Zach Urdahl

Defensemen: David Breazeale, Tommy Budnick, Brent Johnson, Emil Pieniniemi

Goaltenders: Taylor Gauthier, Maxim Pavelenko

Of that group, only Pieniniemi is signed to an NHL contract. The other 10 are inked to AHL deals.

The players who were striking are signed to ECHL contracts.

While they were formally transferred to the AHL club Friday, they physically reported to UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry to practice Saturday.

Gauthier is an exception as he has been loaned to Hockey Canada for the Spengler Cup, an international tournament held in Davos, Switzerland. That event began Friday and is scheduled to conclude Wednesday.

Nailers coach Ryan Papaioannou and other staffers who are contracted employees of the Penguins oversaw Saturday’s practice in Cranberry.

In his first season with the club, Papaioannou has guided the Nailers to a 20-6-1-0 record and a league-best 41 points.

Given that Wheeling and Cranberry are roughly 70 minutes away by car (as opposed to the five-and-a-half-hour trek between Wheeling and Wilkes-Barre), the logistics of having that group report to Western Pennsylvania were practical.

Also, having 37 players present for practice with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins wouldn’t be beneficial.

“I didn’t want to bring them directly to (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) because it (the strike) may be short-lived,” Spezza said Saturday afternoon before the announcement of an agreement. “If it’s not short-lived, we’ll reevaluate what the best plan is. But right now, the biggest focus for our contracted guys is that they’re not stunting their development during this time.”

The timing of the strike wasn’t particularly convenient for Pieniniemi, who has not played a game of consequence since late April, when he skated at the junior level for the Kingston Frontenacs of the Ontario Hockey League.

A third-round draft pick (No. 91 overall) of the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2023, Pieniniemi was suspended by the team for the first two-plus months of this season after refusing to report to Wheeling over a dispute regarding his development plan with management.

The parties eventually reached an agreement, and Pieniniemi — who is in the first year of a three-year entry-level contract — agreed to report to Wheeling earlier this month. Management’s plan was for him to practice a bit with the Nailers and regain his conditioning before making his ECHL debut after Christmas.

Those designs clearly have been altered to some extent.

“It’s unfortunate for all the guys,” said Spezza, who also serves as Wilkes-Barre/Scranton’s general manager. “I don’t think Emil is any different. The other guys have been playing and they obviously want to continue having a positive season in Wheeling. With Emil, this will give him time to get integrated through practice and get to know his teammates and get up and rolling.”

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