That’s up from the 10 percent rate both sides had agreed upon in late January shortly after the season began.

The change comes as a result of lower than originally projected NHL revenues for the lockout-shortened season.

That means players, as of this week, will fork over 20 percent of every paycheck into an escrow fund until both the league and NHLPA figure out the final numbers next summer or next fall in terms of hockey-related revenue.

If players’ compensation does not go higher than their 50 percent HRR allotment for the season, they will be refunded the escrow payments with interest.

However, if the players’ compensation exceeds the 50 percent share, the owners will be paid the escrow money.

The NHLPA has another option if its executive board wishes to dip into the $300 million “make whole” fund, which owners are paying out to players as per the new CBA over the next three years.

The players negotiated the make whole fund as a protection against high escrow eroding their salaries.

Normally in an 82-game season, the two sides review the escrow rate each quarter. But with the shortened, 48-game season, both sides agreed before the season to review revenues and revenue projections throughout the season to determine whether the escrow percentage coming off player checks needs to be changed.

Most years, the players get some of the escrow money back, and sometimes all of it. Here’s how the escrow worked out once the final HRR numbers were finalized each season:

2005-06: The net result was that each player earned 104.64 percent of his 2005-06 contract (includes the shortfall and interest). Players’ share was 54 percent of HRR.

2006-07: The net result was that each player earned 97.51 percent of his 2006-07 contract. Players’ share was 55.6 percent of HRR.

2007-08: The net result was that each player earned 100.66 percent of his 2007-08 contract. Players’ share was 56.7 percent of HRR.

2008-09: The net result was that each player earned 87.12 percent of his 2008-09 contract. Players’ share was 56.73 percent of HRR.

2009-10: The net result was that each player earned 90.59 percent of his 2009-10 contract. Players’ share was 57 percent of HRR.

2010-11: The net result was that each player earned 97.7 percent of his 2010-11 contract. Players’ share was 57 percent of HRR.

2011-12: The net result was that each player earned 99.48 percent of his 2011-12 contract. They got back just under 8 percent of the 8.5 percent they paid in escrow during the year. Players’ share was 57 percent of HRR.

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After a 36-hour vote that ended Saturday morning, the players’ association announced that its members approved the deal reached with the league last week.

It would be an understatement to say lot has happened since we last saw the NHL in action, when the Los Angeles Kings raised their first franchise Stanley Cup, writes Scott Burnside. Blog

However, the sides continued to work to complete a difficult memorandum of understanding that must be signed before camps can open and the new schedule to be released.

The NHL and NHLPA still “hope” to finish the memorandum Saturday night and keep training camps on schedule for a Sunday opening, but there is no guarantee.

Until then, hockey can’t get back to regular business.

The league’s board of governors unanimously ratified the contract on Wednesday. The plan was for training camps to open on Sunday, assuming the memorandum of understanding was finished. Voluntary physicals and medical exams were permitted to begin on Friday.

The players’ vote wasn’t unanimous, as a source told ESPN that 667 players voted “yes,” while 12 voted “no.” The players saw an 89 percent turnout in voting.

The remaining transition rules, such as when players can go on the ice and for how long, were still being finalized.

“While the players’ vote ratifies the new CBA with the NHL owners, a written memorandum of understanding consistent with what the players voted on, must be completed before the agreement becomes final,” a union statement said Saturday.

Less than a week after the league and the union worked all night to secure an agreement to save the season, players followed team owners and approved the tentative deal that was reached last Sunday — the 113th day of the lockout.

Unofficial team workouts have been taking place around the league all week. A 48-game season is expected to begin Jan. 19 without any preseason games in advance, assuming there are no more glitches in negotiations.

A total of 510 games, the Winter Classic and the All-Star Game were all casualties of the four-month lockout that began Sept. 16. The regular season was supposed to open on Oct. 11.

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The league and union met separately with federal mediator Scot Beckenbaugh during a series of meetings that spanned the whole day Friday and late into the evening. They will continue that process Saturday morning.

It isn’t yet known if the league and union will meet face-to-face Saturday, the 112th day of the lockout. The sides have less than a week to reach a new collective bargaining agreement to save what would likely be a 48-game hockey season.

Few details emerged about the scope or subject matter of those meetings and whether progress was forged, although a source told ESPN that both sides expressed signs of flexibility to the mediator.

With exactly one week left until the league’s self-imposed deadline of Jan. 11 to reach a deal, the NHL and NHLPA have resorted to “shuttle mediation” since the fallout from the last time they met in person Wednesday night.

That negotiating session was marked by the NHLPA’s decision not to file a disclaimer of interest by the midnight deadline, although the hope that a new deal could be close abated Thursday morning after reports of tension between the sides.

The NHLPA was angered by the league’s attempt to change language in one area of the CBA, that which pertains to the penalization of teams that are found guilty of hiding hockey-related revenue.

That issue has since been resolved, a source informed ESPNNewYork.com, although the lack of trust between the sides seemed to resurface.

The NHLPA initiated a vote Thursday evening to provide again the union’s executive board with the authority to file a disclaimer of interest. The 48-hour voting window expires Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.

With no formal negotiations between the sides since midweek, nerves continue to fray with the season hanging in the balance.

All regular-season games already have been canceled through Jan. 14, and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has set Jan. 11 as the deadline to reach a new CBA and avoid the entire season being scrapped.

The sides have traded four proposals in the past week — two by each side — but none has gained enough traction. Getting an agreement on a pension plan likely would go a long way toward an agreement that would put hockey back on the ice.

NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr believed a plan for players-funded pension was established before talks blew up in early December. That apparently wasn’t the case, or the NHL has changed its offer regarding the pension in exchange for agreeing to other things the union wanted.

The salary-cap number for the second year of the deal — the 2013-14 season — hasn’t been agreed to, and it is another major point of contention. The league is pushing for a $60 million cap, while the union wants it to be $65 million with a floor of $44 million.

In return for the higher cap number players would be willing to forgo a cap on escrow.

Both sides seem content on the deal lasting for 10 years, but they have different opinions on whether an opt-out should be allowed to be exercised after seven years or eight.

The NHL proposed last Thursday that pension contributions come out of the players’ share of revenues, and $50 million of the league’s make-whole payment of $300 million will be allocated and set aside to fund potential underfunded liabilities of the plan at the end of the collective bargaining agreement.

Last month, the NHL agreed to raise its make-whole offer of deferred payments from $211 million to $300 million as part of a proposed package that required the union to agree on three nonnegotiable points. Instead, the union accepted the raise in funds, but then made counterproposals on the issues the league stated had no wiggle room.

“As you might expect, the differences between us relate to the core economic issues which don’t involve the share,” Fehr said of hockey-related revenue, which likely will be split 50-50.

The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.

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