Heading into what looks to be the final week to get a new collective bargaining agreement hammered out there is some raw news floating about, mostly on Twitter as both the NHL and NHLPA have kept lines of communication open.
“We had a conference call today to answer some of their questions,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told The Associated Press in an email Sunday. “No bargaining. And no bargaining meetings scheduled.”
According to agent Allan Walsh of Octagon Hockey which represents players such as Marc-Andre Fleury, Martin Havlat and Patrik Elias the NHLPA has accepted the league’s proposal of a 50/50 split in all hockey related revenue so-long as the NHL honors current contracts under the new agreement.
NHL players have accepted 50/50, just honor the current contracts signed by owners (and Bettman) and we can play hockey now.
— Allan Walsh (@walsha) October 21, 2012
Again though despite that acceptance, the owners fulfilling the old contracts under the previous CBA could still be a major sticking point in anything getting done. In the original proposal given by the NHL last Tuesday which featured the 50/50 split, the NHLPA didn’t like that the proposed “make whole” provision that would see deferred payments count against the earning potential of players in the future (CBC Calgary).
Furthermore though according to CBC Calgary, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman made it clear that further concessions could be made in that area.
“At the end of yesterday’s meeting, Gary did say that [if] the players were prepared to agree to all of the other parts of their offer [subject, perhaps, to “tweaks”] then I could call him about this issue,” Fehr wrote in a letter to his membership and player agents on Friday.
Despite all of this though this upcoming week seems to very crucial for both the NHL and NHLPA if an entire 82 game schedule is to be played.
Spoke with a team exec who says there’s either a labor deal this week or there’s no season. Not sure it’s that clear-cut but who knows…
— Pierre LeBrun (@Real_ESPNLeBrun) October 21, 2012
h/t: Octagon Hockey, CBC Calgary, ESPN
