{coyotes} NHL AND NHLPA FAIL TO GAIN TRACTION ON NEW CBA PROPOSAL

Wednesday, 21 November 2012

{coyotes} NHL AND NHLPA FAIL TO GAIN TRACTION ON NEW CBA PROPOSAL

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Collective bargaining talks at the NHL's head office in New York on Wednesday did not produce any progress after the NHL Players' Association tabled a new five-year proposal to the league.

"Nothing on significant economic issues," NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr told reporters on Wednesday afternoon after receiving the league's response. "On the big things there was, as of today, no reciprocity in any meaningful sense."

While both sides are closer on revenue sharing, no concessions were made on contractual issues or the Make Whole provision as the league remains firm on its $211 million for the players.

"We're still far apart," NHL commissioner Gary Bettman told reporters on Wednesday. "But hopefully there's some momentum so we can bring this to a conclusion." Bettman added that league business is losing between $18 million to $20 million per day while players are losing between $8 million to $10 million per day.

The NHLPA plans to hold a conference call Wednesday to keep its membership updated and while talks between NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHL general counsel Steve Fehr are expected to continue on Friday, there are no plans to formally meet. "Our task is to go back and report to the players," said Fehr. "One of you is going to ask me what happens next and the answer is I don't know."

In what was considered a significant move by the players, the NHLPA's proposal saw the union move off its position on guaranteed players share dollars and shifts more to the owners demand of a percentage base in the revenue split. "We've moved in their direction previously on a couple of the player contracting issues; the rest are very, very, very important to the players," Fehr said earlier Wednesday.

The players' also went with a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue beginning in Year 1 and worked off the NHL's designed Make Whole provision. However, the players were asking for an additional $180 million above the $211 million originally offered by the NHL. The only system issue addressed was back-diving contracts (cap hit penalties for retired players), but not with a five per cent variance rule or term limits.

"We're making a move in their direction, so I don't see why they wouldn't consider it," Sidney Crosby told reporters in Pittsburgh on Wednesday morning. In a text message to TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com, New York Rangers forward Brad Richards added, "It is a move in their direction again and based off of their proposal. There has to be an effort from them to get this done now."

The meeting came at the same time the league is expected to cancel more games. According to sources, the NHL has decided to wipe the first two weeks of December off the schedule, which will bring the total lost during the lockout to more than 400 games. Regular season games have been canceled through Nov. 30, along with the Winter Classic contest that was supposed to be held on New Year's Day in Ann Arbor between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings.

Meanwhile, the NHL is expected to cancel the 2013 All Star Game in Columbus on Friday.