Developments

A story broke early yesterday that various anonymous league sources were confirming that a final deadline would be set on or about this coming Tuesday to cancel the NHL season if no deal were reached. Later in the day, word leaked out that there had been a secret negotiating session in Toronto, and at that meeting the NHL had made yet another proposal that the NHLPA rejected. Today comes word of what the offer actually entailed: it started with the players' offer of December 9 -- a 24% rollback on all salaries, a weak luxury tax, etc. -- and added to it the owners' offer of February 2 -- a salary range of $32 to $42 million per team, with total player compensation not to exceed 55% of league revenues, etc. -- and a deadline set at the end of this weekend to get something done. The proposal called for the new CBA to start with the player's offer and -- if any one of four separate triggers were reached -- would then become the hard cap of the owners' offer. The four triggers were: If the league pays out more than 55 per cent of its revenues in salaries If any three teams have a payroll of more than $42 million US If the average payroll of the three highest-spending teams is more than 33 per cent higher than the average of the three lowest spending teams If average team compensation exceeds $36.5 million It seems to me that this is about the best offer the players can hope to get -- which is what NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. The players made their offer on December 9 saying it was a fair offer and that it gave the NHL everything they wanted in controlling costs. Now the owners are essentially saying, "Prove it. We accept your offer, and if it doesn't work then let's try our system." Union chief Bob Goodenow rejected the offer outright, saying that at least one of the four triggers the NHL proposed would be met immediately. This is a fair point and begs the question, "If the triggers were negotiated to higher levels, would the deal then be acceptable?" The PA has claimed all along that NHL is refusing to negotiate. Well, this is hardly the case now. The owners have come in with a fantastic, last-minute, compromise offer and it's the players that aren't talking at all. The one good thing is that, one way or another, this thing will all be over by Sunday night.