The NHL Lockout has already reached its second month of cancelled games and little has arisen.
However, positive news may be on the horizon as the NHLPA and the League have now met for three straight days of negotiations.
On Tuesday the two sides met for seven hours and Wednesday they continued another six. On Thursday morning they met again to continue deliberating. According to NHL.com, the two sides will resume conferencing on Friday and possibily Saturday.
"We've met with the Players' Association for the last three days and we are planning on meeting again," said NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. "But, I am not going to discuss the negotiations or the substance of what we're talking about. I really don't think that would be helpful to the process."
In a leaked memorandum sent out by the NHLPA, executive director Donald Fehr stated that there was still a great deal of work to be done. The league finally seemed to be willing to place no limits on contract lengths (one of the major issues in the debates), but they were looking to limit the ability to frontload the deals. Many players have signed lengthy multi year deals with most of the money coming in the first few years and the rest coming toward the end of the deal. This facilitates expenses for the teams in the case that the player becomes injured or retires before the length of the contract is fulfilled.
Two years ago, New Jersey Devil's winger Ilya Kovalchuk signed a 15 year deal for $100 million. He made $6 million in each of his first few seasons but would then be paid over $10 million from 2012-13 season until the 2017-18 season. In the following year his rate would drop to $7 million and from 2021-2024 he would only make $1 million. In his final two years on the contract he would make the remaining $ 7 million owed to him. However at that point he will be 42, which is not a common age for most NHLers to be playing. Should he choose to retire at age 40, he would only lose $7 million of a possible $100 million that he would have already earned. The spike in the final two years is likely to guarantee he plays out his contract.
This is just one of many similar deals and even though the owners themselves are giving out such contracts they are firmly against them.
Another major issue being discussed is the "make whole" in which the NHL honors existing contracts. Apparently they were willing to do so after Thursday's talks but still wished to maintain their desire for a 50/50 split on HR Revenue and also wished to move up the Unrestricted Free Agency eligibility to age 28 or eight full seasons. They also wished to impose a strict five year contract limit with only a 5 percent variability from year to year.
According to Fehr's memo, this would "significantly reduce a player's bargaining power and give the owner much more leverage over a player for most if not all of his career."
The NHL has already cancelled its coveted Winter Classic match with was to take place on January 2 between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Detroit Red Wings. The season has been canceled through November and could commence in December if compromise between the two sides is ever reached.
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