The NHL and NHLPA met on Monday to review the latest NHL proposal. Despite no agreement being reached, it seems that the two sides are slated to meet again on Tuesday in hopes of settling a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
"Their response was a comprehensive one, dealing with a full slate of issues that we raised in the proposal we put forth," NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. "We're in the process of reviewing their response. We will do that tonight and our expectation is that we will contact them [Tuesday] morning to arrange to get back together -- hopefully certainly by mid-day."
Among the players joining NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr on Monday were Chris Campoli, Shane Doan, Rick DiPietro, Ron Hainsey, Jamal Meyers, and Martin St. Louis.
According to HockeyBuzz's Eklund, a number of League members stayed late into the night at the NHL headquarters in New York to study the PA's counter proposal. No news has been revealed on what the proposal actually includes, but it seems that the main issue that remains to be sorted out is the salary cap for the second year of the new deal. The league wants to drop the ceiling from a prorated $70 million to just $60 million, but the Union wants the number to be closer to $67. Eklund asserts that the league could go for a $70 million ceiling and have the players give back money in escrow to get the figure down to what the NHL wants.
Bettman has stated that the puck "needs to drop by January 19" in order to fulfill the 48-game schedule. Otherwise the season will be cancelled.
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