NHL fans around the world breathed a sigh of relief this morning at around 5 a.m. EST when it was announced that the NHL and Player's union had finally ended the 113 day lockout.
The two sides reached a "tentative" deal after 16 hours of negotiations. "Don Fehr and I are here to tell you that we have reached an agreement on the framework of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, the details of which need to be put to paper," Commissioner Bettman told reporters early in the morning. "We have to dot a lot of I's and cross a lot of T's. There is still a lot of work to be done, but the basic framework has been agreed upon.
Reports indicate that the new deal is a 10-year CBA with an opt-out after eight years. The salary cap for the 2013-14 season was set at $64.3 million with a floor of $44 million. The League originally wanted the cap to be set at $60 million while the union wanted the cap to remain at $70 million.
Another major issue that was resolved was the contract lengths which were set at a maximum of seven years with an eight-year max for teams resigning their own players.
Dates have not been officially announced for the start of the season on training camps, but previous reports indicate that the season would start on Jan. 19.Greg Wyshynski of Puck Daddy Hockey Blog states that the league is preparing a 50-game season with about five games between division rivals and three games against the remaining 10 conference rivals. This means that no Eastern Conference teams would face off against those of the Western Conference until the Stanley Cup Finals.
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