The NHL and NHLPA met today to discuss the NHL’s latest offer, and optimism was running high that this was the first step towards positive negotiations. Much like that one cousin that everyone has that tells them Santa isn’t real, Gary Bettman was quick to shatter all our hopes by announcing that the 3 offers made by the NHLPA were not even close to what the NHL was proposing that he was “disappointed” in the step back in negotiations.
We’re still waiting on the PA to finish up their conference call so Don Fehr can speak, but according to Bettman none of the PA’s offers came close to offering up the 50/50 split the NHL was “conceding” in their last offer (emphasis is mine because I think that 50% of what they believe should be HRR is going to be significantly less going forward).
Obviously this is not good news. The NHL had stated that in order to play a full 82-game season, a deal would have to have been reached by October 25th, which is a week from today. That seems to be completely out the window, but the goal should not be an 82-game season, it should be any number of games that cause a season to be played without exposing the players to an increased injury risk a la the NBA or NFL after their work stoppages.
