The NHL Players Association presented its long-awaited counteroffer to the league's owners on Tuesday, and as expected, the players and new union head Donald Fehr took a vastly different direction than the owners' initial proposal last month.
Following Tuesday's negotiating session - attended by 23 players, including Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos - NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said that he hopes the league will be ready to respond to the players' proposal when collective bargaining talks reconvene on Wednesday morning, but did not go into detail, saying that the owners "need time to evaluate" the offer. According to retired NHL defenseman Aaron Ward, who works as an analyst for the NHL Network, the players' proposal contained elements that are "interesting" to the league.
There was little in the owners' initial proposal to interest the players. Reports had the players being asked to reduce their share of hockey-related revenues from 57 percent to 46 percent, and to accept a contract system that would limit the length of all contracts to five years while delaying unrestricted free agency until a player has been in the league for 10 seasons.
According to Fehr, the players' countered with a proposal for a three-year deal with an option for a fourth year. The proposal calls for the current contract system to stay in place, although the players are willing to reduce their share of hockey-related revenues because some teams are in financial trouble. In addition, the hard salary cap would remain in place, but signs seem to be pointing at expanded revenue sharing as well.
Fehr said after Tuesday's meetings that he and the players believe this proposal should lead to a new collective bargaining agreement. Whether the owners share that opinion - and whether that new CBA will come before the September 15 deadline for avoiding a lockout - will remain to be seen, at least until negotiations resume on Wednesday.
