NHL Players Association executive director Donald Fehr addressed the media on a conference call on Friday afternoon, and while the prevailing opinion among writers following the call is that there was no news, Fehr did make one key point about a key issue in the negotiations between the NHLPA and the league.
While the NHLPA showed some vision in its proposal to the owners earlier this week by agreeing to take a reduced percentage of hockey-related revenue and calling for expanded revenue sharing - a detail that could drive a wedge between big-market owners and small-market owners - the players did nothing to address the current contract structure in the NHL, proposing to leave the current system in place.
Under the expiring collective bargaining agreement, players are eligible for unrestricted free agency at age 27 or after seven years in the league, and entry-level contracts are for a maximum of three years, depending on the age of the player in question when he signs his first contract. The owners proposed last month to lengthen entry-level contracts to five years, with unrestricted free agency after 10 seasons.
Helene Elliott, the Hockey Hall of Fame-honored columnist for the Los Angeles Times, recorded Fehr's answer to that part of the proposal on Friday's call via her Twitter account (@helenenothelen), writing, "Fehr says owners' proposal wouldn't allow players to negotiate a [second] contract [until after five years] and most careers don't last that long."
That may be the biggest non-starter in the owners' proposal, even more so than the proposal to cut the players' share of hockey-related revenues from 57 percent to 46 percent. While the desire to protect owners (particularly those in small and/or non-traditional markets) from losing their best prospects to unrestricted free agency is understandable - just ask the Nashville Predators - keeping the average player from increasing his value is going to be a non-starter with the union.
In the end, look for some sort of hybrid of the players' proposal and the owners' plan, possibly a four-year entry level system, unrestricted free agency after nine years and expanded revenue sharing. The only question is how long it will take to get there.
