The NHL lockout is starting to get ugly.
Following a new proposal from the NHL on Tuesday, many felt optimistic that the league and the players union were getting close to an agreement to end the lockout.
The NHL proposed a 50-50 split of hockey related revenue, something they had not done in previous offers. The league also put a plan in place to preserve the 82-game season.
But after reviewing the deal, the union came back to the league with three different counter proposals that derailed any optimism the two sides felt.
"Today is not a good day," NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr said.
According to ESPN.com: "Fehr said two of the union's proposals would have the players take a fixed amount of revenue, which would turn into an approximate 50-50 split over the term of the deal, provided league revenues continued to grow. The third approach would be a 50-50 split, as long as the league honored all existing contracts at full value."
''Thoroughly disappointed,'' NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Thursday after the brief bargaining session at union headquarters, according to ESPN.com.
Following the counter offers, the two sides started going at each other.
"The so-called 50-50 deal, plus honoring current contracts proposed by the NHL Players' Association earlier today is being misrepresented," said Deputy commissioner Bill Daly. "It is not a 50-50 deal. It is, most likely a 56- to 57-percent deal in Year One and never gets to 50 percent during the proposed five-year term of the agreement."
No new talks have been scheduled and the union feels satisfied with what was proposed to the league.
Said Blues captain David Backes in a text to ESPN.com: "We feel our newest proposal took a great step toward getting a deal done. It's too bad the owners don't feel that way and I fear that we may miss an extended amount of time now."
Money, revenue and contracts have been the biggest wedge in the negotiations.
The league generates $3.3 billion in yearly revenue, 57 percent of which goes to the players based on the last agreement. The league previously wanted the players to lower the number to between 49 percent and 47 percent, but eventually offered a 50-50 split.
Commissioner Bettman commented on the proposals and said to ESPN.com: "None of the three variations of player share that they gave us even began to approach 50-50, either at all or for some long period of time," Bettman said. "It's clear we're not speaking the same language."
According to ESPN.com:
"The latest league proposal also includes:
-A listed salary cap of $59.9 million for the 2012-13 season, with a provision each team could spend up to $70.2 million during a transition season.
-Changing eligibility for unrestricted free agency from age 27 or seven years of service to age 28 or eight years of service, down from 10 years of service in the league's earlier proposal.
-Increasing eligibility for salary arbitration from four years to five years.
-Including all years of existing contracts beyond five years against a team's cap, regardless of where a player is playing. If a player is traded and retires or stops playing, the applicable cap charge would be applied against the team that originally signed the contact."
The NHL is the third professional sport in the past two years to deal with labor issues. The NFL lockout lasted from March until July of 2011, and the NBA lockout forced the league to play a 66 game season.
The lockout began on Sept.16 and is the third lockout since 1993 under Bettman.
In 1992-93 the players missed 30 days, while the 1994-95 lockout had 468 games lost. The lockout in the 2004-05 lost the entire NHL season and resulted in 1,230 games lost. During the last stoppage, the two sides did not meet to start bargaining until three months into the lockout.
Many players have decided to play overseas and expect the lockout to continue for most of the year, including New Jersey Devils' star Ilya Kovalchuk, who signed a contract with SKA St. Petersburg and superstar Evgeni Malkin, last season's MVP award winner, who signed with Mettalurg of the Kontinental Hockey League.
The two sides now seem far apart and with no new talks scheduled, the lockout could extend into 2013.
