The NHL and players' association (NHLPA) met Thursday in a bid to save the remainder of the season from being scrapped, but after some encouraging signs earlier in the week, things have taken a turn for the worse yet again.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman informed the media that the NHLPA did not discuss anything on disclaimer, when both the sides met Thursday.
"The word disclaimer has yet to be uttered to us by the players' association," the Associated Press quoted Bettman as saying. "It's not that it gets filed anywhere with a court or the NLRB.
"When you disclaim interest as a union, you notify the other side. We have not been notified and it's never been discussed, so there has been no disclaimer."
The NHLPA neither filed a disclaimer of interest nor dissolved the union, although Wednesday midnight was the deadline do so and it would have freed the players of the union and they could have filed separate antitrust suits.
The meeting started much later than the scheduled time of 10 a.m. ET and ended in just one hour without any significant progress.
There was another meeting at 6 p.m., with a few players and union staff in which pension plans were discussed, but the players' association head Donald Fehr was absent from both the meetings held Thursday.
Even talks on pension plans ended without any progress and Bettman termed it as a very complicated issue.
"The number of variables and the number of issues that have to be addressed by people who carry the title actuary or pension lawyer are pretty numerous and it's pretty easy to get off track,'' Bettman said. "That is something we understand is important to the players."
The players and the league had disagreements over the salary cap for the second year of the deal, i.e. for the 2013-14 season. The NHL is offering a $60 million cap, whereas NHLPA is pushing for $65 million. Players are even ready to forgo an escrow cap, if their demands of a higher salary cap are accepted.
"We talk about lots of things and we even had some philosophical discussions about why particular issues were important to each of us," Bettman said. "That is part of the process."
Out of all North American professional sports, the NHL is the only league, which canceled a complete season because of labor issues in the 2004-05 and organized only a 48-game season in 1995 because of a lockout.
Bettman had already made it clear that if both the feuding sides manage to strike a deal, then a 48-game hockey season can begin on Jan. 19. All games through Jan. 14 and the All-Star game have already been canceled.
Although, the sides agreed on a few points, they still have long list of disagreements.
"There's been some progress but we're still apart on a number of issues," Bettman concluded. "As long as the process continues I am hopeful."
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