With the lockout deadline only days away, the NHL and the players association have yet to come to an agreement, leaving the start of the NHL season in doubt.
The two sides met on Thursday to exchange proposals, but the players turned down a take-it-or-leave-it offer from the league. Both sides are currently in touch, but no negotiation meetings are scheduled.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has stated that he will not let the 2012-13 season to start with the current collective bargaining agreement and plans to lock out the players on Saturday at midnight if a deal cannot be reached.
"We have been clear that the collective bargaining agreement, upon its expiration, needs to have a successful agreement for us to move forward,'' Bettman told the Associated Press. "The league is not in a position, not willing to move forward with another season under the status quo.''
It would mark the third lockout in the past 18 years, including 2005-05 when the entire NHL season was lost. Training camps are scheduled to open Sept. 21, while the season is set for Oct. 11.
In 1992 the players missed 30 days, while the 1994-95 lockout resulted in 468 games lost.
"Nobody wants to make a deal and play hockey more than I do," Bettman said. "This is very hard, and I feel terrible about it."
The last CBA deal was signed seven years ago and gave players 57 percent of revenues while giving the league a salary cap. The owners, who unanimously support Bettman, are looking to bring revenues down for the players to a number around 47 percent.
The league originally proposed 43 percent, but the players said they would not accept a deal that would create an instantaneous salary reduction.
The union countered with a deal that would take less than 57 percent of revenue, but also included a guarantee of a $1.8 billion, which is what the players received last year.
"Even a brief lockout will cost more in terms of lost salary wages than what we're proposing to do to make a deal that we think we need to make," Bettman said.
NHLPA leader Donal Fehr has had strong support from the players, including big name stars like Sidney Crosby, Henrik Lundqvist, Zach Parise and Ryan Miller who all attended the meeting on Thursday.
Miller praised Fehr in helping to keep the players informed of how things are progressing.
"I doubt that all the owners are as well informed as all the players,'' Miller said. "I don't know if that's going to get me in trouble or not. I just feel like it's kind of whatever they are told by Gary. I guess it's a little bit like politics. Some people can't watch Fox News because they think it's all spun to the right, and some people can't watch MSNBC because it's spun to the left."
The American sports landscape has been littered with labor issues the past two years, including lockouts in the NFL and the NBA last year. The NFL didn't miss any regular season games while the NBA only played 66 games rather than 82.
The current deal offered to the players by the league is on the table until Saturday night.
"Their proposal was really not much different, except around the edges, from the last proposal they made, which we had indicated was not acceptable," Bettman said, according to ESPN.com "We caucused and we decided, that in hopes of moving negotiations along before the weekend, that we would make yet another proposal, which we did. It had meaningful movement in it and it was an attempt to engage the union finally in trying to make a deal."
Adding to the lockout drama was the fact that 16 players on the Montreal Canadiens made a filing to the Quebec Labour Relations Board earlier in the week to declare the lockout illegal.
An emergency hearing was held and had the players state that since the NHLPA is not certified by the Quebec Labour Board, that Canadian owners cannot lock them out. Under Quebec law only unions certified by the QLB can be locked out by employers.
"The players don't want to see hockey interrupted," Fehr told ESPN.com. "We believe under Quebec law, a lockout would not be appropriate and would not be legal, so we are asserting that position. We would like to think that is consistent with the interests of the fans and eventually consistent with the interests of the owners. We'll let the legal proceedings take care of themselves."
Any agreement by the two sides will go down to the wire, but as of now it looks like the NHL season will not begin on time for the third time in 18 years.
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