NHL, players edge closer together but is there time to bridge gap?
posted February 15 @ 14:50, EST
NEW YORK (CP) - The two sides in the NHL labour dispute have abandoned longstanding philosophical positions and edged closer together, but the question is whether there is time to bridge the remaining gap.
While more talks were expected Tuesday, time is running out with commissioner Gary Bettman expected to cancel the season at a 1 p.m. EST (wednesda) news conference in New York barring an agreement.
Still, it appeared Tuesday like there was the momentum to secure a deal following Monday night's revelation that the NHL Players' Association had changed direction at the final turn and offered to play under a $52-million US salary cap.
The league, meanwhile, turned heads by proposing a $40-million salary cap with no "linkage" to revenue.
"I'm sure not everybody is happy out there. I'm sure there's some players not happy with a hard cap and some owners not happy at not having linkage," Flyers player representative Robert Esche told The Canadian Press from Philadelphia.
"But hey, it's a give-take world. Now it seems we're just down to numbers. It's exciting."
Now the question is whether the two sides can bridge the gap. A source said the league sees $52 million as too high but might be willing to go in the low 40s to get a deal done.
"It shouldn't be that hard, they're agreeing on principles," Esche said.
Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk wasn't quite as positive.
"It's a lot to try to do in a very, very short time," he told The Fan, a Toronto all-sports radio station. "I'm just not optimistic."
The change in strategy represents a quantum leap for both sides. The players have insisted a salary cap was a non-starter while the league has built its case around so-called cost certainty - linking player costs to revenue.
A source close to the talks indicated Tuesday morning that he expected both sides would get together later in the day. But as of 1 p.m. EST NHL executive vice-president Bill Daly was still in New York while NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin was still in Toronto.
The surprising developments came during a secret meeting Monday in Niagara Falls, N.Y., between Saskin and Daly.
Daly began the process by offering his cap figure without a fixed link between player costs and league revenues. The union countered with the $52-million salary cap per team and its 24 per cent rollback on existing salaries, which was rejected by the NHL.
"It is indeed unfortunate that with the major steps taken by both sides today we were unable to build enough momentum to reach an agreement," Saskin said in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
It appears a select group of players spearheaded the NHLPA change in strategy.
The Philadelphia Inquirer and others reported Tuesday that Flyers centre Jeremy Roenick, along with Calgary's Jarome Iginla, St. Louis's Chris Pronger and others, urged the union leaders to put a cap with no linkage on the table in a bid to save the season.
"I was involved with a group of NHL players who were trying to get to as many people as possible to come on board with a resolution that works for both sides," Roenick told the Inquirer. "The proposal has to have a number that is not tied to revenues."
A call to Iginla was not immediately returned Tuesday.
Other reports said the group of players actually had a proposal for the league, but Esche said that was pushing it too far.
"That needs to be clarified," Esche told CP. "I talked to Pronger a few hours ago, I spoke with JR a few hours ago, that is the further thing from the truth. They didn't give a proposal to the league, they didn't go behind the union's back. They would never undermine our union."
Still, Buffalo Sabres player rep Jay McKee was surprised Tuesday when he heard the union would accept a cap.
"If that's where we were going, I wonder why now," he said.
According to a source, the union's offer breaks down like this:
A cap of $52 million but with provisions for teams to spend as much as 10 per cent more than that on three occasions in a six-year period, with a luxury tax incorporated. The luxury tax rates would be 25 per cent on $40-$44 million; 50 per cent on $44-$48 million; 75 per cent on $48-$52 million and 150 per cent on $52-$57.2 million.
The league's deal features a $40-million cap, with a 50 per cent luxury tax on payrolls from $34 million to $40 million.
Using last season's payrolls and adding the 24 per cent rollback on existing contracts, the average team payroll was $33.95 million. There were 16 teams over the $40-million figure last season, but that's without the contact rollback.
Monday's development could also have a major impact on the league's ability to declare legal impasse down the road if there's no deal and the season is cancelled. The union could perhaps argue to the U.S. National Labor Relations Board that there is no impasse in talks because the philosophical issue of a salary cap is no longer the deal-breaker.
The NHL is hoping to avoid becoming the first major professional league in North America to cancel an entire season from beginning to finish.
"I'm extremely concerned," Flyers captain Keith Primeau said from Philadelphia. "The biggest thing that disturbs me is everyone's true misunderstanding of the fan base. You hear how certain people believe that the hardcore fan will definitely return, that the damage isn't irreparable.
"I think that's a huge miscalculation or judgment in error of who and what your fan base is. That, I think, is going to alarm a lot of people when the doors are re-opened."
Yup!!
Through Tuesday, 834 of the 1,230 regular-season games have gone by the wayside.
If an agreement can still be reached, the league has a shortened schedule ready to go that would see teams play 28 regular-season games, playing only within their conference. The playoffs would stay the same.
"We probably could've gotten this thing done in the summertime," Chicago forward Matthew Barnaby said. "Am I mad, no? I want to get back to work. But at the same time, I'm just a little disappointed that it went this far to play poker and to have someone call your bluff."
