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NHL lockout: Owners reject players' counter proposal for new CBA Rich Chere/The Star-Ledger 12/06/2012 7:35 PM
It was the most stunning 15 minutes yet of the ongoing NHL lockout.
In an effort to prevent several days of intense negotiating from going to waste, the NHL Players’ Association made a counter proposal today on a new collective bargaining agreement that the union felt could end the 83-day lockout.
NHLPA executive director Don Fehr said he hoped the eight-year CBA plan with an opt-out after six years would put the negotiations “on the road to a quick solution.”
He couldn’t have been more wrong.
Within minutes of leaving the podium after his press conference in New York, Fehr returned to inform reporters that NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly had left a voice mail message for NHLPA special counsel Steve Fehr saying the league had rejected the counter proposal.
“It looks like this is not going to be resolved in the immediate future,” Fehr said.
In their latest proposal, the owners want a 10-year deal with an opt-out after eight years. That may be only one of the reasons for the rejection. “It doesn’t sound good,” said Shawn Horcoff, one of the players involved in the talks.
Fehr said there was already and agreement on “total dollars,” including the owners’ “make-whole” proposal. However, two points that clearly remain unresolved are the length of contracts and the percentage those contracts could be raised or cut. The union wants a 25 percent high-low range while the league has asked for five percent.
After the league’s rejection, Fehr said some points in the counter proposal are now off the table.
“The players have gone a very, very long way,” Fehr said. “(The players) made the lion’s share of movement.”
Fehr also said an agreement is in place on a pension plan, which would be paid for by the players.
Heated talks to place Wednesday night into Thursday morning following the NHL’s board of governors meeting in New York. The union then spent most of today with internal meetings to formulate the new plan.
Negotiations did not resume until this afternoon and lasted only one hour. Only Daly and Batterman (not Bettman) represented the league while 16 players, Don and (NHLPA special counsel) Steve Fehr represented the union.
10 Team H2H Points (Keep 1C, 2W, 2D, 1G, & 1 non-goalie):
G,A,+/-, PIM, PPG, SHG, GWG, OTG, FOWs, Hits, Blks, Maj, Mis, (bonus scoring for D-men makes them comparable to Wing)
Wins, Saves, GA, Shutouts
18 Man Roster (3 IR slots) Daily Start: 2C, 4W, 4D, 2G
C: Zibanejad, Thomas, Tavares
W: Stutzle, Robertson, Connor, Buchnevich, McCann
D: Makar, McAvoy, Josi, Theodore, Matheson, Harley
G: Georgiev, Binnington, Kochetkov, Andersen (IR)