Negotiations Break Off Again Between NHL and NHLPA

The negotiations between the NHL and NHLPA, which for a day seemed tantalizingly close on Tuesday and Wednesday, broke off yesterday as both sides emerged angry and frustrated.

As the tease continues, I wonder if Will and Kate’s baby will be king before we see hockey again.

While I have tried to be patient and understanding throughout the process, enough is enough.  Apparently there are 3 issues that they cannot agree on: length of player contracts,   length of the CBA, and the method by which teams can get below the new salary cap.

September 12, 2012; New York, NY, USA; NHLPA executive director Don Fehr during a press conference at the 2012 NHLPA summer player meetings at the Marriott Marquis. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

While the first two are pretty self-explanatory,  the third essentially means that they must agree on the method of buyouts as well as where the buyout money comes from.  The players do not want those buyout dollars counting towards their share of revenues.

The problem is that both sides feel that they have already given in to get to this point and both seem to be digging in their heels on these points.  It seems to me that he solution is pretty simple.  The players give the owners the extra couple of years on the CBA so that the owners have those years of certainty, while the owners fund the buyout process from their revenues.  It is a short term hit that will force them to be judicious in their buyouts and also make them accountable for their spending, especially those terrible contracts and the ones that were signed just before the last CBA expired.

Now the season is back in jeopardy as the public verbal jabs have now replaced the negotiating.