NHL and NHLPA still negotiating

[Madferret]

NHL and NHLPA still negotiating
Canadian Press
7/10/2005 9:44:54 PM

NEW YORK (CP) - The NHL and NHL Players' Association were still meeting Sunday night as they attempted to close out a tentative deal.

A source close to the talks said the NHL's executive committee would meet Monday regardless of whether a deal was done or not, commissioner Gary Bettman slated to update the group on where things stood.

Sunday was the seventh consecutive day union and league officials met as they continued to draft the agreement and iron other issues. They've held 80 negotiating sessions since Bettman cancelled the season Feb. 16.

Immanent impotents..

[Madferret]

NHL and NHLPA still in talks
Bob McKenzie
TSN.ca Staff

When the NHL last week scheduled a board of governors' executive committee meeting for today at 1 pm et in New York City, the hope was that commissioner Gary Bettman would be able to announce to the special 11-man group that an agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement had been reached with the NHL Players' Association.

That doesn't look as though it's going to happen. Not quite yet, anyway. Sources tell TSN that Bettman will likely refrain from pronouncing a deal done and instead use today's meeting to thoroughly update the executive committee on all facets of a 600-plus page document that is, technically, still not complete. There are also a myriad of other issues to be discussed with the executive committee, including the draft lottery, the entry draft itself and rule changes.

Sources suggest that simply proofreading the document could take another day or two. The league appears intent on not saying the deal is done, even internally, until it has a fully executed, legally binding document with the NHLPA (pending ratification). And since that isn't expected to happen before 1 pm et today, and may well take another day or two, Bettman apparently will play it safe at today's meeting and provide an update, and get some feedback, rather than any pronouncements.

That said, tentative plans are being made for the ratification process. A full NHL board of governors' meeting is being planned for early next week, which would appear to be the earliest the lockout could be officially deemed "over." And that's if the NHLPA is able to quickly put together its ratification process, which is expected to include a membership meeting with those players unable to physically attend the meeting casting their ballots via e-mail on the NHLPA secure website The Source.

The truth is, all plans right now are, to say the least, fluid. Until the actual document is agreed to by both sides, dates can change. For every day now the deal isn't finalized, the critical path for getting the industry back up and operating is moving on a daily basis.

Take the NHL entry draft, for example. It's tenatively scheduled for July 30 in Ottawa, but if the agreement and ratification process gets dragged out much longer, the draft could slide to Aug. 6.

In any event, the draft is almost certain to be held in Ottawa, though it will be a vastly scaled down version from what the NHL usually does. Sources suggest there will be no access for the public, other than on television, and only a small number of the top prospects, perhaps 15 to 20, and league and team officials will actually be in Ottawa for the draft.

Those plans, like everything else at this point, are a work in a progress. In the meantime, sources say it would be a mistake to characterize what's going on in meetings between the two sides at this time in New York as simple housekeeping. There is apparently still some actual back-and-forth negotiating going on, which is grinding down the process. On top of that, there are the proofreading and legalities issues which require a little more time to button down.

No one would suggest the process is likely to be derailed in any way, but neither is it finished.

:shrug:

[Rusty]

I don't want to hear anything until they actually sign a deal!

Until then, they should just STFU!

[a4l]

They have to give daily reports for fear we forget who they are.http://www.sevillagrande.org/foro/style_emoticons/default/meparto.gif

[KB in Kelowna]

The reason it is taking so long is that they have to idiot proof it, so the owners won't mess it up again.

[PDO]

The reason it is taking so long is that they have to idiot proof it, so the owners won't mess it up again.

Or so that the Agents don't leave in a bunch of shady wording's that can be abused.

[swflyers25]

TSN has learned of several key elements of the new agreement:


1. $850,000 is going to be the cap for entry-level players, but there are some bonuses that these young players can make. So a player like Sidney Crosby could make upwards of $4.5 million if he reaches some lofty bonuses, like being a top-10 scorer in the league.


2. Free agency will also become more liberal under the new CBA. Unrestricted free agency will still be 31-years-old in 2005, but the number drops considerably from there - 29 in 2006, 28 in 2007 and 27 in 2008 through 2010. This is important because at 27 players still have a lot of their career left.


3. There is all sorts of talk that players will have to renegotiate their contracts to get underneath the salary cap...that is not going to be allowed. Players are not going to be allowed to renegotiate their contracts. They are stuck with the deal unless they are bought out.

4. Another positive for the players is a significantly improved pension for both existing players in the NHL and for those retired players who are over the age of 70.

I know 3 definitely concerns the Flyers. JR, Rico can't restructure deals and if they are too much, they are gone. Pretty much seals that JLC and Amonte are gone.

TSN (http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story.asp?id=130180)

[KB in Kelowna]

Or so that the Agents don't leave in a bunch of shady wording's that can be abused.

the Agents and GM's have not been involved at all in the process. The Agents and the GM's are the one's who created this mess, though to be fair the gm's were acting on thier owner's instructions.