League, Players Association meeting concludes, to Continue Thursday -NHL Lockout Update
The National Hockey League (NHL) and Players’ Association met for the second time this week on Wednesday, November 7, 2012, following a seven hour debate on Tuesday, which definitely shows signs of progress towards getting a new labour deal signed.
Both stakeholders have agreed, according to sources, to meet again on Thursday, which would be their third straight and the most intense ever since they met last time this much during mid October.
Wednesday’s meeting was not any shorter as it also lasted over five hours and has definitely raised hopes of both sides saving what remains of the 2012-2013 NHL regular season as fans eagerly await the puck dropping.
"The National Hockey League's negotiating committee met with representatives of the National Hockey League Players' Association for approximately 5-1/2 hours today," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. "Meetings are scheduled to resume [Thursday]. We
do not intend to comment on the substance or subject matter of today's negotiations."
NHLPA executive director, Donald Fehr, also made a statement about the meeting, which could be termed to be positive in nature as both sides look forward to meeting again.
"The NHLPA and the NHL met today to discuss many of the key issues. We look forward to resuming talks [Thursday]," Fehr said.
It all kicked off when Deputy Commissioner, Bill Daly, and special counsel to the NHLPA, Steve Fehr, went in an undisclosed location to meet face-to-face. After that, both sides have been meeting continuously and seem to finally be getting serious to save
the regular season and stop the misery the fans are currently going through.
September 15, 2012, was the official day the lockout came into force after the previous collective bargaining agreement came to an end and has been eight weeks since then, but nothing conclusive has been reached as of yet.
Wednesday can be seen as being crucial in nature as it is the third meeting and could trigger the signing of a new labour deal and have a regular season back on. There are still some sources terming the Winter Classic as still playable, if both sides manage
to work something out before December.
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