League, Players Association set to continue formal discussions on labour deal -NHL Update
The National Hockey League (NHL) and NHL Players’ Association have reassured fans of their continuance in working on a new deal by officially beginning formal talks that will last till Friday of this week since having started on Tuesday.
After receiving over 70,000 pages of financial information from the league recently after requested, the Players’ Association is waiting on some more details before kicking talks off right away. The NHL has already put forth their initial offer to break the ice, now waiting for the labour union to go ahead and make a deal.
NHLPA’s special assistant to executive director Donald Fehr, Mathieu Schneider, was especially happy at the fact that both sides are working towards a new deal and they are definitely ‘closer’ he termed.
Also on the bright side was the statement made by NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, who genuinely believes that negotiations are much different from the previous lockout scenario.
"Look I'm sure it's going to go right down to the wire, as these things necessarily do, but I think both sides are committed to work through the issues," Daly said. "I've said this before and I believe it, I feel like we're in a real negotiation process. I'm not sure I always felt that way in 2004, so I would distinguish this summer from that summer."
"I think there is kind of a joint goal to make the game as safe as it can be for the players. That is something that we share and we have always shared. We're talking about some protocols in that area, and like I said, a lot of common ground."
Donald Fehr is learned to be in Barcelona, Spain, at the moment and is meeting with players that are representing their teams in the meetings for a new collective bargaining agreement as the current one is set to expire on September 15th.
He is expected to be back by Thursday or Friday to take part in the official formal talks that will be based on economic issues between the two sides.
Updates are expected in the upcoming days as both sides continue discussions.
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