In a surprising turn of events after what seemed like a deadlock which would never end, the National Hockey League (NHL) has thrown the ball back into the labour union’s court by offering a fresh, and comprehensive proposal to bring the lockout to an end.
The league made the new proposal on Thursday and is still awaiting a response from the Players’ Association end as the year is close to coming to an end and the latest deadline to have a deal in play is less nearly half a month away now.
"In light of media reports this morning, I can confirm that we delivered to the Union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA late [Thursday] afternoon," NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said in a statement Friday afternoon. "We are not prepared
to discuss the details of our proposal at this time. We are hopeful that once the Union's staff and negotiating committee have had an opportunity to thoroughly review and consider our new proposal, they will share it with the players. We want to be back on
the ice as soon as possible."
It is learned that the league is looking for a long term deal with the labour union and has now made a number of changes to certain areas that had seemed to have troubled the players in the past. Contracts are now reported to be for a maximum of six and
seven years depending on certain situations, which is a big change from the previous cap of five years which the league had set.
The percentage of increase in players’ annual salary is also believed to have been raised in the fresh proposal from the prior five percent to 10 percent now, which should really have the Players’ Association reconsidering their position on the deadlock.
Along with these changes, keeping the current system and length of salary arbitration, free agency, entry-level deals and a few other tweaks are incorporated into the new proposition, which will make the upcoming days interesting as the labour union definitely
is in the process of responding.
Updates should be expected during the beginning of next week.
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