Gary Bettman started the clock, now 36 days until NHL Lockout III.
With union head Donald Fehr joining negotiations at NHL headquarters in Midtown Thursday, Bettman made it crystal clear that he is again prepared to shut down the league, as he did with lockouts in 1994 and 2004-05 if a new collective bargaining agreement is not reached by Sept. 15.
“I reconfirmed something the union has been told multiple times, namely, that time is getting short and the owners are not prepared to operate under this collective bargaining agreement for another season,” Bettman said.
Bettman also made clear that training camps would not be held if no agreement is set by the Sept. 15 expiration of the current CBA, the one that cost the sport the 2004-05 season in exchange for a salary cap of dubious success.
Bettman said his declaration is nothing new, but he chose to make it without prompting, indicating its import.
Fehr, back from canvassing his European constituency in Moscow and Barcelona, said he will put the union’s CBA proposal on the table Tuesday in Toronto.
Fehr entered yesterday’s talks by saying all of the NHL’s “proposals that have meaningful dollar significance are [takebacks].”Fehr spent part of the two-hour session yesterday detailing the union’s objections to the league’s new plan for revenue sharing for small market teams. He claimed the plan’s existing and new benefits come almost completely out of the players’ pockets.
The major issue which will begin being negotiated Tuesday is the players’ share of league revenues. The NHL proposal would slash it from 57 percent to 46 percent, which the union claims is really 43 percent because of accounting changes. The union says its members would suffer a 25 percent pay cut under the proposal, $450 million per season.
Both sides conceded they are far apart.
“There is a meaningful gulf there,” Fehr said.
“We have a wide gap to bridge on a whole host of issues,” Bettman said.
The sides meet again in Midtown today regarding legal and hockey issues, and the talks shift to Toronto Monday.
Devils sign winger Butler
General manager Lou Lamoriello said the Devils will give RW Bobby Butler a shot at making the team as a goal-scorer.
The Devils signed the 25-year-old Butler to a two-way contract Thursday after he became a free agent from the Senators. A two-way contract means Butler will receive a higher salary for any NHL action but a lower if he plays in the minors.
The Massachusetts native had 16 goals and 37 points in 94 career games with the Senators. Last season, he had six goals and 10 assists in 56 games. He also was Hockey East player of the year in 2010 for New Hampshire.