The players may be angry again, but mood doesn’t matter anymore. They can’t — and because they care, they won’t — let commissioner Gary Bettman’s last-minute shenanigans become the hill their season dies upon, not this close to a deal. And it looks like the NHL is playing on that sentiment.
Even as the league seeks to wring every last imaginable drop from the players during the final throes of Lockout III, teams are starting to gear up for a hockey season, rather than be caught by surprise after what is now 111 days of warning.
Yesterday was another “one step back” awaiting two steps forward, and the players are now voting to re-authorize the potential season-killer of the union “disclaimer of interest” they allowed to expire this week.
The NHL and its Players Association still are haggling over numbers, the 2013-14 salary cap among yesterday’s issues in short talks.
One issue the players thought settled, the definition of hockey revenue — now headed toward an eventual 50-50 split from the most-recent 57 percent players’ share — reared its head again yesterday, prompting much angst among the rank-and-file, though that concern was re-settled.
The sides met for a mediated hour yesterday afternoon at NHL headquarters in Midtown and without either union head Donald Fehr or Bettman. A small group of players returned at dinner time to renew pension discussions for two hours.
The union began conducting another vote to re-authorize a disclaimer of interest, which would allow the union to exit the negotiations, and leave the NHL with no one with whom to negotiate collectively. Players would then be able to sue the league on antitrust issues.
The union chose not to blow up the so-nearly settled talks Wednesday night, allowing the expiration of its initial authorization to disclaim interest as a negotiating entity.
Again, the union will seek to use that re-authorization as leverage to push the league toward settlement. The union also filed its reply to the league’s suit to have its initial authorization voided.
The sides have a week left to make this lockout the shortest of the three of Bettman’s reign. Bettman’s Jan. 11 drop-dead date seems to also be the goal-line for the sides to gain their best deal.
Teams have begun making advertising arrangements for ticket sales and TV coverage. But it appears NHL stars playing overseas have not yet begun returning to North America.
Training camps will have to be up-and-running almost immediately if a deal is made, with a schedule to begin late this month. The league is seeking a Jan. 19 start.