It was a marathon session, one that rendered one deadline meaningless and made the most important deadline seem incrementally closer.
The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association met last night for almost five hours, going close to 1 a.m., following an hour-long afternoon session — all resulting in what both parties deemed small progress toward ending Lockout III.
With the union’s self-imposed midnight deadline for filing a disclaimer of interest coming and going, they indirectly admitted they did not dissolve the union. Don Fehr, executive director of the PA, said “the players maintain all the legal options they have always had,” meaning they could still file further down the road if voted on again.
“The word disclaimer is yet to be uttered to us by the Players’ Association,” is how commissioner Gary Bettman so bluntly put it. “When you disclaim interest as a union, you notify the other side. We have not been notified.”
That was a good sign they didn’t do it last night, but not one that means a resolution is on the horizon.
“The parties moved closer together on some issues, but there is still a ways to go if an agreement can be reached,” said Fehr, who disclosed the a mediator was brought in to oversee the negotiations, and will be present again when the two sides meet today at 10 a.m.
“It’s sort of like if you have a river to cross; you either have to build a bridge or you have to do something else,” Fehr said, “if you’re going to cross the river.”
The league has set a deadline of Jan. 11 for the deal to get done so a 48-game schedule can start by Jan. 19. A source said teams have not been given any indication they should prepare for a schedule, not even so far as tentative home and away dates.
What has become the biggest sticking point now is with players’ pensions, which Bettman described as “a very complicated issue.” Other main points are the league-proposed $60 million salary cap for 2013-14, and a player-proposed limit on salary escrow.
The biggest previous issue — how the two sides split up the pot of hockey-related revenue — already has been resolved, leaving just the give and take of each little piece.
“The differences between us relate to the core economic issues,” Fehr said, “that don’t involve the [HRR] share.”
So with the lockout entering day 110, threatening to cancel the second season in the past eight years, it’s more talking that is on the table.
“As long as the process continues,” Bettman said, “I am hopeful.”