According to USATODAY.com the NHL Players Association formally rejected the six proposals league officials made in July on the grounds that they acted as a salary cap.
“We believe what we read, and they had pretty much disparaged all the proposals publicly,” NHL chief legal officer Bill Daly said. “But we just wanted them to confirm that to us across the table. I suppose that we are hopeful that they will come back to us with their vision. Their last and only proposal was in June 2003, and that was 15 months ago.”
Ted Saskin has said the NHLPA won't negotiate “against ourselves”. He said “lobbing proposals back and forth” wouldn't be as constructive as trying to find common ground through exploring the league's operations and economics.
That was what the sides discussed yesterday in what Saskin termed “a sidestep in the process”. But they did agree to meet two further occasions between now and September 1.
Though Daly said the NHL hasn't asked for the union to bring forth a proposal to discuss, he would like the NHLPA to offer its “vision”. “It's hard to make progress when you are negotiating with no one,” he said.
In a proposal last summer, players offered a revision of the rookie salary cap and a five per cent rollback of salaries and opened up the possibility of a luxury tax/revenue-sharing system. The owners want a system that guarantees a predetermined relationship between salaries and revenue.
The disagreement is so fundamental that players and team officials both believe there is a danger of losing the season.
