- Darren Dreger via twitter: Both Fehr’s, Gary Bettman and Bill Daly are expected to meet at about 11 am. A larger bargaining session will happen in the afternoon. Improving ice conditions is one issue the NHLPA wants the NHL to look at.
- Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star: The longer the lockout lasts, the less happy the players will be with the salary cap according to Don Fehr.
“If this goes on for an extended period of time, I don’t know what they (the players) are going to do. But I think it’s safe to say, they would be exploring all options,” said Fehr.
“Where the players are, they want to make a deal,” Fehr said. “Even though the owners’ proposal went as far away from the players as they could, the players did not respond in kind. They made a proposal which moved in the owners’ direction. If there can be an agreement in a relatively short term which puts the pieces back together and gets the season going, I think the players can live with that.”
“I hope we can continue to make some progress on what we call the non-core economic issues and I hope we can have discussions that can spark a new round of significant talks on the core economic issues,” said Fehr. “Whether that will happen, I can’t predict. But I hope it does.”
Billy Daly on the NHLPA’s threat of pulling the salary cap,
“Ultimately, it’s their call,” Daly said in an email to the Star. “Hopefully, we all want a quicker resolution to this negotiation than a longer one. How the PA ultimately decides to deal with that issue will be very telling.”
- David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail: The NHL owners seem to have problems in creating a system that gets, and keeps the NHL healthy. They’ve been paying for the Coyotes to remain in Phoenix for 3 years. The owners want to take money from the players to fix problems in 12 to 15 cities. Don Fehr on owners helping owners out,
“So, the question is: Are the higher revenue teams going to be willing to help out, in whole or meaningful part, the weaker teams?” Fehr told Jeff Blair of The Globe and Mail last week. “You have to remember that if you get to be a team in the NHL, you didn’t just decide to set up shop and join the league. Somebody had to agree that you could have a franchise, they had to agree on the purchase price, where you’re going to be, what the circumstances are … what your capital requirements would be and what your lending limits will be.
“They all have responsibility for one another.”