Toronto, ON – The NHL Players Association supplied three separate proposals to the National Hockey League on Thursday in an effort to end the league's ongoing lockout.
The NHL, however, turned down all three proposals and the meeting broke up after a little more than an hour.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman submitted a six-year offer to the NHLPA on Tuesday that included a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue, asked for entry-level contracts to be two years in length and for a five-year maximum length on all other contracts, allowed players to become unrestricted free agents after eight accrued NHL seasons or at 28 years of age, and allowed for a full 82-game season, beginning on Nov. 2, if the players accepted the deal.
But that is unlikely now that the league has turned down the NHLPA's counter offer.
"The Players' Association came back and basically made three alternate proposals on the players' share, all variations, to some degree, of the one proposal that they made over the summer and really haven't deviated from since," Bettman said. "And none of the three variations of players' share that they gave us even began to approach 50-50 (revenue split) either at all or for some long period of time and it's clear that we're not speaking the same language in terms of what they came back to us with.
"It is still my hope that we can accomplish my goal, the league's goal of getting an 82-game season, but I am concerned based on the proposal that was made today that things are not progressing. To the contrary, I think the proposal that was made by the Players' Association was in many ways a step backward."
The lockout, which began on Sept. 16, has already caused the cancellation of 82 games from Oct. 11-24.
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