NEW YORK – The glimmer of hope for the 2004-05 NHL season appeared to flicker out following Thursday night’s meeting in New York.
According to a source, the league submitted an informal proposal featuring several different salary cap-based plans. Predictably, the players, who have repeatedly said that a cap is a non-starter, were not pleased.
“We continue to have significant philosophical differences,” NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin said in a statement.
This latest breakdown could be a deathblow to the season, though both sides apparently agreed to keep open the lines of communication. Although NHL commissioner Gary Bettman refuses to issue a drop-dead date, it is believed a deal would have to be struck before the end of the month.
The sides had originally planned to continue talking today in New York. Scrapping that plan appeared to be another negative sign.
The “philosophical differences” Saskin spoke of continue to be the league’s insistence on “cost certainty” in the form of a link between salaries and revenue and the players defining any link as a salary cap.
Rumors swirled Thursday night about the content of the league proposal. One report said it included a team-by-team salary cap with no luxury tax. Earlier, sources talked of a compromise deal that would include a luxury tax triggered by a soft salary cap, a salary minimum per team and a hard cap ceiling.
TSN in Canada initially reported a plan that would feature a $6 million individual salary limit – i.e. no player could earn more than $6 million per season – plus a luxury tax on the team’s total payroll, but later said that was not part of the league’s proposal.
It was reported that the sides made little progress during Wednesday’s 5 1/2-hour meeting in Toronto, but they have picked up their pace considerably in the last week and a half. Thursday’s meeting was their fourth in nine days after the sides sat down only twice during the previous four months.
The sides met for four hours Thursday, wrapping up at 8:30 p.m. As with Wednesday’s meeting, the location was not disclosed and Bettman and NHLPA executive director Bob Goodenow did not take part.
The NHL was again represented Thursday by executive vice president Bill Daly, Board of Governors chairman Harley Hotchkiss of the Calgary Flames, Devils president and general manager Lou Lamoriello and outside counsel Bob Batterman. Back on the union’s side of the table were senior director Ted Saskin, president Trevor Linden of the Vancouver Canucks and outside counsel John McCambridge.
Lamoriello joined the negotiations Wednesday after not taking part in last week’s sitdowns in Chicago and Toronto.
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Gary Bettman
AP-NY-01-27-05 2359EST
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