NHL CBA Negotiations: Positive Signs From Tuesday's Meetings, Will It Stay That Way?
There were positive signs from yesterday's meeting between the NHL and the NHLPA, even if it took a remarkable roller coaster ride to get there.
The two sides met briefly in the morning, then broke apart, opening the floodgates for media panic and speculation. But as time moved forward, we realized the NHL gave the NHLPA something good to chew on, since Donald Fehr took over four hours to talk to the union about it before returning for a second series of negotiations Tuesday afternoon.
And, once the two sides broke for the day, it appeared that there was something positive to be taken from the day.
Join me after the jump for more.
Yesterday I wrote a story talking about the things both sides needed to do in order to get things moving. From my story:
The Owners Need To Remember This Is A Negotiation - As of this point, the NHL hasn't made any concessions. Then again, they really haven't negotiated from the player's offer at all. And maybe that's the problem. In the NHLPA's offer, the players lowered their own share of the pie for three years. Granted it was only 3%, but it's still something. At this stage in the game, the owners haven't done anything at all to try to get to a middle ground. They've simply stood on top of their perch and have been unwilling to move.
Well, that apparently happened. The owners gave their offer back to the NHLPA, and, according to Gary Bettman, the owners made "significant movement" with their new offer. Then again, we need to wait and see what the union thinks about it before we agree.
And on cue after the meetings concluded, there were conflicting reports from different members of the media about the offer. Here are just a few of them:
union source: NHL moved some things around but it is "basically the same" proposal as before and won't fly
Some details on
#NHL proposal; told league to phase in new HRR split: 52-48 (players) in yr 1; 50-50 in yr 2 etc#NHL#CBA#NHLPA
Tim Panaccio 
Michael Grange Which was then quickly refuted by Aaron Ward:
Indications are early reports of Revenue Sharing percentages from NHL proposal by media outlets,not accurate.NHLPA still analyzing.
#TSN
Aaron Ward At this stage in the game, we simply don't know what's going to happen. The two sides are scheduled to meet every day through Friday, and the NHLPA should be giving their reaction to the NHL's second offer today.
The good news? Fehr did say the players planned on responding to the owner's offer. That's a whole hell of a lot better than their original stance -- which was to ignore the NHL's offer and do their own.
But again, we're in wait and see mode. At least until tonight.
