The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Talks resumed today between the NHL Players association and the NHL owners. The NHLPA has committed to submitting a proposal to the league, but early reports say that the new proposal will not include a salary cap, meaning the league will most likely reject it without much discussion. This will be the NHLPA's first proposal since last October. According to the Canadian Press, the NHLPA came up with the new offer after meetings with the players' executive board on Wednesday. The current collective bargaining agreement expires next Wednesday at midnight EDT, and the two sides appear to be further apart than when they started the process. The NHL is looking for a system that ensures salaries will not exceed team profits, and the NHLPA views that as a salary cap. The players last proposal included a luxury tax, revenue sharing and a one-time five per cent rollback in salaries and some changes to the entry-level system, which was rejected by the league. Today's meetings will also include some new faces in the discussion. The NHLPA's executive board will join executive director Bob Goodenow and senior director Ted Saskin, among others, for Thursday's meeting. The board consists of players including president Trevor Linden, vice-presidents Bob Boughner, Vincent Damphousse, Daniel Alfredsson, Bill Guerin, Trent Klatt and Arturs Irbe. Alfredsson and Guerin won't be there, due to commitments at the World Cup. It is also expected that the league will be joined by some new blood, including Calgary Flames part-owner Harley Hotchkiss (chairman of the board), Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs (chairman of the finance committee), as well as Nashville Predators owner Craig Leipold and Carolina Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos. This will be the first time players and owners have been at a negotiating session since last October. The two sides met for 20 hours over three days in Montreal last week but indicated no progress. Owners have put aside more than $300 million US in case of a lockout. The current collective agreement, twice renewed over 10 years, has seen salaries grow from an average of $733,000 in 1994-95 to $1.83 million in 2003-04. League-wide revenues have also risen during that span, but the NHL says not at the same pace. In fact, the league says it lost $273 million in 2002-03.
