I'm not going to go terribly in-depth as to what may or may not be happening at the NHL offices during CBA negotiations, but any knowledgeable hockey fan can't help but notice how tenuous the talks have been recently. The NHL is asking the players once again to make huge concessions, that already resulted in a lost season 8 years ago. I already went over here what the owners' initial demand was a few weeks ago. The NHLPA has yet to make its counter-offer and will not do so until the NHL becomes fully transparent with each team's finances. (The NHLPA received a portion of the requested financial information on July 31st but still awaits more.)
On the opposite side of the ledger, Gary Bettman has grown frustrated with the NHLPA's demands and has hinted at impatience towards the players. One gets the impression if the NHLPA doesn't have a formal counteroffer on the table by the expiration of the old CBA on September 15th, Gary Bettman will have no problems once again locking out the players.
This ultimately will come down to how to split the hockey related revenue and what that revenue ultimately entails. There's little doubt to me that the NHLPA will have to make some concessions and somehow prevent a steep salary rollback in order to have hockey this fall. The NHL at the same time cannot be rigid in their demands as they were back in 2004, when they were trying to sell the concept of a hard salary cap to the players. Issues with contracts, arbitration, unrestricted free agency will all fall into place once the bulk of the issues above are hammered out and agreed upon. As long as the two sides continue to talk during the summer, the better chance for hockey this winter.
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