NHL unhappy with union response

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TORONTO -- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman received three counterproposals from the players' association on Thursday and left the negotiating table "thoroughly disappointed."

No new talks have been scheduled, and the possibility of a full hockey regular season is quickly shrinking.

"Today is not a good day," NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr said.

Thursday's meetings, according to Bettman, were a "step backward," while Fehr insists the NHL was only willing to work off its offer from Tuesday, rejecting the players' three counteroffers.

The union offered multiple options in response to the NHL's offer Tuesday that called for an 82-game season and a 50-50 split of hockey-related revenues between owners and players.

Said Blues captain David Backes in a text to ESPN.com: "We feel our newest proposal took a great step toward getting a deal done. It's too bad the owners don't feel that way and I fear that we may miss an extended amount of time now."

Bettman said that proposal was the "best that we could do" and added that the two sides are still far apart.

"None of the three variations of player share that they gave us even began to approach 50-50, either at all or for some long period of time," Bettman said.

"It's clear we're not speaking the same language."

Fehr said two of the union's proposals would have the players take a fixed amount of revenue, which would turn into an approximate 50-50 split over the term of the deal, provided league revenues continued to grow.

The third approach would be a 50-50 split, as long as the league honored all existing contracts at full value.

Deputy commissioner Bill Daly contradicted what Fehr said was included in the third proposal, saying in a statement: "The so-called 50-50 deal, plus honoring current contracts proposed by the NHL Players' Association earlier today is being misrepresented. It is not a 50-50 deal. It is, most likely a 56- to 57-percent deal in Year One and never gets to 50 percent during the proposed five-year term of the agreement.

"The proposal contemplates paying the Players approximately $650 million outside of the Players' Share. In effect, the Union is proposing to change the accounting rules to be able to say '50-50,' when in reality it is not. The Union told us that they had not yet 'run the numbers.' We did."

“

The so-called 50-50 deal, plus honoring current contracts proposed by the NHL Players' Association earlier today is being misrepresented. It is not a 50-50 deal. It is, most likely a 56- to 57-percent deal in Year One and never gets to 50 percent during the proposed five-year term of the agreement.

” -- Bill Daly on NHLPA's third proposal

Further, Daly told ESPN.com that in the league's view, none of the three offers from the NHLPA guarantee ever getting to a 50/50 split.

Bettman said he was still hopeful the league can have a full season, but time is running out to make that happen.

"I am concerned based on the proposal that was made today that things are not progressing," he said. "To the contrary, I view the proposal made by the players' association in many ways a step backward."

Bettman said Tuesday the sides would have to reach an agreement by Oct. 25 for a full season to be played.

"We came in here today with those proposals thinking that we could really make some progress," Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby said. "To hear those words (from Bettman) kind of shuts it down pretty quickly. In a nutshell it doesn't look good."

Fehr said the players would sacrifice nearly $1.8 billion in revenue under the league's proposal. He added that concessions made by the players in the last round of bargaining have cost them $3.3 billion over the term of the last agreement.

The players received 57 percent of revenues in the collective bargaining agreement that expired last month.

NHL players showed up in force Thursday as the union made its various offers.

Among the 18 players at the talks were Crosby, Jarome Iginla, Jonathan Toews and Eric Staal. The scene looked similar to one in August when the union made its first proposal.

Crosby called Thursday's offers "significant."

"That follows a pattern we've displayed coming into this negotiation. We're willing to negotiate," he said. "It's pretty disappointing we're at this point."

The lockout -- the third of the Bettman era -- began Sept. 16, and the league canceled regular-season games through Oct. 24. Bettman, in announcing the new proposal, called it "a fair offer for a long-term deal" and "one that we hope gets a positive reaction."

But the clock is ticking. There is only one week to strike a deal for the season to start by Nov. 2, three weeks behind schedule. If those deadlines are met, teams would be able to hold makeshift training camps for one week, then play one extra game every five weeks to make up for the lost time and complete a full slate.

In releasing the details, the NHL confirmed the offer is for six years with a mutual option for a seventh. The plan includes a 50-50 split in hockey-related revenue, which is a step forward. The NHL had proposed in July to cut the percentage of HRR from 57 percent to 43, then increased its offer in September to about 47.

Management included a provision to ensure players receive all money promised in existing contracts, but the union is concerned with what management termed the "make-whole provision." If the players' share falls short of their $1.883 billion in 2011-12, the players would be paid up to $149 million of deferred compensation in the first year of a new deal and up to $62 million in the second. However, the union believes that money would be counted against the players' share in later years.

The latest league proposal also includes:

• A listed salary cap of $59.9 million for the 2012-13 season, with a provision each team could spend up to $70.2 million during a transition season.

• Changing eligibility for unrestricted free agency from age 27 or seven years of service to age 28 or eight years of service, down from 10 years of service in the league's earlier proposal.

• Increasing eligibility for salary arbitration from four years to five years.

• Including all years of existing contracts beyond five years against a team's cap, regardless of where a player is playing. If a player is traded and retires or stops playing, the applicable cap charge would be applied against the team that originally signed the contact.

• The reduction of entry-level contracts to two years.

• A term limit of five years on any future contracts and a stipulation that the average annual value can vary only up to 5 percent. This mechanism is designed to eliminate long-term, back-loaded contracts. The NHL wants to prohibit lengthy deals, such as the $98 million, 13-year contracts Minnesota agreed to in July with forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter.

• The elimination of re-entry waivers.

• Increasing the annual revenue-sharing pool by 33 percent to $200 million, assuming annual league revenue of $3.033 billion, with a provision that half the pool be funded by the 10 teams with the highest gross revenue. A cutout against clubs in large media markets, such as Anaheim, New Jersey and the New York Islanders, and clawbacks against not selling enough tickets would be eliminated. A new revenue-sharing committee, which would include NHLPA representation, would have input to determine distribution.

Among the items not addressed in the league's public detailing of its offer were realignment, drug testing and the NHL's participation in the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Information from ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun, ESPNNewYork.com's Katie Strang and The Associated Press was used in this report.

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