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NHL CBA Update: All the Small Things Rule the Week

The Olympics are going on right now. That’s cool. Too bad (ice) hockey isn’t in the Summer Olympics.* Hockey generally isn’t played in the summer. That’s really too bad. They should have something like a competition for all of the general managers from the major hockey leagues in the world. The NHL, KHL, DEL, Elitserien, etc. Feats of strength, ultimate bargaining, freestyle trading, the 100 meter butterfly…uh…offer sheeting. Something like that. But, nothing like that exists. The IOC should be ashamed of itself.

You know who shouldn’t be ashamed of themselves? No? Me neither. Well, maybe the Kings. They have been the greatest hockey team in the history of this world or any other for the past forty-seven days. Forty-seven! That’s over four million seconds! Boy, how time flies.

Anyway, the Kings may have a chance to win the Stanley Cup again next season, barring the existence of a next season. The NHL and NHLPA continued to settle their differences this week regarding a new collective bargaining agreement. They last met Thursday in Toronto, and will reconvene next Monday in New York. Recap after the jump! Yay!!!

Let’s start at the beginning of the week, shall we.

Sportsnet: NHL, NHLPA prepare to resume talks in T.O.

Donald Fehr doesn’t say much, but when he does, it’s resolute.

Fehr says the players will make their offer, “when we’re ready.”

Watch out, we got a badass over here. I’m looking forward to Gary Bettman giving him “an offer he can’t refuse” and Fehr countering with “Forget it, Gary. It’s Chinatown.”

Next, here are a couple articles from the Globe and Mail, who you should really follow for the latest CBA news. David Shoalts and company are doing a wonderful job informing the public of the wheelings and dealings behind closed doors.

Globe and Mail: NHL makes expanded proposal to NHLPA but enormous gap remains

Wednesday’s meetings brought with them the remainder of the NHL’s proposal. The remaining issues concerned grievances, training camp procedures, medical care, roster moves, etc. The NHL and NHLPA even broke into small groups to discuss these issues and the ones presented in the following link. It’s like summer camp! Arts and Crafts at one table, and stimulating discussions on HMOs at the other.

According to Fehr, it appears the players and owners are close on many of these topics, so that’s nice. Isn’t it great when they get along. Makes ya smile. 🙂

Globe and Mail: NHL and NHLPA discuss pensions, ice conditions, and training camp

Again, more minor issues that the two sides appear to be close. This is encouraging, of course, because it allows for the focus of the negotiations to be on the HRR. And the HRR issue comes up in EVERY article on the CBA. Everybody is talking about that darn thing.

Defending Big D: 2012 NHL CBA: Exploring Hockey Related Revenue

HRR! Josh Lile from our Stars sister-blog attempts to define Hockey Related Revenue as it is laid out in the current CBA.

Hockey Related Revenue then is a simple idea when you get past the legalese. It’s the net operating revenue of the league plus Barter minus Direct Costs with the notable exclusions of relocation and expansion fees removed from the money pool.

Err…you should read the article to get the full grasp of what he’s talking about. But, basically, Josh discovers the NHL is attempting to redefine HRR in hopes of justifying the eleven percent slash in player HRR and concludes redefining the CBA could lead to longer negotiations.

That’s about it for this week. According to Shoalts’s article, the NHLPA claims to have a counter-proposal in the next two weeks. That puts us into early August when things should really start heating up.

*Yes, field hockey is in the Olympics, but, y’know, Dustin Brown doesn’t play for the American field hockey team or anything like that, so it’s automatically not as cool. Although he should.

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