NHL Tries Separating the Issues

Shifting strategy to meet in small groups that discussed separate issues, representatives of the NHL and NHL Players’ Assn. spent seven hours Monday trying to find areas of agreement they can stitch into a new collective bargaining agreement, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.

The two sides gathered in Toronto and met briefly with a larger group than had been at previous meetings before breaking into smaller groups to go over single issues such as entry-level contracts, revenue sharing and free agency, the source said.

“We discussed the status of our current situation and, in general terms, possible concepts for moving the process forward,” said Bill Daly, the NHL’s chief legal officer. “The meeting concluded with both sides agreeing to explore these concepts further internally and to talk again later this week.”

However, no date to resume talks was announced.

“We discussed some concepts aimed at addressing the challenges faced by all of us as a result of the NHL’s lockout and subsequent cancellation of the season,” NHLPA Senior Director Ted Saskin said.

While negotiators met in Toronto, the NHL filed a second charge with the National Labor Relations Board, claiming the union’s apparent intent to decertify agents who choose to represent replacement players is an unfair labor practice. The first charge, filed last week, challenged the NHLPA’s reported policy of obliging any union player who acts as replacement player to pay back the monthly lockout stipends the union has been paying since November.

The league and the union last met March 17, when the NHL presented two proposals. One proposal was based on a $37.5-million salary cap for each club and didn’t link player costs to revenues; the second linked salaries to no more than 54% of league revenues. The union began Monday’s meeting by rejecting both proposals, Daly said. The NHL has told the union that if the two sides haven’t produced an agreement by Friday, any future deal will include linking player costs to revenues. Players have objected to linking their salaries to revenues that are likely to plunge as the result of the lockout that has canceled the season.