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Fehr: Thinking 'about our next step' GAME OFF! NHL LOCKOUT 2012
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The NHL and its players association met for less than two hours Monday night in New York.
Not nearly enough time to work out a new collective bargaining agreement.
Whether it was enough to lay the groundwork for meaningful progress to be made is a little less certain.
"We are going to think about what was said and think about our next step," NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr told reporters when the meeting ended.
Fehr and the players won't have all that long to consider the situation, however, because they and the league are expected to get together again today.
NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly, who described himself as "frustrated," said the league has asked the union to put forth a comprehensive proposal on economic issues.
"We think it's all tied together and we'd like to hear it all together," he said.
Fehr said the league declined to discuss issues pertaining to player contracts, insisting that the division of revenues be worked out first. Daly, meanwhile, stressed that the owners will not agree to a proposal that guarantees the players a specific amount of money rather than a percentage of revenues.
Penguins player representative Craig Adams and teammate Brooks Orpik were among the 18 players who took part in the session, as well as the internal discussions that followed.
They also likely briefed at least a few teammates on the session.
Good thing, because a survey of Penguins players after their informal workout Monday at Southpointe showed that few, if any, planned to spend the evening monitoring the talks. Hitting the "Refresh" button on their computers every 10 seconds or so to see if any new bits of news were circulating wasn't on many to-do lists.
"I'll be on conference calls if there is one, but as far as waiting [to hear what was going on], I have a life," winger Pascal Dupuis said.
"We're not playing hockey right now, and I have other stuff I have to be taking care off. Obviously, it's not what I want to do right now, but it's what I have to do."
Left winger Matt Cooke was equally emphatic about his plans, none of which involved discussions about 50-50 splits, contract-term limits or revenue-sharing.
"I'll do kids stuff," Cooke said. "Kids sports. Family stuff. Stuff I've been focused on the last two months."
Monday's meeting was the first in eight days. Negotiations to this point have been so contentious, so often that simply getting representatives of both sides into the same room struck some as evidence of progress.
"I don't know what's going to come of it," center Sidney Crosby said. "At least they're talking. ... Just the fact that they're talking is always good. I'll take that over not talking."
DAY 66
First Published November 20, 2012 12:59 pm
