Snatching a season from the claws of cancellation?
In a major movement yesterday the NHL put forth an offer of a $40 million salary cap and removed the linkage between league revenues and player salaries.
In response, the NHLPA offered up a hybrid tax/cap system that lowered the trigger point for luxury tax payments, upped the tax penalties, and included a hard cap at $52 million per team.
Despite the fact that neither deal was agreed to and that both sides said that no progress had been made, this can't be anything but good news after a weekend of nothing happening leading up to the scheduled press conference to cancel the season.
Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but both sides have made huge shifts in their previously hard line stances. The NHL has moved off the linkage issue. And the NHLPA has moved off their hardline stance against a salary cap.
The question now is whether or not there is enough time to craft together a comprimise deal to save what remains of a season.
Personally, I hope that both sides see that the best thing for each of them is to come up with a comprimise deal and get on with the business of playing hockey games. I'd expect a hybrid tax/cap deal that has a hard cap in the $42 to 45 million range should be good enough for both sides to live with for now.
The key will be whether both sides will prove to be dumber than I think they are. Honestly, I hope that isn't the case.
In response, the NHLPA offered up a hybrid tax/cap system that lowered the trigger point for luxury tax payments, upped the tax penalties, and included a hard cap at $52 million per team.
Despite the fact that neither deal was agreed to and that both sides said that no progress had been made, this can't be anything but good news after a weekend of nothing happening leading up to the scheduled press conference to cancel the season.
Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but both sides have made huge shifts in their previously hard line stances. The NHL has moved off the linkage issue. And the NHLPA has moved off their hardline stance against a salary cap.
The question now is whether or not there is enough time to craft together a comprimise deal to save what remains of a season.
Personally, I hope that both sides see that the best thing for each of them is to come up with a comprimise deal and get on with the business of playing hockey games. I'd expect a hybrid tax/cap deal that has a hard cap in the $42 to 45 million range should be good enough for both sides to live with for now.
The key will be whether both sides will prove to be dumber than I think they are. Honestly, I hope that isn't the case.
posted by James W at 8:06 AM
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