The NHLPA submitted a comprehensive proposal to the NHL on Wednesday morning, with executive director Donald Fehr stating that the union has made a significant move towards the league and that, most importantly, the two sides now sit just $182 million apart over the course of the five-year deal.
The biggest news, however, was that the players did indeed decide to "speak the same language" as the NHL and based it's proposal on a percentage of revenues instead of a hard dollar amount. This was a hardline issue for the league, and now the NHL will take some time before responding to what the union has put on the table.
There is a catch, however. Reportedly, the proposal included only the elimination of back-diving contracts and nothing more when it comes to player contracts; the NHL has demanded major restrictions on player contracts, although the NHLPA has hoped the league would be willing to move on those issues if the revenue sharing issue was resolved.
There's also the fact that the league could very well be calculating the numbers differently than the NHLPA, and state that while Fehr says they are only $182 million apart -- they are in fact, much further apart than they claim.
The interesting part of all this is that the NHLPA did indeed decide to move in the leagues direction on the revenue sharing percentages, what many consider to be a major concession. From Dreger:
Fehr wouldn't confirm he was pushed to change PA's position in proposal, but, told he and hardliners had to be convinced to move.
— Darren Dreger (@DarrenDreger) November 21, 2012
The general consensus is that the NHLPA made a significant move to towards the NHL today. Now, all we wait on is whether the NHL is willing to work with this proposal or not.
We'll find out shortly.