The NHL Players' Association made a counterproposal to the NHL this evening in New York that Executive Director Donald Fehr said causes a "complete agreement in dollars" with the NHL.
He says if that's the case, an agreement should be reached in short order. The NHL has taken the counterproposal back to the league office for review. There is still no word for them.
"We will wait and see what they say and when they say it," Yahoo's Nick Cotsonika quoted Fehr as saying during his news conference. "We think there is a complete agreement on dollars. Wouldn't seem to be very much reason why we shouldn't be able to conclude."
What hasn't been agreed upon I understand from one email is that transition rules have not yet been agreed upon. Also contractual rights haven't been agreed upon yet.
So this is premature, but it seems like they're inching closer together.
If there is to be an agreement soon, the language would have to be drafted up followed by votes.
What is bizarre is that as recently as a few hours ago, the NHLPA requested to put mediation back into the process. The league refused, so everybody was naturally expecting doomsday.
Something changed.
