2012 NHL CBA Negotiations: NHLPA Presents Offer To NHL And Owners

Meetings concluded for the day up in Toronto, with the NHLPA finally presenting their "alternate" proposal to Gary Bettman and the owners. To start, there were many rumors going around that the NHLPA's "alternate" offer included removing the hard cap. However, with their proposal today, the NHLPA did not ask the NHL to remove the salary cap, which as Renaud P Lavoie notes, "[Is an] important step to make sure they'll be hockey at one point this season."
Gary Bettman acknowledged that the players proposal was very in-depth, and the league will need some time to thoroughly evaluate the offer. He also noted that it was fairly evident that the players and the NHLPA took their time to put together a well-rounded offer, which is always good news. Instead of trading punches with the NHL, after their initial offer, it appears that Donald Fehr took his time and put together a balanced proposal in which both sides can work from. Details from the proposal have not yet leaked out, but hopefully we will hear more about it later on tonight.

Meetings are expected to resume tomorrow morning in Toronto, where the NHL is hopeful they can respond to today's proposal from the players. As it appears, the hard negotiations have finally begun, and it's about time. We will have an update tomorrow with details from Wednesday's meeting.