2012 NHL CBA Negotiations: Owners Kick Things Off With Major Demands
So the NHL owners kicked off the 2012 NHL CBA negotiations last night, extending their offer to the NHLPA. Here is what the offer contained:
Renaud P Lavoie 3-contracts limites to 5 years 4-no more salary arbitration. 5- entry-level contract 5 years instead of 3.
NHL proposal to players: 1-reduce players hockey related revenues to 46% from 57 %. 2-10 seasons in NHL before being UFA.
Those are pretty hefty demands from the owners, join me after the jump to go through some of them.
The biggest two issues I see here are the reduced revenues and the 10-season required before players can become unrestricted free agents. Essentially, that's taking money right out of the players' hands. Especially forcing players to remain restricted free agents for 10 seasons.
It's far too early in negotiations for anyone to panic, however. This is the way these things work. The NHLPA will come back with their first offer, which will most likely be just as lopsided as the owner's offer and then the two sides will go from there.
For now, I'm sure this will create some drama around the hockey universe, but this is the way negotiations go. You always ask for more than what you actually want. Still, this is a pretty strong-armed offer.
If you need a reason not to panic, and some of you might, here is Jeff Marek (one of the smartest minds in hockey):
I refuse to get worked up over an initial proposal by the NHL to the PA in July.
Jeff Marek Understanding that this is just a first offer, what do you guys think of the proposal? What do you think the NHLPA will respond with?
