The NHL lockout was so close to ending. So close. With meetings three days in a row, many proposals exchanged and new owners in on the talks, everything this week was starting to look really good. But it all came crashing to a dramatic halt Thursday with another deal falling through. I wrote about the first two deals here and here and am now going to tell you about the most intense negotiations yet. And how this time, who is at fault is a lot less clear.
The week started off great. On Tuesday, there was a meeting (suggested by Bettman) between owners and players without Bettman and Don Fehr present. Players like Crosby, Toews, Westgarth and Brad Richards and 15 others met with Larry Tanenbaum (Toronto), Ron Burkle (Pittsburgh), Mark Chipman (Winnipeg) and Jeremy Jacobs (Boston) among others. The meeting started around 1 pm and ran five hours before a dinner break and eventually ended at midnight. The press stood in the New York City Westin hotel lobby waiting patiently and when Steve Fehr and Bill Daly came out together to address the media at midnight, there was a buzz of excitement and hope. They addressed the media together for the first time and each complimented the efforts made by the other side, a very positive development. Steve Fehr even said that he felt it was the most constructive day so far. Everyone was excited to get back to negotiations after the Board of Governors met on Wednesday. Nobody knew the storm was going to come again.
Wednesday opened with a quick meeting that laid out the schedule of the day. Then at 11 am, representatives from all 30 teams met with Bettman and Daly for their annual meeting where Bettman updated them on the current negotiations and they discussed where to move next. At 1 pm, Bettman was scheduled to speak to the media, but didn't come out until closer to 2 pm. Stranger than that though was the press conference itself. Watch it here:
Possibly one of the shortest press conferences ever. But it still said a lot. It was respectful, accurate and gave some quotes for us to use on Twitter. What happened next is still unclear but the same group from Tuesday (for the most part) met again starting just before 2:30 and were on and off again until almost 2 am Thursday. Various journalists on the scene tweeted how proposals were exchanged multiple times, how they were offered free pizza by the NHLPA and how the podium was a sign of things to come. It was hysterical to read and I really wish I was in New York this week to do ground reporting instead of in Toronto for exams. Still, it seemed like a good day of negotiations, ending with small press briefings at the end of the night from Winnipeg Jets defenceman Ron Hainsey and Bill Daly. But as we would find out Thursday, Wednesday did not go as smooth as was first thought.
One other important note was revealed late Wednesday. The owners had adjusted their make-whole offer to $300 million from $211 million. But $50 million of that offer was designated to pensions which frustrated the players since they were already entitled to that pension money and it was simply moving to the make-whole without changing how much the players got.
Thursday started very different. Maybe it was the late nights, or maybe it was what happened behind closed doors. Either way, it was unclear for a while what was going on. Both sides appeared to be expecting offers from each other and they didn't meet with each other until close to 5 pm. There had been internal meetings on both sides and many of the owners left before 5, not going to the meeting and instead heading home. Another person who did not attend the meeting was Gary Bettman, which very much angered the NHLPA. They met for close to an hour and then Bill Daly and his advisers quickly left the hotel to go to the NHL offices where Bettman was waiting to hear what the meeting was about. The NHLPA scheduled a press conference for 6:30 and the train began to derail.
Fehr took to the stage with great excitement. His players, including Crosby and Richards surrounded him, as he talked about how the NHLPA had made a proposal that saw an agreement with the make-whole and revenue split. He talked about how well the negotiations went and how he was confident a deal could get done either Thursday or Friday. And he was mad at Bettman for skipping the meeting, which was more of a presentation by the players, outlining the key points to their offer. It was a very positive news conference and the players shared Fehr's excitement.
Crosby was quoted as saying "There is no reason this can't be good for everyone" and then added that "this was by far the best deal (they) had offered."
Everything was so positive for a time. It looked like the end of the tunnel was within reach. But that changed with just one phone call. Or more specifically, a phone message.
Shortly after letting the players loose to talk to the press, Steve Fehr checked his phone and saw a missed call from Bill Daly. After listening to it, he gathered his brother and soon they were telling everyone that Don had more to say. He went back to the podium and announced everyone's worst fears, streamed live on TSN.
http://watch.tsn.ca/nhl/clip821986#clip821986
The deal was rejected. The deal that Fehr and Crosby and just described as "the best" was thrown out only 45 minutes after it was presented. Fehr was clearly disappointed in his press conference and he was baffled that it had come to this, being now the third time an NHLPA proposal was turned away. But what happened next was more astonishing. Gary Bettman and Bill Daly came to speak and TSN had that conference too.
http://watch.tsn.ca/nhl/clip822014#clip822014
The key point from what Bettman said was this: the NHLPA was wrong, they were not close at all. Daly went on to talk about some key issues the owners did not want touched such as length (10 years) and some other issues that could not change. Since pension was suddenly important to players, Bettman and Daly said the deal was that if the above mentioned issues were addressed by the union, the owners would fix the pension system. But the union wanted to negotiate the NHL's key points and the owners refused to do that feeling they had given up way to much already, mostly things that never saw light outside the room because they are being kept the same as the previous contract. Now everything the owners offered is off the table and the owners who flew in this week are gone, waiting like fans for this to be fixed.
Then some of the owners released press releases after the Bettman press conference, offering their full support to the league and subtly insulting the NHLPA.
Don Cherry himself took to Twitter after Bettman's press conference and had an interesting observation from it. "I have known Gary Bettman since he was named commissioner. I have never seen him so livid as he was at that press conference," Cherry tweeted. "He was almost shaking. That was no act."
Bettman wants to get a deal done and tonight was the first time where I believed that. Where the negotiations go from here is impossible to tell, but the odds of hockey being played this month were thrown out the window Thursday night. At this point we need a Christmas miracle if there is going to be any NHL games this season.
As always please visit my website, www.jbenny.com, for more of my writing. And make sure to follow me on twitter, @jbenny15 for my short ramblings on hockey and many other things.
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