The Wednesday morning CBA meeting with federal mediators is underway between the NHL and NHLPA, and a group of players are present among the proceedings. There is no NHL ownership representing the league along with Gary Bettman and Bill Daly, but 13 NHL players are present along with NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr and Special Counsel Steve Fehr. There are no current Bruins players sitting in on the CBA negotiation process, but former Bruins forward Brad Boyes is among the assortment of players representing the union.
Those players attending the negotiation session are: Craig Adams, Adrian Aucoin, Brad Boyes, Chris Campoli, Mathieu Darche, Shane Doan, Ron Hainsey, Jamal Mayers, Andrew McDonald, Steve Montador, Brendan Morrison, Douglas Murray and Daniel Winnik.
The NHL and NHLPA are meeting at an undisclosed location with federal mediators and wont be holding the dueling press conferences that turned last weeks playersowners meeting sessions into a three-ring PR circus. The NHL lockout has now reached Day No. 88 with games cancelled through Dec. 30, but optimism remains because the two sides have seemingly reached an agreement on money.
The NHL and NHLPA are still trying to find common ground on CBA length (the league wants ten years, the players have countered with six), contract term limits (the league wants five years and the players have offered eight) and transitional plans that would govern amnesty buyouts over the next few seasons. Theyll attempt to do that this week, but federal mediators might not be the answer just as they werent in 2004-05.
A deal must come quickly, however, as both the NHL and NHLPA seem to understand that theres little more than a few weeks left to negotiate a deal before the NHL regular season is in real jeopardy.