NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr didn’t want to go into the specifics of Thursday’s CBA negotiating session, but the two sides are expected to meet again on Friday, according to Newsday’s Steve Zipay.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman also kept his cards close to his chest, based on ESPN’s Katie Strang’s report.
Now, here’s where things get interesting. If you’ve been following us today, then you already know that the NHLPA made the NHL two offers today.
The NHL did respond to those offers, but we don’t know exactly how they reacted. Given that the talks haven’t broken down, you could spin that into a positive sign if you wanted to, but ultimately it’s impossible to draw any conclusions from this news when we don’t know all the facts.
What we do know is that both sides are making an effort to keep these latest talks as private as possible. That might underscore their focus and determination during this stage of the process.
Either way, we’ll have to wait and see if these latest negotiations will save the season or lead to another roadblock in what has already been a long lockout.