While NHL owners and players are gearing up to reengage CBA talks on Wednesday, details emerged from the NHLPA’s latest meeting.
Ben Kuzma tracks down NHLPA head Donald Fehr, who shared a belief that the owners aren’t interested in increasing revenue sharing.
“They [owners] have not indicated any substantial willingness to increase the revenue sharing,” Fehr said. “Hopefully that will be an arena where we will be able to find more common ground ... I don’t think that those kinds of issues in the end are likely to get in the way. The gulf that separates us is triggered essentially by the owners’ position that the players have to make enormous concessions — far more than they did last time. And what they did last time was stunningly large.”
Fehr takes a step further earlier on in the article. Fehr argues that if owners want players to accept major alterations to arbitration and contract lengths, then they need to make the big concessions.
“What would it take to get players to move off those kind of things would be major concessions on the other side,” Fehr said.