Much of this weekend’s optimism evaporated on Monday as Bill Daly explained that all-important economic issues probably won’t be discussed this week. Now Steve Fehr is responding to those comments.
The NHLPA exec had some more critical words for the owners’ side, according to Helene Elliott of the Los Angeles Times.
“For more than a month, the owners have not wanted to meet to discuss the core economic issues unless it is on their terms - that is, unless the players have yet another offer that includes significant concessions for them,” Fehr said. “By contrast, we place no conditions on our willingness to meet.”
Barring a late-night response, that likely concludes today’s round of lockout spin-doctoring.
The next set of meetings are expected to happen right around Wednesday or Thursday (the day that was supposed to represent the season opener).
We’ll have to wait and see if the two sides make some concessions this week or if they’ll simply dig in for another round of PR Ping-Pong.