Donald Fehr says the end of the lockout should be in sight.
The NHL Players' Association has offered a "comprehensive proposal" to the NHL, Fehr said tonight, and the union executive director feels it should be enough to end the lockout.
"We think there is a complete agreement on dollars," Fehr told reporters in New York. "If that's the case, and we think it is .. should be able to complete an agreement."
The union met with league representatives from 5 to 6 p.m., and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly and legal counsel Bob Batterman went back to the league's hotel to discuss the proposal. The union is awaiting the league's response.
Fehr said the union:
*Offered an eight-year collective bargaining agreement, with an opt-out clause after six;
*Offered a limit of eight years on contracts;
*Offered a contract variance in which the lowest salary of a multiyear deal must equal at least 25 percent of the highest year;
*Agreed to the NHL's make-whole proposal of $300 million.
"We hope and believe and expect that this should put us on the road for a quick end to this dispute," Fehr said. "The players have gone a very, very long way. ... The players have done far and away the lions' share of the movement here."
---John Vogl
