Bettman Suggests a Break Is Needed From Negotiations…..Pardon?

Yes, you read the title right and if you’re like me you’re thinking “why on earth would the two sides need to take a break when they aren’t even close to a deal?”  According to TSN.ca, Bettman suggested that the two sides take a two-week hiatus from negotiations after he received a call from Donald Fehr who stated even he himself didn’t know how to proceed towards getting a new CBA in place.

There is some positives out of this in that Fehr didn’t agree with Bettman right away.  Actually he didn’t disagree with him either but stated he needed to “bounce” the proposal off his party.  The NHLPA has repeatedly stated they would rather continue talking and discussing a new deal than take any more time off, something that will only lead to more games being cancelled.

"“We believe that it is more likely that we will make progress if we meet than if we don’t,” Steve Fehr said courtesy of TSN.ca."

At least one side has the right train of thought.  Yesterday Bettman said that if a new deal wasn’t in place within the next seven days that the league would be forced to cancel all regular season games up until December 15.  It’s becoming clear that Bettman would rather continue to write off more games than try and salvage as much of a season as possible.

If a new CBA was to be in place by next week, it is suspected that the regular season could start by December 1 which would allow a 68-game season; more than an adequate amount of games to separate the contenders from the pretenders.

While the league has a hard time accepting the urgency to at least try and negotiate, the player’s are about to lose their third paycheck and maybe it is now that panic sets in on the their side when they start feeling the financial pinch and have to change their lifestyle.

Optimism has fallen to pessimism with Bill Daly, the NHL’s deputy commissioner who told the Canadian Press he’s slowly losing all hope.

"“But I’m more discouraged now than I have been at any point in the process,”"

So the lockout rumbles on and the talks between the two sides are in a holding pattern.  This is not good.

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