As ugly as the CBA negotiations have been at times since the lockout began, they have seemed equally productive over the course of the last three days.
Both the NHL and the NHLPA finally have their proverbial hard hats on and for the first time in the process, seem legitimately committed to hammering out a new CBA. The two sides met throughout the afternoon today and are expected to continue the discussions tomorrow.
Early this afternoon, details leaked about a couple proposals that were tabled by the NHLPA at yesterday's session.
Those proposals offered a 50/50 split by year three of the CBA. The offer was apparently not all that well received by the owners but the league did think enough of them to counter this afternoon.
While there are still issues that the two sides need to work out, the commitment to negotiating is a great sign. The so called experts continue to talk about American Thanksgiving weekend as a potential start date.
You'll continue to hear negativity from some media types until a deal is reached but the reality is the two sides have finally reached the negotiating stage of this negotiation. Ridiculous that it took this long but the events of the past few days lead me to believe that a resolution to this senseless lockout is finally within reach.
Hang in there.
- Had a chance to watch the Binghamton Senators 1-0 loss to the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins last night and it obviously wasn't pretty for Richardson's squad. The offence continues to struggle and if not for the outstanding play of Robin Lehner, this team could be in real trouble. No reason to panic just yet though. The BSens line up is one of the youngest in the AHL and a number of the team's forwards will need some time to adjust. Binghamton's next game comes on Saturday when they host the Norfolk Admirals.
- For those that are interested, Ottawa 67's star and Sens first round draft picks Cody Ceci and Matt Puempel are suiting up for the OHL team in the Subway Super Series game later tonight. You can catch that game on Sportsnet starting at 7:00 PM.
