NHL – Preseason games are cancelled

The NHL announced Thursday that it had decided to cancel the remainder of the preparatory matches scheduled preseason, but is that not everything is lost.

Trade Union negotiations in the NHL will resume Friday, and the discussions are likely to continue throughout the weekend. The League and the players Association have booked days Friday, Saturday and Sunday for meetings in New York. This will be the first sessions of talks to be held after a break of over two weeks.

The discussions will resume while approaching the day of October 11, being the date to which normally begin the 2012-1203 NHL regular season. It may be appropriate that an agreement by the middle of next week so that the League can avoid to cancel games that count in the standings.

The final session of negotiations between the NHL and the Association dates back to September 12, three days before the lockout is triggered. The two sides then exchanged proposals revolving around the economic parameters that govern the North American professional hockey. These two deals do more.

During the process that led to the decision to hold new talks, the two parties have agreed to further study the secondary aspects that will be subject of an agreement under the new collective agreement. Among these, there are grievance procedures, the conditions of travel, medical care and pension and benefits plan.

The Association did not attend the meeting Friday with a new proposal in hands, according to a source. Still it was a bit of optimism in the air towards the resumption of negotiations. Monday, Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said he wanted discussions to resume as early as this week.

“Obviously, it must speak before to reach an agreement, so I think it is important that discussions resume, said Daly. ‘. But it must also have something to say. I think it is fair to say that we need to hear something meaningful on the part of the players Association because I do not believe that it has really enhanced his original proposal, which was submitted more than a month ago now. »