The tapas menu of small-plate CBA issues switches to meat and potatoes Thursday. That’s when union head Donald Fehr is expected to return to the table from Barcelona, with the NHL looking for his proposal for a new labor agreement.
A slim chance exists that Fehr will head straight to NHL headquarters in midtown Manhattan from the airport Wednesday to join today’s “small groups” talks, but neither side expects that. Fehr has been consulting European players in Russia and Barcelona before heading into the nitty-gritty of these final weeks before the CBA expires Sept. 15.
With a third lockout looming, the league says it is awaiting the NHLPA’s proposal, yet to be presented after the NHL sounded the battle cry last month with its litany of drastic cuts and claims of poverty.
“We would like to get a counter-proposal,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said after yesterday’s “small groups” talks. “The sooner we can get that proposal, the better.”
After winning a salary cap at the lockout cost of the 2004-05 season, the league now wants to slash the players’ share of league revenue from 57 percent to 46 percent, which actually, the union says would be 43 percent because of changes in revenue calculations.
The NHL’s proposal would also limit contracts to five years, extend entry-level (rookie) regulations to five years, up from three, and affect arbitration rights, as well.
The union says the league’s proposal would effectively shear salaries 25 percent.
“We’re working hard to avoid a work stoppage, is what I’d say,” Daly said when asked if the league fears another lockout. “We have a CBA expiration date coming up and we have to work toward that date to get as much done and behind us, and hopefully, an agreement by that date, as possible.
“We’ll do what we have to do in the best interests of the sport in terms of making decisions beyond that.”
Yesterday’s sessions, the now-familiar “small groups” talks, included Islander Rick DiPietro, Winnipeg’s Ron Hainsey and Chicago’s Steve Montador.
One source said a main safety discussion centered around both sides’ desire to minimize use of sleeping pills, particularly in the example of a team’s air return from a night game, when players don’t get home until 2 a.m. or later, yet have a 10 a.m. practice, and can’t afford to toss and turn after their flight. One suggestion is that such practices be prohibited, with a handful of exemptions, until 12 hours — as an example — have passed since arrival.
mark.everson@nypost.com
