NHL CBA Talks Continue As NHLPA Continues Preparing Counter-Offer

The National Hockey League Players’ Association (NHLPA) announced Tuesday afternoon that there’s still no timetable for a counter-proposal to the NHL’s initial collective bargaining agreement proposal, but executive director Donald Fehr continues to believe there’s no need to rush to get something done.

Fehr told the Associated Press on Monday that “there’s sufficient time” to get a deal done before the current CBA expires on Sept. 15.

“There’s no law that says you have to lock out,” Fehr said. “If both parties are both really interested in trying to reach an agreement, and if we both really care what the people watching hockey games think, then we ought to be doing everything we can to avoid that eventuality. And that includes not short-circuiting the process.”

The union has said repeatedly that the players are willing to play the start of the 2012-13 season under the current agreement should a new agreement not be reached. The NHL has refused to comment publicly on that possibility.

Fehr and the NHLPA are in the midst of poring over 76,000 pages of financial data before making their counter-proposal. Fehr has been meeting with players in Europe but is expected back at in New York to join negotiations on Wednesday.

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