Rest In Peace, Winter Classic.

After a Christmas hiatus, we are back and… no good news or bad news really to report. A lot has happened, though and we will cover it all in one sugarcoated nutshell.

Let’s start with what we know:

• Commissioner Gary Bettman has set a date for hockey doomsday: January 11th. If both the NHL and NHLPA have not come to an agreement in CBA talks by that date, the 2012– err, 2013 season will be kaput. 
• The league proposed a new bargain last Thursday, basically consisting of 10-year CBA with a mutual opt-out after eight years, no contractual rollbacks on players’ salaries, 50-50 split of hockey-related revenue, $300 million towards the “Make Whole” provision, max-limits on free agent contracts, and one compliance buyout before the 2013-14 season. Phew – that’s a lot to throw on the table at once.
• Late Tuesday night, the player’s association presented the league with a counter-proposal, but not too much has leaked to the media regarding what exactly the proposal entails. However, it has been noted that the NHLPA is not happy with the league’s pension offer, which is an entire argument in itself.
• The NHLPA has a two hour (midnight EST) deadline to decide if they want to go ahead with the Disclaimer of Interest.

  Alrighty, got all that? A sense of false optimism has us biting our nails; we just can’t help ourselves. Progress is being make ever-so-surely, as the two sides are still meeting as we post this. As stated above, the NHLPA still has until the stroke of midnight to go with the DoI, but this is no Cinderella story – if the players’ association passes, they can always vote again in favor of it at a later date.

  We probably missed something, but that is what’s going on in the world of CBA talks at this time. Not good news, not bad news. Progress, methinks.