Looks like the end of the niceties in the CBA negotiations

Last night, I was out of town at the races in Fargo and during a rain delay I decided to check my twitter feed when I saw these tweets make it’s way across my twitter feed on numerous posts.

Bettman: “still a wide gap between us with not much time to go”

Bettman says after analyzing PA’s proposal the NHL owners understand it “but there is still a wide gap between us with not much time to go.”

Bettman: wide gap remains. In other words, lockout all but certain. No meetings until next Wednesday.

The message is clear that the owners really don’t plan on budging very much on their first proposal and this doesn’t really look like a partnership anymore. Any way you look at this – the players are going to be the losers in the CBA negotiations. It looks more like a shakedown than a negotiation.

Here is a break down on how far apart the two sides are – from TSN

Current system@

Salary cap: $70.2 million

Salary floor: $54.2 million

NHL's proposal@

Salary cap: $55.3 million

Salary floor: $39.3 million

NHLPA's proposal@

Salary cap: $69 million

Salary floor: $53 million

70.2 – 55.3 = 14.9 is a very big gap between the two sides. I am not very optimistic anymore that the two sides can avoid a work stoppage. It doesn’t appear that the owners are going to move off of their stance and I stand by my statement that the owners appear that they want to weaken the players union even further.