Now the players have a big stick to wave at the NHL owners.
In voting that ended yesterday, sources say the Players Association rank-and-file voted overwhelming to authorize — without requiring — its executive committee to file a “disclaimer of interest” which would remove the union from negotiations with the NHL.
If issued, that disclaimer — said to have an authorization expiration of Jan. 2 — would effectively end both current collective bargaining and all-but-certainly the 2012-13 season.
The union is not expected to drop that neutron bomb immediately, but rather hopes to resume stalled negotiations and prompt a settlement from the owners’ side that had little to fear previously in this lockout that began Sept. 15.
The executive committee last week called for a vote to authorize the withdrawal from negotiations, though it might not have needed the approval it so strongly received in yesterday’s tally.
The authorization, however, is a tangible symbol of the lone tacit bargaining chip the players have so clearly been without in these give-back negotiations. Even NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly called such an authorization a “card” the players feel they can “play” as a helpful part of the process. We disagree that it can be “helpful” — in any way — to the collective bargaining process,’ Daly said.
The NHL Thursday canceled games through Jan. 14, and sources suggest that if the season does not begin Jan. 15, there won’t be a 2012-13 campaign, much as the game lost the 2004-05 season in NHL Lockout II.
Nevertheless, if the season opened Jan. 19, it would be the earliest the NHL has played after a lockout. The league played a 48-game slate in 1995, after that lockout was settled Jan. 11.
The sides are not far apart, at least both talking of a 50-50 revenue split, even if they still disagree on what constitutes revenue, and how soon the most recent 57 percent players’ share drops to an even split.
Sticking points remain on how teams would cut payroll to get under a reduced cap, and how existing contracts would be honored.