NEW YORK (CP) - The two sides in the NHL labour dispute have abandoned long-standing philosophical positions and edged closer together, but the question is whether there is time to bridge the remaining gap.
The clock is ticking towards a news conference in New York at 1 p.m. EST Wednesday when commissioner Gary Bettman is expected to cancel the season barring an agreement.
Still, it appeared the door leading to a possible solution had finally started to open following Monday night's revelation that the NHL Players' Association had changed direction at the final turn and offered to play under a $52-million US salary cap.
The league, meanwhile, moved by proposing a $40-million salary cap with no "linkage" to revenue.
Both offers include the union's original proposal to slash existing contracts by 24 per cent.
"The buzzwords are off the table now, it's a business discussion now not a philosophical argument and that's good," Devils GM Lou Lamoriello said from New Jersey. "But there's work to be done."
Said Sabres player representative Jay McKee: "We're at the point now where it's got to get done, and it's got to get done quick. But I think it can get done."
Flyers player rep Robert Esche applauded the compromise.
"I'm sure not everybody is happy out there. I'm sure there's some players not happy with a hard cap and some owners not happy at not having linkage," he said.
"But hey, it's a give-and-take world. Now it seems we're just down to numbers."
Now the question is whether the two sides can sort out those numbers. One source said the league sees $52 million as too high but might be willing to go in the low 40s to get a deal done.
"It shouldn't be that hard, they're agreeing on principles," Esche said.
Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk wasn't quite as positive.
"It's a lot to try to do in a very, very short time," he told The Fan, a Toronto all-sports radio station. "I'm just not optimistic."
Using last season's payrolls and incorporating the 24 per cent rollback on existing contracts, the average team payroll was $33.95 million.
Looking at the numbers without the proposed rollback, the Red Wings topped the list last season at $82.9 million, with Pittsburgh at the other end of the spectrum at $21.7 million.
Toronto led all Canadian franchises at $72.8 million, followed by Ottawa ($48.6 million), Montreal ($47 million), Vancouver ($46.8 million), Calgary ($40 million) and Edmonton ($35.7 million).
In all, there were 16 teams over the $40-million figure last season - without the contract rollback factored in.
Melnyk declined a later request for an interview. Many teams deflected similar requests for comments from owners, noting club officials were scheduled to speak in their own markets immediately following Bettman's news conference Wednesday.
Richard Peddie, president and CEO of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment, deflected a question about what the owners had given up by taking the linkage issue off the table.
"All I can tell you is that we've been kept apprised and we'd really like to play hockey this year," he said. "But it has to be the right deal, even for the Toronto Maple Leafs. Even our revenues are drying up, believe it or not. We want a deal that's also good for the Leafs."
The last-minute change in negotiating strategy represents a quantum leap for both sides. The players have insisted a salary cap was a non-starter while the league has built its case around so-called cost certainty - linking player costs to revenue.
Monday's unexpected development probably surprised and unsettled many on each side. But the fact that both felt the pinch may also signify the two sides have finally found an area of compromise.
"Am I excited about a salary cap? No. But it's about trying to get a deal done," said Calgary star Jarome Iginla.
McKee, however, was concerned about how much harm a five-month-long lockout has had on the sport and its fan base.
"It's not so much that I'm angry that they offered a cap. I'm angry that why now?" McKee said. "Why not last June, last July?"
Even if it is too late to save the season, the change in positions may still set the stage for a settlement that could pave the way for the entry draft and a more normal off-season.
The surprising developments came during a secret meeting Monday in Niagara Falls, N.Y., between NHL executive vice-president Bill Daly and NHLPA senior director Ted Saskin
Daly began the process by offering his cap figure without a fixed link between player costs and league revenues. The union countered with the $52-million salary cap per team and its 24 per cent rollback on existing salaries.
Each side rejected the other's offer.
"It is indeed unfortunate that with the major steps taken by both sides today we were unable to build enough momentum to reach an agreement," Saskin said in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
The Philadelphia Inquirer and others reported Tuesday that Flyers centre Jeremy Roenick, along with Iginla, St. Louis's Chris Pronger and others, urged the union leaders to put a cap with no linkage on the table in a bid to save the season.
"I was involved with a group of NHL players who were trying to get to as many people as possible to come on board with a resolution that works for both sides," Roenick told the Inquirer. "The proposal has to have a number that is not tied to revenues."
But Iginla played down any role he may have had.
"I have talked to Pronger and Roenick but also to many guys around the league, because we're interested in what's going down. But ultimately, it's the committee that's doing all this, not me. If people ask me my opinion, I'll give it, and I have."
Iginla and Esche both shot down other reports saying the group of players actually had a proposal for the league.
According to a source, the union's offer breaks down like this:
A cap of $52 million but with provisions for teams to spend as much as 10 per cent more than that on three occasions in a six-year period, with a luxury tax incorporated. The luxury tax rates would be 25 per cent on $40-$44 million; 50 per cent on $44-$48 million; 75 per cent on $48-$52 million and 150 per cent on $52-$57.2 million.
The league's deal features a $40-million cap, with a 50 per cent luxury tax on payrolls from $34 million to $40 million.
Monday's development could also have a major impact on the league's ability to declare legal impasse down the road if there's no deal and the season is cancelled. The union could perhaps argue to the U.S. National Labor Relations Board that there is no impasse in talks because the philosophical issue of a salary cap is no longer the deal-breaker.
The NHL is hoping to avoid becoming the first major professional league in North America to cancel an entire season from beginning to finish.
"I'm extremely concerned," Flyers captain Keith Primeau said from Philadelphia. "The biggest thing that disturbs me is everyone's true misunderstanding of the fan base. You hear how certain people believe that the hardcore fan will definitely return, that the damage isn't irreparable.
"I think that's a huge miscalculation or judgment in error of who and what your fan base is. That, I think, is going to alarm a lot of people when the doors are re-opened."
Through Tuesday, 834 of the 1,230 regular-season games have gone by the wayside.
If an agreement can still be reached, the league has a shortened schedule ready to go that would see teams play 28 regular-season games, playing only within their conference. The playoffs would stay the same.
"We probably could've gotten this thing done in the summertime," Chicago forward Matthew Barnaby said. "Am I mad? No. I want to get back to work. But at the same time, I'm just a little disappointed that it went this far to play poker and to have someone call your bluff."