Fehr Conference Call Sets Stage For More NHL Labor Talks This Week

NHLPA Exec Dir Don Fehr told reporters on a conference call Friday that he hopes to find “common ground” with the NHL owners in bargaining sessions this week, but indicated that NHL players do not intend to use the agreements that ended the NBA or NFL lockouts last year as a basis for a new CBA. Owners and players are scheduled to resume formal bargaining on Wednesday in Toronto. The NHL CBA expires on Sept. 15.

As far as comparisons to the NFL and NBA deals, Fehr said, “I think merely because another sport does something doesn’t mean we should do it in hockey, any more than we think because baseball does something we should necessarily do it in hockey.” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, in an e-mail, said the NHL and the NHLPA were in contact over the weekend, but noted, “The communications this weekend were focused on schedule and meetings for (this) week.”