Deadline passes; all's still quiet on NHL labour front

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U.S. President Barack Obama (TRIBUNE MEDIA MCT)

Hockey diehards who had their fingers crossed or were praying to the heavens for a resolution to the National Hockey League's lockout can give their twisted digits a rest.

The divine intervention thing, on the other hand, might be the only way to get talks between the league and the NHL Players' Association stoked up again.

Another deadline, whether it was real or artificial, passed Thursday with no talks between the two sides towards a new collective bargaining agreement.

None are officially scheduled either, FYI.

What's worse is the mistrust is growing in the negotiations, if you can call them that, and it appears there will be further retrenching before bridges are built.

Thursday afternoon NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly indicated the deal put on the table last week -- and already rejected by the NHLPA -- will now be yanked away.

"When we delivered the proposal last Tuesday, we told them it would be on the table through today," Daly told ESPN.com. "Having not reached agreement through today, I expect that we'll formally notify the union Friday that the proposal is no longer on the table. We're going to take it back internally and figure out where we go from here.

"This proposal no longer works because it was a proposal to save 82 games. We have to rethink where we are, and what type of season we're looking at, and we have to formulate and construct a proposal that makes sense for the reality of where we are."

That last point is significant. The NHL had said that without a new agreement in place by Thursday an 82-game regular season -- and a Nov. 2 start-up of the schedule -- would be in jeopardy. With games expected to be spiked, owners will be looking to make up for lost revenue in any new agreement.

And so, on a day that so many had circled on the calendar as a potential turning point, the boardrooms were dark. Ditto for arenas all over the NHL map, too.

On a day in which the potential headlines should have been trumpeting the end to the lockout -- as so many had hoped -- the only real news included the continued procession of NHLers to Europe. Buffalo Sabres goaltender Jhonas Enroth signed with Swedish third division club Huddinge IK, Martin Hanzal of the Phoenix Coyotes returned to the Czech Republic to suit up for Ceske Budejovice while Scott Hartnell of the Philadelphia Flyers has apparently signed with Finnish SM-liga club KalPa. Insuring the six-year, $28.5 million deal Hartnell signed this summer will reportedly cost $52,000 per month.

Unofficially, there are now over 150 NHLers who are playing overseas.

Not surprisingly, Thursday's lockout news -- or lack thereof -- brought some frustrated reaction.

San Jose Sharks forward Patrick Marleau on hard-line owners:

"They are obviously going by a playbook that they have, otherwise we'd be playing," he told CSNBayArea.com "They say they want one thing, then we come to common ground, and then they want something else. I think they are working off of some timetable that they have.

"If they cared about the game, we'd be playing."

Added New Jersey Devils' GM Lou Lamoriello: "Maybe we should do like they do with juries," he told the New York Post. "Lock them in a room until they reach a verdict."

But arguably the most rational comment came late Wednesday night from U.S. President Barack Obama while appearing on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, when asked by a fan in the audience if he could help push the process along.

"Every time this happens, I just want to remind the owners and the players, you guys make money because you've got a whole bunch of fans out there who are working really hard," said Obama. "They buy tickets. They're watching on TV.

"Y'all should be able to figure this out. Get it done."

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 26, 2012 C1