ISLANDERS 101

The NHL has issued it second proposal to the NHL Players' Association on Tuesday when the two sides met in Manhattan.

The offer came six weeks after the league's initial proposal, and this one doesn't seem much better for the players like NFL Commissioner Gary Bettman suggested. Instead, it seems as though the NHL will be heading toward yet another lockout, which would start Sept. 15 if a deal is not reached.

According to ESPNNY.com's Katie Strang, the alleged six-year deal would include a phased yearly reduction in re-defined hockey-related revenue for the players from 57 percent (the current share) to 50 percent for the last three years.

The initial proposal wanted the players to scale back immediately down to 43 percent, which wasn't even close. The new deal makes more sense for the players hockey-related revenue wise, but now the league is trying to take away player salaries.

The new deal proposes a fixed salary cap that would look like this:

2012/13 – $58 Million

2013/14 – $60 Million

2014/15 – $62 Million

2015/16 – $64.2 Million

2016/17 – $67.6 Million

2017/18 – $71.1 Million

Such a drastic change would cause league chaos. The current Collective Bargaining Agreement has the salary cap set for $70.2 million for the 2012/13 season.

16 teams in the league are already above the $58 million mark, which would lead to league-wide trades and buyouts–even with many players LTIR eligible.

The two sides are to meet again soon, and expect the players union to have a counter offer in the works.

Tags: Collective Bargaining Agreement, Gary Bettman, Hockey, lockout, New York, New York Islanders, NHL, NHL Players' Association

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