NHL, union agree there’s time for labor deal

The NHL and the NHL Players’ Association can agree there’s still more than enough time to reach a new labor deal even though the union has yet to submit a counteroffer with less than six weeks left before the current collective bargaining agreement expires.

“I don’t think time’s running out yet,” Fehr said. “I still think if the parties are dedicated to it, there’s sufficient time to reach an agreement.”

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly concurred.

“While time is getting shorter, we continue to feel there is sufficient time to reach a deal before Sept. 15,” Daly wrote in an email to the Associated Press.

What’s unclear is what happens after that deadline passes, and concerns that the NHL could impose a lockout, which is something Fehr doesn’t favor.

“There’s no law that says you have to lock out,” Fehr said. “If both parties are both really interested in trying to reach an agreement, and if we both really care what the people watching hockey games think, then we ought to be doing everything we can to avoid that eventuality.”

Negotiations will resume at the league headquarters in New York today.