NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed on Friday the league made a new CBA proposal to the NHL Players' Association on Thursday afternoon.
Read the highlights of the new proposal here.
"In light of media reports this morning, I can confirm that we delivered to the union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA late yesterday afternoon," said Daly in a statement." We are hopeful that once the union's staff and negotiating committee have had an opportunity to thoroughly review and consider our new proposal, they will share it with the players. We want to be back on the ice as soon as possible."
The NHLPA held a conference call Friday afternoon to discuss the offer internally.
Daly spoke to Players' Association special counsel Steve Fehr and the two sides were planning to go over the proposal via a conference call that was tentatively scheduled for 11am et today. The expectation is that if all goes well, the NHL and the NHLPA will meet in person as early as Sunday in New York.
The NHL adjusted its maximum contract length from five to six years (seven years if a team is re-signing its own player) and boosted the variance from five to 10 per cent.
The new offer includes the 'Make Whole' provision that stays at $300 million and allows each team one compliance buyout prior to the 2013-14 season. The buyout would not count against the cap, but it would against the players' share.
The length of the agreement would be 10 years with a mutual opt-out clause after eight years while the league maintains their desire to change the start of the free agency period from July 1 to July 10.
The new offer calls for the salary cap to be $60 million for the 2013-14 season, which could be an issue when it comes to escrow.
The league would like to have an agreement in place no later than January 11 with training camps to open the following day and the season starting on January 19. The season needs to start by that date to accommodate a 48-game regular season which would see playoffs end in late June.
The lockout is in its 104th day.
