New Offer From NHL, Russia Downs USA, Spengler Semis for Canada

Good Morning HabsAddicts

Early Friday afternoon, Pierre LeBrun broke the news that the National Hockey League had submitted a new offer to the NHLPA, composed of some 300+ pages.

Some parts of the offer were already discussed before, including a 10 year term on the Collective Bargaining Agreement, $300 Million for the "make whole" provision ($50 Million of which is to go to the NHLPA's pension plan), and a single amnesty buy-out for each team in 2013-2014 which wouldn't count against the salary cap.

Important to point out, as far as the amnesty payment is concerned, that the bought out contract would instead count against a team's hockey related revenue, which would reduce amounts on both sides of the ledger. This is a significant move by the league, in an attempt to find an equitable way to avoid an immediate cap hit to a single team. It would instead distribute the onus to all teams by reducing HRR and the salary cap by a minimal and manageable percentage.

While the league still insists on a cap on player contract lengths, they've extended the length to six years instead of the original five, and they have backed off on issues like entry-level contracts, Group 3 free agency (unrestricted), and arbitration rights.

However, included in this latest offer is an absolute drop-dead date to start, that being January 19th, in order to have a 48-game season. Training camps would have to begin on January 11th. Effectively, that gives both sides a windows of just a few days to get this offer agreed upon, and begin recalling their players from European club teams and the KHL.

Habs and Hockey News and Notes

- In an action packed affair, Team Russia defeated Alex Galchenyuk and Team USA 2-1 on Friday morning at the World Junior Hockey Championships. Team Canada, who won earlier on Friday 6-3 over Slovakia, received some good news as forward Anthony Camara would not receive any supplemental discipline for his devastating hit on Slovakian defenceman Patrik Luza. J.C. Lipon, who also received a major penalty for head contact on forward Tomas Mikus, received a one game suspension.

- With HC Davos' win Friday versus Adler Mannheim, Team Canada was assured a birth in the Spengler Cup semi-finals in Davos, Switzerland on Sunday. The quarter-finals will take place Saturday between Fribourg Gotteron vs. Adler Mannheim and HC Davos vs. Salavat Yulaev Ufa.

- The Montreal Gazette's Dave Stubbs celebrates (I'm kidding) the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Canadiens last Stanley Cup win. 

(photo: Paul Sancya/AP)

Posted in: .,2013 world junior championships,alex galchenyuk,Anthony Camara,dave stubbs,j.c. lipon,mhl lockout,montreal canadiens,Patrik Luza,Pierre LeBrun,Russia,spengler cup,team usa,Tomas Mikus