Clusterfvck!
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD class=yspsctnhdln>Players agree to accept cap, but talks break down</TD></TR><TR><TD height=7><SPACER height="1" width="1" type="block"></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>By IRA PODELL, AP Sports Writer
February 15, 2005
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MORON!:finger: </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>NEW YORK (AP) -- In what could be a last-second breakthrough, both sides of the NHL lockout have given significant ground: The players' association will accept a salary cap, and the league has backed off its demand for a link between revenues and player costs.
Now they just have to figure out the money, and time has all but run out.
Even while the negotiations were going on, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman already had planned to announce the cancellation of the season Wednesday, a source close to the negotiations told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Monday.
Bettman was slated to speak Wednesday in New York, but the NHL declined to give details beyond the time and location.
The NHL offered to give in on linkage, a ``significant move in the players' direction'' the union said early Tuesday following a meeting in Niagara Falls, N.Y. But when the players offered to accept a cap at $52 million in return -- the first time they came off their opposition to a ceiling on salaries -- the offer was rejected by the NHL. The league insisted on a salary cap that topped out at $40 million per team. ``It is indeed unfortunate that with the major steps taken by both sides we were unable to build enough momentum to reach an agreement,'' players' association senior director Ted Saskin said.
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