Negotiations between the NHLPA and NHL haven't been going along nice and steady as many hope, and it's no secret. New Jersey Devils forward Ilya Kovalchuk recently spoke to a Russian media outlet, SovSport, about CBA negotiations. Here are some notable things he had to say.

Note: thanks to Dmitry Chesnokov of Yahoo! Sports for the translation.

Gary Bettman, the owners and the rest of the crew representing the NHL maintain their stance that the last collective bargaining agreement that was agreed upon was fair for both sides, but Kovalchuk doesn't feel the same way: "8 years ago owners got everything they wanted... They feel comfortable and think they will win again. Players lost a lot already after the 2004 lockout. Something remained, but now they want to take away even that."

The NHL got almost all of what they wanted in 2004, and now they're pushing for what they didn't get then to get it now. They're also trying to take away some of the things the players gained in 2004.

Despite some teams earning much more yearly revenue than they would need to pay the bills and keep some extra, the majority of the owners who own rich teams don't seem too excited about the idea of revenue sharing to help out teams in need of help like the Phoenix Coyotes: "The problem, the way I see it, is...owners of rich teams don’t want to share with the poor. But why should players...suffer?"

Revenue sharing and hockey related revenue sharing seem to be the big pieces that are holding up negotiations. The NHL isn't backing down from their stance, and they're just waiting for the NHLPA to do so. Donald Fehr and the NHLPA don't seem to have any interest in doing so, though, so if the NHL doesn't blink first...and soon, it looks like we will miss at least a portion of the 2012-13 season due to a lockout. Nobody wants to hear that, but it's the reality we're facing right now.

You can read all of what Kovalchuk had to say by clicking here.

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