With not much New Jersey Devils news to speak of, I figured I would touch on a much bigger topic that is negotiations between the NHL and NHLPA in hopes of putting together a new collective bargaining agreement. Yesterday, the NHL put forth the first official offer to the NHLPA and it wasn't a very good one for the players - at all. In today's post, I'll take a closer look at the offer and give my thoughts on the situation.

As per Renaud Lavoie of RDS, here are some highlights from the offer the NHL put forth to the players:

1. Reduce players hockey related revenues from 57% to 46%.
2. You play 10 NHL seasons before becoming an unrestricted free agent.
3. The max contract length you can sign for is five years.
4. No more salary arbitration for players.
5. Standard entry-level contracts would be five years in length.

- So let's break this down a little bit. The NHL wants players revenue to decrease 11%, and the players are the product. They make the money, and the NHL thinks they deserve more than the players.

Owners are taking private jets to meet players and throwing around 100 million dollar contracts like it's their day job, and now they want to cry poor.

- 10 seasons before becoming an unrestricted free agent? What if you start your NHL playing career at 24? You can be an elite player and not have an opportunity to cash in a big ticket contract because you won't be an unrestricted free agent until you're 34. At that point, you're at the tail end of your career. Sure you would have to be re-signed once or twice by your current team in the 10 year span, but if you have no leverage to become an unrestricted free agent how can you get a big contract?

- Max contract length is five years? Players will love that, especially 30-year old's who have families. They want to sign long-term in a city so they can keep their family happy and in the same location. The stress of signing a max five year contract would be a lot to deal with for players, especially in the latter part of their career's.

- No more salary arbitration? Restricted free agents who played above their previous contract will love that. Essentially they can have a career year and their team can offer them three million dollars per season, even if they're worth six million. What can the players do? Decline and not play, or make less than they should be making? I'm sure they would love both options.

- Entry level contracts would be five years? I'm sure a top prospect entering the league would love to average, let's say, 60 points per season and be making 800 thousand dollars per year for five years before becoming a restricted free agent and having no leverage.

Essentially the NHL is trying to stick a horrible offer down the players throat, and Donald Fehr and the players won't stand for it. I understand it's the first offer and the NHL is trying to pry as much from the NHLPA as they can, but this is a horrible offer. It's only mid-July and there is about two months to work something out, but there is undeniably a lot of work to be done.

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