from Elliotte Friedman of CBC,

Don't know which one to write about first, so I'm flipping a coin. Heads we go with systemic contract issues. Tails is the first year of the new CBA.

Ready?

It's heads.

You've heard about the league proposals: Contracts no longer than five years; unrestricted free agency moved back to age 28 or eight years of service (meaning it could still happen as young as 26); salary arbitration eligibility moved back from four seasons to five; a maximum salary change of five per cent from year-to-year.

There is some discrepancy about what's been conveyed between the parties. The NHL has stated that there is room to negotiate, the NHLPA claims no such offer has ever been made. I'm not in the room, so I don't know. One player said Saturday he's under the impression the latter is accurate.

Whatever the case, I admit one thing: I underestimated how important some of these issues were to individual players. I believed that if the NHL came at the players with a legitimate "make-whole" offer, the rest of this would fall into place.

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