from Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star,

With pressure mounting to get a season-saving deal done, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman secretly allowed owners and general managers to be in contact with players for a 48-hour period last week.

Owners and GMs were afforded a chance to promote Bettman’s proposal of a 50-50 division of hockey related revenue. The window for conversations ended Friday.

The report initially came from Quebec-based TVA.

“Propaganda,” one NHL unidentified player told TVA Sports.

“Players were calling to ask about the offer,” NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the Star in an email. “We let clubs answer their questions. . . . We did authorize club executives to respond substantively to player inquiries.”

The union did not believe that players phoned owners and GMs, and was not impressed with the owners’ action.

“Most owners are not allowed to attend bargaining meetings. No owners are allowed to speak to the media about the bargaining,” Steve Fehr, Donald Fehr’s chief legal counsel, said in a statement.

“Interesting that they are secretly unleashed to talk to the players about the meetings the players can attend but the owners cannot.”

continued

added 12:13pm,

Even more on the memo at Puck Daddy.