The stalled labor negotiations finally saw some movement on Saturday for the first time since Oct. 18 as NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and NHLPA special council Steve Fehr met in a "secret" location and restarted talks, just one day after the league canceled the Winter Classic.
Both sides agreed to meet in a confidential location to avoid any misinformation and media hype that is currently surrounding the lockout.
TSN reported Friday that the NHL seemed willing to make concessions regarding the "make whole" clause in their latest proposal that would shift financial burdens from players to owners via escrow. However, Donald Fehr refuted that information and announced the league had not put another offer on the table. Here's Fehr's memo to the players, provided by CBC:
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"You may have seen media reports this evening of a supposed league "offer" regarding the "make-whole" aspect of the negotiations. There have been no proposals from either side since the last talks took place on October 18th. As was discussed in detail by Steve Fehr on the Executive BoardNegotiating call yesterday, in informal conversations with the NHL this week, we have continued to explore how we can get back to the table and discussed with the NHL the issues we need to resolve, including the "make-whole" provision. We will continue to keep you updated and will let you know if anything concrete comes from these discussions. Meanwhile you should not read too much into media reports about informal phone calls.
"Following further phone conversations today, Bill Daly and Steve will meet tomorrow in a city and location that both sides have agreed to keep confidential in an attempt to keep the focus on the talks and not on conducting media scrums. We will update everyone following this meeting tomorrow."
Another meeting between Daly and Steve Fehr and will take place once again in confidential location on Sunday.