BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — NHL general managers ended three days of meetings Wednesday with little discussion about upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations between team owners and the NHL Players’ Association.
The current agreement expires Sept. 15. NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman told the general managers to conduct “business as usual” according to the current agreement, including working under the salary cap of between $63 and $64 million.
Bettman also said the NHL Board of Governors dropped the concept of realignment for now. They were trying to introduce a realignment that would move some teams to different divisions and start the playoffs with teams in the same divisions.
The hope of realignment was tabled to avoid “confrontation” with the players’ association and because the league needed to start planning the 2012-2013 season schedule.
