In case you blocked it all out, here’s a chronology of the last lock-out, which I submit just for the fun of imaging it all happening again, exactly this way at exactly this pace.
2003
[...]
Oct. 1 — [...] Union [makes] offer which includes five percent salary rollback. League says no and counters by saying under any new system team payrolls could not exceed $31 million [...].
2004
Jan. 14 — First talks in more than three months [...].
Feb. 12 — League [...] releases [...] financial report, which says the NHL is on a “treadmill to obscurity” if player costs aren’t reduced. The report says only 11 of 30 teams were profitable in 2002-03, when total operating losses were $273 million. The union calls the report “flawed.”
April 29-Sept. 9 — [...] League [expresses] desire for a “partnership/cost certain system for player compensation”; union reminds league of aversion to salary cap system.
Sept. 15 — Bettman announces lockout.
Oct. 13 — First official day of the NHL’s regular season missed.
Dec. 9 — [...] Union surprises with offer highlighted by 24% salary rollback on all existing player contracts. Other givebacks in entry-level system, qualifying offers, salary arbitration, and slightly better payroll tax, but no salary cap.
Dec. 14 — [...] The NHL, as expected, rejects the union’s proposal and offers its own counter-proposal, which the union rejects. The league’s offer includes a salary cap [and] the scrapping of salary arbitration [...].
2005
Jan. 17 — Players’ executive committee president Trevor Linden invites both sides back to the negotiating table, but with a small group that does not include Bettman or Goodenow.
Jan. 19-27 — Small-group meetings held, [...] very little progress.
Feb. 2-4 — Marathon round of meetings [...] League [makes] 15-point proposal, once again featuring salary cap — and NHLPA rejects it. [...]
Feb. 9 — NHL surprises the union, Bettman calling Goodenow and asking if they can meet. League offers “compromise” deal which union quickly rejects. Bettman [...] announces there won’t be hockey unless a deal is put on paper by weekend.
Feb. 10 — NHL, NHLPA part ways [...].
Feb. 14 — The NHL schedules a news conference for Feb. 16 during which it plans to cancel the season. Then, what looks like a breakthrough: The league drops its demand for a link between league revenues and player costs, and the players’ association agrees to accept a salary cap during talks in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
Feb. 15 — The sides [...] never agree on a cap. The owners bump up their offer of a $40 million cap to $42.5 million; the players counterproposal is for $49 million, which the league rejects [...].
Feb. 16 — Bettman [...] cancels season.
Feb. 19 — The NHL and the union [meet] at an undisclosed location [with] Wayne Gretzky and Mario Lemieux, but talks [break] down [...].
March 1 — NHL [considers] replacement players after board of governors meeting.
March 11 — NHL and the union meet for first time since the Feb. 19 emergency session.
March 17 — NHL makes two offers to union. 1) $37.5-million U.S. team-by-team salary cap offer. 2) A deal linking revenues to payrolls. The union doesn’t like either.
March 25 — NHL files a charge [...] against the NHLPA over a union policy that appears to financially penalize members who become replacement players. [...]
March 22-25 — The NHLPA [...] comes up with idea of upper and lower limit on [...] payrolls. The idea would eventually lead to the new collective bargaining agreement.
April 4 — The union introduces the [upper/lower limit idea]. The idea finds merit with the NHL, although both sides keep this private.
[...]
April 28 — NHLPA applies for union certification in Quebec and British Columbia, moves intended to block the potential use of replacement players in those provinces.
May 5 — Talks resume with both sides agreeing on a more aggressive schedule to get the deal done. They meet a total of 31 times in May and June alone.
June 15 — A British Columbia Labour Relations Board hearing into whether the NHLPA can be certified as a union in the province is put on hold. The NHLPA, citing recent progress in labor talks with the NHL, agrees to the league’s request to adjourn the proceedings.
July 13 — A tentative deal is reached after more than 24 hours straight talks, the culmination of 10 consecutive days of meetings.
Evernote lets you save all the interesting things you see online into a single place. Access all those saved pages from your computer, phone or the web. Sign up now or learn more. It's free!
Some posts the robot says are related, but I'll let you be the judge of that:
- The Alternate Reality No Lock-Out 2012-2013 Season
- Which players got screwed the most by the two lock-outs?
- The Cup, Names, Petitions, since the lock-out [CHART FUN]
- Lock-Out Day 1
- With the Stars’ loss tonight, the Kings’ magic number is 1
- Kings 2004 draft evaluation – Hockey’s Future
- Projecting the magic playoff number