NHL Lockout 2012 - News Update: League Offers New Deal With Concessions; Is this the Beginning of the End of the Lockout?

The NHL Lockout could be coming to an end after the NHL made a new offer to the union.

"In light of media reports this morning, I can confirm that we delivered to the Union a new, comprehensive proposal for a successor CBA late yesterday afternoon. We are not prepared to discuss the details of our proposal at this time. We are hopeful that once the Union's staff and negotiating committee have had an opportunity to thoroughly review and consider our new proposal, they will share it with the players," said Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly. "We want to be back on the ice as soon as possible."

According to The Globe and Mail's James Mirtle and Eklund of Hockeybuzz, the new deal shows a great deal of concessions from the league. Previously they wanted a limit of five year contracts for players with seven years for teams resigning their own players. The new proposal apparently asks for a six-year term limit. The league had previously stated that five-year contracts was the "hill they would die on" but it seems that their desire to change that position is a sign of desperation. More importantly the league is also increasing the variance of salaries from year to year. The NHL had initially wanted the year-to-year salary variance to be 5 percent in recent offers, but now they are willing to raise it to 10 percent. Finally, the league is offering the ability for teams to make " to make one compliance buyout in the summer of 2013 that would not count against the cap." They did not change on their position regarding a 10-year Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The two sides are rumored to be meeting today, but there has been no news on whether or not this is confirmed. According to Nick Kypreos, the NHLPA is currently drafting a counter-proposal which shows the desperation of the two sides to avoid cancelling the season.