Trying to the save the season -- and perhaps some teams -- NHL commissioner Gary Bettman sent a new proposal to union executive director Donald Fehr in a last-ditch effort to get a new collective bargaining agreement.
While the NHL has insisted it wasn't going to make any more offers and the players shouldn't return to negotiations unless they were willing to accept the last deal tabled earlier this month, the league made a major move in the direction of the players Friday.
Sources say Bettman has been told privately by some owners "losing the season is not an option" and that's why the NHL extended an unexpected olive branch to the NHLPA to try to save a 48-game schedule that would start on Jan. 19.
