Toasts to 2012 and 2013...and a CBA update

                  First, many, many thanks to all the Blue Notes readers and Twitter followers and Newsday readers for keeping up with the daily adventures of 2012, and responding in kind.  A toast to you all from Queens to Quebec and beyond. 

                  I've enjoyed the ride for years now and presumably will be sledding along for many more....

                  Now we turn the page to 2013, which we all hope includes some semblance of an NHL season, some entertaining games and travels, and that this nasty business dispute ends as soon as possible. Chin up!

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                  The NHL numbers-crunchers last night---and presumably this morning--- were reviewing what Commissioner Gary Bettman called a “comprehensive” players’ response to the league’s amended proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement, and it is expected that talks between the two sides will continue this afternoon in Manhattan.

                  League negotiators, who met in two sessions with PA executive director Donald Fehr, his staff and five players, including Islanders goalie Rick DiPietro, hope to conclude a deal in order to play a 48-game season starting on Jan. 19. That means a pact must be reached around Jan. 11.  

                   “There was an opportunity for the players to highlight the areas they thought we should focus on based on their response and that’s something we’ve got to look at very closely in addition to the myriad of other issues,” Bettman said last night. “The process continues and we’re anticipating getting back together tomorrow. We really need the time to get through it, so we can turn this around overnight.”

                   Bettman said that owners joining the talks was “not currently contemplated; we’ll see how things develop.”                  

                   Fehr said the union made some movement off its last offer, but did not provide details.  On Thursday night, when the league offered the 290-page proposal, which included some softening of stances on individual contract term limits and buyouts, Fehr said “they requested that we give them a response all at once on everything, rather than discuss issues on an ongoing basis, so we accommodated them on that.”