Some huge progress has been achieved today through internal meetings even before the 4PM start for the CBA negotiations. Both parties made important concessions, and according to very important sources the lockout is 95% done. Many of the main issues have been solved, 1 or 2 remain, plus some minor tweaks that lawyers will be in charge of finalizing. Sources have confirmed to me that an official announcement of the end of the lockout will be made before Sunday.

Here are the CBA details that the NHL and NHLPA have already agreed upon:

• $300M make whole amount, with no salary rollbacks and 50-50 HRR split
• Maximum contract length at 6 years
• Salary cap at $70.2M this season, goes down to $63.5M next season, but teams have option to buy out 1 player before season starts with no cap impact
• No re-entry waivers
• Extended Christmas break for players
• Duration of new CBA 10 years, with both NHL and NHLPA having the option of opting out after 8.

The main issue remaining is the players wanting to put a cap on the escrow amount. The league hopes to having this solved by moving up from their previous offer of $60M cap for 2013-14 to $63.5M but the players want either cap on escrow or $67M cap for 2013-14.

However, per sources from both parties this does not put in peril the agreement. If a deal is reached before Friday, we will have a 52 game season. Otherwise, it will be a 48 game season. The great news is that we will have a season…

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