Fehr admits there’s “not a lot to say” after CBA talks wrap on Monday

The NHLPA presented the NHL with its counter-proposal Monday, but Donald Fehr told the Sporting News’ Jesse Spector that there’s “not much to say” just yet.

Gary Bettman explained the next steps to CSNChicago.com’s Tracey Myers.

“We made a comprehensive proposal that was (288) pages. They’ve come back with a comprehensive response. We need time to analyze it,” Bettman said. “We’re going to do (review) tonight. The expectation is we’ll contact them tomorrow morning and get together hopefully by midday.”

Bettman also told RDS that the deadline to make a deal is Jan. 11.

As far as getting there is considered, both sides are being skimpy with details, but there are a few bits that have trickled down to media members.

For one thing, the Ottawa Sun’s Bruce Garrioch reports that nothing has been decided regarding the NHLPA’s disclaimer of interest. At the moment, it remains an option but not a foregone conclusion.

Meanwhile, Sportsnet’s Daren Millard quotes an unnamed league source who said “we still have a ways to go.”

That’s a bit vague, especially with a collapsed timeline in mind.

If “a ways to go” can be settled within this week, one report indicates that it’s possible that a 52-game season could start on Jan. 12.

Still, many observers expect another week (to 11 days) of wheel-spinning, with a more realistic goal of kicking things off on Jan. 19.

Unless there is no season to kick off, of course.