CBA Ping-Pong continues: Meeting ends as NHLPA reviews NHL’s newest offer

After a meager 30-minute meeting, Tuesday’s CBA talks ended because Donald Fehr and the NHLPA need time to review what he called the NHL’s “comprehensive” counter-proposal (via NHL.com’s Dan Rosen).

Fehr told Rosen that he’s “reasonably certain” the two sides will meet on Wednesday while Gary Bettman made a similar prediction to RDS’ Renaud Lavoie. A phone call tomorrow morning is expected to determine if more face-to-face discussions will happen, though.

Fehr’s brief response provided basically zero details, while ESPN’s Katie Strang captured Bettman’s more verbose – but still quite vague – description.

#CBA Bettman said league obliged on some things asked for by the union, while stood firm on others. Is "glad to see" process continue

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Katie Strang (@KatieStrangESPN) January 02, 2013

As of this time, there is no word on whether the NHLPA will go forward with a disclaimer of interest, which carries a Wednesday deadline.

Ultimately, the most important dates probably remain Jan. 11 (Bettman’s admitted drop-dead date) and Jan. 19 (the probable goal to start the season). Some say that an agreement must be made by Thursday if they want to start on Jan. 12 instead, though.

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The discussions are beginning to feel like a Ping-Pong match to many outside observers, whether the offer-trading has been productive or not.

To review the last few days:

The NHL made some concessions in a new offer on Friday. The NHLPA took some time to review the league’s lengthy (some might say “comprehensive”) 288-page offer before presenting a counter-offer on Monday. Finally, the two sides conducted internal meetings on Tuesday until the NHL came back with tonight’s counter-proposal to a counter-proposal.

Overall, the back-and-forth discussions might be a good sign even if the delays made tonight’s dealings feel a bit anticlimactic.