A 24 Per Cent Solution to the NHL Lockout?

It's probably not enough to get a deal done, but NHL players took everyone by surprise today when they offered to take a whopping 24 per cent pay cut.

The one-time salary rollback was part of a new proposal made by the Players' Association in Toronto, at the first collective bargaining session since the NHL locked out the players on September 15.

Commissioner Gary Bettman says the league will study the details and make a counter-proposal when the two sides meet again on Tuesday.

Chopping 24 per cent from everyone's contract is an impressive concession. But from the owners' perspective the problem with a one-time pay cut lies in the phrase "one time." As long as the old system remains intact, salary inflation would likely push paycheques back up to today's levels within three-to-five years. The pay cut also does not apply to current free agents, a group that includes several pricey stars.

Other components of the players' offer, according to TSN.ca:

1. A luxury tax starting at 20 cents on the dollar when a team's payroll exceeds $45 million, and escalating as payrolls exceed further thresholds.
2. Limits on performance bonuses for players on their first NHL contracts.
3. Changes to the salary arbitration system, which the owners currently see as a highly inflationary process.

The proposal did not include any mechanism to link players' salaries to league revenues - i.e., a salary cap. If the NHL sticks with its salary cap demand, any hope offered by today's meeting will quickly dissolve.

If nothing else, the new offer changes the tone of the dispute. The league can no longer claim that the players aren't serious about making concessions.

''They made a serious proposal, which I would suggest was the first one in this process,'' NHL VP Bill Daly told TSN. ''But it is a serious proposal and certainly they showed a recognition of the economic problems that the game is facing and certainly we're appreciative of that. We now need to work together with them on systemic elements to make sure the economics of the game stay in-synch going forward.''