The day after a marathon session of talks with the NHL, the NHLPA has requested a federal mediator to join the collective bargaining agreement discussions again.
As the two sides reconvened on Thursday, the players association asked that mediators once again be part of the negotiation process. The NHL has yet to agree to it.
The league and NHLPA agreed to use U.S. federal mediators during negotiation talks last week. It didnt last long: last Thursday, just two days into talks, mediators said the NHL and PA were still too far apart and that further talks (at that time) werent going to be productive. But in a statement, NHLPA executive Donald Fehr said the mediators indicated that they would stay in contact with the league and the NHLPA, and would call the parties back together when they thought the time was right.
Well, the mediators didnt call the parties. But apparently the players association felt the time was right to bring mediation back into the fold.