The boss's for the NHL and NHLPA held press conferences on Saturday in Montreal and both sides were testing the lines in the sand.
Montreal -- No one is willing to come right out and say it but if you hang around the hockey corners (and that's just about anywhere in this hockey-crazed city) you get the sense that we may be witnessing the return to big-time hits at the National Hockey League All-Star Game.
I don't mean on the ice -- that's not likely to change Sunday or anytime thereafter, but if you judge by what went on at some of the dueling press conferences held over the last few days it's fair to say that there were some big-time board-rattlers that will certainly have an impact in the boardrooms of both the NHL and the National Hockey League Players Association.
Because despite the 'all's well' speeches from both management and the player's union, the undercurrent is one of great unhappiness with what's gone down so far.
Sources told Sportsnet.ca that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's decision to suspend Detroit Red Wings Nik Lidstrom and Pavel Datsyuk for bowing out of the festivities was viewed as a challenge to NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly. Conversely Kelly's decision to use the gathering to announce that the players had voted not to reopen the contract and his thoughts on international play was a partial affront to the Commissioner as it came on his showcase turf.
According to one source the player's union felt Bettman's suspension was a part of a hastily devised policy that came without input from the PA and that it was arbitrary aas well as being patently unfair. They also felt Bettman's statement on the players' decision to extend the collective bargaining agreement was structured to read that he was pleased that the players were on board with the program as crafted by him in the wake of the lockout and that that was a subtle jab to let Kelly know who's running the show here.
Conversely the league viewed Kelly's comments on international play, the Olympics and the league's perceived financial problems as something that should not be in the public domain during the All-Star festivities.
Don't for a moment think all this isn't going to have some lasting repercussions not the least of which is the coming battle on international play.
Some evidence: In his presser here Friday, Kelly indicated the relationship between the league and the PA was "good" but he seemed more inclined to speak about the framework of an agreement on international play. The two had agreed to find their way to a resumption of the World Cup of Hockey, a tournament that showcases the best players from all the major hockey-playing nations.
Kelly was dodgy on just when that might happen or even how, but despite the fact previous World Cup tourneys traditionally have been played in the fall he had a different idea. "We'd like the NHL to clear out a period in February and play the first one in 2012. It would be ideal if we could have the Olympics every four years and the World Cup at two-year intervals in between. "
Offering up a Plan B, Kelly said if that doesn't work then the next World Cup should be in Sept. 2011, just 18 months after the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. That's almost certain not to pass muster with owners some of whom have quietly made it clear they would like to avoid any Olympic participation after 2010, but might be willing to toss a bone to the players (and collect some profits for themselves) with the World Cup being an alternative to the Games. They won't want to shut down league play to do it however, just like the players won't want to give up any off-time before the start of the regular season.
The compromise might well have been a mini-World Cup and hockey festival midway through the regular season say right around what has traditionally been All-Star Game time. It replaces both the Olympics and the All-Star game with a game model all-sides could like.
Pipe dream? Not exactly, there might have been common ground on both sides but when Kelly said the Olympics are a "significant" event for the players that was perceived as a challenge to Bettman. The perception has long been that the NHL had been holding back on an Olympic commitment beyond 2010 in Vancouver for a variety of reasons including the fact the owners don't think it's worth shutting down regular season play for some two weeks while the games are played in 2014 in Russia. That's out of the North American time zone and likely to keep the hockey portion of the games off network TV altogether or pegged into a timeslot when even the most diehard NHL fan is not likely to be awake let alone watching.
That Bettman also wants to hold the Games hostage with the Russians about a European transfer agreement (or lack of same) also figures into the equation. So does the fact that the players want it.
And that's just the tip of what may soon become a very frosty iceberg.
Though the players saw a value in continuing the CBA to its conclusion two years hence, that's not to say they are anywhere near happy; let alone as happy as Bettman stated. Players are increasingly concerned about the escrow holdings (the amount taken out of their pay checks to ensure they aren't overpaid a portion of contracted revenues).
Many also think too much of that risk is on their shoulders which is part of the reason the league doesn't appear to be overly concerned with troubled franchises in Phoenix, Tampa and Nashville as well as perceived failing attendance in Atlanta, South Florida and with the New York Islanders. The owners feel just the opposite privately arguing that through the first three years of the agreement they have been victims of economic forces beyond the reach of the CBA and that the players have benefited from them.
Kelly has addressed some of these concerns in the media, statements that have caused resentment among some members of the ownership ranks who cling to the old-guard standard that the business of the NHL is theirs and theirs alone.
Conversely the view among some members of the PA is that Bettman is pushing Kelly to test the limits of the PA's resolve in order to gage how and how hard to battle regards their desire for more international play and remaining in Olympic competition.
Prior to this weekend, those little pokes and prods have been well under the public radar but with the bulk of the media that is still traveling to NHL events in attendance here, the limits are now being tested via the public arena.
"Things are starting to get tense," said a source with ties to the LNHL but no vested interest in the outcome, "and the suspension just adds to it. They (the players) extended the contract, but both sides have real concerns about revenue swings and who is responsible for (controlling) them. If they can come together on some things, this could all cool down, but both sides seem to be staking out their territory and they are doing it in public rather than private.
"That's cause for concern," the source added. "It creates some problems that don't appear to be that big a deal, but those are the kind of things that get in the way when you start dealing with the bigger ones.
"I'd say it (international play) could be something both sides could come to terms with but not if there's a feeling that one side or the other is getting pushed or thought to be showing weakness."
That could be why everyone is all smiles here in a city that, for this weekend at least, wants to hear nothing but all that is good about hockey.
Rest assured however that the smiles will fade when all the hockey personalities depart. Both sides are going to go back to their respective boardrooms and try to get a read on exactly what happened over the weekend.
Neither is likely to be happy with what the video replays show.