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Report: NHL makes new offer to players

With the NHL inching toward a cancelled season, the league made a new offer to the NHL Players' Association on Thursday, according to a report from ESPN.com.

Citing a an anonymous player as a source, Pierre LeBrun reports that the new offer "moved on the term limit for player contracts, salary variance and buyouts, according to the player."

More from LeBrun:

The league's insistence on a five-year limit has been a major sticking point with players, who countered Dec. 6 with a willingness to limit deals to eight years.

Details of the new offer include:

• Term limit on player contracts moves to six years from the five years NHL asked in previous offers (seven years if you're re-signing your own player).

• Year-to-year salary variance moves from 5 percent (NHL's previous offers) to 10 percent.

• Each team will be allowed one compliance buyout before the 2013-14 season that will not count against the salary cap but will count against the players' share.

• The Make Whole provision stays at $300 million.

To Flyers fans, the most interesting detail of the new proposal could be the allowance of a contract buyout before the start of the 2013-14 season. Much like the amnesty clause adopted in the NBA's latest collective bargaining agreement, teams will basically be able to hit the "undo" button on a contract that has been restricting them against the salary cap.

Reaction from fans on Twitter has been to move on from Ilya Bryzgalov, who signed a nine-year, $51 million deal in June of 2011.

Games have already been cancelled through January 14, and the NHLPA has until January 2 to decide if they want to file a notice of disclaimer of interest, which would dissolve the union.