Pittsburgh Penguins
Lemieux, the player-owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins, and Phoenix managing partner Wayne Gretzky were invited by the NHLPA to participate in a negotiating session Feb. 19. They believed a new collective bargaining agreement offer would be made, featuring a $45 million salary cap.
"The only way that Wayne and I would have gotten involved is because we believed there was a new proposal coming from the players association," Lemieux told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for a story in Sunday editions. "We were told by some of the players we were talking to that there would be a new proposal on the table at the $45 (million) level."
The offer was never made, and NHLPA officials said later they never intended to make one. They insisted they went to New York only because the league requested a meeting.
Lemieux acknowledged he felt he was misled by the players, even though he hasn't figured out their motivation.