Robert Esche's tone over the past three months has slowly gone from angry to sad.
On Tuesday -- after the National Hockey League owners and players each rejected a proposal for a new collective bargaining agreement -- Esche's mood could only be described as resigned.
"We gave the owners a 236-page proposal last Thursday that called for a 24-percent rollback in all contracts," said the Philadelphia Flyers' goalie and player representative. "They came back (Tuesday) with a 20-page proposal that was a joke. And we declined it.
"They're relying on the union to make the last move. And that's not going to happen."
Esche, who lives in Westmoreland, participated in a conference call Tuesday with National Hockey League Players Association executive director Bob Goodenow. The players were told the owners' new offer -- their first since July 21 -- included a hard salary cap worth between $34.6 and $38.6 million depending on the team, a 35 percent rollback on contracts worth more than $5 million and a total of 54 percent of the league's revenues dedicated to player salaries.
The players, as they have from the start of the dispute, said they will not accept a salary cap. The union's proposal called for a 24 percent rollback on all contracts and a luxury tax on payrolls more than $45 million.
No new bargaining sessions are scheduled. So far, 414 games have been canceled.
"Bettman won't cancel the season, because that will make him look bad," Esche said. "He's just going to let it run out. My prediction is that in December of next year we'll have something worked out.
"The owners have single-handedly continued to try to ruin this sport, and the only ones to blame are them. They'll have to figure it out for themselves now."
Esche still intends to play hockey this season, probably for the Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League. Meanwhile, the Detroit Red Wings' Mark Mowers -- like Esche a Whitesboro native -- is also planning his future without the NHL.
Mowers has spent the last few months working out at his alma mater, the University of New Hampshire, in hopes that the labor dispute would be settled.
"There's been a lot of times that I thought I'd be leaving in the next couple days for Europe, but for one reason or another it never worked out," Mowers said. "But if the season is canceled, I'll definitely look for another place to play.
"All the owners want a salary cap, but I don't understand what's wrong with a soft cap -- if the owners don't go over it. It's not our problem that they can't control themselves."