NHL releases full details of its labor proposal

• This season's cap hit would be $59.9 million though teams could exceed it
• Teams would be responsible for players' cap hits in long-term deals even if they retire
• League comes down on original proposal on free agency, though it's longer than in expired deal

The NHL upped the public opinion pressure on players by making Tuesday's proposal available on its website.

Commissioner Gary Bettman had mentioned only the 50-50 revenue split when revealing Tuesday that he had presented an offer and the possibility of a full season starting Nov. 2.

The league's proposal also comes with a warning about what would happened if a deal isn't reached in time to start the season by then:

"Delay (beyond October 25) will necessarily leave us with an abbreviated season and will require the cancellation of signature NHL events. Failure to reach a prompt agreement will also have other significant and detrimental impacts on our fans, the game, our clubs, our business and the communities in which we play. All of this will obviously necessitate changes to this offer in the event we are unsuccessful in saving a full season."

The highlights of the proposal:

The deal would be six years with an option for a seventh.

The upper limit on the 2012-13 salary would fall to $59.9 million and the floor would be $43.9 million. Because 16 of the 30 teams already exceed the upper limit, teams can go to $70.2 million in the first year. That was the working number for general managers this summer. There are proposals to ensure players don't get contracts rolled back and teams have to make good on money that players lose in the first two years.

Revenue sharing would rise from $150 million to $200 million, lower than the union's proposed $240 million.

Existing contracts of five years or more would have the cap hit count against a team even if the player retires. That would deal with the contracts such as the 15-year, $100 million deal to Ilya Kovalchuk. The Devils would have to absorb the $6.66 million cap hit, even if he's no longer playing. If he's traded, the new team would absorb the hit but it would revert back to the Devils after he retired.

Teams could no longer get rid of a cap hit by burying a player in the minors as the New York Rangers did with Wade Redden.

The following contracting rules are proposed:

Two years for entry-level contracts, down from the current three years and down from the originally proposed five.

Unrestricted free agency at 28 or eight years, up from 27 or seven years, and down from the proposed 10.

Five-year cap on contract lengths.

This is designed to address a league concern about players getting paid too much coming out of their entry-level deals.

During a contract, the salary couldn't vary by more than 5% in any year from the first-year number. This would eliminate the so-called diveback contract that pays a lot up front and lowers the cap hit with low salaries at the end.

Salary arbitration would not be eliminated, as first proposed.

A third-party arbitrator would be appointed if a player was unhappy with the current appeals result on a suspension. The players had been upset that there was no appeal process after Brendan Shanahan ruled and Bettman handled the appeal.

The NHLPA is working on a counter-proposal and is expected to meet with the league on Thursday in Toronto.