Dr Love said:
You can verbally agree to something.
You can indeed, which is what occured in 1994. However, the players behaviour in 94 has screwed the pooch on this occuring this time. In 1994, the lockout was lifted, the players returned, and still, their was no signed CBA. So the players managed to get a bunch of "fine print" into the deal, and the owners (having already called the players back), felt compelled to accept it, or risk re-shutting down the league (imagine that, the lockout ends for a week, then resumes), which would have been a PR nightmare.
So, don't expect ANYTHING to happen until a fully legalezed CBA is in place (they would probably lift the lockout pending a vote by the membership, but it will be a formal document being voted upon). They arn't going to lift the lockout if their is only a verbal agreement on cap amounts, luxury tax amounts and the like.
BTW, I suspct the PA and NHL have 95% of the CBA agreed to, in legal format. This "new proposal" is quite possibly the cap, tax, rollback (along with other related matters such as arbitration and UFA age) tacked on to the rest of that agreed upon CBA.